[director]: OK, very quiet, please.

Steve Carell: I'm gonna sabotage every part of this.

[laughing]

[director]: And we're rolling. 

Colman Domingo: Five words that I think of when I think about ‘The Four Seasons’?

Marco Calvani: Profound. 

[CLIP] Steve Carell (as Nick): I have to go in! 

Kerri Kenney-Silver: Dismemberment.

[CLIP] Julia Lester (as Lila): Oh! [grunts]

Lang Fisher: Heartwarming.

[CLIP] Kerri Kenney-Silver (as Anne): [groans]

Will Forte: Paycheck.

[woman laughing]

[grunts] 

Colman Domingo: Hilarious. 

[CLIP] Colman Domingo (as Danny): God, your face gets so loud sometimes.

Tina Fey: Tracey and Lang and I have talked about the show being a love letter to long-term relationships. 

[CLIP] Will Forte (as Jack): You've built this beautiful life together, and I hope you know how lucky you are. 

Tracey Wigfield: What's it really about is a group of friends who have known each other forever. When one of the couples breaks up… 

[CLIP] Julia Lester (as Lila): You're not my mom! [yells]

Tracey Wigfield: It starts a rift between the rest of the couples.

Tina Fey: Because if you're lucky enough to have a strong friend group, your life is ideally more than just the person you're married to.

[CLIP] Steve Carell (as Nick): Jack and Kate? They being ****?

[CLIP] Colman Domingo (as Danny): You know those two. Complaining is their version of sex.

[CLIP] Steve Carell (as Nick): Yeah.

[TITLE CARD] MEET THE COUPLES

[pleasant classical music plays]

[TITLE CARD] JACK & KATE

Tina Fey: So Jack and Kate have a great sense of humor.

[CLIP] Tina Fey (as Kate): You can wear it if I can cut my hair short. I have the exact picture of Anne Hathaway that I'm gonna take to my hairdresser. 

Tina Fey: Will Forte is one of my oldest friends. Will is a stone-cold weirdo in real life. I am so happy that we play husband and wife in this. His comedy is fantastic.

Will Forte: I'm still a weirdo.

Tina Fey: Don't worry, I already said what a weirdo you are.

[laughing]

[CLIP] Will Forte (as Jack): Is this the only banana you have?

[CLIP] Tina Fey (as Kate): Yeah. 

Lang Fisher: The character of Jack is needy and anxious and, like, kind of a hypochondriac. 

[CLIP] Will Forte (as Jack): Can you feel my glands?

[CLIP] Tina Fey (as Kate): Just feels like normal neck.

[CLIP] Will Forte (as Jack): What's it mean when your hip clicks?

Lang Fisher: But we wanted somebody who could play a lovable guy. 

[CLIP] Tina Fey (as Kate): Let's have a do-over later. 

[CLIP] Will Forte (as Jack): Love it. Sexy do-over.

[tense classical music plays]

[TITLE CARD] NICK & ANNE

[CLIP] Kerri Kenney-Silver (as Anne): You need to show your father some basic respect. Even if he's wearing a top you can see his nipples through.

Kerri Kenney-Silver: Over the course of their marriage, she decided she didn't want to deal with the bad that would come with having to go through a separation. She's been sucker-punched. You know that cartoon with, like, the birds flying around the head?I think she feels like that.

[CLIP] Colman Domingo (as Danny): Anne?

Tina Fey: Kerri Kenney-Silver, she's so truly funny as Anne. And Anne is a character who's a little bit out there.

[CLIP] [Cast]: Cheers.

[CLIP] Steve Carell (as Nick): Love defines us as human beings. 

[CLIP] Kerri Kenney-Silver (as Anne): But also dolphins feel it. 

Tina Fey:  We described Anne in the script as…

[CLIP] Julia Lester (as Lila):  A triple Pisces. 

Tina Fey: If that means anything to people who believe in that stuff. 

Colman Domingo: Well, Tina's a typical Taurus.

Marco Calvani: Very Taurus. You're right.

[both laughing]

Tina Fey: Steve… I believe it's pronounced "carol." 

Lang Fisher: We thought Steve Carell would be a perfect Nick because we thought it'd be very funny to see him get very excited over having a younger girlfriend.

Tracey Wigfield: Yeah.

Lang Fisher: Trying to be cool. 

[CLIP] Steve Carell (as Nick): Hello, there. 

Tina Fey: He's really great in situations where his character is so happy you wanna punch him in the face. 

[CLIP] Tina Fey (as Kate): Stop being lit from within. It's gross. 

Steve Carrell: I think, for Nick, dating somebody new gives him a new lease on life. He knows it looks bad, but he doesn't care, because it's too good, it's too much fun.

[CLIP] Steve Carell (as Nick): Here, let me get a shot.

[woman laughs] 

Erika Henningsen: Ginny is young. She's wide open to the world. They are a bit of kindred adventure spirits. 

[CLIP] Julia Lester (as Lila): This feels like a basic midlife crisis.

[CLIP] Steve Carell (as Nick): Okay.

Tracey Wigfield:  If played wrong, you just, like, hate the guy, and Steve is just impossible to hate.

[CLIP] Steve Carell (as Nick): What are we whispering about? [softly]

Tina Fey: You wanna still be able to kinda root for them as a couple, and I think Erika fits perfectly in this part.

[suspenseful music plays] 

[TITLE CARD] DANNY & CLAUDE

[CLIP] Colman Domingo (as Danny): You know what's going on with us. Claude lives in his own opera.

[CLIP] Marco Calvani (as Claude): ♪ It is good for my voice ♪ [operatically]

Tina Fey: Marco and Colman are so wonderful together, and they're so believable as a couple because they're friends in real life.

[CLIP] Marco Calvani (as Claude): Salute. To freedom.

[CLIP] Colman Domingo (as Danny): Mm.

Tina Fey:  When we were in the writers' room, thinking, like, "My gosh, do you think we could get Colman Domingo to play Danny?" And he actually said yes, we were like, "Oh my God." 

[CLIP] Colman Domingo (as Danny): Take me in. Really try to see that I'm worth waiting for.

[CLIP] Tina Fey (as Kate): Get in the car.

Colman Domingo: I've been doing a lot of dramas, and I thought, "I deserve a comedy." To have fun and to work with the best of the best. [laughs] 

Lang Fisher: We really feel like we tricked him.

Tracey Wigfield:  Yeah.

Colman Domingo:  Let them out a bit more. Like, let there be more for yourself.

Colman Domingo: And cut! 

Marco Calvani: He's also a wonderful director, and I learned that he's a little bossy.

[laughs]

Colman Domingo: In a good way, right?

Marco Calvani: In a very good way.

[laughs]

[mellow rock music plays]

[CLIP] Kerri Kenney-Silver (as Anne):  Thank you, all, for coming on my trip. It's mama's turn.

[CLIP] Will Forte (as Jack): Yeah, it is. 

[CLIP] Kerri Kenney-Silver (as Anne):  I said that 'cause I have tequila in this.

[CLIP] [Cast]: Cheers.

Tracey Wigfield: So much of what's really real about this show are hilarious observations of what it's like to be married, to be 50, to just try to go on vacation and have a nice time with your friends.

[moaning]

[CLIP] Tina Fey (as Kate):  He's not happy.

[laughing]

[CLIP] Tina Fey (as Kate): Wow, they are straight-up frolicking. 

[CLIP] Steve Carell (as Nick): Hey!

[laughing]

[CLIP] Will Forte (as Jack): I don't think you can fake frolicking like that.

[yells playfully]