Martin Schneider writes:

Last Friday I attended one of the most memorable (not exclusively in good ways) author events I have ever been to. The estimable Tina Fey has a new book out (Bossypants), and she made one author appearance in the New York City area (she will visit only four other cities in the entire tour).

At the event, scheduled for 7pm at the largest retail event space in the city (the Barnes and Noble on Union Square, 4th Floor), Fey would be interviewed by The New Yorker's editor in chief, David Remnick; Fey has recently published two sneak excerpts in the magazine.

I harbored a strong suspicion that the event would be very crowded well before the scheduled start. I underestimated just how crowded. You can see the Twitter results for "tina fey noble" for April 8 to get a sense of just how early the massive fourth floor filled up. (Yes, I did get in, and stood many, many yards away. By the time I got there, it seemed silly to leave after already having made my way there.) I've never seen that space so crowded, but a friend told me he could remember another such occasion—when Fey's 30 Rock castmate Tracy Morgan appeared there!

The authorities at B&N kept the interview short, in order to accommodate the many hundreds of people who wanted their books signed (Fey graciously agreed to stay until every person got his or her copy signed, a process that surely took a couple of hours).

In his interview, Remnick hewed closely to the contents of the book, even going so far as to read the wacky faux-blurbs on the back cover (every person in attendance was clutching the book as a requirement for entry, so this seemed a bit pointless).

As expected, Fey was intelligent, forthright, modest, and amusing, even as she was fighting off a cold. All evidence suggests Fey's core fans are a very intelligent and attractive subset of the female population, and it was great to see so many sharp women come out and worship their hero. I don't know if Fey is poised to become the next Nora Ephron, but whatever she is or is becoming, I'm all for it.