Tina Fey Says 1 Thing Steve Martin Told Her Still Haunts Her

Tina Fey says Steve Martin once made a terrifying and absolutely accurate comment to her.

The “Saturday Night Live” alum appeared on the inaugural episode of Amy Poehler’s “Good Hang” podcast earlier this week, and told her friend and former “SNL” colleague that she was still a writer on the sketch show when Martin dropped by.

“He wasn’t hosting, but he came on the show and he had just been on ‘Letterman’ the night before,” Fey told Poehler.

She continued, “I said, ‘Oh my gosh, you were so funny on “Letterman” last night.’ And he just very matter-of-factly said, ‘Oh, well, you have to kill every time.’”

As Poehler laughed, Fey added, “And that has haunted me every day since.”

Martin was “right,” Fey asserted.

“If you’re a beautiful actress from, I don’t know, like ’Melrose Place” … you can go on and be like, ‘I went to the store once,’” she said. “But if you’re a comedy person? You have to kill every time? Oh god.”

Though Fey claimed she “constantly” falls short of that goal, “SNL” fans frequently hail her tenure from 2000 to 2006 as one of the greatest. The former cast member, head writer and “Weekend Update” co-anchor went on to create hit NBC sitcom “30 Rock” after departing “SNL.”

Fey did recall some career moments that didn’t quite pan out, and cited blowing an audition for a fast-food commercial because of a now-faded scar on her face. In hindsight, however, the nine-time Emmy winner appears to have gotten the last laugh.

She said she realized once she got to the audition that she was unlikely to get the part, which was for a person pulling up to a drive-thru, because of her then-prominent scar.

“And I just remember in the thing … like scooting like I’m in the drive-thru, being like, ‘I’ll have the fish filet meal, and my scar will have an orange soda,’ and then just leaving,” she said.