Equal Opportunity Offenders

Tina Fey and Robert Carlock take on #MeToo in Season 4 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Naturally, it’s awkward

- Anna Menta

THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE fourth season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt finds our Kimmy—a wide-eyed, confoundingly optimistic former kidnap victim played by Ellie Kemper—at her new job, as HR director at the startup company Giztoob. Per usual, she’s determined to make every part of it fun, even when firing an employee named Kabir. After calling him into her office, Kimmy inappropriately hugs, compliments, and massages him. Sensing he might be feeling ashamed, she assures him that embarrassing stuff can happen to anyone. To prove it, Kimmy drops her pants: “Uh-oh!” she exclaims. Then, reaching for the smoothie she had bought him as a gift, she adds, “This thing’s not going to suck itself!”

Kabir has already fled the room. “OK, then,” Kimmy cheerfully calls after him. “You’re fired!”

If you were expecting political correctness from show creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, you haven’t been paying attention. The two, who collaborated on the first sitcom Fey created, NBC’s 30 Rock, are specialists in irreverent, rapid-fire comedy that skewers sanctimony. “At one point, we tried to justify her having a door that locked on its own,” says Carlock, referencing former Today show host Matt Lauer’s now-infamous office button. “We couldn’t quite make it work.”