People Who Mattered
Tina Fey
Andrew Eccles / jbgphoto.comRemember when entertainers really mattered? Suddenly they do again. Fey has the best comedy on TV in 30 Rock and scored a hit movie in Baby Mama and a multimillion-dollar book deal; if she'd just sing something, she'd be a shoo-in for queen of all media. But more than that, in 2008 Fey made smart sexy and nerdy cool, and she proved that comedy can still have serious political clout: her winking impression of Governor Sarah Palin defined the governor before she had a chance to define herself.
—Lev Grossman
See pictures of Barack Obama on Flickr.
People Who Mattered: Full List
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Year in Review 2008
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