The best joke from 30 Rock is Tracy saying, “I finally understand the ending of Sixth Sense! Those names are the people that worked on the movie!”

@shannonrussell898

6 ай бұрын

I always loved when he talks about being in 'Garfield 2: Feline Groovy' and says "it's a pun, do you get it? because cats' paws have grooves in them"

@izzym5165

5 ай бұрын

Came here to say this - my favourite from the show.

@cheefussmith9380

3 ай бұрын

My favorite line from 30 rock was the tux one…”it’s after 5, what am I, a farmer?” I also cracked up at her boyfriend telling the news he’s a social conservative fiscal liberal.

@kingdancekiller

2 ай бұрын

@@cheefussmith9380I use Dennis Duffy’s political leanings as a joke all the time and no one ever gets it

@cheefussmith9380

2 ай бұрын

@@kingdancekiller it’s such a great line! Because everybody and their brothers says their social lib, physical conservative…who the hell would say the opposite?? Dennis, that’s who😂

Tracy Morgan saying “Your boos are not scaring me, I know most of you are not ghosts!” got a full belly laugh from me too. The jokes that betray a more subtle misunderstanding by a stubborn character are really funny

@clathbury3728

8 ай бұрын

I love the sophisticated nuances of a well constructed multi-layered joke, but I also just love a dumb joke with a great and really straight-faced delivery *chef's kiss*

@JeremyHelm

8 ай бұрын

The world is made up of subtle misunderstandings - this isn't comedy, it's empathy

@sintua

8 ай бұрын

another multi-layered joke: not only does he completely miss the derision (as his ego would never allow) and assume they're trying to impersonate ghosts, he's thinks some of them *may be ghosts!*

@ArsenicDrone

8 ай бұрын

That one's really good, better than the improv one (for my sense of humor)

@dagnabit27851

8 ай бұрын

I was watching this video next to my husband. He wasn't really paying attention but this joke took him out. 😂😂😂

30 Rock’s jokes-per-minute rate is insane.

@tastyneck

8 ай бұрын

Yeah, they really filled just about every moment with a joke. It's crazy and amazing and as well as the callbacks and self-references entire seasons later.

@jeffsantos93

8 ай бұрын

Right? It rivals Arrested Development to me, the laughs per minute you get is insanely high.

@Sotelurian

8 ай бұрын

Tina Fey called it “machine-gun humor” because of the fast joke rate.

@Norsilca

7 ай бұрын

*Good* jokes per minute, which is more important. Modern Simpsons has more jokes per minute than golden age but they're definitely not good.

@aaronpage8428

7 ай бұрын

Happy endings got up there as well. 2 more jokes while you’re laughing at the first

Tracy not being sure how he feels about his mood ring being stolen is my all time fave.

@KeisonMibute

6 ай бұрын

That one had me laughing for days.

@paullucci

3 ай бұрын

Yessir. This one is up there for me as well. "Great like good, or like that thing I dropped my inhaler down?" *labored breathing*

@pseudotasuki

9 күн бұрын

Tracy describing his repressed memories from his childhood: "A pack of wild dogs took over and successfully ran a Wendy's!"

One of my absolute favorite jokes from 30 Rock is when Tracy says "you better watch what you say to me or I'll show you the back of my hand!" And his hand has a sticky note on the back of it that says "please be nice to me" 😂

@TerraSapien

4 ай бұрын

g damn it I love this joke 😂 and it reminds me of another great one, Jenna walks in to find Tracy has returned after having disappeared for a while, he has his back turned to her. “You’re back!” she exclaims, and he turns around and says “Yeah and this is my front!” It’s so stupid, I love it!

@jonathanhape

3 ай бұрын

When I try to describe my favorite jokes from the show this is the most readily available in my mind. A perfect example of the turn-around humor used consistently throughout. 😂Haha

@gedaliahkrasner2820

2 ай бұрын

This is my absolute favorite joke.

@mitchellhouser1572

Ай бұрын

I often reference this joke in casual conversations and no one ever gets it

To me, the funniest part of the joke isn't any of the layers you mentioned, it's just the idea of Anyone responding to someone else saying they love a food by going "No you don't"

@vahyalakwaga5428

5 ай бұрын

😂😂😂

@carterjohns2087

5 ай бұрын

Also could be argued that "No, but" is just as valid to building an improv scene. So while on the surface, it's still a joke at Jenna's expense, you just added a fourth layer!

@thinkofsomethingcooler

4 ай бұрын

That’s possibly the 7th layer. I added a 6th layer which was Jenna’s insane diet fads & bizarre sense of disgust by regular foods. She cannot possibly imagine anyone liking fried carbs bc she would never eat them and she’s so narcissistic and judgemental. “No one could possibly like this, surely..” I could just hear her wheels turning! She always said things like that to Liz about her diet & appearance who in contrast was always eating crazy amounts of junk foods. So Jenna calling her Oprah is quite hilarious to me bc it’s the only person she can imagine struggling w fried carbs in their diet, as at the time of airing Oprah was very public about her weight struggles at the time. So it also shows the character contrast that Liz’s references are dated nostalgia based and somewhat high brow when Jenna’s are insanely topical and pop culture. I saw this when it aired and Jenna’s reply was basically pulled right out of magazine and entertainment news headlines which is why that show was so insanely good. It’s like a time capsule for “you had to be there” jokes on top of fantastic character development. Only a very selfish & self absorbed actor would say “No” during improv Or even as OP pointed out, in that real life situation 8th level: Jenna is fantastically out of touch and Liz, who is supposed to be her head comedy writer, constantly fails to recognize this in Jenna so the showcases just how much Liz writes poorly for her too. It’s really so genius. I mean later in the episode Liz bombs on stage yet she’s the head writer of an SNL type show. It’s definitely a loving dig to that too

@littlebird2885

4 ай бұрын

Also Jenna’s clear belief that she just nailed it

@brianwillsher5794

2 ай бұрын

I'd say there's a 4th layer because Oprah was always pushing low carb diets

my fave line is when Jenna references OJ and he "says" to her "if you are alive who did I kill". the line slays me even as I type it

There's at least a fourth layer here, in that Jenna delivers the line outside of the 'scene', expecting immediate validation

@ididntknowtheyhadwifiinhell

8 ай бұрын

nothing about how much oprah's reputation was tied to dieting for years? where she was both a punchline for fat-shaming (even bo burnham did it!) and the face of weight watchers

@Bapuji42

7 ай бұрын

​@@ididntknowtheyhadwifiinhellThat's still the first layer isn't it?

@Mrcandles312

7 ай бұрын

@@Bapuji42what are the odds that I would see your comment just an hour after you wrote it. Considering how old this clip is….

@Bapuji42

7 ай бұрын

@@Mrcandles312 Considering I'm hiding behind your bed, the odds are high. Also, don't you get notifications when someone replies to your comments? I do.

@Nophotofound

Ай бұрын

5th is that she assumes Liz is being Oprah bc she likes to eat

Tina Fey has made this world just a little bit better. I love her

@orionred2489

4 ай бұрын

Get her autobiography, Bossy Pants, on audiobook!

I also think of Jenna’s line to the writers when they’re asking her to help win a drinking contest against the teamsters and she replies “a drinking contest? What am I, 12 and at my boyfriends frat party?”

I LOVE how Jenna keeps talking about how Mickey Rourke did this and that to her, and then on the final season she breaks the fourth wall and confesses, "I never even met Mickey Rourke". That joke takes ENTIRE EPISODES to land. Doesn't get more layered than that.

@michaelbklein

7 ай бұрын

There was a joke on Cheers that had *seven seasons* of setup. kzread.info/dash/bejne/nap3mpWMftm9qpM.html

@laluenbaires

7 ай бұрын

Ha, that was a great joke, and yeah, I caught it when I did a back to back rewatch of the show. I definitely didn't catch it the first time.

@mechanicaldavid4827

7 ай бұрын

It took longer than 9.5 weeks!

@maryjanerx

7 ай бұрын

So the joke was she was lying or i am missing something?

@laluenbaires

7 ай бұрын

@@maryjanerx right, she was full of shit 😂

It still blows my mind that we actually had an era of TV where Community, 30 Rock, The Office, and Parks and Rec were all on at the same time on the same night. I don't think there's an era of TV that can beat that many classic shows back to back.

@ohdang8515

7 ай бұрын

And that THAT isn't considered NBC's golden era of comedy but the Friends era is. Pure insanity.

@nofx87

7 ай бұрын

@@ohdang8515I mean it really just goes to show that ratings aren’t indicative of quality. But also I think if all those shows had been on 10-15 years earlier the ratings would’ve been better.

@laluenbaires

7 ай бұрын

​@@nofx87I don't know, they're two different styles of comedy. Friends is funny but not layered, it's easier to laugh at, I think that's why it had a much greater audience. For the other shows like 30 Rock and Community sometimes it takes you a couple of rewatches to notice stuff. They hide Easter eggs and all that. It's a different experience. 30 Rock is definitely not for everybody. Not only because of the style but for example I'm not American and I'm aware that because of that I understand probably only 70% of the jokes. I don't need to be American to understand most of the jokes in Friends.

@nofx87

7 ай бұрын

I really think it was the era, because Frasier was also on during the golden age of NBC sitcoms and it was always a top 10-15 show, and it's definitely not for everyone either. It was more highbrow than Friends but still got big ratings. @@laluenbaires

@laluenbaires

7 ай бұрын

@@nofx87 meaning if 30 rock, etc. aired at the same year as Frasier and Friends they might have done better? Yeah, maybe!

The two lines of 30 Rock. “Excuse me, there’s a line here buddy.” “There’s two lines.”

@BobStein

8 ай бұрын

Forgetting the scene, I originally thought these were the first and second lines ... of script dialog.

@leif1075

8 ай бұрын

What episode is that from and I'm not sure i get that joke. Am I the only one who didn't know who sling blade was before this?

@leif1075

8 ай бұрын

I don't see the third thing as a joke although I didn't k ow about yes and in improv but to each his own.

@AjkulaDrakula

8 ай бұрын

​@@leif1075its from the pilot, those two lines are the literal first two lines of the show, referencing jumping the line at a hotdog stand lol

@gnack420

7 ай бұрын

​@@leif1075okay but now that you do know about it, how do you not see it as a joke now?

My favorite multi layer joke in 30 rock is Dr Spaceman. First it just is something funny Tracy says and sounds like him being him. Next it pays off and his pill bottle literally says Dr. Spaceman. NEXT is finding out that it’s pronounced Spa-Che-Min. It’s three payoffs in one joke.

@RealActorRob

8 ай бұрын

Or Dr. Spe-ci-min is another layer. Ot two.

@xbjrrtc

8 ай бұрын

Ho Chi Minh City School of Medicine

@bungalowlogic7676

8 ай бұрын

​@@RealActorRobI totally never caught that! Thank you for adding to my ever growing appreciation to 30 Rock

@tomelders

7 ай бұрын

They do the opposite of this joke too Liz: "Thanks Vinerslav" Winerslave: "It's pronounced Weiner Slave"

@fearofaflatearth

6 ай бұрын

Also because "doctor space man" is a perfect description of his character

My favorite joke on 30 Rock is the show “Homonym”, which is a two part joke, and the payoff of the show being broadcast in a different language is well worth it

@thebenforever

8 ай бұрын

"It's always the other one! Lemme see the card!" "NO." That no kills me.🤣

@delilh325

8 ай бұрын

With the same host xD

@johnferradino

7 ай бұрын

I laugh at that every time! Especially towards the end where the host is laughing at them!

@yesquite

4 ай бұрын

It’s especially funny if you speak the different language!

I agree there's more than 3 layers but not in the way the blog described it. the fact that it's in character for Jenna counts as a fourth layer of the joke because Jenna is clearly trying to steal the show and during her line faces the audience looking for approval, to me thats the funniest part. Also the fact that Liz's Sling Blade impression is pretty bad is also funny lol

@guyyouseewhenyoudie

7 ай бұрын

Yes, this is it. It’s the reveal that Jenna wasn’t just a bad improviser-she wasn’t listening to Liz AT ALL, shown by her turn to the audience

@0o0misha0o0

7 ай бұрын

And Liz is eating French fried pertaters with a spoon...

@silvercheetah92

6 ай бұрын

Or Jenna using her normal voice is her doing a Sling Blade impression

@michaelarmstrong9403

6 ай бұрын

Physically as well, she throws the classic grenade: high status outside the scene. Legs crossed, breaks the fourth wall, no engagement with the other characters.

@blackberriee

6 ай бұрын

@@0o0misha0o0with a SPOON 💀💀💀

I would argue another layer of the joke is Tina Fey reciting Sling Blade's line from the movie, which is the opposite of improv

@raceblakhart4941

8 ай бұрын

Except that's not a line from the movie. There's nobody called "Slingblade" in the film either.

@omicronenoch9974

8 ай бұрын

@@raceblakhart4941 True on Slingblade as a name. See the :57 mark of the video for the clip from the movie where the main character delivers that line. Given that line is pretty well-known for that character, I think it still works as improv because she's setting the scene.

@Grimey-P

8 ай бұрын

Also a callback to Liz thinking she’s sitting next to Oprah when she’s not

@everythingwithashton5876

8 ай бұрын

@@raceblakhart4941did you not watch the video?

@mrjozo-pr6ih

7 ай бұрын

....she doesn`t get what is acted in and by slingblade, it is a s if she already feels represented by him.

It's funny how much Dan Harmon wanted to match 30 Rock when writing Community because 30 Rock was where Donald Glover got his start as a writer before he even finished college

@cacaulaymulkin7724

8 ай бұрын

Donald Glover was the "I pooed my pants" kid from College Humour before 30 Rock if I'm not mistaken. College Humour actually had the occasionally funny skit unlike 30 Rock, which is actual hot garbage

@JasGoodgameJamzYuh

8 ай бұрын

Idk if it was so much he "wanted to match 30 rock" as it was "I have one of the best television comedy writers of this time on my cast and I don't want to underutilize him as an actor"

@jasonhaiad

8 ай бұрын

@@cacaulaymulkin7724 controversial and literally just wrong opinion lmao but congrats on making your first youtube account buddy! I;m sure 8th grade is gonna be a blast

@magneto44

8 ай бұрын

@@jasonhaiadzing lol

@squeekydog8468

8 ай бұрын

He needs trolling coaching

My favorite jokes from the show came from the aftermath of Kenneth's birthday party. The scene itself was a deadpan masterclass and Kenneth scolding them about their cartoonishly absurd tomfoolery mixed with everyone's stoic shame has me crying from laughter every time. "Tracy, I know I saw you steal my sink."

@bungalowlogic7676

8 ай бұрын

That scene also sets up a recurring premise that Liz and Grizz have a "sexual" past. Her turn to him saying "I'm sorry" and Grizz's look of utter remorse are brilliant

As another layer to the R&M joke: Rick says he refuses to answer a literal call to adventure in a way that suggests he won't take part in an obvious Hero's Journey template, but the fact that he refuses ironically plays right into it! In Hero's Journey, a Call to Adventure is (typically) followed by Refusal of the Call, and that's what he's doing here.

@thinkofsomethingcooler

4 ай бұрын

Exactly! The hero usually starts out refusing the adventure and Dan Harmon just cut straight to the chase by saying that step out loud

@MrXHCx

Ай бұрын

Oh man, good catch with that. Rick is aware enough to know of the hero's journey, but, like many of the best jokes in R&M, he's betraying that he's an overconfident prick who doesn't know the literal next part of it.

Best 30 Rock joke for me, and one of my favourites ever, is when the, not so good, Dr. Spaceman - trying to read a patient’s results -says to the patient with hesitation and concern, “I don’t know how to say this, dye-ah-beddeeze?” (I’m like paraphrasing because memory).

@kingdancekiller

2 ай бұрын

“No, no no on the form you have it backwards, Jack is donating ME the kidney. If you could redo the form.” Dr. Spaceman: “oh, no I’ll remember” *clutches paper and closes eyes* “opposite! Opposite!”

I always loved Liz singing Night Cheese lol then goes to the door pretending she was woken up and Jack just says “I heard you singing Night Cheese”

my favorite 30 rock joke is when tracy is doing a black history movie and hires octavia spencer as the lead, when he is in the set octavia shows up and tracy says "octavia. excellent, you are black", it cracks me up on so many levels

@domuuuuu

7 ай бұрын

My favorite comes shortly after (when it's shown that Tracy has matured to Liz's level and has been given his own Tracy to deal with in Octavia) when Octavia makes a bunch of ridiculous complaints ending with, "... and I don't like the name Tubman - makes her sound like a dude. Change it to Tubgirl!"

@andrewcramer9200

7 ай бұрын

​@domuuuuu which might be sort of a callback to the episode where Liz's father, Dick, says "it's not a Lemon party without old Dick!" Lemon party and Tubgirl, I forget if they ever shoehorned in a 2 Girls, 1 Cup drop to complete the comic triple.

Arrested Development might be the best show for multi-layered jokes I can think of. The first 3 seasons have rapid fire, call-back/call-forward, double/triple entandres, and manage to subvert expectations while fitting the context of the characters involved. It's a bullet hell or 4D chess of comedy writing that I really don't see consistently in other media. The rapid fire I can see with Leslie Nelson's stuff, and shows/movies like 30 Rock, Angie Tribeca, and Loaded Weapon made that more modern, but Arrested Development was like the next evolution of it.

@0o0misha0o0

7 ай бұрын

Just read the IMDB for Loaded Weapon and don't remember this at all. I'm sure if I stream it I'll start remembering jokes

@phxgator

6 ай бұрын

when i found out Steve Carell mashed together Rashida Jones and Leslie Nielsen for Angie Tribeca, I was "HOW COME NO ONE TOLD ME SOONER?!"

@rossconklin7140

6 ай бұрын

The name of the show itself is a great joke. It's the most joke dense show I've ever seen. There are tons of things going on all the time, tons of call backs, etc. It's just piles of funny stuff.

@hellowendy1029

5 ай бұрын

That's what made arrested Development so great and also why a show like that only comes along every once a decade or so. Who can 1.keep track of all the callbacks, 2.keep the jokes and callbacks in the context of something the characters would actually say, and 3.keep up that level of joke density in each episode while also not coming off as trying too hard?? It's a tough line to walk!

@christianmichael3120

4 ай бұрын

@@0o0misha0o0I rewatch Loaded Weapon at least a couple times a year, it is really just non-stop. Practically every shot has a joke somehow lol

30 rock jokes were incredibly dense. I don't have a video essay prepared, but my memory of the show was that my expectations would be subverted hilariously about two or three times by the time the punchline was delivered, and that the subversions of expectation would interact with another joke running through the whole episode.

@alwaysfallingshort

4 ай бұрын

Yup, precisely. To say this is the only layered joke is criminal :P

30 Rock also happened to slip the dirtiest joke in network TV by the censors. "Wouldn't be a lemon party without ole Dick". WARNING: If you choose to research this, the joke is very, very, very, NSFW. Very.

@slawless9665

8 ай бұрын

This was one of two (or maybe three?) times that they slipped that phrase into the show, probably fully intentionally each time. There's a line Jack says to Liz about "interrupting her little Lemon party" or something like that, and the time Liz says "Ain't no party like a Liz Lemon party because a Liz Lemon Party is MANDATORY". Another example of those "teehee- it's gross but only if you know" jokes is the name of the NBC Network Censor character, which I like because again it works on another level.

@jasonhaiad

8 ай бұрын

I fucking love that this joke still slips past censors on streaming sites too, stuffy, overbearing conservative censors are no match for clever and subtle writing

@herosmerlose5784

8 ай бұрын

One of my favorite jokes. I believe they got away with it twice, the second time was some seasons later when Liz said “and there’s nothing worse than a surprise Lemon party”

@---nu4ed

2 ай бұрын

@@jasonhaiad I don't think it slips past censors. Their job is to avoid trouble for the network, and that lemon thing is plausibly deniable and pretty obscure.

I appreciate this so much, because as someone who has watched this show all the way through over a dozen times, I still discover jokes I missed in all my previous watches. The absolute efficiency with which they layer jokes together is unbelievable at times.

@ClarkPotter

8 ай бұрын

A dozen? You're kidding. It makes me feel strange hearing someone spent their time like that. To each their own, though. Cheers.

@theghosty99

8 ай бұрын

@@ClarkPotter I'm not kidding hahaha, I lived on my own for a few years out in the sticks, so when I didn't have anything else going on I'd just put it on in the background while doing other stuff, or when I went to bed.

@xeaux

4 ай бұрын

@@ClarkPotterI would always put this show on in the background and when I was working on costumes or sewing so I too have watched it in excess of 10 times. It helped keep my energy up to get my work done & not be miserable. 🤷🏻‍♀️

@xeaux

4 ай бұрын

@@theghosty99I literally just heard Paul’s last name today (L’astname) and I couldn’t believe I missed it that many times. 😂

Karl Childers is Billy Bob's character's name in "Sling Blade." His character isn't called "Sling Blade," not even as a nickname.

@angelaa7388

8 ай бұрын

Kind of like how Sophie Turner is not named "Game of Thrones," yet that is what they call her in Righteous Gemstones.

@ilovtheend

8 ай бұрын

I came here to say this. Thank you

@noctisocculta4820

7 ай бұрын

To quote a dead meme: I think Halo is a pretty cool guy. Eh kills aleins and doesnt afraid of anything.

@orionred2489

4 ай бұрын

Did you ever see the short film version of Sling Blade?

Best 30Rock joke is when Jack realizes Liz has been studying his "How to Negotiate" course, and so when debating her he would be debating his own techniques: "This is what I've always waited for. Me playing with myself. It's going to be (dramatic pause) a 'Jack-Off' "

30 Rock doesn’t get talked about enough

Jenna Maroney's "I'm listening song" 1. She's not listening by singing about her amazing listening skills 2. "Jenna is listening like the sun in the sky" doesnt make sense at all, "glistening" might make more sense 3. She's harmonizing with herself, and well at that- It might mean she only listens well to her inner self I always come back to this video whenever i needed a good laugh

One of my favorite layered jokes that someone else pointed out, was Jenna’s, “I’ve turned down sex with Harvey Weinstein… three out of five times.” Which at face value is a, Jenna was on a casting couch with Harvey Weinstein joke, a decade before he went down for it. At the deeper level, she only consented to sex, 2 of the 5 times. Then of course there’s Tracy’s Bill Cosby accusations

@MyNameIsBucket

8 ай бұрын

It's just so fun that someone's subhuman criminal behavior can just be this cute inside joke in Hollywood instead of... you know... a crime that is reported and investigated. Isn't Hollywood just crazy fun?

@blootooth00

8 ай бұрын

​@@MyNameIsBucketI don't think they were cute jokes. I think it's the small cries of the people on the inside saying "this is not as it seems!" Knowing they don't have the power to bring someone like Harvey down, but can sow seeds now that will have power when accusations are made. It's pretty hard to ignore accusations against Bill and Harvey when not only are there the victims testimonies, but decades of television references to their crimes. But I agree, Hollywood is a shitworld and we should spend time canceling individual celebs, and instead break the whole thing down

@MyNameIsBucket

8 ай бұрын

@@blootooth00 Feel free to correct me but I don't recall a time when a fictional TV show plotline was admissible as evidence in an actual court case.

@blootooth00

8 ай бұрын

@@MyNameIsBucket I didn't say that it did. But it makes the public more accepting of the truth when it comes out, thus weakening the power these corrupt individuals can wield.

@shay4178

8 ай бұрын

Hannibal Buress, the comedian who started the Bill Cosby accusations in his standup, was a writer for this show (and occasionally played a homeless man side character). He'd been talking about it for years. I think he was just trying to use his platform as a writer to bring awareness to obvious issues nobody spoke about.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt also has some great multi-layer jokes, I especially like when Titus "writes" her a song for her birthday, but he just stole Katy Perry's firework, and then she lambasts the lyrics for bad grammar and rhyme scheme.

@orionred2489

4 ай бұрын

Remember the follow up "movie" they did. Titus' best joke for me was when they were at the wedding dress fitting. Someone mentions cake, and he says "Speaking of cake!" like he was just prompted to tell him about the cake tasting he did and what decisions he's made. Instead, he just reaches into his bag, takes out a slice of cake... on a plate... and starts eating it.

@mitchellhouser1572

Ай бұрын

I loved 30 Rock and have watched it all the way through at least 5-6 times but I tried watching Kimmy Schmidt and didn't make it that far. It just wasn't the same level of humor to me.

@valeriecherish449

Ай бұрын

@@mitchellhouser1572 Try Girls5Eva. KS, 30 Rock and Girls5eva are all in the same universe.

30 Rock is the funniest and smartest sitcom of all time. Period. Tina Fey is a f#cking genius.

@raceblakhart4941

8 ай бұрын

"Of all time". 😂🤣

@blooandgreene

8 ай бұрын

Arrested Development is calling... ...also Curb. But along with those two. Yes, 30 Rock is probably the smartest sitcom of all time

My favorite joke from 30 rock is from the dealbreakers talk show episode, where jenna freaks out and screams "my niece drew a picture of me and i look so fat" and it's a young child's drawing. So good. That entire episode is top, easily my #1

I enjoyed this a lot, 30 Rock is so full of great examples of comedy writing with very few wasted words. One of my favourite examples is when they wanted to showcase exactly how pathetic the character of Lutz can be, they have him face off against Tracy's fake son in a karate match, gets taken down instantly and cries out for help by saying three simple words "HELP MOMMY'S BABY!". I can't think of three words that are more pathetic for a 40 something year old man to say in that situation, it's damn near perfection.

The best kind of comedy is not high-brow nor is it low-brow. It's uni-brow.

@82jp

8 ай бұрын

...or perhaps "elbrow" -- get it?

i LOVE the dealbreakers episode with the hi-def camera… “no… no hi-def! because of the camera….”and liz looks hideous up close lol. and then when kenneth walks through he’s a muppet, and jack is just the younger, handsome movie star version of alec baldwin, and pete is an old ass man 😂 omg and the running joke about kenneth being immortal is by far one of my favorite running jokes of all time. of course when i think of running jokes arrested development is the first to come to mind but this is one of my favorite 30 rock running jokes/jokes of all time in general. whenever i’m having a bad day i watch the compilation video of all of the references to kenneth’s immortality! “when i first started working here, an 8 year old shirley temple taught me how to roll a cigarette!” “but where will you sit patiently in the dark for the next day to start i mean sleep?” “it’s bad enough you killed the bird i had for 60 years!” “NOOO JACOB GIVE ME MORE TIME WITH HIM!” “i remember when the day he was born. he looked up at me and said ‘momma, i am not a person, just a flesh vessel for an immortal being who’s name if you spoke it would make you lose your mind”. ..on a side note i met jack macbrayer at a target in 2012 lol he was in front of me in line to checkout and i was freaking out he was so normal lol. and as he walked away i was like I LOVE YOU KENNETH! and he was definitely caught off guard but he turned around and said “oh wow thank you!” as he walked out lol. i still have the creeper pic i snapped in line on my iphone4 saved on my laptop 😂 god there are so many more jokes im thinking of now… tracey in cash cab is another favorite. literally all of dr. spaceman’s scenes. 30 rock is the gift that keeps on giving - we didn’t deserve it! i feel so lucky and grateful that i existed at the same time as that show and got to watch it as it aired as a young teenager and then rewatch it many many times since it stopped airing. community too. didn’t donald glover write for 30 rock? couldn’t believe during the pandemic how many people were JUST discovering it - it’s brought me so much joy over the last decade! it makes me equally nostalgic and happy to remember the early 2010s and all of the great shows and comedies we were gifted but also really sad when i see the absolute garbage constantly pumped out by netflix and other streaming services today. just stuffed with diversity hires trying to check every virtue signaling box, trying to force/push an agenda, no real love, labor, or effort put into anything anymore. everybody is so offended all the time that comedy/comedians are afraid to take risks or do anything for fear of being cancelled. NO NO i turn to 30 rock for the positivity and joy it brings me so i’m gonna stop myself now from going down this negative thought train… long story long, 30 rock is just filled to the brim with solid comedy gold. thank you to all of the geniuses that worked on that show 🩷🩷🩷

always amassed me how good writers can really dip into characters and how they would think and make a story or a joke out of it

This show is some of the most brilliant comedy writing that should be studied - it's so rapid-fire with jokes you don't even realize what you've just heard until a second later and it sneaks up on you, and that's the best because the laughter is unexpected... there's always layers or second-meaning.

It's not a multilayered joke but it made me laugh so hard when Kenneth tried to pull rank with the tour he was giving when Jack wanted to borrow someone from the tour and Kenneth flat out refuses, it hard cuts to Jack in a meeting with the guy like he blew off Kenneth immediately and it's so abrupt it always gets me.

@alwaysfallingshort

4 ай бұрын

AAAAND now I'm rewatching 30 rock for the 40th time.

Dr Spaceman always cracks me up. Another classic meta joke was during the gas leak. Dr Spaceman asked Pete to say his abcs and he perfectly quoted the incoherent “news reporter has a stroke on live tv” bit.

@bungalowlogic7676

8 ай бұрын

Didn't know Pete's jibberish was an actual reference. Thank you for that

@jedimahs5632

8 ай бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/jH5o1cp6ftCvfps.htmlsi=66BN5jFve2rNrcDW

@mrjxn007

8 ай бұрын

@@bungalowlogic7676 Absolutely!! 👍🏻😁

There’s more to the joke IMO. Jenna assumes Liz is doing an impression of an Oprah dealing with food issues, so when she tells Oprah that she doesn’t love mashed potatoes, in her mind, she’s playing a Slingblade that’s helping Oprah disconnect emotionally from food with tough love. The fact that she thinks she can solve Oprah’s decades long food issues by gaslighting her with a cheery, “No you don’t!” is pitch perfect Jenna. On another level, you could even say this is a subconscious jab a Liz, who is an emotional eater, so it makes more sense to Jenna that Liz is playing what she knows than she’s doing the worst Oprah impression in the world. Honestly, I think one could dig up more layers.

@someguy5261

8 ай бұрын

That's not the joke. The joke is that food is a maladaptive coping mechanism and can not serve as a stand-in or genuine love in Oprah's life.

@ClarkPotter

8 ай бұрын

This was my interpretation, too. I'm glad I'm not alone here. I thought this utoober was f'ing with us somehow.

@lalaland2107

8 ай бұрын

What? What the hell does any of this mean?

@salvadorromero9712

8 ай бұрын

Although it's very much not the punchline, I kind of liked what Liz's impression pulled off for itself on the way to it too. As a demonstration of Tina Fey's impersonation skills, It manages to be a silly and skilled enough impression that we can laugh a bit directly at it. At the same time, it manages also to successfully present itself as a textbook "bad" impression that we're invited to laugh *at* Liz for, which is clearly how it works in the story. It's a textbook cheap, lazy crutch to lean on catchphrases of the character in lieu of actual skill in embodying the character in the appropriate new creative comedic context, and this is something she goes right to and is clearly doing when the occasion would call for something subtler. You can actually see a clear real-life example (funnily enough) of this in SNL, comparing the original "Star Wars Auditions" skit to more recent auditions skits where the cast members have devolved into just screaming movie catchphrases of the celebrity they're impersonating.

@letscodeitup

8 ай бұрын

@@someguy5261Well put.

30 Rock and Community are my most favorite comedy shows.

30 Rock was one of the top 3 comedy series in history.

"I'll have an apple juice" ~"oh, we don't have apple juice, sir" "then I'll have a Vodka n Tonic" . the first line from Tracy Jordan

My favorite multi-layer joke from 30 Rock is from the episode where everyone gets bedbugs and Kenneth tells Jack: Sir, anyone can get them. Back in Stone Mountain, even the mayor had bedbugs. And *she*… was a horse. The way he emphasizes “she” as a way to prove his town isn’t backwards and you shouldn’t assume their mayor was a man before revealing their mayor was actually a horse is so funny.

@BbGun-lw5vi

8 ай бұрын

My favorite multilayered joke too. I love the Oprah/Slingblade joke but the layers are not as equally funny as in Jack’s joke.

@comicsans6215

7 ай бұрын

Don’t forget the third dimension of a female horse being called a mare

@droolingpine9658

7 ай бұрын

She had to burn all her pantsuits :c

@TerraSapien

4 ай бұрын

I also love that he called them “chewdaddies” 😂😂

After this aired, I imagine "No you don't, Oprah." was a very funny joke to make in an improv class. Gonna have to take a class and try it out, see if it still gets laughs.

I recently discovered your content, and I love your takes and breakdowns! Don't go on a 5 year hiatus again pls:')

Im so happy you made this video. This is my favorite joke from the show and I had no clue other people thought the same thing

Hands down the best layered joke was Kenneth confronting Tracy about dropping out of school because he couldn’t dissect a chicken. Alan Alda comments, a man crying about a chicken and a baby? I thought this was a comedy show. It’s meta twice, for 30 rock and Mash

@bungalowlogic7676

8 ай бұрын

Damn you! I just now posted about this scene! You beat me to it by a day! Kudos, kindred mind.

This is quality short form content! Keep it up!

I think the other brilliant thing about this joke, and probably one of the reasons Harmon likes it so much, is that, while imitating the most famous line from Sling Blade, it is also a little loving jab at Oprah's weight issues. The idea that Oprah would express her love for french fries too.

What's crazy is Dan Harmon hired one of 30 rock's writers... as an actor

I have rewatched the entire series of 30 Rock so many times over the years & I literally just realized TODAY that Paul’s surname was Lastname! Honestly I don’t know how the hell I missed it so many times but having the closed captioning on & seeing L’astname had me in tears. 😂

I took it as a joke about Oprah's weight loss as well as the obvious face value incorrect attribution of the impression. Oprah wouldn't want French fried potaters because she pushed slim fast or whatever.

It's great that when he's linking 30 Rock with Rick and Morty, Chris Parnell is on the screen.

@phxgator

6 ай бұрын

I just wanna know what sin Chris Parnell did commit to be both Jerry, and Cyril Figgis?

Billy Bob Thornton's name in Sling Blade isn't Sling Blade it's Karl. The Sling Blade is a weapon he used.

@orionred2489

4 ай бұрын

He used a lawnmower blade on Doyle. Did he use a Sling Blade before the movie started? Like, is that why he was in there?

I really enjoyed this video!! I’ve only watched 30 Rock once but might give it another watch

Not layered, but the rural juror, was always the funniest long running gag throughout the show

God I love 30 Rock. Watched the whole show through at least 5 times and it still gets more laughs than any other show I've ever watched. Will always be a stan

Great video! Thank you so much!

Awesome video! Love your breakdown and highlights of some of my favorite shows. You got a new sub!

You know Dan Harmon is an amazing writer when this videos example clips get genuine chuckles out of me every time.

I'm so glad someone did a video essay on this. I always go back to THIS scene when I get reminded of 30 ROCK

My 2 favorite comedic shows of all time. I’ve watched both shows many times through-although it’s hard to watch Community once Donald Glover left. One of my favorite 30 Rocks is when Glover portrays a young Tracy Jordan on one of the live episodes

Liz Lemon is probably not only the funniest female comics but one of the top three funniest comedians of all time. Tina Fey is right up there too!

I'm subscribing, I'm liking, I'm ready for the next video!

To me the best joke was the James Edward Almost impersonator. Just a two in one, but killer.

@BabaKae

6 ай бұрын

Yes! This is absolutely one of my favorite jokes in the whole show. Not only is the name a joke with it sounding “almost” right, but of course Tracy would be friends with an impersonator and not Edward James Almos himself since he is too C-list for that.

Dissecting a joke is like dissecting a frog, you killing it process.

CARRIE FISCHER was a master at writing jokes with multiple punch lines... 😆 😅 🤣 She demonstrated this again and again during interviews and in her painfully hilarious solo show "Wishful Drinking" ...

@bungalowlogic7676

8 ай бұрын

Carrie Fisher guest starring one episode- one big long set up only to have her mis-quote the Princess Leah line "Help me, Liz Lemon! You're my only hope!"

Can't be the best joke of almost no one got it, and it needed a full video to explain it.

On of my favorite 30 Rock jokes. He’s got charisma, Charisma is over there.

Jokes are always funnier after you explain them. Subscribed. 👍

Omg I talk about this being the perfect joke ALL THE TIME. I love that Dan also loves it! ~Trav

So many good jokes in this show like this. One of my other favorites has to be Jack saying, "The song You're So Vain was written.... by me."

30 Rock was one of my all time favorite Sit-Coms...

I want to see Jenna and Michael Scott do improv together.

"A book hasn’t given me this much trouble since ‘Where’s Waldo went to that barber pole factory" will never not be my favorite line, but god this one kills me too. If you read Fey's autobiography, there's a lot of the improv background in there and how it inspires this scene. So good.

best multilayered joke is at jenna's intervention with the psychic hitting her e-cig love tina's little housewives references

Pete calling his own extension while trapped by vending machine.

there’s a fourth layer: oprah’s penchant for yo-yo dieting

Nice one, quite interesting one, would like to watch another one

Basically every sentence in Arrested Development

@danholmesfilm

5 ай бұрын

Seasons 1-3

Sling Blade was what he murdered someone with when he was younger that got him sent to the Mental Home. His name was Karl Childers.

The pronunciation of Dr.Spaceman and seeing his plack for the first time made me lol for real

i need one of these videos for every joke i see in 30 rock bc i never got any of them

The funniest bit for me was Jack saying "Would you get us some pens?"

One of my favorite gags from 30 is Jack's dialogue with CC (not sure of the season or episode, and i may not have the words spot on): CC: I won't apologize for having ambition, Jack. Jack: You shouldn't. I like it when a woman has ambition. It's like seeing a dog wearing clothes. The layers: 1. Clearly Jack being as chauvinistic-nigh-misogynistic as is (almost) humanly possible 2 - Does Jack actually think that these dogs, dressed up by their owners, have ambition? No matter their station in life, dogs' ambitions largely don't go beyond getting food and pleasing their masters 3 - the larger statement about the pretentiousness of people who dress up their dogs (beyond a sweater in the cold, or the little booties to keep road salt off the poor creatures' paws): The dogs aren't pretentious, of course, but their owners by default anthropomorphically "bestow" their own pretensions onto the poor animals. I just love it: Every time i see one of these dogs iRL, it's an immediate call back smile (if not guffaw) for me. 4 - I'm also pretty sure that Tina wrote the episode, and that fact essentially turns Jack's chauvinism on its head in that, sometimes, it takes a woman to reveal a man's foibles, and yet she (Tina) is not afraid to have a character like Jack make the comment in the first place As a few other commenters have said, examining a joke this much should make it LESS funny, but with quality writing ("Writing? What writing? It's a sitcom." - G. Costanza), the investigating DOES expand the layers and the comedy. Just like studying Shakespeare, i dare say: You can take "Out out damned spot" at face value, or ... . Great content, my friend, i love what you're doing.

"Sling Blade" is not the name of the character in the movie. It's Carl. A sling blade is what he used to kill Doyle in the movie. Some folks call it a kaiser blade, he calls it a sling blade.

@gabrielsburg

8 ай бұрын

Duck and cover. nitpick incoming -- Karl used a sling blade to kill his parents. He kills Doyle with a lawn mower blade.

@tygre9131

8 ай бұрын

@@gabrielsburg Call a ambulance. Or a hearst. (Patty Hearst?)

The funniest part was where the narrator referred to Billy Bob Thornton’s character from Sling Blade as “Sling Blade.” His name was Karl Childers.

His name isn’t Sling Blade. He used a sling blade.

Another underrated part of this joke is that Liz calls it “French fry potatoes” - not French fries or potatoes. So many jokes crammed into 12 seconds.

My favourite was when doctor spaceman was covered in blood and said “I was at a costume party earlier this evening and the host’s dog attacked me so I had to stab it”. It’s even funnier because it implies his regular doctors coat is a costume

How did you manage to merge my two favorite shows into one sitting 😭

The best one word joke is in Spaced where Daisy says Merci in a Spanish accent to the waiter in an Italian restaurant

0:53 Sling Blade is NOT the name of the character. The character's name is Karl Childers.

FUCKING KZread, EVEN "EXPLANING A JOEK" THE GUY CRAMS IN MINUTES OF POINTLESS BACKGROUND LOL

The dealbreakers episode when Pete suggests the high def camera.

Great job dude..