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Tina Fey's 10 Favorite 30 Rock Moments
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The Emmy-winning comedian tells The Daily Beast what really cracks her up on 30 Rock.
“It’s that time of year where we’re in the middle of writing and shooting,” Tina Fey said last week from the set of her show. “It’s pretty much eat, sleep, 30 Rock time.”
The Emmy-winning NBC comedy is now in its fourth season. “Being the new kid on the block is over,” Fey says. “I feel like we have these characters that we know a lot about now. We’ve endowed them with history that you then have to go back and revisit.”
Yes, let’s please revisit: Here, Tina Fey takes us through her 10 favorite moments from 30 Rock.
“That’s one of the first jokes I ever had repeated back to me. It was the first time I remember anyone saying, ‘I like that joke.’ It was a nice turning point. I felt like we were really on TV.”
Ep. 106, “Tracy Does Conan”
LIZ: Why are you wearing a tux?
JACK: It’s after six. What am I, a farmer?
“That’s from the first season, an episode I wrote where Tracy is going on the Conan O’Brien show and he’s off his medication. We’re trying to get him to be normal, and I go to Jack, but he’s not a lot of help. He’s wearing a tux. That’s one of the first jokes I ever had repeated back to me. It was the first time I remember anyone saying, ‘I like that joke.’ It was a nice turning point. I felt like we were really on TV. It was sort of a defining moment for the Jack character in terms of just his elegance and his priorities. His character has gotten a lot more three-dimensional as time’s gone on, and this is him in his ridiculous infancy."
Ep. 204, “Rosemary’s Baby”
LIZ: It was terrible. I went to her apartment. I don’t think she has a toilet. I saw my future, Jack.
JACK: Never go with a hippie to a second location.
“That was written by Jack Burditt, who’s a genius. Carrie Fisher played Rosemary, an idol of Liz’s, [and in this episode] she realizes, ‘Oh, [I hope] my life doesn’t turn out like my idol’s, or I’ll be a crazy, old wino.’ A good portion of this was rewritten late at night in my apartment…This was in Season 2, and a lot of times, the writers were in the writers room all day, and if I was shooting, I’d meet up with the writers at 9 or 10 o’clock in my apartment and we’d write until 2 or 3 in the morning to get things done. It was hard because I was turning around and shooting the next day. But I remember this being a joyful night… there was a lot of laughing that night.”
Ep. 208, “Secrets and Lies”
TRACY: I spent two days making that movie from my home and what did I get? A million dollars, a yellow Bentley and nothing.
“I like every time we get to make up some predicament that Tracy’s character was in. We showed an animated clip that Yvonne, on staff, was able to make—a fake, animated clip done on the super cheap, and the movie was supposedly done with Charles Barkley. The one thing I like is that Tracy has a way—he doesn’t say ‘a million dollars.’ He says, ‘a millah-dallahs,’ which always makes me laugh. Tracy may, at the time, have had a lime green Jaguar. That may have been an inspiration for the yellow Bentley.”
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bryanlevi
30 Rock is the best thing on broadcast TV, obviously. But it is also as funny or funnier than anything else in the entire cable stratosphere, too.
bigwurzz
Yeah, they are doing a great job. I don't see this one getting stale a la the office. Keep it up!
jgardner100
Best thing on broadcast TV? maybe in the US at the moment, but you should try to see some "MIghty Bosch", "Flight of the Conchords" or "Hungry Beast" all of which are trying something new rather than just paying homage to the old greats like Night Court and Soap.
PoliticalBoy21
No, this is better than Hungry Beast (people in their bedroom make more insightful things on YouTube), Flight and far more intelligent than the Boosh, how could you even compare this to the mighty boosh.
SCMax101
30 is my favorite show on television. Any episode with Chris Parnell is great.
my3sons
I so am Liz Lemon. My husband just laughs. I love the show and Alec Baldwin is just fantastic.
my3sons
During a very turbulent flight I watched the episode with Paul Reubens and his tiny hands and smiled the entire time. Thanks
Mercy1981
My favorite episode is Tracy does Conan - classic.
Fun Read!
yeschef
The best two minutes in television, let alone 30 Rock, is the therapy scene in Rosemary's Baby where Jack channels Tracey's dad. Tracey gives Jack the byline..."He's from funky north Philly who worked in a Campbell's soup factory and he had a droopy lip due to an unattended root canal" and he runs with it. HILARIOUS! Alec Baldwin is in a class by himself.
luciblue
What about the episode where Tracy might have diabetes (and Dr. Spaceman doesn't know how to pronounce the condition), thinks its okay, and simply wants to replace his foot with a wheel like Rosie from the Jetsons? That was ACES.
bananaloggirl
LOVE THIS! Love Tina Fey, love Tracy Morgan. So much goodness and hilarity.
Mojohand
These are great, but one of my favorites was the 'Studio 60' jab, which went something like: "This is going to be a terrible show." "Worse than that time we did that Gilbert and Sullivan parody?" "Well, no, not that bad."
Anyone recall which Season 1 ep that was?
TheGeneral
The episode with Jack getting bedbugs and having to ride the subway was good, but not a bucket of laughs UNTIL that last bit with Jack singing and passing the basket. I laughed so damn hard I fell out of my chair. Seriously haven't laughed that hard in years. Alec Baldwin is brilliant. If you're like me and ride the subway every day, you appreciate what a strange world it is down there and this little bit and the earlier speech to the assembled train was bitingly satirical without being mean-spirited.
darrend
"Tell it to me in Star Wars."
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
namedujour
I'm sorry, but NOBODY beats Kathy Geiss in any episode. When she pulled a Susan Boyle in last week's Auditions episode, I choked. Then when Liz Lemon later remarks that she pulled her underpants off at the end of the song, I fell off my chair.
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
cathtray
Yes, all killers, I agree. My all-time favorite, however, is Paul Ruben's "Thank you for coming to my birthday." It makes me cry.
cathtray
Mmmmm, that's Reubens.
Thank you.
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