As TGS' summer hiatus approaches, Liz deals with the difficulties of her long-distance relationship with Floyd while she enlists Kenneth's help in locating on-the-lam Tracy. Meanwhile, Jack's impending marriage to Phoebe brings his mother, Colleen Donaghy to town.
Season finale delivers 46 jokes in absurdist escalations, but 75.9 score reflects uneven landing.
Directed by Don Scardino · Written by Tina Fey
WAR
107.2
Wins Above Replacement
“Hiatus” ranks #92 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 96.1 — Elite. The episode packs 67 scored jokes at 3.2 per minute, averaging 7.7 on craft and 7.5 on impact, with Jack Donaghy landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
Get weekly comedy rankings
Join comedy fans getting new analyses, score drops, and the funniest moments each week. Free, no spam.
Top Jokes
Jack Donaghy: Jack's life flashing before his eyes: 'Neil Patterson pitching me the rotating microwave tray' [pause] 'Me personally coining the phrase What's the upside?' [pause] 'Participating in Hands Across America'
Jack Donaghy: Jack appears to be having a heart attack: 'Oh, God, this is it. Here it comes... the big one. Ride it, Donaghy. Ride it straight to hell!'
Liz Lemon · Colleen Donaghy: Liz describes Phoebe to Colleen as 'a white geisha' — 'Say no more! Shark eyes.'
Jack Donaghy: Jack's one regret: 'I should have worked more.'
Colleen Donaghy · Jack Donaghy: Colleen asks 'Do you love me?' — gets 'Of course I do.' — then 'I knew it.' — implying the polygraph confirms 'love' as a lie
All Jokes — 67 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Narrator: Previously on 30 Rock recap ends with 'Cough. And cough.' as if those are meaningful plot beats
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Liz Lemon · Doctor: Doctor asks Liz if she's sleeping, drinking water, exercising — she says No to all three — 'I feel great.'
Doctor · Jack Donaghy: Doctor asks: 'Do you have any questions about the wedding night?' followed by a long comedic pause
Doctor · Jack Donaghy: Blood pressure reading: '310/280. We have a winner.'
Doctor · Liz Lemon: 'How's the stress eating?' / 'Under control.' [cut to Liz clearly eating badly] 'You're still not eating right, huh?' / 'No, but I am eating a lot.'
Liz Lemon: Liz rattles off her stressors to the doctor including 'the star is missing and may have been abducted by a cabal of powerful black celebrities'
Kenneth: 'Should I include Tracy and his guests, or do you think he's dead?'
Kenneth Deadpan/Understatement Dark/Subversive Liz Lemon: 'We used to do it every week without him. I'm just saying.'
Pete: Pete's genuine concern for Tracy: 'I hope he's okay. I hope he's taking his medication. And I hope he took a jacket 'cause it can get real chilly there.'
Pete Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Jack Donaghy · Kenneth: Jack threatens Kenneth: 'I will cut you open like a tauntaun... you mouth-breathing Appalachian!'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy in disguise insists 'I think you have me confused with someone else. My name is Gordon Tremeshko.'
Jesse Parcell · Tracy Jordan: 'I'm Jesse Parcell, Kenneth's cousin.' — the coded exchange with 'What? / That's it.'
Jesse Parcell: 'It really riles up the wolves.' — Jesse casually mentions wolves are outside at night
Jesse Parcell: Jesse quotes/reenacts 'Honky Grandma Be Trippin'' — 'It was so funny, I nearly wet my other pair of underpants.'
Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Tracy's wife thinks he's been shooting a vampire movie in Bucharest since February
Jack Donaghy · Colleen Donaghy: Jack accidentally calls his mother 'Jackie-kins'; Colleen says 'Never mind!' before he can correct himself
Colleen Donaghy · Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Colleen mistakes Liz for Phoebe, calls Liz perfect with 'good, solid baby bucket'
Colleen Donaghy · Phoebe: Colleen meets the real Phoebe and says 'Oh, my God' with a loaded pause, then 'Hmm.'
Kenneth · Jesse Parcell: Spy phone call: 'Rooster, this is the farmer. Is the egg safe?' / 'The egg is in the nest.'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy asks about Russell Simmons' birthday party: 'Were there girls there with butts?'
Jesse Parcell: 'You're not a movie star anymore. You're name's Gordon Tremeshko. You live in Needmore, Pennsylvania, where we don't go out at night 'cause of the wolves.'
Liz Lemon · Floyd: Liz and Floyd's phone call: 'What's the weather like there?' / 'Mid-40s.' / 'Oh, really? 'Cause it's low 40s here.' / 'Really?' / 'Yeah.' / 'Wow.'
Floyd: Floyd's reason for ending the call: 'I'm waiting for the bus. So I should probably just focus on that, you know.'
Floyd Deadpan/Understatement Cringe/Discomfort Callback Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Liz agrees to dinner only if she gets 'two lobsters totaling five pounds of lobster meat'
Jesse Parcell: 'And after that, we can clean the dead birds out the chimney. That's why we bought these metal rods. Don't you just love spring?'
Cerie: Cerie announces she 'totally did it in the prize van' with a DJ and 'I'll pretty much do anything to someone that's famous.'
Cerie Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Colleen Donaghy · Phoebe · Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Dinner scene: Colleen mishears Phoebe say 'petunias bloom' twice, then acts confused
Liz Lemon · Colleen Donaghy: Liz describes Phoebe to Colleen as 'a white geisha' — 'Say no more! Shark eyes.'
Jack Donaghy · Colleen Donaghy: Jack defends his marriage record: 'the only marriage in the history of St. Helen's Catholic Church where the priest recommended the divorce'
Jack Donaghy: Jack corrects his mother's pronunciation: 'It's not Bee-yan-ka, like Sanka. It's Bee-yon-ka, like Willy Won... Wonka!'
Liz Lemon: 'Could we order dessert?' — Liz's only contribution after an intense family confrontation
Liz Lemon Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Tracy Jordan: Tracy calls from Jesse's house: 'I'd rather die famous than live for 100 years like this, carrying plastic bags, sitting on benches, brushing my own teeth.'
Phoebe: Phoebe: 'Jack, you desperately need new pajamas... it's like wearing your own skin to bed.'
Phoebe Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Colleen Donaghy · Jack Donaghy · Phoebe: Colleen walks in on Jack and Phoebe: 'With your condition, ordinarily, wouldn't you just be on top?' / 'I can't. I have vertigo.'
Phoebe · Jack Donaghy · Colleen Donaghy: 'It's a bloody shame nobody waits for their wedding night anymore. Go to bed, Mother!' / 'You promised you'd go over my taxes.'
Jack Donaghy: Jack appears to be having a heart attack: 'Oh, God, this is it. Here it comes... the big one. Ride it, Donaghy. Ride it straight to hell!'
Jack Donaghy: 'Bollocks.' — Jack's only word after surviving the cardiac episode
Jack Donaghy Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Liz Lemon: Liz video calls Floyd: 'Ugh! Is that how far apart my eyes are? I look like Admiral Ackbar.'
Liz Lemon · Floyd: Floyd says 'not working... breaking up' about the call — Liz mishears as him breaking up with her
Colleen Donaghy: Colleen refuses to go into Jack's hospital room: 'I go in there, I get bird flu, I don't come out.'
Liz Lemon: Liz arrives at the hospital in a costume: 'I was at a costume party earlier this evening. And the hostess's dog attacked me, so I had to stab it.'
Doctor · Liz Lemon: Doctor says Jack may have scurvy 'because he keeps asking for lemon' — 'That's me.' / 'Oh.'
Colleen Donaghy: Colleen's message: 'Tell him his mother's here. And she loves him. But not in a queer way.'
Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'My mouth tastes like purple.'
Jack Donaghy: Jack's life flashing before his eyes: 'Neil Patterson pitching me the rotating microwave tray' [pause] 'Me personally coining the phrase What's the upside?' [pause] 'Participating in Hands Across America'
Jack Donaghy: Jack's one regret: 'I should have worked more.'
Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'I think I got Nixon to agree to come on the show and say Sock it to me.'
Kenneth: 'Ooh, they got a door. That's new.' — Kenneth arrives at Parcell Hollow
Jesse Parcell: 'I'd invite you in, but I got a living room full of dead chimney birds.'
Jesse Parcell · Tracy Jordan: 'Shh, shh. We must rest, my chimney bird. Tonight we're reading my screenplay.'
Pete: Pete offers to 'do the thing where I walk like RoboCop' with the voice: 'Your move, creep.'
Pete Character Comedy Absurdist Cerie · Liz Lemon: Cerie says Floyd called; when asked how it's going she says 'Not great' — then reveals she was relieved thinking he might break up with her
Frank Rossitano · Liz Lemon: Frank bursts in: 'Hey, guys, I hear you're looking for someone to dance in front of the band?' Liz: 'Uh, no.'
Jesse Parcell: Jesse chases Tracy with a rifle shouting: 'By the hammer of Thor! You can't get away from me! I know what you look like! I remember what you look like! You're so stupid. I got to reload. Damn, I wish I had a vehicle.'
Colleen Donaghy · Jack Donaghy · Phoebe: After Jack answers 'of course I do' to 'Do you love me?' — Colleen says 'I knew it.' Then turns to Phoebe: 'Do you love me?' [long pause] 'I see.'
Colleen Donaghy · Jack Donaghy: Colleen asks 'Do you love me?' — gets 'Of course I do.' — then 'I knew it.' — implying the polygraph confirms 'love' as a lie
Jack Donaghy · Kenneth: Jack screams 'Aah!' after Colleen's 'I see' — then Kenneth interrupts with 'They got pretzels downstairs!'
Cab Driver / Police Officer: Tracy and Kenneth stuck in traffic: 'The President's in town, there's a transit strike, it's the Dominican Independence Day parade, a guy in suspenders is doing chalk paintings down on Canal Street.'
Kenneth: 'Oh, my God, what a terrible mistake accident!' [during the ambulance ride]
Kenneth · Tracy Jordan: Kenneth: 'If I die, will you take care of my birds?' Tracy: 'I got a lot on my plate right now, Ken.'
Liz Lemon · Tracy Jordan: Liz's speech: 'I think this might be the best show we have ever done.' / Tracy walks in: 'I'm back!' / 'Oh, thank God. We were so screwed.'
Liz Lemon · Lutz: Liz to Lutz: 'Lutz, don't just stand there. Go eat something.'
Liz Lemon · Frank/Writer: 'Just read the cards and act super-gay. Okay.'
Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Jack: 'You're the only person I know who wouldn't hesitate to pull the plug.'
Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'You're the only person I know who wouldn't hesitate to pull the plug.'
Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Jack tells Liz: 'I no longer think you're doing a terrible job, and I'm very proud of you.'
Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Final beat: Jack tells Liz to pull the plug; she says 'Just let me do it'; he says 'Whoa, whoa.'
