Liz meets her longtime idol, Rosemary Howard, and invites her to be a guest writer on "TGS with Tracy Jordan". However, Rosemary's ideas turn out to be too much for the show, prompting Jack to pressure Liz into firing her. Meanwhile, Jack takes Tracy to a therapist to explain to him why he must do the opposite of what he is told, and Jenna ruins Kenneth's page jacket, causing him to compete in a page-off to keep his job.
Subversive character comedy sustains 81-point episode despite sparse standout moments.
Directed by Michael Engler · Written by Jack Burditt
WAR
125.2
Wins Above Replacement
“Rosemarys Baby” ranks #79 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 97.0 — Elite. The episode packs 78 scored jokes at 3.5 per minute, averaging 7.7 on craft and 7.5 on impact, with Liz landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Jack · Tracy: Tracy, what if I told you that the one thing you cannot do is therapy? / You're not my dad! We're doing therapy!
Jack Tracy Callback Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Tracy: I don't need therapy. I'm just mentally ill.
Tracy Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Liz: Never go with a hippie to a second location.
Liz Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Kenneth: Please. I breast fed 'til I was 11. So I've forgotten more about a woman's chest than you'll ever know.
Kenneth Misdirection Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: Jack: 'Never go with a hippie to a second location.'
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 78 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Jack: The GE Followship Award — presented annually to the person who best exemplifies a follower
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: Liz immediately protests 'I'm not a follower' — then hears it comes with ten grand and immediately says 'I accept this proudly on behalf of followers everywhere'
Liz Character Comedy Misdirection ★ Rewatch Jack: Jack uses the word 'adverlingus' to describe product integration
Jack Wordplay/Pun Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Liz · Jack: He has a microwave for a head! But it's such an excellent GE microwave.
Jack · Liz: Where do you invest your money, Liz? / I have, like, 12 grand in checking. / Are you an immigrant?
Jack Liz Character Comedy Setup/Punchline Ms. Moroney: If I can't be Monique fat, I have to be Teri Hatcher thin. Either way, you're laughin'.
Donnie · Ms. Moroney: Donnie spills something on Ms. Moroney's uniform and attempts to wipe it off, then splashes water on her — followed by screaming
Liz: Is she one of the ladies who tried to shoot Gerald Ford?
Liz Setup/Punchline Misdirection Liz · Rosemary: Pardon me! / Pardon you? You were already pardoned! / It's funny 'cause it's true.
Liz: I used to make my friends act out your skits the next day. When I say friends, I mean my Fisher Price... my friend dolls. Because I didn't have a lot of friends.
Liz Character Comedy Misdirection Liz · Rosemary: Oh, boy. Am I still talking? / You're gonna kill me, aren't you?
Rosemary: I grew up wanting to be Samantha Stevens on Bewitched. Closest I got was being married to a gay guy for two years.
Liz: You are my heroine. And by heroine, I mean lady hero. I don't wanna inject you and listen to jazz.
Liz Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Tracy: Who would have ever known there was so many words? It was like a Mos Def CD.
Tracy Character Comedy Observational Jack: You go forth and be crazy... except no dog fighting, okay? That seems to be the one thing that's off limits these days.
Jack Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Tracy: We gotta start doing dog fights. I know it's repulsive and hideous. But it's the only thing Jack Donaghy told me I cannot do. So I gotta do it!
Tracy Character Comedy Escalation Callback Tracy: Dog fighting it is. Make it happen.
Tracy Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Rosemary: Man, this is Phil Spector's entourage all over again. And his foot lingered.
Liz: I'll never watch Happy Days the same way again.
Liz Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement Rosemary: I miss live TV. It's like sex, you know? It's almost better when everything goes horribly wrong.
Rosemary · Liz: Does everyone still do blow in Joe Garagiola's office? Which one is blow again? Is that cocaine?
Donnie: This is a prop from the classic NBC series Supercomputer. 1975 to 1975.
Donnie Absurdist Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Donnie: Mr. Perfect, Mr. Jesus loves me Parcell finally messed up? Do you know how long I've been waiting to transfer that thumbhead to CNBC in Paramus, New Jersey?
Donnie Character Comedy Setup/Punchline Donnie: You've probably never seen breasts before. So I'm gonna lean over this desk and you're gonna give me a new page jacket.
Donnie Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Kenneth: Please. I breast fed 'til I was 11. So I've forgotten more about a woman's chest than you'll ever know.
Kenneth Misdirection Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Donnie · Kenneth: But... I'm on TV. / I said, 'Good day.' / No, you didn't. / Well, I meant to. / Kenneth Parcell is finished. Finished!
Rosemary · Writer: We open on a New Orleans abortion clinic. A beautiful mulatto... / Uh, I don't think we're allowed to use any of those words.
Rosemary · Writer: Don't you get it? The mailbox was Haldeman. / Is that a person who lived?
Rosemary: We get Josh in blackface, right? And then we get Tracy to call him a—!
Rosemary Dark/Subversive Cringe/Discomfort Tracy Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Liz · Rosemary: You can't do race stuff on TV. It's too sensitive. / We would have done that on the Mandrell Sisters!
Liz: Liz says 'I'm not some... follower' with visible self-consciousness
Liz Callback Reaction Beat ★ Rewatch Callback Frank · Jack: Barry the humping dog is shopping for a GE washer and dryer. / Have not seen that before. / Sharp idea.
Tracy: What? No! You idiots! I built a dog fighting pit in my basement for this?
Tracy Misdirection Escalation Callback Page · Liz: Hey, props gave me a bunch of dog penises for you to look at. / Oh, great, thanks.
Page Liz Absurdist Deadpan/Understatement Callback Jack: Fire her. And don't ever make me talk to a woman that old again.
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Jack · Jonathan · Liz: Yes, you can. It's easy. Observe. Jonathan, you're fired! / What? No! God, no! No, I won't fire her.
Liz · Jack: You're like the talking mailbox. / I'm gonna assume that's a Haldeman reference. In which case, I thank you.
Liz Jack Callback Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Liz: You are a suit. You feed off the creativity and hard work of other people and turn it into commercials and pie charts and triangle graphs.
Liz Character Comedy Setup/Punchline Jack: No, this is my show. And once a week I rent it out to the good people at the erectile dysfunction companies.
Jack Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Liz · Rosemary · Page: Rosemary, that was such a rush standing up to Jack like that. And I never would have done it if it weren't for you. / Jack says you're both fired.
Rosemary: Rosemary reacts to being fired with an enthusiastic 'Yes!'
Rosemary Misdirection Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Tracy: I don't need therapy. I'm just mentally ill.
Tracy Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Jack · Tracy: Tracy, what if I told you that the one thing you cannot do is therapy? / You're not my dad! We're doing therapy!
Jack Tracy Callback Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Ms. Moroney · Donnie: A page-off? What's that? / It's a savage contest. Mixing physical stamina with NBC trivia.
Liz · Rosemary: I don't know what kind of corporate mind games he's playing. But if Jack thinks I'm crawling back there... Oh, screw him. / Now that you're free, we can work on something together! Yeah, we can start our own network called Bitch TV!
Liz: Or the second idea that we think of.
Liz Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Liz · Rosemary: What neighborhood is this? / Oh, they call it little Chechnya. So gritty and real. More murders per capita than Detroit. Try not to write when you're living here. Is that guy carrying a gun? / Yeah, but don't worry. He's not a cop.
Therapist · Tracy: I'd like to hop right in and start with some role play. / Like my wife and I do? Cool. You be the maid. I want you to scream.
Tracy: Donaghy, you play the matador.
Tracy Absurdist Character Comedy Tracy · Jack: All I know is he's from funky north Philly. He worked in a Campbell's soup factory. And he had a droopy lip due to an unattended root canal. / I think I can do this.
Jack · Tracy: The therapy roleplay scene spirals into Jack playing multiple characters (Tracy's dad, his mom, a white stepfather, a Latina neighbor Mrs. Rodriguez) with increasingly absurd results
Jack · Tracy · Therapist: Hey, dummy! / I'm mad at you too. Why you gotta act out that way? / That's not exactly what I had in... / 'Cause you left me, dad! / I was young and confused and your moms didn't want me around no more. Now, pass me them damn collard greens!
Therapist: Whoa, no need to resort to ugly stereotypes.
Jack: Lady, just because I'm an ignorant black man. And you paid me a nickel to bust up your chifforobe, doesn't give you the right to call me ridiculous just 'cause I'm proud of my son.
Jack Character Comedy Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Jack · Tracy: They got me. The honkeys shot me. / No, dad! Don't die! I love you, dad! / I don't wanna dog fight no more!
Jack Tracy Escalation Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Tracy: Thank you for showing me there really is love in my family after all. And I need to stay the hell away from them.
Tracy Character Comedy Misdirection ★ Rewatch Jack: You know, it's too bad you didn't know Howard Cosell when you were growing up. 'Cause I had that one in my pocket the whole time.
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Rosemary: Women in their 50s join the army and get laid by a bunch of grateful 18 year olds. I predict opening weekend, a million dollars.
Rosemary: Rosemary: 'I predict opening weekend, a million dollars.'
Rosemary Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Liz · Rosemary: Have you been drinking wine all day? / Oh, it's heart healthy. / All day? / Oh, come on, Liz. It's the 90s!
Liz · Rosemary: Did an F train just go by your window? / I know that look. Don't even think about jumping for that train.
Rosemary · Liz: You pick up guys that are smart and funny. And they leave you for someone less complicated. You're never gonna get married, Liz. You're married to your job. / Oh my god. I lost my job.
Rosemary Liz Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Rosemary · Liz: You get up in the morning and smoke weed... / No, I don't. / You obsess about the Jamaican man across the hall. / Oh, my god. I lost my job.
Rosemary: I sat around while my junk went bad. All for you. I didn't have any kids. You're my kid! You're my kid that never calls!
Rosemary Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Rosemary: Help me, Liz Lemon! You're my only hope!
Rosemary Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy Donnie · Ms. Moroney: Okay, which NBC series spun off, among others, Cosby, Miami Vice, Cheers, and Highway to Heaven? / Supercomputer!
Pete: Hey! What the hell is going on down here? The phones are ringing off the hook, there's no one seating the Conan audience! Get back to work, you morons!
Pete Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Donnie: This isn't over between us, Moroney. You're in it now.
Donnie Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Kenneth · Ms. Moroney: It's finally over, Ms. Moroney. / Yes. / And it's hard to even remember how it all began. [beat] / You burnt my jacket.
Liz: All right, I need my job back. But this is not crawling, this is proud begging, like those kids that dance on the subway.
Liz Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Jack: Jack: 'Never go with a hippie to a second location.'
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Liz: Never go with a hippie to a second location.
Liz Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Liz · Jack: I have to do that thing that rich people do where they turn money into more money. Can you teach me how to do that? / With my eyes closed.
Liz Jack Character Comedy Setup/Punchline Liz · Jack: Oh, and by the way, I want to send Rosemary $400 a month for... forever. / You should, that woman is unemployable.
Liz Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Liz · Jack: Rosemary says that women become obsolete in this business when there's no one left that wants to see them naked. / You make enough money, you can pay people to look at you naked.
Liz Jack Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Jack · Liz: Oh, and by the way, GE has a problem with the dog penis sketch. / I'll change it. [beat] / Hey, what about cat penises?
Jack Liz Callback Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback 