Jack goes shopping for an engagement ring, for Elisa, with Liz. Elisa tells Liz a secret, and a prank results in an injury back at TGS.
73 jokes in 23 minutes: absurdist density meets character-driven dark comedy.
Directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller · Written by Jack Burditt
WAR
145.8
Wins Above Replacement
“The Ones” ranks #59 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 98.1 — Elite. The episode packs 92 scored jokes at 4.0 per minute, averaging 7.6 on craft and 7.6 on impact, with Jack landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Tracy: Tracy's terrible secret: 'In the 20 years that I've known her... I've never cheated on my wife. There, I said it. Don't look at me.'
Tracy Misdirection Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: # Working on my night cheese, Mmm, mmm...# — Liz singing about eating cheese at night
Liz Character Comedy Visual Gag ★ Rewatch Jenna: Jenna's confession: 'I'm just a girl... standing in front of a boy she poisoned so this other boy would go to town on her.'
Jenna Meta/Self-Referential Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Kenneth · Pranksman: Kenneth: 'My what?' / Pranksman: 'Oh, you mean your mouth radio?'
Tracy: 'Jesus is my stereo guy and The Wilderness is a club I took him to once.'
Tracy Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 92 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Jack · Jeweler: Jeweler responds to Jack's request for an engagement ring with 'Are you sure?'
Liz · Jack: 'Maybe you should have had a ring the first time you proposed. Then Elisa wouldn't have said no.' / 'She didn't say no, she said we should think about it.' / 'Yeah, that does not mean yes. In my experience, "let's think about it" usually ends up with me watching Solid Gold in my basement on prom night.'
Liz Jack Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Jack · Liz: 'I've coined a new term to describe what Elisa is to me... The One.' / 'Yeah, you should be a writer.'
Jack Liz Irony/Sarcasm Deadpan/Understatement Jack · Elisa · Jeweler: A woman (Elisa) hurls herself at the engagement ring display case and gets her finger caught in a vent — 'She's very spirited... like a show horse.'
Jack · Jeweler: 'Oh, no, no. She's not the bride. This is the one I am marrying.' / 'Oh. My apologies, sir. Please follow me to the real showroom.'
Elisa: 'My finger is caught in the vent!' — Elisa's line recurring after they've moved on
Elisa Running Gag Escalation Callback Liz: 'I was gonna go to the gym later so I deserve a treat.'
Liz Character Comedy Observational Liz: 'What? No, allergies are psychosomatic. The only reason I'm allergic to dogs is because one bit me the first time I got my period.'
Liz Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Frank: 'If I have a strawberry, my throat shuts up faster than a girl in math class.'
Frank Setup/Punchline Dark/Subversive Lutz · Liz: The cousin Stephanie walnut story that gets cut off: 'You know, if my cousin Stephanie eats a walnut her throat shuts up faster than a Filipino at a...' / 'Guys! Come on. Not okay.'
Lutz Liz Dark/Subversive Misdirection ★ Rewatch Callback Frank or writer: 'Don't worry, no food in here, Kenneth... just a donut box with a mouse in it.'
Lutz: Lutz hears 'donuts' and happily announces 'Awesome, donuts!' — then presumably gets pranked by the mouse
Lutz Physical/Slapstick Running Gag Callback Tracy: 'She was working at the Dyker Heights Arthur Treacher's and I was residing there.'
Tracy Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Tracy: The anniversary gift options: 'It's either going to be a denim jacket that says "Hot Bitch" in diamonds... or a Slanket.'
Tracy Character Comedy Absurdist Tracy: 'You are wise, Liz Lemon, like a genetically-manipulated shark.'
Tracy Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Tracy · Liz · Elisa: Tracy gives Liz a gift — implied to be something absurd/inappropriate (a Puerto Rican flag or novelty item based on reaction) — then Elisa appears unexpectedly
Elisa: 'I haven't spoken English in two menses.'
Elisa Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz · Elisa: Liz guesses Elisa's terrible secret: 'Are you a man?' / 'Really? That's your guess? A man?' / 'You want to see me naked?' / 'Sort of.'
Liz Elisa Character Comedy Misdirection ★ Rewatch Elisa: 'I don't think I have the strength to tell it to his head.'
Elisa Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Elisa · Liz: Elisa thanks Liz for doing 'what I cannot' and says 'Good-bye forever, Liz Lemon' — then leaves
Jenna: 'You're a big fan of mine and you're not gay? Not even bi-curious?'
Jenna Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Jenna's fan · Jenna: 'I've got all your albums even the one you did with Phil Spector. I still think that would have sold much better if he had shot me in the face.'
Jenna's fan · Jenna: Fan: 'Well, I'm glad you didn't get shot in the face.' / Jenna: 'Thank you.' / Fan: 'But if you had, I would have liked to have gotten that call. That would have been nice.'
Jenna · Kenneth: Breaking news: Jenna's animal rescue shelter is allegedly supplying quesadilla meat to amusement parks
Jenna's fan · Fan's friend: The fan steals pens and drags his friend away: 'Dude, we've got to go, man. I stole some pens.'
Jenna's fan · Lutz: The fan gives Lutz his phone number to pass to Jenna before leaving
Jack: Wig-Go.com: 'All anybody posted on it were penises.'
Jack Absurdist Dark/Subversive Elisa · Jack: Elisa bursts in declaring 'I'm back. Let's get married.' and Jack plans to 'carbo-load for the reunion sex'
Elisa · Liz: Elisa to Liz: 'Now, don't dare say anything about what I told you about my secret.' / Liz: 'I'm not going to because you have to.'
Liz: Liz is caught singing 'Baby cried the day the circus came to town' alone in a room
Liz Character Comedy Visual Gag Jenna: 'I called 911. They wouldn't even connect me to their celebrity service.'
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Pete · Jenna: Pete tells Jenna the psychiatrist's 'sociopath test' — a woman kills her father to see a man again at his funeral — as if it's advice
Pete Jenna Dark/Subversive Misdirection ★ Rewatch Jenna · Pete: 'Thanks for the advice!' / 'No, no, no, that wasn't advice. But of course, she'd also have to kill her father's doorman and anyone else who might have seen her. And you, for giving her the idea in the first place.'
Jenna Pete Dark/Subversive Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Liz · Tracy: Liz wearing a Slanket: 'Liz Lemon, you dummy. I'm wearing it as a joke.'
Liz Tracy Visual Gag Character Comedy Callback Tracy · Liz: Angie wants a tattoo of her face on Tracy's chest — 'I can't have this on my chest scaring off beautiful women in the clubs.'
Liz · Tracy: 'What do you want me to say, Tracy... "I'm sorry I made it harder for you to cheat on your wife?"' / 'That's a start, Liz Lemon. That's a start.'
Liz Tracy Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Kenneth: 'Strawberries!' — Kenneth shouting while going into anaphylactic shock
Kenneth Physical/Slapstick Running Gag Callback Kenneth: 'My real name... is Dick Whitman.'
Kenneth Meta/Self-Referential Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jack · Liz: Jack asks Liz about Elisa's secret — specifically worrying about 'a secret desire to keep her maiden name'
Liz: 'Elisa has a terrible secret. My current theory is she's the mother of those Michael Jackson kids.'
Liz Absurdist Character Comedy Jack: 'Blue writing on green. Why?'
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Jack · Liz: 'Call that cleaning lady back. We need somebody who speaks Spanish.' / 'I speak Spanish.' / 'Puerto Rican!'
Jack Liz Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Callback Jack: 'I'm so sorry to tell you such a dark tale while wearing such a silly t-shirt.'
Jack Visual Gag Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Elisa: 'I was married once and I killed my husband.'
Elisa Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Elisa: 'You know me, Jack. I'm a Catholic. I take the bonds of marriage very seriously.'
Elisa Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack · Elisa: Jack: 'Why aren't you in jail?' / Elisa: 'They threw my case out. I couldn't get an impartial jury after that song about me came out.'
Elisa: The song 'Elisa, Elisa, La Viuda Negra' plays — apparently a real hit
Elisa Absurdist Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Jack: 'My God, I already put my wedding announcement in Cigar Aficionado.'
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Dotcom: Dotcom's solution to the tattoo problem: draw a mane around Angie's face with a marker to make it look like a lion named 'Tangiers'
Dotcom Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Tracy · Dotcom: Tracy rejects 'Tangiers' because 'I own a gay lion!' / Then Dotcom explains: 'The Moroccan national soccer team is the Lions. Tangiers is in Morocco. So, yeah, I guess I'm an idiot.'
Jack · Liz: 'Have you ever met anyone that's killed somebody?' / 'I think my grandpa may have but he never really liked to talk about what happened at... Kent State.'
Jack Liz Dark/Subversive Misdirection ★ Rewatch Jack: 'So she had one bad day... somewhere, right now, a guy is on a J-date with Monica Lewinsky. Nobody's perfect.'
Jack Observational Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Jack: 'I'm 50. To put it in perspective, that's like 32 for ladies.'
Jack Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Jack · Liz Lemon: Jack: 'How many more Elisas am I going to meet?' / Liz: 'Okay, well... God bless.' / Jack: 'Nobody ever said you did, Lemon.'
Jenna: 'Like on a sheik's pleasure yacht. Thank you.'
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Liz: 'It's not product placement. I just like it.'
Liz Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: Jack's fantasy excuse for cheating: 'What if I find myself stranded in a snow cave with a stern but comely lady geologist, both of us knowing that our only chance for survival is the heat from our naked bodies?'
Jack Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jack · Tracy: Jack tells Tracy his fiancée murdered her ex-husband for cheating; Tracy says 'Continue.'
Jack Tracy Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Tracy: 'Jesus is my stereo guy and The Wilderness is a club I took him to once.'
Tracy Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Kenneth · EMTs · Jenna: Kenneth goes into 'acute strawberry shock' and the EMTs threaten to cut off his hands and he'll 'have to learn how to urinate with his feet'
Fake EMT / Pranksman: The fake EMT declares: 'We're gonna have to cut off his hands to get the sickness out. He's gonna have to learn how to urinate with his feet.'
Jenna: Jenna's confession: 'I'm just a girl... standing in front of a boy she poisoned so this other boy would go to town on her.'
Jenna Meta/Self-Referential Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Pete: 'Thank God... "sociopath" downgraded to "extreme narcissist."'
Pete Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Kenneth: 'Is that a thing?' — Kenneth's reaction to hearing about 'The Pranksmen'
Kenneth Reaction Beat Deadpan/Understatement Callback Tracy · Jack · Club woman: A woman approaches Tracy and his friend at a club: 'Hey, Tray, you and your friend want to party later?' / Tracy: 'Sure thing, baby. Give the kid a call, hmm? Holla.' — then hands her Jack's number
Tracy Jordan: Tracy to Jack: 'You can have all of this whenever you want. Or... you can marry that nice lady that you're in love with. It's up to you.'
Jack: 'This is decadent and I once went to Miami with Darryl Strawberry.'
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Tracy: Tracy's terrible secret: 'In the 20 years that I've known her... I've never cheated on my wife. There, I said it. Don't look at me.'
Tracy Misdirection Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Tracy: 'The partying is just for show... and because I'm a high-functioning alcoholic.'
Tracy Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Tracy: 'So can you because I'm a ridiculous, unstable human being. What is wrong with me?'
Tracy Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement The Pranksmen · Kenneth: The Pranksmen's escalating revenge on Kenneth: strawberry juice in his chickpeas, water, and harmonica
Kenneth · Pranksman: Kenneth: 'My what?' / Pranksman: 'Oh, you mean your mouth radio?'
Jenna · Kenneth: Jenna poisoned Kenneth because she thought the paramedic was 'The One' — completing the episode title theme
Jenna Maroney · Kenneth: Jenna's apology to Kenneth: 'I just want you to know that I would not do this to you for just any guy... I really thought that he was... The One.'
Jenna: 'It hurts more than my foot Botox to know that he's out there and I have no way to find him.'
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jenna · Paramedic: 'Earn... this.' — Jenna's paramedic appears while she's in crisis
Liz: # Working on my night cheese, Mmm, mmm...# — Liz singing about eating cheese at night
Liz Character Comedy Visual Gag ★ Rewatch Jack · Liz: Jack shows up at Liz's apartment at 4am after a night of clubbing to talk about his relationship
Jack Liz Character Comedy Reaction Beat Jack: 'His life is like Enron, 1999. It's wild.'
Jack Character Comedy Observational Elisa: Elisa bursts in angry: 'How are you so quiet when your parades are so loud?'
Elisa Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Elisa · Liz: Elisa accuses Jack and Liz of a sexual relationship: 'I knew your relationship was too weird not to be sexual!' / Liz: 'Yeah, I mean, come on. Look at me.'
Liz Lemon: Liz: 'Yeah, I mean, come on. Look at me. Ooh.'
Liz Lemon Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Jack: Jack: 'Lemon, isn't there a Slanket somewhere you should be filling with your farts? Shoo.'
Jack Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Elisa: Elisa: 'Maybe this is my curse. I love too deeply... And eventually it makes me loco for Choco-Puffs.'
Elisa Character Comedy Misdirection Jack: Jack breaks up with Elisa: 'if tonight is what it's going to be like, obviously, engagement-wise, we are not going to forge ahead.'
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Elisa · Jack: Elisa: 'Is it my English or was that not a great breaking-up speech?' / Jack: 'It was your English. That was quite moving.'
Elisa Jack Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Jenna · Kenneth: Jenna: 'I had an amazing date last night and it's all thanks to Kenneth.' / Kenneth: 'Oh, it was nothing. Sure, I was legally dead for five minutes but I did it for true love.'
Jenna Kenneth Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Jenna · Kenneth: The paramedic has sole custody of a five-year-old son, so Jenna's interest ends — 'Wait a minute, you were dead?' as her response to Kenneth's clinical death revelation
Kenneth: Kenneth: 'I think I brought something back with me.' — implying he returned from clinical death with something supernatural
Kenneth Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Tracy · Liz: Tracy arrives without a shirt, explains 'No' to going home and 'at large' to his shirt's whereabouts
Tracy Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Tracy · Liz · Dotcom: Tracy reveals the tattoo — apparently a full-face portrait of Angie on his chest, with the lion makeover already done: 'Wow, that is one gay lion.'
Liz Lemon: Liz: 'Wow, that is one gay lion.'
Liz Lemon Deadpan/Understatement Callback ★ Rewatch Callback