Hoping to boost staffers' spirits, Liz takes TGS on the road, but Jack takes over for his own reasons, and the staff find reasons to blame Liz for all that's wrong in their lives.
Season 4's densest episode delivers 59 jokes across 43 minutes via character-driven absurdism.
Directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller · Written by Vali Chandrasekaran
WAR
105.8
Wins Above Replacement
“Winter Madness” ranks #128 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 92.5 — Elite. The episode packs 74 scored jokes at 3.0 per minute, averaging 7.5 on craft and 7.4 on impact, with Jack Donaghy landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Jack Donaghy · Nancy Donovan: I'll give you two words. Ten. Four. Final offer. I'll wait. / Not forever. / I'll try. / Wicked hard.
Reenactor (John Hancock) · Tracy Jordan: Then, in 1754, I graduated from university here in Boston. Well, not in Boston, but nearby. No, not Tufts. Don't listen to him!
Tracy Jordan: We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on Mars!
Jack Donaghy: I have elaborate fantasies of her husband dying in a boat explosion.
Reenactor (John Hancock): Well, technically I just inherited my slaves.
All Jokes — 74 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Liz Lemon: You can do some serious subway flirting before you realize the guy is homeless.
Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Oh, is that where the word 'sad' comes from? / What? You think 'sad' is an acronym invented by psychologists?
Jack Donaghy: I'm telling Nancy that I'm with female Kevin McHale.
Jack Donaghy: I have elaborate fantasies of her husband dying in a boat explosion.
Liz Lemon: Stop. Pots. Tops. Opts. Post.
Liz Lemon Running Gag Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Liz Lemon: Who knows? Maybe some people won't be coming back next year.
Liz Lemon Meta/Self-Referential Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Lutz: I don't care. Worth it.
Lutz Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Callback Jack Donaghy · Nancy Donovan: Jonathan, why do I have an Indian assistant if my computer is always... / Jack. I'm messing with you.
Jack Donaghy: Well, my 25th reunion from Harvard Business School is... June 5th.
Nancy Donovan: I'm tired of waking up to a porch full of dead squirrels.
Jack Donaghy: God, I miss Boston.
Pete Hornberger · Unnamed writer: Nutmeg. / Rodeo, rodeo, rodeo.
Pete Hornberger: Think about it, Liz. Florida. I can rent a convertible, you can complain about the heat with elderly people.
Pete Hornberger · Jack Donaghy: Cross promotional. Deal mechanics. Revenue streams. Jargon. Synergy. / That's the best presentation I've ever seen.
Pete Hornberger: But I... I bought a parrot shirt. [sighs] Whoo! Okay.
Liz Lemon: It is a city with an NBA team. And even though Will Smith never wrote any raps about it, the poet Robert Lowell lived there.
Writer: How? Their bars close at 2:00.
Writer Observational Deadpan/Understatement Jack Donaghy · Writer · Liz Lemon: You know, I went to college in Boston. Well, not in Boston, but nearby. No, not Tufts... Shut up. It's 14 degrees up there. / Harvard. / You have been told to shut up.
Liz Lemon: Also, there is no Spectravision or Internet in the hotel, so plan ahead, gentlemen, porn-wise.
Liz Lemon Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Frank: You can't have talked about it! You just said you didn't even know about it.
Frank Setup/Punchline Character Comedy Frank: You think I like sharing a room with Toofer? Dude is still playing that Obama song. And yeah, I know you're standing there!
Frank Character Comedy Reaction Beat Jenna Maroney · Liz Lemon: Why would you just assume we would room together? / Why would he assume we wouldn't?
Toofer · Frank: I don't know. Maybe because one of us still hasn't read the other's screenplay. / I read it. I just didn't like it.
Liz Lemon: These are Jamie Foxx for assfarm.
Cerie · Liz Lemon: Sue and I already talked about it. / Why? You know Sue says stuff about you behind your back. / She always says stuff to me about you. / Wait, what? / I was making my thing up. / You bitch!
Jenna Maroney: [German accent] What did you tell her, you vondruke?
Tracy Jordan: It's great to be here, Cleveland. / You suck. / I suck? The rock and roll hall of fame sucks!
Kenneth Parcell: These gentlemen are the writers for Bruins Beat, whose offices we'll be sharing. They are all named Sean. They are mean, and I hate it here.
Kenneth Parcell · Bruins Beat writers: Kenneth being beaten up by the Bruins Beat writers and screaming 'Please! Please help! Please!'
Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: What, are you not using an office-replication service while we're here in Boston? / Is it identical? / Not quite. Seven items are different. See if you can spot which ones.
Jack Donaghy: Oh, that'll really disappoint your key demographic of drunken 11-year-olds.
Jack Donaghy: What keeps people polite on airplanes? A shared hatred of the CBS sitcoms they're forced to watch.
Liz Lemon: With these dummies, the common enemy is always me. And I'm sick of it.
Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Then find someone else. I recommend Lutz. / Why do I always want to choke that guy? / You just do.
Jack Donaghy: You're not a part of this, Liz.
Liz: Liz stays in the office alone after being excluded. Visual reaction beat — Liz standing there having been told she's not a part of it.
Liz Reaction Beat Awkward Silence Sean: I'm the head writer at Bruins Beat. Trying to have it all... it's wicked hard.
Sean Observational Irony/Sarcasm Jack Donaghy: I find that news anchors and breasts are always smaller than they look on TV.
Jack Donaghy: Tonight's top story, a Worcester man accused of trading his foster son for gasoline. And later in the hour, ten tips on how to make your cat's birthday go purr-fectly. Back to you, Nat.
Nancy Donovan: Apparently Brad Pitt and Sharon Stone did a crap job rebuilding those Katrina homes, and Mark thinks he can make a fortune down there.
Nancy Donovan: We talked to Dr. Phil, and then we made a collage in our dream journals.
Nancy Donovan · Jack Donaghy: Do you know how to rewire a doorbell? / I do if you can resuscitate an electrocuted person. / Can you wire the doorbell to the dog?
Tracy Jordan: Purr-fect! Like a cat birthday. How could I possibly get in trouble on a walking tour?
Tracy Jordan: Tracy as John Hancock disrupting the Freedom Trail tour, shouting 'You lying, white devil! The only people you set free were rich, white dudes like yourself!'
Reenactor (John Hancock): Well, technically I just inherited my slaves.
Tracy Jordan: For a dude that has the most hilarious last name I ever heard, you blow.
Tracy Jordan: We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on Mars!
Jack Donaghy · Nancy Donovan: [electricity crackles] — doorbell wiring attempt result
Jack Donaghy: Ugh. I have many other valuable skills.
Nancy Donovan: It'll be the new owner's problem. Just like the water heater. And the ghost.
Lutz: The Shell by me has good hot dogs. [All protest]
Lutz Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Liz Lemon · Writer: Dale Snitterman. / Who the hell is Dale Snitterman?
Liz Lemon: Snitterman is the one who cancelled taco night in the commissary. / Snitterman is the one who okayed that cast photo where your hair looks green.
Jenna Maroney: That vondruke!
Pete Hornberger · Jack Donaghy: You wanted to see the world's greatest manager? / Is Kiyoshi Kawashima of Honda here?
Jack Donaghy: The imaginary enemy. Classic move, Lemon. The Salem witch trials, the red scare, global warming.
Jack Donaghy: Silas Marymount-Peppercorn. / Uh, a name I came up with.
Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Oh, you should have come to me for your fake name. My executive? Dale Snitterman. / Amazing, Lemon. Where do you come up with this stuff?
Liz Lemon: Okay, in this instance, the creative process was that I saw that name, forgot that I saw it, and said it later.
Liz Lemon Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Reenactor (John Hancock) · Tracy Jordan: Then, in 1754, I graduated from university here in Boston. Well, not in Boston, but nearby. No, not Tufts. Don't listen to him!
Tracy Jordan · Kenneth Parcell: I said they suck! / Uh-oh. Here come the punches. / This was all Snitterman's fault.
Pete Hornberger · Jenna Maroney: I am Silas Marymount-Peppercorn, and this is my first wife... Moronica. / It's nice to meet you. I'm British.
Pete Hornberger: My wife and I have disparate levels of attractiveness, because I am a successful inventor.
Tracy: Tracy discovers 'Snitterman's office' in the Boston building and rallies the staff to confront him.
Tracy Character Comedy Escalation Callback Pete Hornberger: Partially finished? / I'll take it!
Writer · Frank: Dudes, you are not gonna believe this. Snitterman is here. / We should go up there and mess him up for all the crap he's put us through.
Writer · Frank: You little bitch. / Look at you. You're just a suit. You're nobody! I don't even know why I was scared of this guy.
Writer · Lutz · Other writers: Lutz! Truffle-shuffle him! / Truffle shuffle! Truffle shuffle!
Writer · Writers: Yeah, take that, Snitterman. That's what you get for making us work late tonight. / Yeah! / We're working late tonight because of you!
Nancy Donovan: You know, down in New York people are like, 'let's get divorced. You marry the butler, and I'll be a gay octomom.'
Jack Donaghy: Your neighbors named their daughter Belichick!
Jack Donaghy · Nancy Donovan: I'll give you two words. Ten. Four. Final offer. I'll wait. / Not forever. / I'll try. / Wicked hard.
Reenactor (John Hancock): I want you to meet my fellow revolutionary and dear friend, Crispus Attucks, so you can see John Hancock has Black friends.
Tracy Jordan · Reenactor (John Hancock) · Reenactor (Crispus Attucks): And where did you two meet? / Why, we met at the sons of liberty gathering. Uh, when was that, Crispus? / 1775? / Really? So five years after Crispus Attucks was killed in the Boston Massacre? / Run, Crispus. He's on to us!
