The tables are turned when production begins on Liz’s new talk show, “Dealbreakers,” and she experiences what its like to walk a mile in Jenna’s shoes. Jack, dealing with pressure from Devin, calculates to make “Dealbreakers” a success. Meanwhile, Tracy takes on the ultimate Hollywood challenge in order to prove his commitment to his wife. Everyone pitches in to help Tracy reach his goal including Kenneth, Dotcom and Grizz.
Four-minute talk show sketch sustains 84.5-point momentum with absurdist character comedy at peak density.
Directed by Don Scardino · Written by Kay Cannon
WAR
162.7
Wins Above Replacement
“Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001” ranks #7 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 100.0 — Elite. The episode packs 96 scored jokes at 4.0 per minute, averaging 7.7 on craft and 7.7 on impact, with Liz Lemon landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Dr. Leo Spaceman · Liz Lemon: The eye chart reads: 'Dear Dr. Spaceman, thank you for your submission. The New England Journal of Medicine does not publish X-rated cartoons.'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy promises to do Christmas shopping to prove reliability, then walks out mid-sentence: 'I'll do the Christmas shopping this year to prove to you I can be reliable and that I can finish everything that I-' [leaves]
Tracy Jordan: Tracy: 'I have a hole in my heart, and not the one I got from eating batteries.'
Liz Lemon: Liz's fantasy song: '♪ I'm a star / I'm on top / somebody bring me some ham ♪'
Tracy Jordan · Whoopi Goldberg: Whoopi Goldberg reveals she got her EGOT 'on a bet too' — 'That's why Arlen Specter had to change parties. You created the supermajority?'
All Jokes — 96 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Narrator/Jack: Studio 4C's history: 'To Catch a Predator, the XFL halftime show, storage for broken copier equipment, and now... Dealbreakers.'
Liz Lemon: Liz's fantasy song: '♪ I'm a star / I'm on top / somebody bring me some ham ♪'
Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Jack: 'You're like a swarthy, big-hipped Kelly Ripa.'
Liz Lemon · Astronaut Mike Dexter (fantasy): Liz's astronaut fantasy: 'I have to go back into space, Liz. I hope you enjoyed the kissing, followed by my genuine interest in that TV dance competition. Bye, astronaut Mike Dexter.'
Liz Lemon · Pete: Pete interrupts the fantasy: 'Liz! Snap out of it!' / Liz: 'No, go away. This is my fantasy, Pete!' / Pete: 'I knew it. You're blonde in your fantasies.' / Liz: 'It looks terrible.'
Jenna Maroney · Liz Lemon: Jenna: 'My niece drew a picture of me, and I look so fat!' / Liz: 'Well, I really like your hair today.' / Jenna: 'Thank you! But you don't know what it looks like, because of the door!'
Pete: Pete's reaction: 'Wow, she finally figured that out.' (about Jenna realizing Liz can't see her through the door)
Pete Reaction Beat Deadpan/Understatement Liz Lemon · Jenna Maroney: Liz manipulates Jenna out with the threat of Jenny McCarthy: 'I know that Jenny McCarthy is in town.' / Jenna: 'My nemesis? Never!'
Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'I am not crazy, because unlike Jenna, my mother never used my beauty pageant winnings to buy her married boyfriend a motorcycle.'
Pete: Pete's confession: 'Lately, I've been shoplifting just to feel in control. 'Cause no one knows I took the candy bar. No one but Peter.'
Pete Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Tracy Jordan · Liz Lemon: Tracy: 'Come over here and check out my corner.' / Liz: 'No trap.' / Tracy: 'What? Come over here, I said... In my normal tone of voice.'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy: 'I have a hole in my heart, and not the one I got from eating batteries.'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy: 'Having a daughter's like going to the NBA All-Star Weekend. It changes you. Makes you want to take your wife to the doctor.'
Tracy Jordan · Liz Lemon: Tracy handcuffs Liz to a bookshelf: 'Oh, yes, you are. Click. I said 'click' to distract you from the sound of the handcuffs.'
Angie Jordan: Angie: 'Why are you handcuffed to the bookshelf I built for my husband?'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy: 'There was a better kid's birthday party up the street!' (explaining absence from Tracy Jr.'s birthday party)
Tracy Jordan · Angie Jordan: Angie and Tracy argue about 'hair did': 'You just got your hair did! You have to get your hair did again?' / Angie: 'It needs to be did every week!'
Liz Lemon · Angie Jordan · Tracy Jordan: Liz: 'Maybe we could un-did these handcuffs.' / Angie: 'Oh, cracker!' / Tracy: 'Racist!'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy promises to do Christmas shopping to prove reliability, then walks out mid-sentence: 'I'll do the Christmas shopping this year to prove to you I can be reliable and that I can finish everything that I-' [leaves]
Liz Lemon: Liz on assigning a temp boss: 'It's not about who I like the most or who's the funniest, so it's Toofer.'
Toofer · Liz Lemon: Toofer begins quoting Tennyson: 'As Tennyson wrote, "I mete and dole unequal-"' / Liz: 'No, never mind. Lutz, you want it?'
Lutz: Lutz: 'Mm-hmm.' (accepting the promotion excitedly) / then immediately: 'Too much pressure.'
Lutz Character Comedy Reaction Beat Frank · Writers: Frank as new boss: 'My first act as leader — I'm telling them to take down the internet firewall. We can surf porn again.' / Writers: 'Wonderful, porn!' / 'I like porn.'
Jack Donaghy · Receptionist: Receptionist: 'Sir? A Mr. Adouche is on the phone.' / Jack: 'I.M. Adouche?' / Receptionist: 'I am a douche?'
Devin Banks · Jack Donaghy: Banks: 'Did you say it?' / Jack: 'No, I knew right away.'
Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'Our health care costs are way down since we started putting something in the coffee to keep women from getting pregnant.'
Devin Banks: Banks: 'Do you know how bad that could look? Worse than me in capri pants... Which you'd think I'd be able to pull off 'cause I'm tall.'
Devin Banks: Banks: 'I am gonna publicly flog you like... Well, like me at the Provincetown flogging festival.'
Devin Banks · Jack Donaghy: Banks: 'Moron says what?' / Jack: 'What?' / Banks: 'What does he say? What?'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy at Yakov's Nubian Bling Explosion jewelry store — the store name itself as a visual/verbal gag.
Tracy Jordan: Tracy is immediately distracted by a necklace: 'What's that? I want it! I forgot why I originally came in here!'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy: 'I know him from the secret black people meetings.' (about Philip Michael Thomas) / 'Nah, I'm just kiddin'. He's not invited.'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy: 'That's a good goal for a talented crazy person.' (about EGOT)
Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Jack: 'What if you didn't wear your glasses?' / Liz: 'Well, I don't know. Are you married?' / Jack: 'I'm just saying.'
Liz Lemon: Liz: 'I just might not be able to read the teleprompter, and I can't wear contacts 'cause the doctor says my eyeballs are too pointy.'
Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Jack suggests renaming Liz 'Veronica St. Pierre' / Liz: 'No, that's too much.' / Jack reviews Liz's hair and says: '...Your hair... Is fine.'
Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Liz and Jack playing Marco Polo, and Liz immediately calling 'Both: Polo!'
Tracy Jordan · Angie Jordan: Tracy gives Angie the EGOT necklace as a gift for 'her and the kids': 'I got us all this EGOT necklace for me.'
Angie Jordan: Angie: 'Tracy, you've never finished a damn thing in your life.'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy: 'I am gonna EGOT, for us, for the family, and especially for little Chewbaquina Jordan.'
Tracy Jordan · Angie Jordan: Angie's deal: 'But until then, I don't want to hear another word about your baby girl.' / Tracy: 'Great. I'll be in touch.' / 'You still using your Hotmail account?'
Dr. Spaceman · Liz Lemon: Dr. Spaceman's Lasik machine labeled 'Lasig' — and the eye chart reading: 'Dear Dr. Spaceman, thank you for your submission. The New England Journal of Medicine does not publish X-rated cartoons.'
Dr. Leo Spaceman · Liz Lemon: The eye chart reads: 'Dear Dr. Spaceman, thank you for your submission. The New England Journal of Medicine does not publish X-rated cartoons.'
Dr. Spaceman: Dr. Spaceman: 'Well, why not? It's so frustrating. But at least I heard it from a friend.'
Dr. Spaceman: Dr. Spaceman: 'So while we're here, what else do you want to do? Face burn? Bone morph? Mouth peel?'
Dr. Spaceman · Liz Lemon: Dr. Spaceman: 'Really? I think you mean radio.' (responding to Liz saying she's going to be on TV)
Dr. Spaceman: Dr. Spaceman: 'You seem nervous. I could give you something for that. But you know what? I'm not supposed to have sex with my patients.'
Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Second 'Your hair is... Fine.' moment — Jack or writer-character checking in with Liz.
Frank · Writer: Frank dressed like Liz — reading glasses, bag of scripts, sweater — and being mistaken for Liz by a colleague: 'Have a good night, Liz.' / Frank: 'Very funny.' / 'I'm not Liz!'
Liz Lemon: Liz alone in the studio saying 'Ooh, ham. Mmm! That's good.'
Liz Lemon Character Comedy Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Tracy Jordan · Dotcom · Grizz · Kenneth: Tracy's 'creative team' meeting about EGOT with Dotcom and Grizz: 'Dotcom, research update... Kenneth, synthesize Grizz's analysis.' The elaborate research structure producing the conclusion 'They're all composers.'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy immediately begins composing: '♪ I've started already ♪' — one note.
Pete · Liz Lemon: Pete: 'You got a haircut.' / Liz: 'Oh, actually, I got three haircuts. The first two made me look nuts.'
Liz Lemon: Liz: 'Hey, do I say the word 'camer-ah' weird? Camer-ah.'
Liz Lemon · Pete: Pete: 'I need to talk to you. I have an actress problem.' / Liz: 'Okay. Don't try to move the body yourself.'
Pete: Pete's camera anxiety speech: 'Jack, you don't know what it's like to be on camer-ah. You're vulnerable, you're exposed. It doesn't take a lot to send you over the edge.'
Pete Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Callback Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'You've created two Lizzes — Regular Liz and Performer Liz. You've got to lie to her, coddle her, protect her from the real world... Treat her like The New York Times treats its readers.'
Frank: Frank bursts in: 'Guys, standards is saying no to the rubik's pube thing.'
Frank Character Comedy Absurdist Pete · Jack Donaghy · Frank: Pete/Jack seeing Frank-as-Liz: 'You look exactly like Liz.' / Frank: 'Shut up! You've just never seen my reading glasses before... And I lost my hat after I threw it at a bus that wouldn't stop for me...'
Frank Rossitano: Frank's defense: 'I lost my hat after I threw it at a bus that wouldn't stop for me, even though the guy could see me running.'
Frank: Frank: 'You dummies have no idea what it's like to be in charge. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be in my office trying to have it all!'
Frank Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Liz Lemon: Liz alone in her dressing room: 'What is happening to me?'
Director · Liz Lemon: Main titles take number 510 — the implication that they've done this 509 times already.
Director · Liz Lemon: The main titles shoot breakdown: director coaching 'smile with your mouth,' 'raise the roof,' 'sass it up,' 'wave like a human being,' 'blow a kiss — no, with your hands,' 'are you spinning a basketball?'
Director: Director: 'This is great. You look really relaxed. I'd watch this show.' (while she's spinning a basketball)
Director Deadpan/Understatement Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Liz Lemon · Pete: Liz refuses the high-def camera: 'No! No high-def, uh, because of the camera. The, uh, gobos are really moraying, right, Pete?' / Pete: 'Please step away!'
Devin Banks · Liz Lemon: Delivery of flowers from Devin Banks with card: 'F.E.M.A. paid for these flowers because your show is going to be a disaster.'
Devin Banks · Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: The flowers are from Devin Banks: 'F.E.M.A. paid for these flowers because your show is going to be a disaster.'
Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'I got a tattoo that says 'freedom' in Chinese, and for what?'
Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Jack's lie to Liz: 'Okay, here's the honest truth. You're better at this than Oprah.'
Liz Lemon: Liz, having locked herself in the dressing room: 'I fully understand the irony of what I'm about to say, but I have locked myself in my dressing room, and I am not coming out!'
Liz Lemon Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Tracy Jordan: Tracy's attempted EGOT song: five musical styles played simultaneously, producing cacophony. 'How could five of the most popular musical styles all played at once sound so bad?'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy exits past Kenneth and Pete: 'Nerds!' / then: 'Is it me, or is Liz Lemon getting hotter?'
Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Liz through the door: 'I've been on the other side of that door, Jack. You can't outsmart me. I know all the tricks. It's like that movie The Negotiator.' / Jack: 'I didn't see that.' / Liz: 'In the end, the police chief turns out to be the bad guy.' / Jack: 'I didn't say I wasn't going to see it.'
Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'I can't [shut the show down]. If this thing loses money, I may as well let Banks play out one of his gay home invasion fantasies on me.'
Liz Lemon: Liz: 'I want pizzas for all the hungry people in here!' (negotiating from her dressing room — she's alone)
Tracy Jordan · Whoopi Goldberg: Whoopi Goldberg reveals she got her EGOT 'on a bet too' — 'That's why Arlen Specter had to change parties. You created the supermajority?'
Whoopi Goldberg: Whoopi: 'Wait! Is that a daytime Emmy?' / 'It still counts. Girl's gotta eat.'
Whoopi Goldberg · Tracy Jordan: Whoopi asks for water — then: 'Colored man, put it back. Put it down.' (Tracy has apparently pocketed her EGOT necklace)
Jack Donaghy · Jenna Maroney: Jack receives Liz's 'business sext' and responds: 'This is no time to play the blame game.' / Jenna: 'Of course not. I'm not wearing my outfit.'
Jenna Maroney · Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Jenna's suggestion: 'I've always wondered why you guys don't take the door off its hinges.' / Jack: 'That's not gonna work!' / Jenna: 'This changes nothing!'
Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'Your audience has spent the last hour listening to Kenneth tell cleaned-up versions of Garrison Keillor stories.'
Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'I need regular Liz to tell that crazy bitch, performer Liz, to get out on the stage.'
Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Liz through the door: 'Hey, buddy, your hair looks nice.' / Jack: 'Don't try those tricks on me!'
Liz Lemon: Liz: 'I could have had it all, but you had to ruin it with your thinking!'
Jack Donaghy · Liz Lemon: Jack sings Liz's fantasy song back to her: '♪ You're a star / You're on top / Somebody bring you some ham ♪' / Liz: 'You should kill yourself!'
Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Liz emerges crying in a weird way: 'This is how I cry now, ever since you made me get that off-brand eye surgery.'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy's song for his daughter: '♪ Baby girl / you're the product of doing it ♪'
Angie Jordan: Angie: 'Damn it, Tracy. That's what's in your heart? You sweet fool. Let's make a baby.'
Tracy Jordan: Tracy: 'But I must warn you, I won't be around a lot, 'cause I'm EGOTing.'
Angie Jordan · Tracy Jordan: Angie: 'Aw, Tracy Jordan, you're an idiot.' / Tracy: 'I know. We're lucky people laugh when I say stuff.'
Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Liz corrects Jack's grammar: Jack says 'to who' and Liz says 'Whom?'
Liz Lemon · Jack Donaghy: Liz: 'From now on, whenever a television is on in the background of a Sheinhardt-Universal soap opera, you will be on it.' / Jack: 'I'm gonna be on TV on TV!'
Jack Donaghy: Jack: 'You're back! Thank god. I missed you so much! Don't ever leave me again!'
Liz Lemon: Ending home video scene: an actor in a soap opera finds a wedding ring on a beach — 'That's me.' Then finds it again — 'That's me again.'
Liz Lemon Meta/Self-Referential Visual Gag ★ Rewatch Callback Soap Opera Actor: Soap opera character on TV within the show: 'What is the- What is this TV show? It's very distracting.'
