Budget cuts at the company impact the "TGS" gang. Elsewhere, Liz's New Year's resolution adds a potential snarl to Jack's wedding; Jenna and Danny share a dressing room; and a health scare hits Tracy.
Buck Henry's guest spot anchors 91.6-rated episode with relentless absurdist escalation.
Directed by Tricia Brock · Written by Jack Burditt
WAR
163.2
Wins Above Replacement
“Mrs. Donaghy” ranks #14 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 100.0 — Elite. The episode packs 93 scored jokes at 3.9 per minute, averaging 7.8 on craft and 7.7 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
Liz: Well, I've been to a rodeo, too. It was a cat rodeo in a gay guy's apartment.
Liz Absurdist Character Comedy Jack: This is our NBC priority pie chart. This big red part, you can see, is 'The Biggest Loser.' The yellow slice, our number-two priority... Make It 1997 Again Through Science or Magic. And the little green part is Everything Else.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Absurdist ★ Rewatch Dr. Spaceman: Tracy, you are going to die... when I tell you who I'm dating. Squeaky Fromme. She is... difficult.
Dr. Spaceman: Tracy, you are going to die. [repeated] You have no reflexes, your blood tastes like root beer, and some of your bones appear to have vanished.
Angie: I'm Angie. I think elegance and attitude are the same thing. And I have IBS.
Angie Character Comedy Absurdist All Jokes — 93 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Jack Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Kenneth · Jack: ...this belt. [long pause]
Kenneth Jack Reaction Beat Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Jack: We rented a villa on St. Esclavage. / an exiled French Admiral/defrocked minister.
Jack Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jack: my best man, deep-sea explorer and raconteur Bob Ballard, took ill after eating some bad toucan.
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: Oh, good God! [Jack's reaction to seeing the marriage certificate — a long beat of horror]
Jack Reaction Beat Misdirection Tracy: Liz Lemon, I want it to be noted that I am here on time. This is a new year and a fresh start for me. Now I got to go.
Tracy Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Tracy: I'm hosting the International Pornography Awards, and I have to go get an insurance physical so I can fly into the arena in a penis-shaped parachute.
Tracy Absurdist Character Comedy Pete: He turned the greenroom into an NBC Experience Store.
Pete Irony/Sarcasm Observational ★ Rewatch unknown rabbi/cantor: When Madison was born, I said, 'Rivka, my schveltz is filled with schpoinkis!'
Liz: The airline lost my luggage, and the only place to buy anything on the island was at the tennis pro shop!
Liz Character Comedy Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Liz: Luckily, I had the essentials in my carry-on: toiletries, closed-toe shoes, and the State Department-recommended mosquito head net.
Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Liz: Terrible flower girl. At 4 years old, you should know how to pace your petal distribution. Hannah! Petal, step. Petal, step. Come on!
Liz Character Comedy Escalation Jack · Liz: And in spite of not understanding, you responded, 'Oui.' / Well, one of my New Year's resolutions is to say yes... Yes to love, yes to life, yes to staying in more!
Jack · Liz: Wife. Mother... [Jack pauses dramatically as Liz processes the realization]
Jack Liz Reaction Beat Deadpan/Understatement Liz: Hitler and Martha Stewart would have hated that wedding!
Liz Dark/Subversive Absurdist Jack: Of course it's everyone else's fault that the minister thought the lady in the white dress and the veil was the bride! It was a men's tennis shirt and a government-sanctioned head net.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Jack: Who wears shoes on a beach? Only Rocky and Apollo Creed during the training montage!
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy Liz · Jack: Whatever you say, dear. / Do not. Do... not. / Don't forget, honey, we have bridge with the Cunninghams tonight.
Jack: Divorce papers are being drawn up. Try to sign on the right line.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Callback Callback Dr. Spaceman: Tracy, you are going to die... when I tell you who I'm dating. Squeaky Fromme. She is... difficult.
Tracy · Dr. Spaceman: Tracy's doctor announces 'Tracy, you are going to die' twice — first as a dramatic opener, then again as the actual medical assessment — with Tracy's terrified 'What? No!' in between.
Dr. Spaceman: Tracy, you are going to die. [repeated] You have no reflexes, your blood tastes like root beer, and some of your bones appear to have vanished.
Dr. Spaceman: Now, I've only ever seen this kind of thing on dead people during Operation Desert Storm. I actually wrote a report on it, but my commander refused to pass it on up to Saddam.
Dr. Spaceman: Kooky times.
Tracy: Who will be there to raise my kids if I'm not around to pay someone to raise my kids?
Tracy Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Dr. Spaceman: But on the bright side, at least your family is financially set for life. Now, this could literally kill you... lollipop?
Kenneth: Thank you for taking in Miss Maroney, Mr. Baker. We would have asked you sooner, but we forgot you worked here.
Kenneth Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Jenna · Danny · Kenneth: It's like we're married! / Now, don't you two start bickering like old married folks!
Jenna · Danny: It's just... I got a haircut, and you didn't even notice. / Sorry, you get your hair cut every week.
Danny · Jenna: Excuse me? / I don't like your tone. / And I don't like what you've turned into! / I'm not the one who forgot our one-minute anniversary!
Liz: Jack is not my boyfriend. He is, dot-dot-dot, my husband!
Liz Setup/Punchline Character Comedy Frank: On your wedding night, did he take you in the French fashion?
Frank Cringe/Discomfort Dark/Subversive HR rep / Weinerslav: That's what Ann Curry and Subhas the janitor tried to tell me. That was five years ago.
Liz: Is that right? That seems like way too much.
Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Jack: This is our NBC priority pie chart. This big red part, you can see, is 'The Biggest Loser.' The yellow slice, our number-two priority... Make It 1997 Again Through Science or Magic. And the little green part is Everything Else.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jack: Your show netted $600 last year. Your parents had to buy an ad.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Dark/Subversive Liz: Well, I've been to a rodeo, too. It was a cat rodeo in a gay guy's apartment.
Liz Absurdist Character Comedy Jenna: It's tacky, Danny, just like your mother's stupid chain e-mails.
Jenna Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Pete: Not all the time. After her hysterectomy, she was in a coma briefly.
Pete Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement Pete: it's... unnatural. And while our children are basically snot silos with BB guns...
Pete Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Tracy: Is that like being a fluffer? Because I have done that and did not enjoy it. Blow-drying animals at a pet salon is hard work.
Tracy Misdirection Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Tracy: Like pigs have around their delicious testicle meat.
Tracy Absurdist Character Comedy Tracy: I'm sorry I'm four hours late, but my alarm clock didn't go off because it died in a cockfight last night.
Tracy Absurdist Character Comedy Jack: Oh, please. You have nothing to worry about. We have Martin Lawrence on a holding deal.
Jack Dark/Subversive Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Jack: And if you need to make millions of dollars but have no real skills or education, the best place to do it is in entertainment. I mean, look at me! I can't even find Mexico on a map!
Jack Meta/Self-Referential Irony/Sarcasm Angie: Oh, yeah. I'm willing to start at the bottom. There's only one thing I won't do, and that's take orders from anyone, ever.
Angie Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Angie: I'm sorry, I'm not about to cancel my hair appointment with D'Fwan because I'm your new intern.
Angie Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Angie · Liz: Do you have a problem with strong black women? / No! Don't you see? That's the kind of exchange Jack wants.
Angie Liz Irony/Sarcasm Meta/Self-Referential Angie · Liz: So I'm like your servant? / No, because you're not being paid. You're really more like...
Angie · D'Fwan: I don't understand. That white girl just fired you! Come on, D'Fwan! Be a buddy!
Jenna · Danny: Idiot, don't touch the... Nothing. Love you.
Kenneth · Danny · Jenna: Look, I made this picture of us! / Did you draw that? / You might need help. That's awful for an adult.
Jenna · Danny · Kenneth: Careful! / Don't coddle the boy. He can do it. / [Kenneth falls] Oh, my bones!
Jenna · Danny: Now look what you did! / You made him afraid! / Did I also make you half a man? / You're ruining my life! / What life?
Liz: Every day that I'm married to you, my life gets worse. That Angie thing was real cute, Jack.
Liz Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Liz: She chased me around for a while, so I hid in a closet down on News. But then Subhas and Ann Curry came in, just going to town on...
Liz Callback Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Angie: I'm not a pawn. I am a queen! You all are trash, and you know what Angie Jordan does with the trash? She drags it out to the curb for pickup!
Angie Character Comedy Escalation Jack: Entertainment is where untalented people go to get rich. And you have all the makings of a reality superstar... hair-pullingness, delusions of grandeur, an insanely short fuse, catchphrases.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Meta/Self-Referential Angie · Jack: It's my way till payday! / That's the t-shirt!
Angie Jack Character Comedy Meta/Self-Referential Jack · Liz: Friday nights... 11:00. / What? That is when 'TGS' or wrestling is on.
Jack Liz Irony/Sarcasm Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Angie: FYI, I am friends with a hilarious fat girl and a crazy-eyed, divorced white lady who wants to be in the music business.
Angie Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy Angie: Mm-hmm, with his even gayer boyfriend.
Angie Character Comedy Absurdist Liz: okay, fine, give her her own show, and I will watch it on our TV in our house, because I'm not signing anything.
Liz Irony/Sarcasm Callback Callback Liz · Pete: Pete, you and Paula fight a lot. / No, I walked into a door! I'm so clumsy!
Liz Pete Dark/Subversive Irony/Sarcasm Pete: I agreed to go to a furniture store instead of watching football one time, and I haven't seen a game since.
Pete Character Comedy Observational Liz: Oh, I hear you. I mean, take Danny. Please!
Liz Wordplay/Pun Meta/Self-Referential Pete: Find their weakness, and viciously exploit it. That's what marriage is.
Pete Deadpan/Understatement Dark/Subversive Danny · Kenneth: Well, sport, I'm gonna be moving out. / I don't understand. / Well, sometimes two people who care about each other just can't live together. / Oh, no, I get that. What I don't get is this is Danny's dressing room.
Danny: I'm gonna be staying at the Y. It's that dark place under the bleachers that's shaped like a wishbone.
Danny Absurdist Deadpan/Understatement Danny · Jenna · Kenneth: But you're my Danny and Jenna. / And we'll always be Danny and Jenna. We just won't be Danny and Jenna together. / And don't think for one second this means we love you less. / Know that it means that.
Jack: Jonathan, I have asked you not to call me at home after 11:00 or before.
Jack Character Comedy Absurdist Liz: My husband and I are absolutely so pleased to be underwriting the Jack and Elizabeth Donaghy High School for Teen Drama, the Arts, and Feelings.
Liz Irony/Sarcasm Escalation Liz: "cloons", video artists, and theatrical jugglers who will ask the world, "What is art?"
Liz Irony/Sarcasm Absurdist Jack: We know what art is! It's paintings of horses!
Jack Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Weinerslav: Well, it's no surprise we're sitting here. You two have always thrown off that 'will they or won't they' vibe, and it's been a real hoot to watch your courtship.
Weinerslav Meta/Self-Referential Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Jeffrey Weinerslav: Well, it's no surprise we're sitting here. You two have always thrown off that 'will they or won't they' vibe, and it's been a real hoot to watch your courtship.
Jack: And what was that voice? It is my imitation of Drew Barrymore's impression of that crazy lady!
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy Weinerslav · Jack · Liz: Does the employee spend an inordinate amount of time in the employer's office compared to other employees? / Well, yes, I suppose, but only because Miss Lemon is incapable of doing anything on her own. / Please. Half the time when I go up there, it's to help you choose a tie, and they're all red or blue!
Jack: Where I come from, if you have more than two colors on a tie, it means you're looking for a certain kind of bar.
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Weinerslav: Are all workday conversations business-related, or do personal issues often dominate discussion, including, but not limited to, mothers, diarrhea, having babies, problems in the bedroom, neckties, food issues, foot disorders, having it all?
Liz: Jack taught me not to wear tan slacks with a tan turtleneck. I thought it looked nice, but he rightly pointed out that it made me look like a giant condom.
Liz Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Jack: And Lemon is the only one of my subordinates who's not afraid to warn me when I'm being too authoritative or handsome.
Jack Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Jack · Liz: And Lemon is the only one of my subordinates who's not afraid to warn me when I'm being too authoritative or handsome. / Or when you have eye boogers.
Jack Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Weinerslav · Jack · Liz: Is this the longest and perhaps most meaningful relationship in your life? / Do you often find yourselves thinking the same thing and then saying it at the exact same time? / [both simultaneously]: I'm sorry, Jack. / I apologize, Lemon.
Weinerslav · Jack: Okay! Now we're gonna do word association. / 'Foreplay.' / We're done, Weinerslav.
Jack · Liz: Try to walk like a woman, Lemon. / Your fly's open, Jack.
Jack Liz Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Angie: I'm Angie. I think elegance and attitude are the same thing. And I have IBS.
Angie Character Comedy Absurdist D'Fwan: I'm D'Fwan! And I just want to be accepted for who I am, a sexual maniac!
D'Fwan Character Comedy Absurdist Portia: Hey, I'm Portia. I don't care what anyone says. I keep them 3D glasses!
Portia Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Randi: I'm Randi, with an I. My ex-husband's new girlfriend is cheating on him... with me!
Randi Character Comedy Misdirection Angie: It's my way till payday!
Angie Callback Character Comedy Running Gag ★ Rewatch Callback meth-addict nephew: Do you have any meth? / Or meth?
Angie: It's my way till payday! [Angie's catchphrase closes the show]
Angie Callback Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback 