As Jack tries to cozy up to the owner of Kabletown, Liz fakes being pregnant to help Avery gain advantage over a competitive colleague. Elsewhere, Tracy and Jenna clash when trying to share a gift from their new bosses.
88 jokes in 25 minutes hits 30 Rock's absurdist peak at 3.51 per minute.
Directed by John Riggi · Written by Matt Hubbard
WAR
163.3
Wins Above Replacement
“¡Qué Sorpresa!” ranks #72 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 97.5 — Elite. The episode packs 103 scored jokes at 4.1 per minute, averaging 7.7 on craft and 7.4 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
Jack: Oh, damn my krav maga training and lightning reflexes!
Jack Physical/Slapstick Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Jack: You can tell a lot about someone by their handshake. You are confident. And you ate dinner in front of a mirror last night.
Jack Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jack: Don Geiss gave me this watch for firing a man on his deathbed!
Jack Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Jack Donaghy: I can get you into a restaurant where you watch a child play with a bunny, then you eat the bunny.
Jack Donaghy Dark/Subversive Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: Michael Kors is a friend. We own a gay racehorse together. And I convinced him to make wizard cloaks fashionable for ladies this winter.
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 103 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Jack: I said everyone, Sketch-Tron 6000.
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy Jack · Tracy: Tracy, do not mention where you think dinosaurs come from. Do not mention the underwater city of Sauronicon.
Jack · Jenna: Jenna, get all of your crazy yelling out of your system. 'If you don't volumize my hair, I will choke you to death with your boyfriend's wig!'
Jack · Frank: Frank, how is your armpit thing? Not great. It's almost touching my thigh thing.
Jack: Remember, everyone, just don't be yourselves.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Liz: Oh, do you need sex advice? Here's a tip. Sometimes a lady likes to leave her blazer on.
Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Tracy or Jenna: Without us, who would present awards to actors?
Tracy · Jenna: So... which one of us is going to get this computer? Just kidding. We both are!
Tracy: The box would make a perfect coffin for my Teddy Bear.
Tracy Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Tracy · Jenna: When we met four years ago, we were fighting about the silliest things... Dressing rooms, air time, you coming in and ruining my show... You taking my nephew's virginity.
Tracy · Jenna: There's only one. You take it. I don't care. I want you to selfishly take the best sweatshirt in the world.
Jack: ...a tiny desk with a miniature pen set on it.
Jack Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Liz: I assumed Avery would have a terrifying best friend she'd do stuff like that with.
Liz Character Comedy Observational Jack: Avery does have a sister, but Eugenia is currently institutionalized for nerves... Lesbian...
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Jack: Michael Kors is a friend. We own a gay racehorse together. And I convinced him to make wizard cloaks fashionable for ladies this winter.
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: It's my fault for asking.
Liz Reaction Beat Deadpan/Understatement Liz: Ah, see, that would never happen if men could get pregnant. Which is the premise of my one-act play The Seahorses of Warwickshire Abbey.
Liz Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jack: And that's not racist because I don't know what she is.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Liz: Man, we all lead such complicated lives. Hey, do you want to go to that new popcorn place for lunch?
Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Jack: You can tell a lot about someone by their handshake. You are confident. And you ate dinner in front of a mirror last night.
Jack Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Liz Reaction Beat Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Hank Hooper: I'm no 'sir,' Jack. Call me Hank. Or 'hey, idiot,' like my wife does. I'm kidding. She's an angel.
Hank Hooper: No, it's fine, Jack. Kabletown's a family company, and where I come from, families eat together. This is no longer the executive dining room. It's the Everyone dining room.
Jack: This is where we used to hold retirement parties. The balcony below is probably still littered with stripper bones.
Jack Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Jack · Hank: And now there are people here wearing sandals. Yeah. Isn't that nice?
Hank Hooper: The original name for the DVR was 'The Thing Carlos Thought Of.'
Hank Hooper: I'll be the guy wearing the Bugs Bunny tie.
Hank Hooper: What is this green stuff? Wipe it off. Wipe it off!
Carmen Chao: These pregnancy photos are so tacky. They're like those knockoff bags you get in Chinatown. 'I like pradort bag.'
Carmen Chao: I love their creepy little hands and the way they crawl fast, like a rat monster.
Liz: Some dude jacked me, and now his sperm is growing in my stomach.
Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Carmen Chao: That's not how babies are made.
Carmen Chao: So by the law of verbal traps, you have to do it.
Liz: Fine. I'll just go to the popcorn place alone, even though all their advertising suggests it is a place for groups of friends to have a good time.
Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Tracy: Good sweatshirt to you. How are you sweatshirting this sweatshirt?
Tracy Character Comedy Absurdist Wordplay/Pun Callback Tracy: I want that sweatshirt! No. You can't take this away from me, like you took away my show. And my grandmother's jewelry chest.
Tracy Character Comedy Escalation Callback Jenna: Was I supposed to throw up in something of mine?
Jenna Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Jenna: Stop! Sweatshirty is a boy!
Jenna Character Comedy Running Gag Absurdist Callback Liz: Is she doing an expose on how feminism has led to a happiness crisis among educated women?
Liz Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Tracy: Lemon told me this morning she got jacked big time.
Tracy Character Comedy Misdirection Callback Liz: I will make a good first impression, so I need all of you to be your most normal... Well, it is called. I am telling everyone here that there's no way I could be pregnant because I have had my period for the last 61 days.
Liz Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Jack: Don Geiss gave me this watch for firing a man on his deathbed!
Jack Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Liz · Jack: How come when I try to get you to go to a murder-mystery party with me, it's all, 'we're business colleagues, Lemon'? Ugh, I don't know why I ever chose you as a friend. Let's just be clear about this — I chose you.
Liz Jack Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Kenneth: I heard the blessed news, Liz. May I kiss your stomach? Hello, beautiful. It's Uncle Wutzy.
Kenneth Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Tracy: Oh, hey, Jack, you and I have a pitch meeting later. You're a baby. Yes, you are. Yes, you're a baby...
Tracy Character Comedy Absurdist Employee pitching: So that's basically the show. And my sidekick is a hot black chick who can read minds.
Employee pitching: We need a button that switches from pornography to basketball immediately. What you have isn't fast enough. My kids are starting to ask questions that I can't answer.
Employee pitching: So much of television is really not fit for children or Christians or the elderly. So what if there was a black bar on the lower half of your TV screen that kept you from seeing bad things? Like nudity, or soccer.
Jack: Congratulations. Worst so far!
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Tracy: Liz, I never get anything. All I want is one sweatshirt.
Tracy Character Comedy Running Gag Callback Tracy: The story begins when dolphins ruled the earth.
Tracy Absurdist Character Comedy Tracy: It'll turn the child into a Dracula.
Tracy Character Comedy Absurdist Tracy: Now, I will need to eat your umbilical cord.
Tracy Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Absurdist Liz · Tracy · Jenna: Problem solved. Now no one gets it. Aw, man...
Liz: Oh, that is like magic. People are nice to pregnant ladies.
Liz Character Comedy Observational Liz: Remember, you're eating for two. Well, I guess two egg sandwiches... Times two is four.
Liz Character Comedy Escalation Jack: I'm a six sigma black belt ultra, with the groin branding to prove it.
Jack Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Hank Hooper: What's six sigma? Rock band?
Jack: First I want to go home and delete everything that's on my DVR. [TV MUTES] Oh, come on!
Jack Escalation Callback Callback Hank Hooper: Jack, it doesn't seem to work. You got any other notions, or should we jump to employee ideas?
Jack: What if you had a black bar at the bottom of the screen that prevented you from seeing anything dirty? ...Like soccer, or a woman stuffing a turkey.
Jack Callback Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Hank Hooper: You could call it 'Blabar.' A-plus work, Jack!
Jack · Kenneth: However, I presented it as my own idea. Wonderful! Next topic.
Kenneth: Not what my uncle does when he gets a hitchhiker over a barrel, I'll tell you that.
Kenneth Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Kenneth: Last time I checked, best friends can't steal from each other. Now stop being a silly Simon.
Kenneth Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Jack: This isn't how it works! You're the one being a silly Simon!
Jack Character Comedy Reaction Beat ★ Rewatch Callback Carmen · Liz: When are you due? April 20th, Hitler's birthday.
Carmen Chao · Liz Lemon: What's your pediatrician's name? / Dr. Rufus T. Barleysheath.
Carmen · Liz: What's your pediatrician's name? Dr. Rufus T. Barleysheath. / What names are you considering? Rufus T. Barleysheath.
Carmen Liz Running Gag Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Carmen · Liz: Where was the baby conceived? In my vagina.
Carmen Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Carmen · Liz: Are you pregnant? No... way that I'm not.
Carmen Liz Character Comedy Misdirection ★ Rewatch Carmen: She's a blonde. Don't you know there's a war going on? Or are you doing it for her old man husband? He's your boss. First of all, Jack means nothing to me. Shoot him in the throat and let the dogs eat him. I don't care.
Carmen Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Carmen Chao · Liz Lemon: What's wrong with you? / Almost everything.
Carmen: I thought it would be a fun visual if we got some b-roll of you taking sexy pregnancy photos where you bare your stomach like the pregnant bitch that you are.
Carmen Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Jack · Hank Hooper: Innovation that is both family and bottom line friendly. Gentlemen, I give you Blabar. / You're really sexing me right now. It's filthy.
Liz: Jack! Jack! Jack! Jack! Jack...
Liz Physical/Slapstick Reaction Beat Kenneth: One time, I saw a turtle...
Kenneth Absurdist Character Comedy Awkward Silence ★ Rewatch Jack: Who the hell do you think you are?
Jack Reaction Beat Character Comedy Jack: I can get you into a restaurant where you watch a child play with a bunny, then you eat the bunny.
Jack Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Kenneth: Isn't that just Easter?
Kenneth Reaction Beat Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Jack: Blackmail me. Demand to sleep with Avery. Hit me. Hit me in the face!
Jack Character Comedy Escalation Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Jack: Oh, damn my krav maga training and lightning reflexes!
Jack Physical/Slapstick Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Liz · Avery: Release me, you hillbilly Circe! I am life. Revel in the glory of motherhood! Gaia flows through me. Rufus T. Barleysheath is kicking.
Liz Avery Character Comedy Absurdist Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Callback Carmen · Avery · Liz: I know you're not pregnant. Why don't you just admit it? / She's grabbing oil. Owen... Run!
Hank Hooper: I don't fly, but I got my own bus with a pool table in it. We'll drive to Branson together sometime, take in a Yakov Smirnoff show. Doesn't Russia sound like a crazy place?
Hank Hooper: You do not have a lot of charisma.
Jack: Here is my letter of resignation. It's probably for the best since this is obviously not a good fit. If you call security to escort me out, you should know I have several pistols hidden on me.
Jack Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Hank Hooper: Kabletown, we're not sharks. We're more like... whatever the friendliest fish is. I'm not a science guy.
Hank · Kenneth · Jack: No? How about a hug? / You've gotta be kidding me.
Jack Donaghy: I can get you into a restaurant where you watch a child play with a bunny, then you eat the bunny.
Jack Donaghy Dark/Subversive Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Kenneth · Hank: It doesn't count as a hug unless it goes on for ten seconds. / One... Mississippi...
Avery · Liz: Thank you, Lemon. I owe you. If you want to make it up to me, I have my eye on a toilet pillow from a certain medical supply store.
Avery Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Jack · Liz: Avery and I want the baby's middle name to be Elizabeth, after you. Oh, Jack, that's so gayballs.
Jack Liz Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Tracy or Jenna: Do you need some liniment rubbed on your perineum?
Tracy: Why would you pretend to help Jack? Help him for real. It takes the same amount of time.
Tracy Character Comedy Absurdist Jenna Maroney: No, Tracy, she lied to us. And she ordered us around like we were a couple of normals.
Jenna · Tracy: No, Tracy, she lied to us. And she ordered us around like we were a couple of normals. You will be punished. Can I have my nunchucks back?
Liz: Good God! I have been punished. These are yours to keep.
Liz Physical/Slapstick Character Comedy Callback Liz: What? Who's the black guy? A bicycle messenger. You took your pants off.
Liz Absurdist Reaction Beat ★ Rewatch Employee pitching: What if there was a channel that's just the sound of people having a party so you put it on when you call your parents? / You know what my TV is? A sunset.
Employee pitching: How about a button you push on your remote and you can buy anything you see on TV? Like if you're watching Sex and the City and you just have to have Mr. Big's spaghetti?
Employee pitching: What if we executed someone live on TV?
Employee pitching: And then I pull off my mask and I'm a lizard person too. Blackout. End of episode.
