Jenna tries to help a lovelorn Liz rebound from a broken relationship. Elsewhere, sleep deprivation impacts new father Jack, who begins to lose his business savvy and negotiating prowess; and Pete and Frank form a rock band.
Absurdist character comedy sustains 88-point score across 47 rapid jokes despite minimal standout moments.
Directed by John Riggi · Written by Vali Chandrasekaran
WAR
63.9
Wins Above Replacement
“Its Never Too Late For Now” ranks #35 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 88.2 — Elite. The episode packs 47 scored jokes at 2.1 per minute, averaging 7.6 on craft and 7.1 on impact, with Liz landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Jack: I don't think Liddy looks like me, so evolutionarily, that makes me want to eat her.
Jack Dark/Subversive Absurdist ★ Rewatch Liz: Oh, God, a hawk got her! Emily Dickinson!
Liz Physical/Slapstick Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Jack: Some helpless, pathetic, useless thing that would die if left alo... Oh, God, I do have that. I have NBC.
Jack Character Comedy Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Jack: But you do, right? Yes. But Sherry can't prove that I love Liddy, so I renegotiate under new conditions, specifically, that I hate my newborn daughter.
Jack Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: She is one of two people ever to have thrown up on me, and I haven't spoken to Joe Namath since that Mardi Gras.
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 47 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Jenna · Liz: Hang on. Why do you have a cat? And a fanny pack? And your ponytail, it's being held up by a chip clip.
Jenna Liz Visual Gag Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: I've had three chances... Floyd, then Carol, and I was once in an elevator with Tom Brokaw, and I blew all three... Opportunities!
Liz Misdirection Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz · Jenna: I have adopted this cat, named her Emily Dickinson... Oh, come on! Named her Emily Dickinson.
Jack: Recent breakup, fanny pack, cat? Quick. Who is the lead character on NCIS?
Jack Observational Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: I took the money I was saving for my honeymoon, and I bought a cemetery plot.
Liz Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Jack · Liz: You know there's a movie of that, right? I did not.
Jack Liz Character Comedy Reaction Beat Jack: Since inventing democracy, those guys have been coasting.
Jack Observational Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Jack: We're calling her Liddy, after Liddy Dole, G. Gordon Liddy, and my martial arts instructor Li Di.
Jack Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jack: Meeting magazine is already calling it 'the first great meeting of the decade.'
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: It's okay. Don't worry. You just keep watching Bridalplasty. Alysinna died last week.
Jack Dark/Subversive Meta/Self-Referential Jack: These women run your household, so you have to keep them happy, which means not saying anything as your DVR fills up with Trinidadian soap operas.
Jack Observational Character Comedy Liz: I can fit Emily Dickinson's whole head in my mouth.
Liz Cringe/Discomfort Visual Gag ★ Rewatch Pete · Frank: ♪ Everybody's workin' for the weekend ♪ What? Yep. I was in Loverboy.
Pete: I had to choose between staying in the band or taking that college scholarship to study TV budgeting.
Pete Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Jack: But let's just say you're at the market, buying potatoes. And that ten-pound bag of potatoes costs... $400.
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Sherry · Jack: So, what you wan' do? / It was nice negotiating with you, and, uh, here is all of your money.
Jenna · Liz: I am not gonna just sit and watch you plummet into spinsterhood. Why are you talking so fast? Because I'm upset! Also I've been taking these new Czechoslovakian organ-slimming pills.
Jenna Liz Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jenna: They contain a little bit of meth, which is something my body needs anyway.
Jenna Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jenna: I like to do it with an NBA player, because it's fun wordplay and they're mean.
Jenna Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Jenna: I didn't give up when Eric Roberts abandoned me in the desert, and I won't now. No judgment, Liz. Mr. Roberts thought I was dead.
Jenna Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: I like my tampons to be cold.
Liz Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: If I had done that during a mock negotiation in business school, professor Widmer would have spanked me in front of the whole class, bare bottom.
Jack Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: Professor Widmer would have given you a 'good job' spanking.
Jack Cringe/Discomfort Escalation ★ Rewatch Jack: But you do, right? Yes. But Sherry can't prove that I love Liddy, so I renegotiate under new conditions, specifically, that I hate my newborn daughter.
Jack Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: I could never pretend to hate my beautiful baby daughter, Emily Dickinson the cat.
Liz Character Comedy Absurdist Callback Liz: I could never pretend to hate my beautiful baby daughter, Emily Dickinson the cat.
Liz Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Jack: She is one of two people ever to have thrown up on me, and I haven't spoken to Joe Namath since that Mardi Gras.
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: I don't think Liddy looks like me, so evolutionarily, that makes me want to eat her.
Jack Dark/Subversive Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jack: Please stay. I'll send everyone in your family to college.
Jack Cringe/Discomfort Escalation Jenna: I participated in hands across America.
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist Liz: Oh, the color is actually called 'grandfather's shoe.'
Liz Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: That's my drink! I keep a thermos of it by my toilet!
Liz Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jenna: I participated in hands across America.
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Anders: Seriously, why can't droids go into the cantina? I mean, Ponda Baba can try to shoot Luke... but a protocol droid is somehow a problem.
Anders Observational Meta/Self-Referential Liz: Ew, Julia Roberts in a movie about eating? Give me Kirstie Alley, somebody who knows what she's doing.
Liz Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Liz: My heart's pounding like I'm watching Oprah's farewell season.
Liz Observational Character Comedy Jack: Some helpless, pathetic, useless thing that would die if left alo... Oh, God, I do have that. I have NBC.
Jack Character Comedy Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Jenna: Oh, way to go, Liz! Attagirl! Walk of shame! You bow-legged bitch!
Jenna Character Comedy Escalation Jack: I once saw an Internet video of a mouse and a bird that are friends.
Jack Deadpan/Understatement Absurdist ★ Rewatch Liz: A vast conspiracy involving multiple agents and precise, coordinated efforts.
Liz Meta/Self-Referential Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Liz: Then why is my ibuprofen bottle still sealed? Ah.
Liz Meta/Self-Referential Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Kenneth: What, this? I got hit by a bird on a roller coaster.
Kenneth Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: You had to sign your crime, didn't you? You're the one who gave me those moDVDs.
Liz Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Toofer: She calls it... Funky juice.
Toofer Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Callback Liz: He certainly wasn't a Swiss prostitute that Martha Stewart recommended to me.
Liz Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: Oh, God, a hawk got her! Emily Dickinson!
Liz Physical/Slapstick Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Pete · Frank: ♪ Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, unh, unh, unh. ♪
