Jack sets Liz up on a blind date to show her what she's missing in her relationship with Criss. Meanwhile at KableTown, Jack has to scramble when his plan to manufacture couches hits a speed bump. With Tracy's help, Jenna orchestrates a public meltdown to get Paul's attention.
Murphy Brown homage sparks 70 jokes in 42 minutes—30 Rock's densest nostalgia episode.
Directed by John Riggi · Written by Robert Carlock, Vali Chandrasekaran
WAR
81.5
Wins Above Replacement
“Murphy Brown Lied To Us” ranks #34 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 88.4 — Elite. The episode packs 70 scored jokes at 2.7 per minute, averaging 7.3 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: This couch... Is a failure. I hate golf. One time in college, I smoked a clove cigarette. I keep buying candles as gifts and keeping them for myself. My natural hair color is bright red.
Jack Escalation Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: Actually, I borrowed that book from my mother, so be glad I'm not a boy.
Liz Escalation Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Liz: So we settled on supervirgin.
Liz Escalation Character Comedy Jenna: "Da-mi", "de-mi", Heather, Lindsay, Britney, Muammar... so sad. A life cut short.
Jenna Escalation Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Tracy: You mean our grave. Where we'll lie on top of each other in one coffin, pelvis to face, for eternity.
Tracy Escalation Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 70 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Liz · Criss: ♪ Cleanup, cleanup ♪ ♪ do your own housework, you little crackers ♪ - what? - My kindergarten teacher was a former black panther.
Liz Criss Absurdist Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Liz: You look like you're in a gay porno.
Liz Observational Character Comedy Criss: Oh, yeah? You're one to talk, buddy. I'm Brent. I'm the new guy on the crew. I'm Rod. I'm the boss. And what I say goes.
Criss Meta/Self-Referential Escalation ★ Rewatch Criss: I've never been with a man before. Looks like I'm the boss now... Rod.
Criss Escalation Physical/Slapstick Liz · Criss: Oh! What are we doing? - I don't know. Whatever! Let's wrestle! It doesn't matter.
Criss: You have a baby name book, and you circled Adolf?
Criss Dark/Subversive Observational ★ Rewatch Liz: Actually, I borrowed that book from my mother, so be glad I'm not a boy.
Liz Escalation Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Liz: Murphy brown lied to us.
Liz: I keep getting my neighborallure magazine.
Liz Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Jack: 'cause nunchaku-ing can wear a guy out
Jack Absurdist Wordplay/Pun Jack: We have been creating and solving this country's problems for 200 years. Where's our history month?
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: which costs... I don't know, $90 a gallon?
Jack Character Comedy Observational Jack: Raymour and his conjoined twin, Flanigan.
Jack Absurdist Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Jack: Ashley of Ashley furniture will be there, and he is a genitally androgynous pinhead.
Jack Character Comedy Observational Liz: I hope success isn't far, far away.
Liz Wordplay/Pun Setup/Punchline Jack: What aboutstar wars do you want to say, lemon?
Jack Meta/Self-Referential Reaction Beat ★ Rewatch Liz: School, church, alone on the playground, a child therapist's office.
Liz Escalation Dark/Subversive Liz: Nixon's been dead almost 20 years, not in cryogenic hibernation, resting up for 2016.
Liz Absurdist Observational Liz: Has anyone ever known a good person named Kevin?
Liz Observational Setup/Punchline Liz · Jack: I'm thinking Sonny and... Cher.
Liz Jack Setup/Punchline Character Comedy Jack: Kevin garnett helped me move once. Kevin costner cooked me dinner after a bad breakup. Kevin Sorbo intRoduced me to his podiatrist.
Jack Escalation Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jenna: I was busy burning down the panda express that I had fallen in love with.
Jenna Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jenna: Something I wish I'd known before I released my sex tape with the six flags guy.
Jenna Absurdist Character Comedy Jenna: "Da-mi", "de-mi", Heather, Lindsay, Britney, Muammar... so sad. A life cut short.
Jenna Escalation Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Jenna: So sad. A life cut short. He gave the best diamonds.
Jenna Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jenna: Justin and K-fed, Bruce and Ashton, Samantha Ronson and Herbie the Lovebug.
Jenna Escalation Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jack: They turned it into a training facility for single mothers to teach illegal immigrants how to fill out unemployment forms.
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy Stewart: We bought it at west elm.
Stewart Misdirection Deadpan/Understatement Stewart: All they teach us now is how to build rollercoasters and survivor challenges.
Jack: He baked those rocks and sold them to children. As gum.
Jack Absurdist Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Tracy: I cannot give it to you. I'm a married man. But more importantly, I find you very unattractive.
Tracy Misdirection Character Comedy Tracy: Partying too hard with Christian slater? Furious about Nafta? Y2k panic? My heyday was the '90s.
Tracy Escalation Character Comedy Tracy: He started by being boring and ruining my anniversary, 'cause Angie wanted to take advantage of "all the great theatre in New York".
Tracy Character Comedy Observational Liz: 'Cause those guys always put fuel in my tank.
Liz: "Sent from one of my four iPads"?
Liz Observational Character Comedy Liz: "Dudely, let's make coffee our bitch."
Liz Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Jack: You know what this country used to sit on? Logs. Girders. Poles.
Jack Escalation Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: Kouchtown. Sit down or get out of the way.
Jack Wordplay/Pun Setup/Punchline Liz: I can see the veins behind my eyes. Oh! I can see pain!
Liz Physical/Slapstick Escalation Jack: The design forces the sitter into what Israeli military interrogators call a stress position.
Jack Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: It comes in espresso, dandelion, putty, and, as you see here, lagoon.
Jack Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: You look like a substitute teacher who just got her one-year a.A. Chip.
Jack Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Jenna: Dhanalakshmi, I'm happy for you, and I'm gonna let you finish, but I just gotta say, Gurubarath Kurrupuswami spelled one of the toughest words of all time!
News anchor: Then a kleptomania relapse ending in orgasm and arrest.
Jenna: Me running through that window.
Jenna Physical/Slapstick Setup/Punchline Kenneth: Where I'm from, Uncle Sam's mouth is sewn up, and then he's set on fire, so I don't know how he talks.
Kenneth Absurdist Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Jack: This couch... Is a failure. I hate golf. One time in college, I smoked a clove cigarette. I keep buying candles as gifts and keeping them for myself. My natural hair color is bright red.
Jack Escalation Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Kenneth: And will you accept dancing as money?
Tracy: A media-savvy crackhead, I know.
David Blaine · Jenna: I can see that you're on a skateboard, David. This is why we broke up, Jenna.
Frank: At one point, your veneers fell off, and you had these little baby fangs.
Frank Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Frank: you were the only one who shot my wife.
Frank Escalation Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Cat: It's patronizing. Like girls don't know what jobs are.
Cat Observational Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: I had my first crush on a shop teacher who looked just like Boo Radley.
Liz Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Liz: but they wanted to call me shorts accident.
Liz Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Liz: So we settled on Supervirgin.
Liz Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: So we settled on supervirgin.
Liz Escalation Character Comedy Cat: but I can negotiate up from puked in thermos.
Cat Character Comedy Escalation Kevin · Cat: That people who talk the most in meetings often know the least. She sat in two meetings with me. I crushed it.
Kevin Cat Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Cat: Either the wicked queen inDisney on ice or the third woman president.
Criss: And he's in trouble, too, 'cause I watched some boxercise videos on demand before coming down here.
Criss Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: game go is not a phrase.
Liz Observational Meta/Self-Referential Tracy: You tried to dine at Balthazar without a reservation!
Tracy Escalation Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Tracy: You mean our grave. Where we'll lie on top of each other in one coffin, pelvis to face, for eternity.
Tracy Escalation Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Jack: Oh, you are being so trans-vaginal right now.
Jack Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Jack: Sink them and make a reef to protect gay turtles?
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy Jack: Sink them and make a reef to protect gay turtles?
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: Tree bark. Glass. Shotgun shells. The broken swords of our vanquished enemies.
Jack Escalation Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jack: It's like chewing a Mountain that someone shot a freeze ray into.
Jack Absurdist Wordplay/Pun