Liz looks for a new best friend after discovering that Jenna has traded their friendship for fame. Tracy contemplates mortality as Dotcom and Grizz scramble to show him that life is still worth living. Meanwhile, Jack decides to end the page program in order to impress Hank Hooper.
Kenneth's origin story mines character comedy gold across 52 rapid-fire jokes in 22 minutes.
Directed by Jeff Richmond · Written by Matt Hubbard
WAR
126
Wins Above Replacement
“The Ballad Of Kenneth Parcell” ranks #89 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 96.4 — Elite. The episode packs 81 scored jokes at 3.5 per minute, averaging 7.6 on craft and 7.5 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
Liz · Jenna: Liz: 'And I need someone in my life who doesn't listen to a word I say.' Jenna: 'Thank you, I just got it cut.'
Liz Jenna Character Comedy Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch NotKenneth (robot): NotKenneth responds to Kenneth's 'Why Jack why?' with: 'Why Jack Why is a 2002 episode of Will and Grace in which Jack, Sean Hayes, chooses between two YMCAs. Featuring guest stars: Daniel Day-Lewis as gay benchpress guy.'
NotKenneth (robot): NotKenneth: 'My Fault. A short-lived NBC game show in which homeless people won money by confessing to crimes they didn't commit.'
Kenneth: Kenneth's 'virgin birth' story turns out to be about his sister and nephew Lyle who has a learning disability.
Kenneth Misdirection Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Jenna: Jenna: being photographed is 'like a cage. And not the fun kind where you dance while U.S.C. football recruits throw hot coins at you.'
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 81 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Narrator: Martin Luther King Day movie trailer parody opening: 'From the director of Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve...' with MLK Day as a romantic holiday
Movie Characters: 'Too bad we're just platonic friends.' / 'In the words of Martin Luther King, I've just got to go for it.'
Movie Character: 'You're a white supremacist?'
Jack: "She's bigger than Maulik Pancholy on Whitney."
Jack Observational Deadpan/Understatement Liz: Liz's ponytail story: Jenna cut off her ponytail because she was jealous of the attention Liz was getting — on Liz's own birthday.
Liz Character Comedy Escalation Jack · Liz: Jack: 'You have a power that I don't. Besides the greatest power of all?' Liz: 'The ability to gestate life.'
Jack Liz Character Comedy Misdirection Jack: 'For what it's worth, CIA analysts have confirmed that she is, indeed, keeping it tight.'
Jack Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: 'With texting and email, a multi-million dollar system of pleasure slaves is no longer needed.'
Jack Deadpan/Understatement Dark/Subversive Liz: Liz: 'He always scratches that weird part of my back that I can't reach.' [Beat, then scratch noise, then Liz gasping 'Oh! That's the business! Now who's in charge, winter dryness?'
Liz Physical/Slapstick Character Comedy Reaction Beat ★ Rewatch Jack: 'much like that memoir Reagan wrote the week before he died. It's...scattered.'
Jack Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement Liz · Jack: Liz: 'Well, now I think we're just talking about your thing.' Jack: 'You tricked me.'
Liz Jack Character Comedy Setup/Punchline Tracy · Dotcom: Tracy's birthday invitation reads 'Give to charity please, no presents' — he meant 'Give to charity? Please, no. Presents!'
Dotcom: 'You already have everything. I mean, you just bought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's bones, and he's not even dead.'
Dotcom Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Tracy: Tracy alone, staring, with a 'depressed thoughts CD' playing in the background — contemplating mortality
Tracy Character Comedy Absurdist Tracy: Tracy needs 'time alone to think... about mortality.' — pause before 'about mortality'
Tracy Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Jenna: 'Did you hear about how my fecalist murdered my kabbalist?'
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jenna: Jenna has leeches on her face — 'They're good for your skin, and I've lost tons of blood weight.'
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jenna: Jenna invokes Demi Moore as justification for leeches: 'Plus, it makes P.E.T.A. furious, and if P.E.T.A. doesn't love you or hate you, you're a nobody, like a soldier, or a teacher.'
Jenna Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Jenna: Jenna: 'You know, with my fecalist in jail, I can eat whatever I want today. Maybe we could go to Outback... I'm going to call ahead and make sure we're in Darryl's section.'
Jenna Character Comedy Escalation Callback Tracy: Tracy's 'depressed thoughts CD' plays: 'What is the meaning of...' while Tracy sits despondently
Tracy Absurdist Visual Gag Callback Tracy: Celia's bakery is on the corner of 'Malcolm X Boulevard and Guy Who Shot Malcolm X Boulevard.'
Tracy Dark/Subversive Absurdist ★ Rewatch Tracy · Dotcom: Dotcom: 'I wanted for nothing as a child, but that brings its own challenges.' Tracy: 'Shut up, Dotcom.'
Tracy · Dotcom: Dotcom: 'You've got a family.' Tracy: 'Great, another thing that I've already got. Thanks for making this situation worse.'
Jenna or Liz: 'If you eat four, you get a T-shirt. So one more, and that's two T-shirts.'
Jenna: Jenna: being photographed is 'like a cage. And not the fun kind where you dance while U.S.C. football recruits throw hot coins at you.'
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Liz: Jenna asks Liz if she wants to be famous. Liz answers: 'Naturally. Always.'
Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Jenna · Liz: Jenna's plan: Liz poses as a Tampa tourist and PETA throws paint on her as the 'leech abuser'
Jenna Liz Physical/Slapstick Character Comedy Callback Jenna: Jenna to photographer: 'Make sure you get the Outback sign in the shot or I don't get paid.'
Jenna Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Jack: Jack: 'I have good news and I have bad news. The bad news is I am shutting down the page program. The good news is for a different group of people.'
Jack Deadpan/Understatement Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Pages · Kenneth: Pages chanting 'Dalton! Dalton! Dalton!' over Kenneth — Dalton is established as the 'most popular page'
Kenneth · Jack: Kenneth begins the John Henry story; Jack cuts him off: 'We all know about John Henry, Kenneth. It's just a story.' Kenneth: 'Well then, I know about another story that turned out to be true.'
Kenneth: Kenneth's 'virgin birth' story turns out to be about his sister and nephew Lyle who has a learning disability.
Kenneth Misdirection Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Jenna · Liz: Liz: 'You look like I do right now.' Jenna: 'That is psychopath behavior.'
Jenna · Liz: Jenna: 'We became friends because I felt bad for you, standing alone at that party like a loser.' Liz: 'Yeah, 'cause I really wanted to talk to the girl who was wrestling in a kiddie pool full of lube.'
Liz: Liz: 'Derek thought I was a guy, and I didn't want to ruin what was happening between us.'
Liz Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Jenna: 'God, I wish my first roommate hadn't died of old age. Then you wouldn't have moved in, and I wouldn't have wasted 15 years of my life trying to make you feel better about yourself.'
Jenna Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Jenna · Liz: Jenna: 'The back of your neck does look weird.' Liz: 'Why would you say that? You know I can't see it.'
Jenna Liz Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Jenna: Jenna's new celebrity friends: 'Charlie from Charlie bit my finger' and 'Knob Kardashian'
Jenna Absurdist Character Comedy Liz: Liz: 'I've got a new bestie too, and her name is something cool, like Sam, and she does web design, maybe, and I haven't met her yet.'
Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Liz: 'Look out, New York, Liz Lemon is 41, covered in paint, and looking for a new best friend.'
Liz Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Kenneth: Famous pages list: Steve Allen, Regis Philbin, Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez, John Wayne Gacy.
Kenneth Dark/Subversive Escalation ★ Rewatch Kenneth: Kenneth: 'It's hard not to take that personally, sir.'
Kenneth Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Callback NotKenneth (robot): NotKenneth responds to Kenneth's 'Why Jack why?' with: 'Why Jack Why is a 2002 episode of Will and Grace in which Jack, Sean Hayes, chooses between two YMCAs. Featuring guest stars: Daniel Day-Lewis as gay benchpress guy.'
NotKenneth (robot): NotKenneth: 'Dam You. A beaver goes to college in this 1987 anima...'
Jenna: Jenna's celebrity gathering: Charlie Bit My Finger, Knob Kardashian, 'Mankind,' and 'Mr. Socko'
Jenna Absurdist Character Comedy Callback Sue · Liz: Sue: 'I hope you dream of your death.' — to Liz, after Liz clarifies she was asking about movies
Sue Liz Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch NotKenneth: NotKenneth: 'TGS is a sketch show known for popular characters like... Error. Error. Error. Error.'
NotKenneth Meta/Self-Referential Running Gag ★ Rewatch Jack · Toofer · Phillie Phanatic: Scotch fountain, Phillie Phanatic: 'Toofer, put that glass down. That scotch fountain obviously was not meant for you. Phillie Phanatic, get away from him.'
Jack: 'Lance Ito, you're out of order! Line!'
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy Lutz · Jack: Jack tries to blame the gift mix-up on 'the machines.' Lutz: 'Ha! It was Jack! Guys, Jack makes dumb mistakes. He's just like us. He's no better than I am. He's just got a suit.'
Jack: Jack: 'No, I am better than you, Lutz.' — then immediately: 'Someone else is to blame, and I will find him or, more likely, her.'
Jack Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Jack · Lutz: Jack: 'He looks scared, like Lutz on an escalator.' Lutz: 'Twinsies!'
Jack Lutz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Unknown celebrity guest: 'Honey, I don't think that was Madame Bovary, I think it was Madame Ovary.'
Unknown: Response: 'Oh, no, you went there.'
Liz: 'Man, do my feet hurt in heels sometimes, and other things that women talk about.'
Liz Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Celebrity Women: Karaoke origin story: all three women picked the same song, all went on stage, 'Everybody was like, what? And then we were like, What you want? Baby, I got it.'
Liz: Liz: 'But where does Liz Lemon go when she's out on the town? To the Barnes & Noble bathroom.'
Liz Character Comedy Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Liz · Amy: Liz bangs on the bathroom stall: 'Occupied! God.' Liz: 'I know it is. By my new best friend.'
Liz Amy Setup/Punchline Character Comedy Callback Hank: Hank: 'I drove all the way up here from Philadelphia listening to Garrison Keillor and just getting psyched for a fun day.'
Hank Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Hank: Hank: 'Oh, really? Was it invisible?' after Jack claims to have sent a businessversary gift
Hank Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Hank: Hank: 'Hey, we all make mistakes. Like farting when you're talking to three people.'
Hank Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Hank: Hank: 'No, a mistake is something a man does, like going to war without a reason, or executing a simpleton. What Jack did is a whoopsie-daisy, like a baby or a woman would do.'
Hank Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch NotKenneth (robot): NotKenneth: 'My Fault. A short-lived NBC game show in which homeless people won money by confessing to crimes they didn't commit.'
Jenna · Charlie Bit My Finger · Knob Kardashian · Mankind: Jenna's celebrity circle argues about whose 'me' is being prioritized: 'We're not doing your things, we're doing my me things.' 'You mean me, right?' 'Me.' 'Me?' 'You're all using that word wrong.'
Liz: 'I hate it when they put the movie poster on the cover of the book that the movie is based on. Let me imagine what Peeta Mellark looks like, and how his arms smell of bread.'
Liz Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Liz · Amy: Liz and Amy's instant friendship over shared food neuroses: 'I don't trust Sushi, Mexican gives me gas, I already had a bloomin' onion today... Ethiopian is out because I don't want to see a man with a beard eat with his hands... And nothing family style. Why is family a selling point? Look at the state of the American family.'
Liz Amy Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Amy: 'Not something we'll ever have to worry about at our age.'
Amy Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Liz · Amy: 'I saw a headline about those amoebas that eat your brain, but I didn't read the article.' Amy: 'Well, you didn't have time. Our lives are half-over.'
Liz Amy Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement Amy · Liz: Amy: 'I saw a headline about those amoebas that eat your brain, but I didn't read the article.' Liz: 'Well, you didn't have time. Our lives are half-over.'
Amy Liz Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Liz: Liz: 'You're supposed to be so vacant and self-absorbed that you just let me vent without piling on.'
Liz Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Tracy: Tracy: 'I already have a room full of old black women.' [offered as a reason he doesn't need to find a reason to live]
Tracy Absurdist Character Comedy Celia Monroe's nursing home resident: Nursing home residents: 'We're all sleeping with Carl, because he has the most puzzles.'
Tracy · Dotcom: Tracy: 'Why didn't you just tell us back in your dressing room?' Dotcom: 'Because showing is better than telling, and my schedule is light this week.'
Jenna: Jenna: 'I never should have treated you the way I did, Liz. I need someone who has so little going on in their life, she lets me get all the attention.'
Jenna Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Liz · Jenna: Liz: 'And I need someone in my life who doesn't listen to a word I say.' Jenna: 'Thank you, I just got it cut.'
Liz Jenna Character Comedy Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Kenneth · Jack: Kenneth to Jack: 'I was wrong. I do need you.' Jack: 'You had me at I was wrong, I do need.'
Jack: Jack: 'I can replace just about everything you do, but no machine could ever be the human wastebasket that I dump my stupid mistakes into.'
Jack Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Kenneth: Kenneth: 'Dump, sir. Dump all over me.'
Kenneth Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Jack · Lutz: 'You thumb with a wig, those gifts were supposed to go to the 60th floor.' / 'Good job, Jack. Blame it on an albino. Classic, 'cause it works.'
Tracy: Tracy opens birthday presents, keeps saying 'I already have this' and 'I definitely don't need that' — escalating dissatisfaction
Tracy Running Gag Character Comedy Callback Tracy: Tracy opens presents and keeps saying 'I have that' and 'I already have this' and 'I definitely don't need that' — ending with a genuine moment of finding something he doesn't have
Tracy Running Gag Character Comedy Callback