Jack and Liz find themselves at odds over political satire at "TGS". Criss and Liz make a surprising relationship breakthrough. Meanwhile, Jenna, discouraged by the disappointing sales of her summer dance hit, is thrilled to learn that Kenneth's mother and her boyfriend still buy music.
Political satire peaks at 2.86 jokes per minute—73 gags in Governor Dunston's chaos.
Directed by Robert Carlock · Written by Robert Carlock
WAR
134.8
Wins Above Replacement
“Governor Dunston” ranks #37 of 138 30 Rock episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 99.2 — Elite. The episode packs 77 scored jokes at 3.0 per minute, averaging 7.8 on craft and 7.7 on impact, with Jenna landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Liz · Writers: The extended scheduling sequence where the production calendar becomes sexually arousing to Liz. 'Right there. Yes, that is the spot.' 'This whole thing could be a spreadsheet.' 'If we print it in landscape, the page will take it all.'
Debate Moderator · Tracy as Dunston: Our opponent would like you to believe that Mitt Romney is a merman. Now, I know Mitt Romney does not live in the sea. A Mormon, governor. A Mormon? Now, that's crazy.
Jack: You stop doing Dunston, TGS goes back to one night a week. You can kiss goodbye your Dusseldorf bus schedule sex. You'll be having Paris Metro sex. Long sessions of afternoon love-making, followed by talking and making circles with your finger in Criss' chest hair.
Jack Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Pearline: That's what family is, Kenneth. People you badmouth all the time behind their back. Why, on the train right up here, I called you a bowling pin with a face drawn on it. A cheap albino lesbian. A finger with teeth. A hummel someone left on the radiator.
Pearline Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Pearline: I remember the day he was born. He looked up at me and he said, 'Mama, I am not a person. My body's just a flesh vessel for an immortal being whose name, if you heard it, would make you lose your mind.'
Pearline Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 77 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Jack · Liz: Were you just skyping with a horse? Not 'a horse,' Lemon. Rafalca, Mitt Romney's champion dressage mare.
Jack Liz Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: She answers yes or no questions by eating either an apple for 'yes,' or a carrot for 'no.' If she eats both, that means 'life is full of unknowable gray areas.'
Jack Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Liz: I saw the Today show. So I know how to make an autumn pizza that your teen will love.
Liz Observational Character Comedy Jack · Liz: Paul Ryan dropped out of the race last night. What? Why? Turns out he was actually born in Kenya.
Jack Liz Setup/Punchline Irony/Sarcasm Narrator: Not a lot we could say about that one. (Beat after the Kenya joke)
Narrator Reaction Beat Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Callback Jack: Sunday Night Football is just Cleveland Browns games. I'm allowing Jimmy Fallon to use his real voice. And the greatest band in late night, The Roots.
Jack Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Jack · Liz: Last week's show was excruciating. Thank you.
Jack Liz Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Actor/Writer: Yes, I have a reservation under 'black Hitler.'
Liz: We'll just have to rely on observational humor. Like, um, 'table is a weird word.'
Liz Meta/Self-Referential Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Liz: And you gotta wonder who came up with the door. Bunch of cavemen sitting around. 'Hey, gronk! Before we starve to death in here, let's make a door!'
Liz Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Jenna · Pete: I have been waiting seven years to tell you people what I really think of you. Really? 'Cause you called me 'Mr. Clean's Gay Uncle' in front of my children.
Jenna: This is my first royalty check for my summer dance jam, 'Balls.' ♪ Balls, balls, balls, balls, balls, balls, balls ♪
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist Jenna: paid download, music video DVD rental at Blockbuster...
Jenna Deadpan/Understatement Observational Jenna: And maybe you ought to look in the mirror before leaving your house in the morning, because you look like someone's been slowly poisoning Sally Field.
Jenna Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Jenna · Pete: Read it and weep, you mouth-breathing, vag repellers. It's $90, Jenna.
Jenna: The FBI blamed it for a spike in summer sex crimes.
Jenna Dark/Subversive Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Jenna: Thanks to Al Gore's stupid Internet, people can just get music for free. That's why I got out of the music business. ♪ Despite my beautiful singing voice ♪ ♪ and my amazing songwriting... ♪
Jenna Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Kenneth · Jenna: Hey, Jenna. — Shut up.
Jenna: I am having an actress side project crisis. So I'm not interested in whatever this is and whatever it thinks it's wearing.
Jenna Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Liz Lemon · Pete Hornberger: Hornberger, what if we'd been having sex? / Then I would have seen Criss' muscular back. You think I care?
Kenneth's Mother / Pearline: You know the only celebrity I've ever met was Evel Knievel's motorcycle. And that was just a picture.
Jenna: Is that a CD? You people still buy CDs?
Jenna Character Comedy Observational Jenna · Pearline: Kenneth's mother. O.M.G. Why haven't you visited us before? Well, money's been tight ever since the market crashed into our house.
Jenna: I have so many questions to ask you people. Tomorrow, when we break for lunch, you are coming to my dressing room and watching me eat.
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist Kenneth's relative / Garlene: Oh, I wonder what she eats.
Tracy: See, that girl was in my car because I was trying to talk her out of being a prostitute, and she...
Tracy Character Comedy Absurdist Jack: Hang on. I'm caught on a nail here. [Extended pause] Okay, now we can continue.
Jack Physical/Slapstick Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Jack: In order to save this network, I have to destroy it. Just like BP did when they heroically tried to lubricate the Gulf of Mexico.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Governor Dunston / Tracy: Are we better off now than we were four years ago? Not me. I now have herpes. And the Dixie mafia is trying to kill me.
Criss · Liz: Because you kept saying your Aunt Flo was in town. She was. Remember? I took her to MoMA and the Cloisters. I assumed those were all vaginal euphemisms.
Criss Liz Setup/Punchline Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Liz · Criss: Great. So we had sex for no reason. No reason at all. — Wow. Thank you.
Liz Criss Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Criss: I surprised you at the office. I wrote you that song. ♪ Your body is my garden of Eden ♪
Criss Character Comedy Absurdist Criss · Liz: You just spoke in German. I don't think so, Criss.
Criss Liz Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jack: I'm caught on a nail here. Caught on a nail. (Repeated callback)
Jack Callback Running Gag ★ Rewatch Callback Liz · Jack: You're supposed to say 'brava' to a woman. Oh, I am well aware of that.
Liz Jack Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Jack: This is a disaster. Ratings are up. And now, during the election, Hank Hooper wants TGS on five nights a week, starting tonight.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Jack: You are un-terriblizing this network.
Jack Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Jack · Liz: That's the sound of honey boo boos piling up on your TiVo. No!
Jack Liz Setup/Punchline Character Comedy Jack: Oh, but how could you? He's so amazing. He rides the train.
Jack Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Liz · Tracy as Dunston: Dunston's at a county fair and he ate too much chili. [Implied cut to sketch] When did old Bob Dunston swallow all this change?
Pearline: Smell him. That's Jenna Maroney's garbage.
Pearline: I remember the day he was born. He looked up at me and he said, 'Mama, I am not a person. My body's just a flesh vessel for an immortal being whose name, if you heard it, would make you lose your mind.'
Pearline Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Ron: And it's not getting any easier now that Obamacare's extending our life expectancy. Let me die in an emergency room with a treatable disease like an American.
Ron Irony/Sarcasm Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Pearline: It's just like what Jimmy Buffett says. 'I'm just a cheeseburger in paradise.'
Pearline: Of course, we don't have a stereo anymore, on account of our mayor, who's a meth addict, took it apart in a field.
Pearline Absurdist Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Jenna · Ron: Are they about being a loser? Some of them. But mostly, they're about being on a tropical island...
Jenna Ron Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Kenneth Parcell · Pearline · Ron: You got married? When? / Seven years ago. / Look, Ken, I'm just trying to replace your dad... / Oh, dang it. That's the wrong thing to say, isn't it?
Tracy: This is terrible. I've never gone this long without talking.
Tracy Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Pete: How do you make sex fun? Well, Paula never opens her eyes. So what I do is look at a nursing school catalog I keep under my pillow.
Pete Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Writer: What if Jenna did her DVD commentary while she was getting vajazzled? Then we could move the prop meeting up.
Writer Absurdist Character Comedy Liz · Writers: The extended scheduling sequence where the production calendar becomes sexually arousing to Liz. 'Right there. Yes, that is the spot.' 'This whole thing could be a spreadsheet.' 'If we print it in landscape, the page will take it all.'
Criss · Liz: Hey! That was ten dollars. I think I figured out what's been missing from my sex life. Organizing it.
Criss Liz Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Jack · Cooter Berger: Is that red wine with tonic water and olives in it? Yep. It's an old Spanish. Is that not a thing? Oh, the guys at the office told me it was a cool drink. I'm always getting pranked.
Cooter Berger: Well, after 2008, I went back to being a lobbyist. You know, just hanging out in hotel lobbies. If you wear a red vest, sometimes people think you're a valet and you can take a nap in their car.
Jack · Cooter: Cooter, this is a puffy frog with googly eyes. Oh, no. I've been handing those out all day.
Cooter: His re-segregation of the Alabama schools. His long-time sexual relationship with the Hank Williams statue outside Montgomery city hall.
Cooter Dark/Subversive Absurdist ★ Rewatch Cooter: A closer friendship with you that includes road trips. Your turn.
Cooter Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Jenna: Yes. If you're only in New York for a few days, find a way to see Amar'e Stoudemire's penis. It's worth it.
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Jenna: But if I do [steal the song], don't even bother lawyering up. I'll have my Jews on you so fast, you'll think you're an Asian girl.
Jenna Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Ron: Ron's song for Kenneth: '♪ There's a picture on my wall / of a boy who's just yea tall / without a daddy, he's in danger / he needs an older male stranger ♪'
Ron Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jenna Maroney: Ron, that was terrible. I'm going to be constructive here. You should kill yourself.
Jenna: Ron, that was terrible. I'm going to be constructive here. You should kill yourself.
Jenna Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Pearline: Comparing Ron to our inconsiderate neighbors, the Dingleberrys, is something I can do. But you are not allowed to.
Pearline Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Pearline: That's what family is, Kenneth. People you badmouth all the time behind their back. Why, on the train right up here, I called you a bowling pin with a face drawn on it. A cheap albino lesbian. A finger with teeth. A hummel someone left on the radiator.
Pearline Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Pearline: Do you remember that kid in school who bullied you? Well, I ate that goat.
Pearline Absurdist Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Jenna: I think I just got an idea for a song. It's called 'rum-soaked tampon.'
Jenna Character Comedy Absurdist Jenna: '♪ does this song make you wanna do it? / you're welcome ♪'
Jenna Character Comedy Escalation Callback Jenna: '♪ girl, you're so beautiful / and so is the guy you're with ♪'
Jenna Character Comedy Misdirection Callback Jenna · Audience Member: '♪ I just want to lick your face, eeh... ♪' — Hey! Where you think you are, OfficeMax? Get out of here, you perverts.
Liz: Don't worry about the show. It's all scheduled. Look at this. Oh, yeah, mommy like.
Liz Character Comedy Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Liz · Jack: You convinced me. You win. You think I'm an idiot? I didn't win that argument. I'm an idiot.
Liz Jack Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Jack: And if he doesn't sell, I'll spend the rest of my career in corporate obscurity, like a woman with children.
Jack Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Jack: You stop doing Dunston, TGS goes back to one night a week. You can kiss goodbye your Dusseldorf bus schedule sex. You'll be having Paris Metro sex. Long sessions of afternoon love-making, followed by talking and making circles with your finger in Criss' chest hair.
Jack Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Liz · Tracy: Break a leg, Tray. That shouldn't be hard. I have a severe calcium deficiency.
Tracy as Dunston: There are nine types of legitimate rape. One... a Halloween party.
Tracy as Dunston: Do you know if this auditorium validates parking?
Debate Moderator · Tracy as Dunston: Our opponent would like you to believe that Mitt Romney is a merman. Now, I know Mitt Romney does not live in the sea. A Mormon, governor. A Mormon? Now, that's crazy.
