30 Rock S01E18 – Fireworks

Ok everyone, it’s bold statement time again! Here I go… If there is a funnier actor, (TV/Movies/Theatre/Improv) in the English language speaking world than Will Arnett, then write his name in the comments below this post. Not very bold at all really is it. What I will say is I watch TV from Tottenham to Tokyo, from Sydney to… seattle and I have not come across anyone in the last few years as flat out funny as the guy who was Gob. The minute he showed up in this episode as a guest star, I sat up and anticipated a classic. And I got one.

The return of 30 Rock was notable for two reasons, a timeslot change which is permanent, and a supersize episode which is temporary. This meant that there could be 3 storylines rather than the usual two. The first was Liz’s continued pursuit of Floyd. She sees him going into Church on a Tuesday afternoon, and wonders if he’s a born again. Aaaargh! (Her words, not mine). Next time around, she follows him into the church only to discover that he is at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, and she pretends she is also fighting the demon drink just to hear his confessions.

In the Will Arnett portion of the show, he played Devon Banks, a gay GE executive with big ideas and designs on Jack’s job, and he had to pitch an idea opposite Jack Donaghy. Needless to say, the two deepest, growliest voices you will ever hear went head to head in a talk-off of epic proportions. Jack then sent Kenneth as gay bait to charm Devon into giving up the secrets of his pitch. If you haven’t seen it yet, just remember this line when you do:-

Touch the Peacock…. oh, you’re a peacock.

I haven’t laughed that hard at a scene since… the other night when I watched Will Arnett reading the dessert menu to Liza Minelli followed by Jack McBrayer telling Jason Bateman his card had been declined. What a fulfilling life I lead, full of coincidence.

The last storyline involved Tracy taking a paternity test and finding out he was a descendant of Thomas Jefferson, and more importantly, “mostly white”. This wasn’t as big a problem as the one facing Two-fer, who was told his great great great great grandfather had fought for the south in the civil war. This storyline was tied up nicely with a feelgood message, about not worrying about who you were, but focusing on who you are. I wish someone would tell the BBC this and they bring up “200 years since slavery was abolished” for the millionth time.

The episode had longer flashbacks and dream sequences, some worked and some didn’t. I thought the Jefferson Maury was both funny and not funny at the same time, if that makes sense. Which it should.

Regular readers will notice I don’t normally recap episodes like this, but I just put my head down and almost setup the whole episode. Why did I just do that? Probably because I love it so much. It is easy praising this show.

This is my plea to NBC, please get Will Arnett on board as a regular. and in a separate plea to Channel 4, please buy this program and give it a good timeslot. You can stream 30 Rock from here, or download it from iTunes for cold hard cash.