A Brief Note of Thanks to Tina Fey and Her Writers

Spoiler warning...below are some quotes from 4/10's new 30 ROCK episode. If it is still waiting for you on your DVR, watch it before you read this post. I wouldn't want to ruin the fun.


On to business. I clasp my hands in grateful glee for two jokes on Thursday's 30 ROCK episode, "MILF Island," their first back after the strike, and I want very much to share them with you. These two jokes are perfect examples why it pays to have women comedy writers in the room. There are just some jokes men might never come up with.

AWESOME JOKE 1
Jack wants Liz to work on a spinoff show for a contestant on the uber-ridiculous reality show "MILF Island." Liz refuses, arguing that she can't pander to the "lowest common denominator." Jack counters with the valid point that Shakespeare wrote for the lowest common denominator, and Liz shoots back, "Shakespeare never had a Confessional Shower sponsored by Dove Pro Age." It's product placement, but the joke works because that is EXACTLY who would sponsor a shower confessional on a reality show starring hot middle-aged moms.

AWESOME JOKE 2
Liz was quoted in the gossip column dissing Jack, and she's trying to keep him from finding out that she was the source. Tracy busts in the room with a New York Post, yelling about how Liz is in the paper. Turns out it isn't her quote Tracy means--he points to a "Cathy" comic, in which Cathy is predictably yelling about chocolate and sporting the trademark pyramid hair frizz. That could be the punch line (har har, Liz likes chocolate like Cathy), but the generous souls at 30 ROCK threw in a SCRUBS-style topper for free: cut to a shot of an exasperated Liz at a bakery, sporting a Cathy haircut, arms in the air and purse over one shoulder, yelling "Chocolate! Chocolate!! Chocolate!!! ACK!" a la Cathy. Beautiful, especially because though well-intentioned, the "Cathy" comic strip is generally understood to represent everything terrible about "female comedy." Watching Tina Fey's team tear down the old guard--or at least poke some holes in it--after twenty-odd years of stand-up about PMS and wrinkles and chocolate cravings is so, so satisfying.

Welcome back, NBC Thursdays!