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« 30 Rock
Episode Recap: "Greenzo"
The party.
The party in and of itself has to be one of 30 Rock's finest and most manic moments. Let's just get that out of the way.
What I loved most about the party is that after allllll the setup, that with all of the rumored/supposed/absolutely fabricated guests, the brilliant writers of 30 Rock didn't event attempt to take us to the party in real time. There was no way it could live up to the promise. Nor did they just cut to Jack and his distressed hair and merely refer to the bash as being crazy. Rather, the way we only got fleeting, almost Lost-like flashbacks to the insane, bizarre, freaky and at times completely out-of-character shenanigans was genius. A veritable feast for comedy-lovers' eyes and, I would reckon, one of the most replayed-on-TiVo segments of the TV season. (I myself watched it at least four times at varying speeds.)
That said, nothing I can type here can begin to recap the party. So let me just evoke a few images, and then we'll move on with the rest of the recap:
• "Kiss me, Grizz!"
• Lutz eating Sonny Crocket's parakeet medication
• "Tool"
• Cerie cracking a bottle over one guy's head, and then clocking Jack
• "I would thank you to come pick up your wife at some point."
• "Harlem Globetrotter — does that name mean nothing to you?"
• Liz puking on the... Centaur?
We haven't even mentioned Greenzo yet! Props to David Schwimmer for throwing himself into this role, this rather unlikable lout. He started off just a humble out-of-work hack who, after a brief taste of Today show fame, grew into a self-important, egocentric hack. Oh, and a drunk.
What must it be like to act like a total ass in front of former vice president Al Gore? Schwimmer now knows. That's got to be peculiar. I think I saw Gore break once things turned crazy with the burning Earth and all.
Even the sub-sub-subplot with Pete, his wife and the unsettling things they were doing in Liz's apartment (and with toaster pastry)... Shudder.
I almost hate to stop revisiting this episode, but it's time for the bullets:
• Jenna's lipstick of choice — Tiger Orgasm
• Jenna positing that if men didn't dress up for women, "They'd just sit around in their own filth."
• Greenzo, the "first nonjudgmental business-friendly environmental advocate"
• "I just wish my mom were still alive... so I could rub it in her fat face."
• Kenneth's precious Halloween party, with "Wolf Bar Mitzvah" playing and the Harry Potter and Austin Powers costumes
• "If the world is not here, where is Greenzo going to dance?"
• Jared describing Greenzo's tone as "rye and wise but also very sexual."
• Jack scoffing at Liz's idea (joke) about cloning Don Geiss: "Think it through."
• Jack dissing Kenneth's party in favor of "Shubert and ironically viewing some Canadian pornography."
(Someone help me out — why ironically?)
• Poor Cerie. Releasing "just enough hydrocarbons to kill a penguin. This penguin."
• Oh, Cerie — and her four girl cousins from Holland. And Frank saying, "I'll die a thousand deaths before I fail you."
• Jack mistaking T.I. for a Texas Instruments mogul
• "Do you even bother to compost your own feces?"
• "What do you do with the Pop-Tart?!"
• Cerie's translated cousin: "I'm just horny to be in New York!"
• "I knew we should have gone with Angie Harmon."
• Jared to Jack re: "Merry" Vieira: "Dude, have you hit that?"
• Liz meeting Al Gore: "I'm Lemon."
• "I'm excited to see this trash-powered car of yours!"
Which brings us to the very end, where Gore brings the heavy wink to NBC's "Green Week" campaign going on this very week, serving as the celebrity delivering an impassioned speech about eco-awareness. And just as he gets going...
"A whale is in trouble. I have to go."
And so do I.
Are two Jack Donaghys better than one? Watch my Mitovich Mega-Minute vodcast for a bit of 30 Rock scoop.
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Nov 8, 2007 9:37 PM
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I nearly wept during the party flashbacks, it was so brilliant. Two episodes in a row of some of the finest comedy writing (and acting) television has seen since Arrested Development.
Bravo...
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Nov 9, 2007 2:18 AM
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I think my apartment manager is going to get a noise complaint from me laughing so hard at the shaky-cam clips of the party at Kenneth's. The thing I really loved is that for all the buzz that was created about the party, the only people who showed up at all were the people from TGS, and the lone Globetrotter.
"Can you come home early tonight? My wife wants to get caught again."
You have to hand it to Gore, he tries like hell to shed that "boring as a rock" image that he got tagged with. Between things like tonight, or his repeated appearances on Futurama, the man really does try.
Another stellar episode from Tina & Co.
Oh, and Matt, it's "wry", not "rye". I leave you now to go sit in my own filth....and I only wish that was just playing off of the joke on the show. I need to have an affair with someone. But first I'd need to find someone to cheat on, because the danger is half the fun.
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Nov 9, 2007 2:20 AM
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Best line of the night, maybe ever on TV..."Did he just talk to me like I'm ugly?"
Also worth noting, Jack reading the demos that love Greenzo. "Colored people, broads, commies, fairies...we've really got to update this form."
Great episode. I laughed out loud during the whole thing. You know it's good when Greenzo was actually the least funny thing.
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Nov 9, 2007 6:28 AM
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 You knew the "party" was gonna get off the chain when Tracey told Liz that Kenneth's party's wasn't going to be lame b/c he was coming!! Trouble with a capital T. Also funny, Kenneth's dressing down of everyone's bad behavior. Those flashbacks were frickin hilarious!!!
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Nov 9, 2007 8:45 AM
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just fantastic. pretty much the best show on tv.
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Nov 9, 2007 9:32 AM
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I have to admit that I was a bit worried when I read about all these upcoming guest stars on this show but I am happy to say that the David Schwimmer was hilarious. Jack once again was priceless especially when he realized that he had to be at Kenneth's party -- and the whole think the TI in question was Texas Instruments.
The thing that really made me crack up? The sight of Jack's wild hair the day after the party. Oh man. That killed me.
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Nov 9, 2007 9:39 AM
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I didn't think it was possible to top Jack's therapy session with Tracy but the party scene was the funniest thing I have ever seen on TV. I knew it was going to be good when I saw Jack's hair and his telling the troops (basically) "what happened at the party, stays at the party". I had tears streaming down my face and I could not catch my breath. Now that is MUST SEE TV! Thank God for TIVO so I can go home and laugh again tonight!
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Nov 9, 2007 9:42 AM
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I honestly do not know how Matt recaps this show some weeks. I would be tempted to just get a copy of the transcript of the show and post the whole thing as my bullet points. Of course, the transcript alone just would not cut it with all of the great sight gags.
The cuts to the party were hilarious. I made a mental note of the "celebrity guests" and happenings: T.I., Fallout Boy, Foxy Boxing, the girl from Heroes is going to take a shower...
I loved when Jenna was blathering out loud about the party in public on a cell phone, then when the guy in the elevator comments that he loves T.I., Jenna pointedly says: "Please! Respect celebrity privacy!"
Some other high points for me:
Greenzo was releasing an endangered falcon at a Knicks game (huh?!)
Jack telling Liz that he wanted the Today sketches to be "punchy and entertaining; soooo, don't treat it like it your show."
That GE is developing technology to fire the wind and a hurricane.
Fun episode yet again.
* edited out poor attempt at humor.
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Edited by jayhawk at 11/09/2007 7:34 AM
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Nov 9, 2007 9:48 AM
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Matt,
I'm thinking maybe Jack called it ironic because listening to Schubert would make Jack classy but porn isn't classy. Also Schubert music = good/ porn music = bad.
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Nov 9, 2007 9:51 AM
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Al was fantastic. Who else senses a guest-star Emmy? Come on, Academy, you know you want to.
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Nov 9, 2007 9:56 AM
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Alec Baldwin just killed me last night. His facial expressions and wild hair were fantastic. Everything about last night episode was funny. Wish I was at Kenneth's party
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Nov 9, 2007 10:43 AM
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Damn that Al Gore. He's shed that "boring as rocks" image so well, he'd ace a presidential bid.
If I didn't know better, I'd think his various guest stints and appeals to the hip (i.e., Current TV) were an indication of renewed presidential aspirations.
And no one's specifically mentioned Liz's hilarious line to end the show: "We need a new earth; this one's ruined." Touche.
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Nov 9, 2007 10:51 AM
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I think Al Gore is like Jimmy Carter. He's better as a non-president. Also, if he were, he wouldn't be able to focus solely on the environment like he does now. "An Inconvenient Truth" can pretty much be credited for starting the mainstream "green" movement (no matter how shallow yet well-meaning it may be).
I love Gore but he's definitely not on my list of great 30 Rock guest stars (he's just a notch above Nathan Lane). Schwimmer was surprisingly great as Greenzo, the mascot of how often the green movement can be more about self-important people preaching than really doing anything good.
My favorite scenes had to be Jack's sarcastic Valley girl tone he took when Jonathan asked whether they should try to get into Kenneth's party. "Uh...duh!"
And then Kenneth's pathetic attempt to do the fake "I'm clapping like I'm congratulating you but really I'm admonishing you for something terrible that you did" while he yelled at everyone for the party.
Other great moments:
-Jack's post-party hair
-Whatever it is that Liz did to Grizz and Dot-Com
-the (now hopefully running) joke about how Grizz and Dot-Com want Josh to think they're cool
-Toofer's outfit
-Liz as Harry Potter for Halloween. Awesome!
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Nov 9, 2007 1:12 PM
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Liz made Dot-Com and Grizz cry!!!
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Nov 9, 2007 2:01 PM
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