Anthropologists tell us there are two kinds of laughter. One’s a spontaneous, uncontrollable, tears and snot streaming belly laugh that happens when we find something funny, the other’s a snorting, grunting noise made when we laugh on purpose to ease social situations or show we understand and agree with someone. To use shorthand, it’s snot vs. snort. And while 30 Rock has delivered more than its fair share of snot moments over the years, Let’s Stay Together sticks firmly in snort territory. Though politics and diversity might sound more like a trendy degree course than sitcom fodder, 30 Rock‘s brand of satire has done great things with similar themes in the past. The Tracy/Toofer race storyline in season one’s The Break-Up was proof that smart comedy can take on tricky themes and prosper. So, what wasn’t working about this week’s episode? Before answering, I should state for the record that I’m not usually one to pick holes in 30 Rock. I love the show. I love itso much I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant. But still, something made Let’s Stay Together light on laughs for me. Another possible answer is that Let’s Stay Together seemed to rely on old set-ups and material that’s been done before. Queen Latifah played Representative Bookman, a politician whose grandstanding borrows the rhetorical style of Martin Luther King, but none of the coherence. Her speeches quickly disintegrate into random combinations of the words “America”, “flag” and “troops” before sending her audience into rapturous applause. Rare as it might be to say that Family Guy did a joke before anyone else, Lois Griffin’s non sequitur use of “9/11” in her Quahog mayoral election speech did seem to have got there before 30 Rock. The theme of recycled humour continues as eagle-eyed bloggers spotted this week a corn chips and diarrhoea-based  exchange between Liz and Jack that appears, intentionally or not, to have been lifted wholesale from a 2008 episode of The Sarah Silverman Show. Overlaps aside, elsewhere at 30 Rock, El Téjon (a.k.a. Liz) wants a little respect, Jenna teaches Kenneth how to step-ball-change for his re-application to the page programme, Toofer gets a promotion and Jack gets Tracy, Dot Com and Grizz to produce a show for the African American community. The week’s guest spots are filled by the aforementioned Queen Latifah, The Wire‘s Reg E. Cathey and a fun, but all too brief cameo from ‘Congressman’ Rob Reiner. Not a corker of an episode, then, but even on a slow day 30 Rock is still smarter and funnier than most other comedies on TV today. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that the laughs in the live episode coming up next prompt more bodily fluids than they do wry smiles. Read our review of episode 2, When It Rains It Pours, here.

title: “30 Rock Season 5 Episode 3 Review Let S Stay Together” ShowToc: true date: “2025-07-05” author: “Carmen Swearingen”

Anthropologists tell us there are two kinds of laughter. One’s a spontaneous, uncontrollable, tears and snot streaming belly laugh that happens when we find something funny, the other’s a snorting, grunting noise made when we laugh on purpose to ease social situations or show we understand and agree with someone. To use shorthand, it’s snot vs. snort. And while 30 Rock has delivered more than its fair share of snot moments over the years, Let’s Stay Together sticks firmly in snort territory. Though politics and diversity might sound more like a trendy degree course than sitcom fodder, 30 Rock‘s brand of satire has done great things with similar themes in the past. The Tracy/Toofer race storyline in season one’s The Break-Up was proof that smart comedy can take on tricky themes and prosper. So, what wasn’t working about this week’s episode? Before answering, I should state for the record that I’m not usually one to pick holes in 30 Rock. I love the show. I love itso much I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant. But still, something made Let’s Stay Together light on laughs for me. Another possible answer is that Let’s Stay Together seemed to rely on old set-ups and material that’s been done before. Queen Latifah played Representative Bookman, a politician whose grandstanding borrows the rhetorical style of Martin Luther King, but none of the coherence. Her speeches quickly disintegrate into random combinations of the words “America”, “flag” and “troops” before sending her audience into rapturous applause. Rare as it might be to say that Family Guy did a joke before anyone else, Lois Griffin’s non sequitur use of “9/11” in her Quahog mayoral election speech did seem to have got there before 30 Rock. The theme of recycled humour continues as eagle-eyed bloggers spotted this week a corn chips and diarrhoea-based  exchange between Liz and Jack that appears, intentionally or not, to have been lifted wholesale from a 2008 episode of The Sarah Silverman Show. Overlaps aside, elsewhere at 30 Rock, El Téjon (a.k.a. Liz) wants a little respect, Jenna teaches Kenneth how to step-ball-change for his re-application to the page programme, Toofer gets a promotion and Jack gets Tracy, Dot Com and Grizz to produce a show for the African American community. The week’s guest spots are filled by the aforementioned Queen Latifah, The Wire‘s Reg E. Cathey and a fun, but all too brief cameo from ‘Congressman’ Rob Reiner. Not a corker of an episode, then, but even on a slow day 30 Rock is still smarter and funnier than most other comedies on TV today. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that the laughs in the live episode coming up next prompt more bodily fluids than they do wry smiles. Read our review of episode 2, When It Rains It Pours, here.