List of 30 Rock characters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey, which aired on NBC. The series takes place behind the scenes of a fictional live sketch comedy series, also airing on NBC; the name "30 Rock" refers to the address of the GE Building, where NBC Studios is located (30 Rockefeller Plaza).[1] The series has an ensemble cast consisting of 14 regular cast members: Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Scott Adsit, Judah Friedlander, Katrina Bowden, Keith Powell, Lonny Ross, John Lutz, Kevin Brown, Grizz Chapman, and Maulik Pancholy.[2]
This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2013) |
The seven main cast members appear during the opening credits, while later additions receive star billing after the credits.
Main character appearance summary
Character | Portrayed by | Seasons | Special | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |||
Liz Lemon | Tina Fey | Main | |||||||
Tracy Jordan | Tracy Morgan | Main | |||||||
Jenna Maroney | Jane Krakowski | Main | |||||||
Kenneth Parcell | Jack McBrayer | Main | |||||||
Pete Hornberger | Scott Adsit | Main | |||||||
Frank Rossitano | Judah Friedlander | Main | |||||||
Jack Donaghy | Alec Baldwin | Main | |||||||
Cerie Xerox | Katrina Bowden | Recurring | Starring | ||||||
James "Toofer" Spurlock | Keith Powell | Recurring | Starring | Main | |||||
Josh Girard | Lonny Ross | Recurring | Starring | ||||||
Dot Com | Kevin Brown | Recurring | Starring | Main | |||||
Grizz | Grizz Chapman | Recurring | Starring | Main | |||||
Jonathan | Maulik Pancholy | Recurring | Starring | Starring | Main | ||||
J.D. Lutz | John Lutz | Recurring | Starring | Main |
Liz Lemon
Elizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon (Tina Fey), the series' protagonist, is head writer of TGS with Tracy Jordan. Jack Donaghy calls her a "New York third-wave feminist, college-educated, single-and-pretending-to-be-happy-about-it, over-scheduled, undersexed, you buy any magazine that says 'healthy body image' on the cover and every two years you take up knitting for... a week" person. Lemon is a Star Wars fan and is portrayed as a "geek." She also lacks certain social skills and is a stress eater, particularly ingesting junk food. She is generally shown to have liberal political views. Despite her high standards in men, personified in her imaginary perfect husband, Astronaut Mike Dexter, Lemon has had some "really terrible boyfriends", but eventually finds happiness with Criss Chross, with whom she adopts two children.
Tracy Jordan
Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) is the loose-cannon star of TGS. He is a movie star with a reputation for erratic behavior. This reputation is well-deserved; much of it is an intentional attempt on his part to maintain his "crazy" persona in the eyes of the media. In the pilot episode, Jack Donaghy forces Liz Lemon to hire Tracy as the new star of her sketch comedy program The Girlie Show. To the chagrin of Liz and Jenna, Jack renames the show TGS with Tracy Jordan in the following episode. Tracy has remained the star of TGS ever since.
Jenna Maroney
Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) is the histrionic costar of TGS and Liz's best friend and former roommate. Though a talented singer, she is often shown as being extremely insecure about herself. A recurring motif in the show is Jenna's pursuit of fame through some ill-advised project ending up in public humiliation from which she never learns. She is a self-described "soul-sucking monster". Off-camera she is comically conceited, frequently lying about her age and attempts, but fails, to use her sexuality to manipulate men (almost always to disastrous effect).
Kenneth Parcell
Kenneth Ellen Parcell (Jack McBrayer) is a cheerful, obedient Southern-born NBC page who "lives for television". In the early episodes, Kenneth seemed unfamiliar with some of Liz's staff (and Liz herself). In the pilot, Liz refers to Kenneth as "that NBC page". As the series progressed, his character became familiar with the other staff of TGS (including Jack Donaghy). Kenneth acts as Tracy Jordan's personal assistant (for instance, getting Tracy nachos from Yankee Stadium); he is a member of Tracy's entourage and becomes close to Tracy, Grizz, and Dot Com. By the end of the series, he ends up as the president of NBC.
It is revealed several times over the course of the show that not only may Kenneth not sleep, be immortal, and possibly be a clone, but also as stated by his mother (portrayed by Catherine O'Hara) that at the time of his birth he said to her, "Mama, I am not a person. My body is just a flesh vessel for an immortal being whose name, if you heard it, would make you lose your mind."[3]
Pete Hornberger
Peter "Pete" Hornberger (Scott Adsit) is the producer of TGS, who often serves as a straight man to the other characters. He works closely with and serves as a trusted friend to Liz, whom, as stated in "Blind Date", he has known for ten years.[4]
In early seasons, Pete is Liz's closest friend at work and the only one she can rely on. Much like Liz, Pete generally plays straight man to the other characters, especially to Liz when she is temporarily pushed over the edge. Prior to his work on TGS, Pete was a skilled archer qualified to compete in the 1980 Summer Olympics, but lost his chance when President Carter decided to boycott the Moscow Games. Four years later, a case of "the yips" led him to botch his chance at making the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. He was a member of the band Loverboy during his teenage years and his father was a member of the United States Congress.
Pete is married to Paula, with whom he has four sons and a daughter; her back-to-back pregnancies forced him to drop out of college twice. Aside from a brief scene in the pilot where Pete appears at home with one of his sons, the members of his family were unseen characters until the episode "Greenzo". In one episode, Pete reveals that he is afraid of his son Kyle, who is apparently very strong and, in "Black Tie", he spoke with his son Kaleb over the telephone, pretending to be popular fictional character Elmo, in order to encourage his son to "aim your pee-pee at the potty." In "Greenzo", Liz mentions he has three sons named Robert and Jack, and an unnamed one referred to as "that creepy little one who's always rubbing himself on the carpet". In the episode "Anna Howard Shaw Day", his daughter Evelyn is selling cookies for a school fundraiser. His wife, Paula, is implied to have a rather overbearing personality and Pete often goes to great lengths to make her happy, as in "Up All Night" when he realized that it was Valentine's Day, which also happens to be his wife's birthday. Pete also passed when one of Tracy's entourage expressed interest in him during that episode, showing that he may not always be happy in his marriage but he remains faithful. In the episode "Tracy Does Conan", Pete stated that his wife wishes he was not bald and, in "Black Tie", Pete mentions that they were married in a botanical garden. He lied to his wife about getting a vasectomy, but, as of "The Fighting Irish", she's getting suspicious. Therefore, Pete has asked Liz for the keys to her apartment for "my own safety." He is still living with Liz as of "Greenzo." However, Liz finds out that Pete and Paula are having an "affair" where they sneak around and use her apartment for trysts that include silk scarves and Pop-Tarts; Pete tells her that he and his wife got pregnant almost immediately after they began dating and have never had an exciting romantic/sexual life because of that, so they have found this way to spark their marriage.
With his role of Liz's confidant increasingly filled by Jack Donaghy, Pete played increasingly reduced roles as the series continued, although his marital woes and inability to catch a break were increasingly mined for humor. Jack pities Pete for his aimlessness and unattractive appearance, and occasionally attempts to boost his confidence, beginning by convincing him to wear a wig for a week in "Tracy Does Conan." In "Nothing Left to Lose", Jack is shocked to find out that Pete's only ambition is to remain in his current job. Jack attempts to help Pete by having him make adjustments to his lifestyle, including shaving off what remains of his hair. Unfortunately, it is revealed that his ring of hair was hiding an obscene birthmark that Jack describes as "a swastika made of penises", leading him to be beaten in the street and forced to wear another wig.
When TGS is canceled in "Last Lunch", Pete implies repeatedly he is planning to fake his death and escape from his life and family. He succeeds in doing so, setting up a new identity under the name "Dan Silversmith" in Hickory, North Carolina, but is tracked down a year later by his wife and meekly returns to his previous existence.
Frank Rossitano
Francis "Frank" Rossitano (Judah Friedlander; Fred Armisen in select scenes of "Live from Studio 6H") is a writer at TGS of Sicilian descent. After Liz, Frank is the most prominently-featured and prolific writer of the show-within-a-show. Frank is habitually slovenly and childish; he lives with his mother and is an aficionado of video games, comic books and figurines, and pornography. He wears a variety of trucker hats with humorous phrases (which Friedlander also wears in real life) and large, thick-lensed glasses. Frank delivers most lines in a deadpan style, and is often shown to be something of a perverse character with an obvious interest in the opposite gender (although in one episode Frank questions his sexuality after meeting a physically attractive man named Jamie), Frank appears to have an understanding of popular culture and sometimes displays surprising amounts of intelligence. Frank is allergic to peanuts. In "Audition Day", it is revealed that (as Friedlander is in real life) he is a standup comedian.
Friedlander said he made the hats for his character himself, using phrases he invented;[5] in "Jackie Jormp-Jomp", when Liz is suspended from work, one of her final requests before being forced out of the building was to know what Frank's hat said. Frank first started wearing the hats at age 14; his eighth-grade class photo shows him in a hat reading "My First Hat".
Frank was raised largely in Queens by his mother, Sylvia, after his father, a lawyer for the mafia, went into the Witness Protection Program. Sylvia's fear for her son led him to leave law school at her insistence and enter comedy. In "Goodbye, My Friend", Jack Donaghy learns of Frank's legal aspirations and offers him a scholarship to Columbia University Law School, but reneges on his offer after Sylvia warns him of the danger in which a law career would place Frank due to his family's mafia connections. Frank pursues women frequently, usually older, psychologically damaged, or physically unattractive women he considers "low-hanging fruit," though it is hinted in the episode "Jackie Jormp-Jomp" that he and Cerie had a secret relationship. The great love of Frank's life occurred at the age of 14, where he had an affair with his middle-school teacher, Lynn Onkman, who fell in love with him during his scoliosis test. She was sent to prison for the offense, but he remained in love with her and after her release ("Queen of Jordan"), they reconciled and began a relationship despite the objections of everyone else.[6]
Jack Donaghy
John Francis "Jack" Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) is the decisive, controlling, suave network executive who must deal with (and/or causes) unusual events at TGS. He is an Irish-Catholic and a Republican who has suppressed his Boston accent. Donaghy is portrayed as a slick, brilliant and scrupulous network executive who directs many overtly backhanded compliments to Liz. Lemon (as he refers to her) and Donaghy have a work spouse relationship and were briefly technically married owing to a translation issue at his second wedding. Jack was married two times (and engaged two other times), and with his second wife, television reporter Avery Jessup, he has a daughter, Elizabeth "Liddy" Donaghy, named after Liz Lemon. Avery and Jack were divorced after her return from North Korea (where she was held hostage by Kim Jong Il) when they admit they only married because of Avery's pregnancy. Shortly after becoming the CEO of Kabletown, Jack suffered an emotional crisis and resigned, only to return to General Electric.
Cerie
Cerie Xerox (Katrina Bowden) is Liz's young, beautiful, laid-back assistant. Cerie is named after an actual person who was Lorne Michaels’ assistant at SNL. The heiress of the Xerox family,[7] her surname is revealed to also be "Xerox" in a scene cut from the broadcast version of "SeinfeldVision". She is the object of intense desire from the male writers of TGS because of her beauty and sometimes revealing clothing. As Liz’s assistant, her excessive youthful naïveté causes her to often misinterpret Liz's instructions to humorous effect and frequently overestimate Liz’s age. Despite her clueless demeanor, Cerie has shown great intellect on multiple occasions. She frequently receives drunken phone messages, which she states she does not think are cute, even when they are from Liz.
In "Jack the Writer", she says that, career-wise, she doesn’t actually want to work in television; rather, she plans to "marry rich and design handbags." She is also in a band that has performed on Letterman. Contractually, she can only hold beautiful black babies in Benetton advertisements.
In "The Baby Show", Cerie becomes engaged to Aris, who never appears on screen, after five weeks of dating. When Liz tells Cerie that she may be rushing into marriage, Cerie replies that she would only be able to be a "young hot mom" for a limited time, and that she didn't want to be "like... 50" when her children graduate from high school. If their first child is a girl, possible names include "Bookcase", "Sandstorm", and "Hat", though Cerie thinks "Hat" is "more of a boy's name". In "Up All Night", it is mentioned that Cerie and Aris were fighting because he wants a Greek Orthodox wedding but she disagrees with the Church's stance on Cyprus; soon after, he is kidnapped by Somali pirates while on his father’s yacht. Aris returns three seasons later, apparently “thanks to the A-team.” Cerie notes that he is quieter upon his return, has a different energy, and is recovering from Stockholm Syndrome. Cerie and Aris finally marry three seasons later in "I Do Do". Liz and Jenna serve as Cerie’s bridesmaids, along with Andy Roddick’s wife, Cerie’s Dutch cousins, and Penelope Cruz’s hotter sister Monica. Aris’s groomsmen include several Somali pirates.
In "Secret Santa", Cerie tells Jack Donaghy and Liz Lemon that her mother was born in 1976. This probably means that Cerie's mother was a teen mom when Cerie was born. However, in a previous episode, Cerie said that her mother is 38 years old.
Cerie states in "A Goon's Deed in a Weary World" that she quit years earlier, but inexplicably kept coming to work. She joins the rest of the TGS crew and cast on-stage, to resign personally to the Kabletown board of directors, in order to prevent the show from being recommissioned and thus enable Liz to devote her time to her newly adopted children. She sticks around to pack up the TGS writers' room, and orders both the writers' would-be last lunch which Liz dictates, and its replacement decreed by Lutz. ("Hogcock!", "Last Lunch")
Toofer Spurlock
James "Toofer" Spurlock (Keith Powell) is a proud African-American Harvard University alumnus, Harvard Krokodiloes alumnus, and TGS writer, who often disagrees with Tracy and Frank (although he and Frank often socialize with Lutz). He detests the stereotypical aspects of black culture he believes are embodied by Tracy Jordan, and he serves as a foil to Tracy, who (like the majority of the TGS staff) finds him pretentious. According to Liz, Toofer is "afraid of black people" and he is disappointed when he is set up on a date with a black woman. Despite this, he claims tremendous pride in his black heritage and identity, showing off a photo of an ancestor who was an officer in the Civil War; later, he discovers the man actually fought for the Confederacy. According to Jack, his nickname is "Toofer" because "with him you get a two-for-one; he's a black guy and a Harvard guy". Frank (with whom he shares an office) called him a "black nerd" à la Steve Urkel. It was revealed in "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter" that Toofer was only hired because of affirmative action; he quits in anger, before he agrees to return. He insisted that in order to return, his fellow writers must stop calling him Toofer, but he relented when they suggested worse nicknames. Pete's suggestion of "Threefer, because you're also gay," is the first time that Toofer's sexuality is officially called into question, though Liz had previously insulted him, saying "Look, it's Sherlock Homo here to solve the case of the gay sweater." Toofer also agrees that he can get the group through "black-, gay-, and nerd-controlled areas". However, in some episodes, like "The Pilot", "TGS Hates Women", "Anna Howard Shaw Day", and "Up All Night", Toofer has shown an attraction to women. The character's name was inspired by series writer Robert Carlock.[8]
Josh Girard
Josh Girard (Lonny Ross) was the male star of TGS before Tracy was hired. Liz found him while he was opening for a puppet. He, Tracy, and Jenna Maroney are the three main actors on the show-within-a-show from Seasons 1 through 3. His character has been compared to SNL alumnus Jimmy Fallon.[9][10][11] Josh is frequently seen in the writer's room, and appears to be the only member of the TGS cast who also works as a writer for the show. Often referred to as being a "kid", Josh is described in dialogue in a way that implies he is young, guileless, and unintelligent. He is indeed typically portrayed as lacking smarts and is often shown doing things that are considered juvenile.
Most of Josh's work on the show seems to be as an impressionist; he has performed impressions of Ray Romano, Michael Jackson, Stone Phillips, Jay Leno, Elizabeth Taylor, George W. Bush, Christopher Walken and Jerry Seinfeld.
His impressions have raised eyebrows from people who are not impressed, like Elizabeth Taylor (played by Rachel Dratch), who knocked him out with an extinguisher and leaving him severely concussed after he did a sketch that offended her in which he impersonated the actress. Original characters that he plays on the show include "Dr. Ridiculous", a Chinese man named Mr. Wang, and Gaybraham Lincoln. In "The Baby Show", Tracy got mad at Josh for impersonating him, claiming that Josh was turning him into a caricature. In "Hard Ball", it is implied that Josh is Jewish, and in a carry-over during "Ludachristmas", from the "Secret Rodney" ads that were running, Kenneth says "Merry Jewish" to Josh when passing out gifts. He, Frank, and Toofer are often observed fooling around and admiring Cerie.
In the episode "The Break-Up", Josh states that his parents raised him as a girl for 10 years. Jack Donaghy mentions in the show's second episode that Josh had a 760 SAT score and graduated from SUNY Cortland. In "Hard Ball", Josh's agent Alan Steiner is introduced. In sharp contrast to Josh, Steiner was portrayed as slick and cunning. Steiner uses unnecessary abbreviations and has a "really bad sex addiction."
In "The Rural Juror", Josh snuck into Liz's office to get her copy of The Rural Juror and quickly dislikes it upon seeing the title ("Well, this is disappointing...I had to let Tony [the security guard] watch me pee to get that tape"). He does not appear in season three until the 13th episode, "Goodbye, My Friend".[12]
In "Season 4", Josh gets fed up with everyone's poor treatment of him and quits TGS. He then winds up auditioning again in "Audition Day", but he gets rejected; Danny Baker replaces him in the main TGS cast. Lonny Ross was written out of the series in season four. He appears via a flashback to a raunchy TGS sketch with Tracy in the series finale.
Dot Com
Walter "Dot Com" Slattery (Kevin Brown) is a member of Tracy's entourage. Another recurring character during the first two seasons, he is also credited as a series regular during seasons three and four. Dot Com is Tracy's driver and cook; in "Hard Ball", his and Grizz's last names are revealed.[13][14] Dot Com is erudite and intellectual; he is a 1993 graduate of Wesleyan University, aspires to screenwriting, and hints at successful entrepreneurial ventures. He credits a former campaign of his for a city council seat as having "raised the level of discourse in this city", even though he lost the election. Dot Com once portrayed Boris Alexeyevich Trigorin in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, a role which Tracy praised, saying he saw Walter "become" Trigorin. Dot Com and Grizz are old friends, having met at a "summer camp for giants" ("Argus"). Like Tracy, Walter grew up in the South Bronx, though without experiencing poverty ("I wanted for nothing as a child, but that brings its own challenges," he notes, with Tracy responding "Shut up, Dot Com!"). Dot Com often serves as the voice of sanity within the series, and finds himself ignored with mounting frustration. During seasons 3 and 4, it is revealed that he is in love with Grizz's fiancée, Feyoncé, with whom he is implied to have had an affair.[15]
With the cancellation of TGS, Dot Com develops Grizz's sitcom, Grizz & Herz. He is soon joined behind the camera by Liz Lemon ("Last Lunch").[16]
Grizz
Warren "Grizz" Griswold (Grizz Chapman) is another member of Tracy's entourage.[13][14] A recurring character during the first two seasons, he is credited as a series regular in seasons three and four. Grizz is the most physically imposing member of Tracy's entourage and the cast; referencing their long friendship in "Argus", Tracy tells him "I've known you since you were six feet tall!" Within the entourage, Grizz is charged with "sitting on" Tracy when he is overstimulated, in addition to a very fluid list of other responsibilities. In "Kidney Now!" it is revealed that Tracy and Grizz attended high school together. Grizz was apparently Tracy's financial manager, and he blames Worldcom for Tracy's financial problems that led to him joining the cast; in season 5 he was suggested to be Tracy and Adam West's talent manager. Despite his calm demeanor, Grizz is shown to be a romantic and deeply emotional man. "Sexual history" between Grizz and Liz Lemon (whom he alone addresses as 'Beth') is referred to in several episodes. A drunken Liz came onto him at Kenneth's party in "Greenzo", which traumatised him. Despite their history, he cajoles her into serving as his "woman of honor" (i.e., female best man) in his wedding to his fiancée, Feyoncé.
Grizz reads George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and expressed shock at a climactic moment toward the end of A Game of Thrones.
With the cancellation of TGS, Grizz remains at NBC. He is cast as the lead in a fish-out-of-water situation comedy developed by Dot Com, Grizz & Herz, in which his character runs an inn in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Liz eventually follows the duo, taking a behind-the-camera position and occasionally bringing her adopted children to work. ("Last Lunch")
Jonathan
Jonathan (Maulik Pancholy) is Jack's assistant. Jonathan harbours a desperate crush on Jack. His obsessive admiration of his boss is coupled with disdain towards Liz, whom he considers unworthy of Jack's attention. In the episode "Believe in the Stars", Jack reveals he only hired him because he was heavily medicated on Comanaprosil and he mistook Jonathan for M. Night Shyamalan.[17] In season 4, episode 11 ("Winter Madness") it is revealed that Jonathan is of Indian descent, and in episode 18 ("Khonani") he addresses the janitor Khonani in Hindi. Elsewhere, he mentions meeting his "birth parents", revealing he is adopted, and when in the season-five episode "Let's Stay Together", when Jack asks Jonathan to provide a distraction by pretending to be a stereotypical Indian and faking an Indian accent, Jonathan objects, "But I'm from Palo Alto!" Jonathan has repeatedly made highly racist comments about people from Indian Kashmir ("Khonani", verbally assaulting a Kashmiri janitor, and even hoping for a natural disaster to devastate them, asking for divine intervention that would "strike them from the sky". "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning").
As a Christmas gift one year, Jack secured the release of Jonathan's sister from a North Korean prison.[18] Jack's wife Avery was later kidnapped to North Korea herself. Liz once caught Jonathan wearing a wedding dress and dancing with one of Jack's suits. ("Hogcock!")
Jonathan retains his position when Jack is replaced by Kathy Geiss, and is heartbroken by Jack's departure. He stays on as Jack's assistant when Jack is reinstated and keeps the same office despite Jack's promotion to chairman of NBC. Jack fires Jonathan in "Cutbacks", but he reappears as Jack's assistant three episodes later without explanation. He relocates with Jack to a suite upstairs when the latter is appointed chairman of Kabletown and eschews the company's Philadelphia headquarters in favor of remaining in the G.E. Building. ("Hogcock!" / "Last Lunch")
Jonathan is off-camera throughout the show's sixth season, something that the characters appear not to notice. His disappearance was due to actor Pancholy's co-starring role on another NBC sitcom, Whitney. Pancholy exists within the 30 Rock universe independently of Jonathan, being mentioned by Jack in "The Ballad of Kenneth Parcell" during that period; Alec Baldwin likewise exists independently of Jack who mentions the actor in "Hogcock!" Jonathan returns in season seven, stating that he was away looking after his sick grandmother. ("The Beginning of the End")
Lutz
Johnny "J. D." Lutz (John Lutz) is a lazy TGS writer who is often ridiculed by the rest of the staff. When characters enter the room they sometimes yell, "Shut up, Lutz!" even if Lutz was not speaking at the time. The other characters are unconcerned about his well-being; when Lutz ran headfirst into a wall in "The Ones", no one helped him until a wall-mounted television fell on him, and even then, Pete (the producer) tells the writers, who instigated the incident, "I hope you've learned your lesson. Because of what you did, we almost lost a monitor." Lutz is originally from Alaska (which he hates), and claims to be part Inuit. His first two initials were mentioned in "The Aftermath", in which it was also revealed that he has a thyroid problem. The J is revealed to stand for Johnny (or John) in "The Moms". He attended Oberlin College; after his junior year, he traveled to South by Southwest (a film, interactive, and music festival in Austin, Texas). The show implies that he is a gay man in the process of coming out, although everyone ignores (or forgets) this due to their dislike of him. Lutz periodically mentions a girlfriend who lives in Canada, named Karen. No one believes him; therefore, Lutz created a website (JDLutz.com/karen/proof—an actual page on the 30 Rock website). He finally identifies himself as bisexual while shouting at his fellow writers on their last day of work in "Last Lunch". It is also mentioned during season six that Kellan Lutz from the Twilight series is his grandnephew, and while everyone thinks this is another one of his lies, Kellan actually does show up in Season 7 to hang out with his relative (and to try and tape a pro-Obama skit for TGS). In the series finale, Lutz finally takes revenge on the writing staff after seven years of ridicule by insisting that their final free lunch will be ordered from Blimpies, going to absurd lengths to ensure his victory, including legally changing his name to Johnny Aardvark so he will be first alphabetically. Lutz's mother is portrayed by John Lutz in drag in "The Moms"; however, this may just be the character Lutz impersonating his own mother, since they are not seen together.
Danny Baker
Jack "Danny" Baker (Cheyenne Jackson) is hired as a new TGS cast member in the fourth season. Danny is originally from Ottawa, and after starring in a movie about Canadian Football, came to New York and became a robotic street performer. He first appears in the episode "Audition Day" (played by actor/dancer Daniel Genalo). On his first day of work (without his silver clothes and makeup), Jack Donaghy renames him "Danny" rather than to have two Jacks.[19] Later that day, he accurately speculates to an incredulous Tracy and Jenna that Kenneth could be running the network in the future.[19]
Danny had a brief fling with his boss, Liz Lemon, which annoyed Jack. Ironically, it was Jack's example that inspired Liz to "take her reward" with her employee in the first place. Assuming that Danny's real name of Jack is a diminutive of Jon or John, he is in keeping with Liz's tendency to date men who share names with celebrities and fictional characters: Jon Baker, the CHiPs character portrayed by Liz's childhood crush, Larry Wilcox. Indeed, Danny was even in-costume as Wilcox/Baker during one of their assignations. Jack persuaded Danny to end the affair by telling Danny that he (Jack) was in love with Liz.[20]
Danny is earnest, good-natured, and a talented singer. He defers to Jenna when his singing talent makes her jealous, to the point of deliberately singing badly during a Christmas special so she can step in and shine.[18] He mentions that he has a hard time recognizing sarcasm because "Canada has a small Jewish population", and was shocked to discover he was adopted despite his mother being Japanese.[21] Danny doesn't appear in much of the sixth season until he returns in the episode "Live from Studio 6H", in which he reveals that he has been locked in a prison in Singapore due to the discovery of a suspicious package he was possessing, which happened to have been given to him by Jenna. He makes his final appearance in "There's No I in America", when he asks Liz to help him from getting deported back to Canada, but Liz ignores his problem.
Appears In: "The Problem Solvers", "Secret Santa", "Black Light Attack!", "Winter Madness", "Floyd", "The Moms", "Live Show", "Mrs. Donaghy", "100", "Live from Studio 6H", "There's No I in America"
Don Geiss
Don Geiss (/ˈɡaɪs/ GHYSSE; Rip Torn) is CEO of General Electric (GE) on the show, and Jack's boss. Jack considers Geiss his mentor, and idolizes him. Geiss has a mentally challenged daughter (Kathy), an effeminate son (Bertram, 'Daddy's Fancy Boy'), a secret second family in Canada (a reference to Torn's role in Eulogy) and a third (secret) attic family. In "Future Husband" Geiss dies, but (real-world) former GE chairman Jack Welch keeps his death a secret while GE negotiates a takeover with the (fictional) Philadelphia-based cable company Kabletown (which is based on Comcast). Geiss is cryogenically frozen in carbonite in an Episcopal service.
Appears In: "The C Word", "Corporate Crush", "Jack Gets in the Game", "Succession", "Sandwich Day", "Reunion", "Larry King"
Kathy Geiss
Kathy Geiss (Marceline Hugot) is Don Geiss' daughter. She is a strange middle-aged woman and appears to suffer from rosacea. Kathy likes unicorns, Mark Wahlberg and soap operas. She may possibly be neurodivergent, sometimes harms herself and is oblivious to fiancé Devon Banks' homosexuality and contempt for her. She has been seen putting pocket watches and toy race cars in her mouth and eating flowers. She rarely speaks, very occasionally saying single words (such as "kiss kiss kiss" in "Do-Over"), but is a highly gifted singer and musician, once performing a beautiful rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream", in a send-up of the Susan Boyle performance. She later performed "Ave Maria"[lower-alpha 1] as a trumpet solo. When her father was in a coma, Kathy held the titles of chairman and CEO of GE and President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming. In truth, Kathy was only a figurehead, while her fiancé, Devon Banks, ran the company from behind the scenes. Her appearance in "Idiots Are People Three!" suggests that she has taken over GE after her father's death. Also in "Idiots Are People Three!", it is revealed that she has invented a "calming box" specifically for elderly people. She later agrees with Jack and Devon to give money to a hospital in exchange that NBC's new mascot be "Majellica the Unicorn". Her invention of the hug machine (to hug the elderly) is then revealed to be defective and it's implied an old woman was crushed to death.
Appears In: "Jack Gets in the Game", "Succession", "Sandwich Day", "Do-Over", "Reunion", "Audition Day", "Don Geiss, America and Hope", "Argus", "Idiots Are People Three!", "Hogcock!"
Devon Banks
Devon Banks (Will Arnett) is the former Vice President of West Coast News, Web Content, and Theme Park Talent Relations for NBC, and Jack Donaghy's primary nemesis. In a 2008 interview with Fortune magazine, Tina Fey said that Banks' character was based on former co-chairman of NBC Entertainment Ben Silverman.[22] Devon is the nemesis of the (older) Jack Donaghy; he is first seen in "Fireworks", when his surprise visit from Los Angeles leads Jack to believe that he is trying to take Jack's job as Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming. Devon is gay, but for a point, was closeted as he becomes engaged to Kathy Geiss in order to get ahead in the company. Devon lusts after Kenneth Parcell and uses his status as a former NBC page himself to ingratiate himself with Kenneth. Jack, however, uses Kenneth as a honey trap to spy on and distract Devon. After the events of "Do-Over", he leaves Kathy and winds up showing up again in "Into the Crevasse" working for the Obama administration, and attempts to make Jack take government bail-out money, which Jack eventually does with reluctance. He appears again in Season 5's "Plan B", married and the father of three "gaybies," whom he and his partner Cashmere had via a surrogate mother. He briefly attempts to compete with Jack for the CEO position of Kabletown, but learns to treasure family more, and officially admits defeat to Jack. He returns in "Idiots Are People Three!" and manipulates Jack into using his connections to get his children into an elite preschool, but his joy that Jack won't be able to do that for his own daughter vanishes as Jack smugly notes that Liddy is already brilliant and doesn't need any outside help. Banks appears again in Season 7's "Game Over" as part of Kaylie Hooper's ploy to wrangle control of Kabletown away from Jack.
Appears In: "Fireworks", "Jack Gets in the Game", "Succession", "Do-Over", "Into the Crevasse, "Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001", "Plan B", "Idiots Are People Three!", "Game Over"
Hank Hooper
Hank Hooper (Ken Howard), an all-American family man and Vietnam War veteran, is head of Kabletown. He is often angered by Jack's handling of TGS, but paradoxically always seems happy on the surface (laughing incessantly, while directing thinly veiled insults and threats to Jack and his staff). After his own children were ruined by trust fund syndrome, he expected to be succeeded by his granddaughter, Kaylie Hooper, who quickly becomes Jack's new rival.
He is loosely based on the similarly alliteratively-named founder of Comcast, Ralph J. Roberts; Comcast is sometimes said to be run as a "family business.".[23]
Appears In: "¡Qué Sorpresa!", "Plan B", "100", "The Ballad of Kenneth Parcell", "Standards and Practices", "The Shower Principle", "Game Over", "Florida".
Subhas
Subhas (Subhas Ramsaywack) is the head janitor at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. He is an Indian immigrant and is married to Ann Curry. Subhas is central to the plot in the Season 4 episode "Khonani" parodying the feud between late-night television hosts Conan O'Brien (who appeared on two 30 Rock episodes) and Jay Leno. In 2005, Jack Donaghy had signed a contract with Subhas' rival Indian janitor, Khonani, to take over the 11:30 p.m. janitorial shift from Subhas in five years' time. In "Khonani", it's 2010 and Jack informs Subhas the deal is taking effect. After Subhas objects, Jack agrees to move him to 10:00 p.m. Khonani however then protests to Jack that there is no trash for him to pick up at 11:30 because Subhas has already collected it. Ultimately, Subhas returns to 11:30 and Khonani leaves NBC for "Fox [cough] -woods ... Foxwoods Resort Casino" (as it was predicted O'Brien would take his show to Fox before ultimately moving to TBS).
Appears In: "Into the Crevasse", "Secret Santa", "Khonani", "Gentleman's Intermission", "¡Qué Sorpresa!", "TGS Hates Women", "I Heart Connecticut", "100", "Idiots Are People Two!", "Idiots Are People Three!", "Kidnapped by Danger", "Florida", "A Goon's Deed in a Weary World".
Kaylie Hooper
Kaylie Hooper (Chloë Grace Moretz) is the granddaughter of Hank Hooper, who is in competition with Jack to take over her grandfather's role as CEO of Kabletown. First introduced in "TGS Hates Women", she has twice used typical teenage girl antics to try to cover up her schemes to bring down Jack. Initially, she pretended to be interested in oceanography and later threatened to destroy Jack if he interfered with her future at Kabletown. Later on, she deliberately sabotaged an NBC reality show with singing kids as part of a convoluted plot to make sure Jack got her expelled from a private school she hated, thus landing her a spot at a school in Manhattan near her NYU student boyfriend—but Jack got the last laugh, as he ruined her dreams of playing lacrosse there, and thus she couldn't pretend he hadn't won that round. Kaylie returns in "Game Over", still wanting to be CEO of Kabletown. In this episode, it is apparently revealed to Jack that she is not Hank's granddaughter, and Jack plans to expose her. In reality, she is Hank's granddaughter, but she deliberately set up Jack to have him send someone else's DNA to Hank, believing it was hers, using Devon as a pawn in her plan. However, Jack reveals he never sent Hank the DNA results, but instead a birthday card, knowing Hank is very passionate about birthdays. Because of Jack's distractions throughout the week, Kaylie neglected to observe Hank's birthday, sealing Jack's fate as Kabletown CEO and Kaylie's ultimate downfall.
Appears In: "TGS Hates Women", "Standards and Practices", "Game Over".
Howard Jorgensen
Howard Jorgensen (Brian Stack) is Vice President of Locomotives at GE and a member of the board of directors. A former protégé of Jack's, he is married to a Filipina woman, has two children and owns a house with a pool. Jack has stated that people use Jorgensen as a scapegoat.
Appears In: "Jack Meets Dennis", "Succession", "Larry King"
Donny Lawson
Donny Lawson (Paul Scheer) is the head page at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, known for his weak one-liners and bizarre hand gestures. He despises Kenneth for his cheerfulness, and wants to transfer him to the CNBC studios in Paramus. Donny was introduced on the series when Jenna tries to find a replacement jacket for Kenneth; Donny uses this as an excuse to give Kenneth a demerit. He challenges him to a "page-off" (a strange contest, mixing physical stamina with NBC trivia) which is quickly broken up by Pete, who orders Donny to give Kenneth a new jacket.
Appears In: "Rosemary's Baby", "Cooter"
Jeffrey Weinerslav
Jeffrey Weinerslav (Todd Buonopane) (pronounced "weener-slave") works for GE human resources. He tried to mediate a dispute between Jenna and Tracy, but failed. Weinerslav is a self-described "overweight transgender". He counseled Liz during her forced leave for sexual harassment (which she attempted to extend by making a pass at him). He later counsels Jack and Liz when they briefly get married due to a clerical error.
Appears In: "Believe in the Stars", "Cutbacks", "Jackie Jormp-Jomp", "Let's Stay Together", "Mrs. Donaghy"
Hazel Wassername
Hazel Wassername, aka Richard Drench (Kristen Schaal) replaces Kenneth Parcell as an NBC page when he is promoted to Standards and Practice in season six. At first, she stalked Liz and deeply despised Jenna, having nearly succeeded in her efforts to maim or kill her and therefore become Liz's "best friend". In "What Will Happen to the Gang Next Year?" it is revealed that she sees Kenneth as a threat, and rewrites his reapplication to the page program in a way that causes him to not receive the job. She also moves in with him in the same episode, and while her claim that she's "in love" with him appears to be false, she is the only woman he has ever been seen kissing on the show. She previously had a relationship with a pimp named Razmig, and has some disturbing sexual notions. She is a recurring character, beginning in season six. In "St. Patrick's Day", she reveals that she left her kids in a Sears in 2004 and has an IQ of 70, though considering her penchant for lying and exaggeration, it is possible that these claims are both false. She was later fired by Liz for attempting to trick Pete into letting her perform on TGS. Before leaving, she reveals that Hazel Wassername is not her real name. Following her departure, Hazel breaks up with Kenneth. In "My Whole Life Is Thunder", Hazel is "recast" by Tracy as a young Asian woman (Shannon Tyo) in an attempt to cheer Kenneth up.
After leaving NBC, Wassername sues parent company Kabletown alleging to have been the victim of sexual harassment in "Florida". Although her claims make her look worse than any of her co-workers, she accurately recounts how badly everyone treats Kenneth; when Jenna and Tracy tell him to be honest, he confirms those incidents (though he isn't that upset about them) and the bad publicity leads Hank Hooper to finally cancel TGS.
Appears in: "Today You Are a Man", "Hey, Baby, What's Wrong", "St. Patrick's Day", "Grandmentor", "The Shower Principle", "Live from Studio 6H", "What Will Happen to the Gang Next Year?", "The Beginning of the End", "Aunt Phatso vs. Jack Donaghy", "Florida".
Greta Johansen
Legreta "Greta" Johansen (Rachel Dratch) is a cat wrangler who works on the show. In "The Baby Show" she offered to carry the child whom Liz wants, and revealed that she owns a small ferret farm 60 miles (97 km) north of New York City. Greta hints at an obsession with Liz, mentioning that she likes to watch Liz watching TV. Appears In: "Pilot", "The Baby Show", "The C Word", "100".
Dratch, who was featured as Jenna in the original pilot of the show but recast, has also played several minor characters, predominantly in season 1, including Barbara Walters ("The Rural Juror"), Elizabeth Taylor ("Jack Meets Dennis"), a Latina maid ("The Aftermath"), a drunken Russian prostitute ("Up All Night"), Liz's doctor ("Hiatus"), a protestor ("Hard Ball"), a group therapist ("The Break-Up"), the Happy Days-obsessed janitor, Jadwiga, in the season-five episode "Live Show", the voice of an NBC-trivia spouting computer called Not Kenneth (The Ballad of Kenneth Parcell), and a "little blue dude" seen in hallucinations in "Tracy Does Conan" and "100."
Sue LaRoche-Van der Hout
Susannah "Sue" LaRoche-Van der Hout (Sue Galloway), also referred to as "girl-writer", is a TGS writer, who speaks with a heavy French-Dutch accent. The CBS dramatic series, The Mentalist, is a remake of a Dutch programme, Van der Hoot: Psychische (De Mentalist), which was based upon Sue's work as a police psychic in the Netherlands. Following the cancellation of TGS With Tracy Jordan, she takes a serving position at Hooters despite being heavily pregnant; she is called back for the final TGS episode.[24][25]
Sue has a pragmatic personality, but she is known for unpredictable behavior. She appears to have an affinity for pornography, and some episodes allude that she is bisexual. She apparently has a Black daughter, whom she brings to work on Take Your Black Kid to Work Day in "Sun Tea". Sue also claims that she is a virgin ("with white guys") when offering herself to Jack in "St. Patrick's Day". In "Black Light Attack", Tracy adds her to his entourage, seeking a woman's influence after he learns he is going to have a daughter. However, she leaves the entourage in anger after Tracy begins to act like an overprotective father.[26] In "It's Never Too Late for Now", it is shown that she can become very violent: when Jack hires the writers to stage a fake fight, she beats up Lutz and even breaks Toofer's arm and her own wrist.[27]
Notable appearances: "Up All Night", "Fireworks", "Ludachristmas", "Christmas Special", "The Funcooker", "Kidney Now!", "Into the Crevasse", "Stone Mountain", "Sun Tea", "Dealbreakers Talk Show#0001", "Black Light Attack!", "Winter Madness", "I Do Do", "Live Show", "Brooklyn Without Limits", "Operation Righteous Cowboy Lightning", "It's Never Too Late for Now", "TGS Hates Women", "Plan B", "The Ballad of Kenneth Parcell", "St. Patrick's Day", "Live from Studio 6H", "Stride of Pride", "Hogcock!", "Last Lunch".
Gaylord Felcher
Gaylord Felcher (Michael Torpey) is the head of Standards and Practices at NBC. Felcher is Kenneth Parcell's boss during his time at Standards and speaks in near constant profanity punctuated with obscene gestures in the spirit of quis custodiet ipsos custodes?.
Appears in: "Standards and Practices", "Grandmentor"