30 Rock – The One With the Cast of Night Court

by Bob Degon

NBC

(Season 3, Episode 3)

“She’s like a human Macarena; something everyone did at parties in 1996.” – Liz, on her college friend Claire.

Last week Oprah graced 30 Rock, and I was a little disappointed that she wasn’t given more to do. This week, it was Jennifer Aniston’s turn to guest on the best comedy on TV (as decided by the Emmy’s, not just me). She was certainly given a lot more to do than Oprah, and I thought she performed well. She played Claire, the “human Macarena” as Liz called her. A crazy college friend, it doesn’t take Claire long to bed Jack and become completely obsessed with him. When I say obsessed, I mean she became bat-shit crazy, or as Liz put it: “She is staunchly in favor of coco puffs.”

My favorite crazy Claire moment came when she crashed one of Jack’s important fundraising events, singing “Happy Birthday” a la Marilyn Monroe. She then introduced herself as “Esmerelda Fitzmonster,” Jack’s life coach, before threatening to kill herself. It was sheer brilliance in writing and execution. Another great part of tonight’s episode were the crazy hats that Claire designed. Each one was uglier and funnier than the last.

The B plot this week found Tracy trying to help Kenneth, who was upset over the new NBC page uniforms. In order to cheer him up, Tracy organized a Night Court reunion with Markie Post, Harry Anderson, and Charles Robinson. Kenneth was hysterical when he first saw them. Between the squeak of glee and his exclamation (“Some of the cast of Night Court!”), I was wracked with giggles. I have very fond memories of watching Night Court reruns as a kid, so I was excited by this reunion as well. However, I thought this plot fell a bit flat. It’s not often that I can say that about 30 Rock. I thought the Night Court stars were underutilized and Jenna as a werewolf lawyer was not funny at all. I was a little disappointed.

Overall, though, it was still a good episode with a great guest turn by Jennifer Aniston. What did you think? Are you getting sick of all the big guest stars? Do you have any crazy friends?