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From Oprah to Hamm to Kermit: Our favorite '30 Rock' guest stars
Which of your favorites made the cut?
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In its seven year run, at least 18 actors from "30 Rock" received Emmy nominations. That's a pretty mind-boggling figure.
That includes stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin and Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer and Tracy Morgan, of course, but the bulk of the show's acting nominations went to one of the deepest guest-starring reservoirs in TV history. It's a group that included regular guests like Elaine Stritch and Chris Parnell and Jon Hamm, but was also highlighted by delightfully random appearances by movie stars, politicians, puppets and media personalities attracted by the show's spectacular writing and convenient New York locations.
In honor of Thursday (January 31) night's "30 Rock" series finale, we put out heads together to list our 20 favorite "30 Rock" guest stars.
Check out our picks and chime in with your own favorites:
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January 31, 2013 at 1:35AM EST Reply to CommentNO Margaret Cho??? Not even in the "considered" list??
Pennywise Amen to that! She wasn't nominated for an Emmy for nothing.
January 31, 2013 at 10:25AM ESTmj15
January 31, 2013 at 1:35AM EST Reply to CommentMilton Greene first appeared in season 3, not season 4.
Brubarian
January 31, 2013 at 2:13AM EST Reply to CommentI applaud the 2 of you for having the balls to even narrow it down that far. Yes, I wish you had full pages on Brian Williams and Wesley Snipes, but damn... you really do forget just how deep the roster of FANTASTIC 30 Rock guest stars has been.
Paul Outlaw Wesley Snipes, seriously.
January 31, 2013 at 3:21AM ESTPaul Outlaw
January 31, 2013 at 3:03AM EST Reply to Comment"At least" 18?
dan Paul - I kept losing count. So I went wishy-washy.
January 31, 2013 at 12:36PM EST-Daniel
Paul Outlaw ;-)
January 31, 2013 at 2:59PM ESTDavidK
January 31, 2013 at 5:45AM EST Reply to CommentEmily Mortimer? Tim Conway?
Parker
January 31, 2013 at 10:15AM EST Reply to Comment" Oh and Tina Fey's first project after the end of "30 Rock"? That's right. A sequel to "The Muppet Movie." - Feinberg
Unless she has the ability (and the technology) to time travel back to 1981 to appear in 'The Great Muppet Caper', Fey is actually appearing in the sequel to 'The Muppets'.
dan Parker - Unless you're referring to an error by somebody else, that blurb was written by "Fienberg." But I will go fix! Thanks...
January 31, 2013 at 12:37PM EST-Daniel
Rg
January 31, 2013 at 10:21AM EST Reply to CommentI'm assuming I must have missed it because there would be no reason for Elaine Stritch not to be on the list.
sepinwall Neither Dan nor I particularly liked Stritch/Colleen. I've written about that a lot.
January 31, 2013 at 10:32AM ESTFrank
January 31, 2013 at 10:36AM EST Reply to CommentNo Will Arnett?
Cordy Exactly. I was thinking they might consider him recurring, but if Dean Winters is considered guest, so should Arnett.
January 31, 2013 at 12:24PM ESTdan Frank - Just as Sepinwall already commented above on the fact that neither of us especially loved Eileen Strich, I actively disliked Will Arnett in most (but not all) of his "30 Rock" guest appearances. But your results may vary! He definitely counted, but neither of us (me and Sepinwall) wanted to include him.
January 31, 2013 at 12:39PM EST-Daniel
Nik
January 31, 2013 at 10:52AM EST Reply to CommentI'd definitely bump Cooter Burger (Broderick) and Elizabeth Banks up to the main list (and maybe Wesley Snipes and Kelsey Grammar), but it was still a pretty great read just to go through 30 Rock history. Going to have to watch some of these episodes again...Bit surprised that Salma Hayek, Paul Scheer, Fred Armisen, James Marsden, and Elaine Stritch didn't even make the honorable mentions list, although I'm probably fine with leaving out Stritch.
But the biggest crime, for me, is not including Devon Banks in ANY capacity. 'Fireworks' is one of my favourite 30 Rocks ever. I know that Sepinwall's not the biggest fan of Devon Banks (and I guess neither is Fienberg) but to quote a totally unrelated character "COME ON!"....and for a more relevant quote, "maybe you could settle it with a talking-like-this contest" (though he doesn't say that line).
Fun list though.
ChampSkins
January 31, 2013 at 10:54AM EST Reply to CommentElizabeth Banks, Will Arnett and Brian Williams.
I applaud you for narrowing the list and obviously everyones would be different, but those three are probably in my personal top 5.
Rover537
January 31, 2013 at 11:15AM EST Reply to CommentYou didn't even consider Fred Armisen as Raheem? "Somebody to Love" is one of my favorite episodes, with Northrax and the introduction of C.C. and Tracy out by the garbage can near Clinton's office in Harlem helping Jack woo C.C. and conversing with a pigeon. ("Have some self respect. Don't you know you can fly?) And with all that, the Raheem subplot is still the best part. He and Pete as friends! Liz calling the terrorism hotline! It was all a tryout for the Amazing Race! They shocked his testicles! ("I don't think they can do that.") And his last line about being very angry and wanting to do something about it. All great.
Also, what about Jason Sudeikis as Floyd? "Cleveland" was another all-time great episode.
Bgklein
January 31, 2013 at 11:17AM EST Reply to CommentMight not be the best "guest star" but Brian Williams was always one of my favorite characters. Like Hamm he did a great job getting laughs at his own expense.
joshyoung
January 31, 2013 at 11:24AM EST Reply to CommentNo mention of Will Arnett's Banks?? Not even considered??
sepinwall As with Colleen, Devon was a character the 30 Rock writers always liked much more than we did.
January 31, 2013 at 11:34AM ESTjoshyoung I will grant you that towards the end they seemed to run out of good ideas for him in the last few seasons. However, his first few appearances were spectacular, and I thought his and Kaylie Hooper's send off this season were done well.
January 31, 2013 at 12:40PM ESTvfefrenzy
January 31, 2013 at 2:20PM EST Reply to CommentBANJO!!
S
January 31, 2013 at 4:15PM EST Reply to CommentOh Dennis Duffy. To this day I'm still quoting that "technology is cyclical".
Also, Oprah shouldn't be on this list for just being Oprah.
Genevieve
January 31, 2013 at 4:21PM EST Reply to CommentMichael Sheen as Wesley Snipes is really up there for me.
Marcus
February 2, 2013 at 4:45AM EST Reply to CommentWhats with the hate of Jennifer Aniston's episode? I thought she was a perfect fit on this show, I found her hilarious. She was my favorite 'friends' guest star. But to each his own.
Edie Falco was def. one of my favorites. I also think another great guest star that got three episodes was Paula Leggett Chase as Randi with the Queen of Jordan cast!