Top of the Rock: 10 best guest appearances on 30 Rock
Award-winning comedy 30 Rock has attracted its fair share of celebrity guest stars. Here are the best 10 as chosen by Jonathon Valenzuela
James Franco
Episodes: ‘Klaus and Greta' (Season 4/Ep 9)
One of the greatest aspects of guest star appearances on 30 Rock is that they treat the celebs like any other member of the cast. This means they can end up in whatever weird situations the writers dream up for them. James Franco takes the top slot for playing himself to perfection while dating Jenna to quell rumours that he is in a relationship with a Japanese body pillow.
Memorable Line: "I am the actor James Franco dammit, and I'm in love with, and common-law married to, a Japanese body pillow!"
Elvis Costello
Episodes: ‘Kidney Now!' (Season 3/Ep 22)
Even though the episode he appeared in was absolutely drenched in stars (Alan Alda, Mary J Blige, the Beastie Boys and Sheryl Crow, to name but a fraction), Costello still managed to steal the show when he is revealed to be an international art thief named Declan McManus (his actual name), as well as delivering a knockout performance in the final charity musical number.
Memorable Line: "Listen, when someone starts talking in the middle of a song, you know it's serious."
Salma Hayek
Episodes: ‘Señor Macho Solo' (Season 3/Ep 7), ‘Flu Shot' (Season 3/Ep 8), ‘Generalissimo' (Season 3/Ep 10), ‘St Valentines Day' (Season 3/Ep 11), ‘Larry King' (Season 3/Ep 12), ‘The Ones' (Season 3/Ep 19)
Salma Hayek enjoyed a long run for one of Jack's ladies, appearing in a whopping six episodes. She played Elisa, who started out as a nurse for Jack's mother until he developed romantic feelings for her. Apart from livening up the screen with her sizable ‘assets', she also proved to be as capable a comic actor as any of the regulars.
Memorable Line: "Lemon, isn't there a slanket somewhere you should be filling with your farts?"
Steve Martin
Episodes: ‘Gavin Volure' (Season 3/Ep 4)
This great funnyman appears as Gavin Volure, a notorious businessman who invites Jack and Liz to one of his dinner parties and takes a shine to Miss Lemon. Of course, all is not what it seems and as the episode continues Martin gets to showcase the manic side that makes him so side-splittingly hilarious.
Memorable Line: "Come with me to Canada. Toronto is just like New York, but without all the stuff."
Al Gore
Episodes: ‘Greenzo' (Season 2/Ep 5), ‘Sun Tea' (Season 4/Ep 6)
Former Vice President Gore is no stranger to playing himself on TV (He regularly pops up as a disembodied head on Futurama), and on 30 Rock he shines both as an environmental figure and a source of comedy.
Memorable line: "Quiet... a whale is in trouble! I have to go!"
David Schwimmer
Episodes: ‘Greenzo' (Season 2/Ep 5)
Even with a guest list as long as 30 Rock's, David Schwimmer still stands out as a fan favourite. The Friends alumnus plays the new mascot for NBC's business-friendly green iniative, until the power goes to his head and he goes off the rails, causing problems for Jack and Liz.
Memorable line: "When I die, they'll want to put my face on money, if there were money in the future instead of just hugs."
Will Arnett
Episodes: ‘Fireworks' (Season 1/Ep 18), ‘Jack Gets in the Game' (Season 2/Ep 2), ‘Succession' (Season 2/Ep 13), ‘Do-Over' (Season 3/Ep 1) ‘Into the Crevasse' (Season 4/Ep 2), ‘Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001' (Season 4/Ep 7)
No one could capture the deviousness of Jack Donaghy's main business rival like Wil Arnett, who won a place in our hearts as Gob Bluth on Arrested Development. Devon Banks begins as a fellow executive at GE, vying with Jack for the CEO position while ogling Kenneth the page. He gets his management wish by marrying the previous CEO's daughter until his gay lifestyle gets in the way of the job, and he switches to Congress in an attempt to take revenge on Donaghy and TGS.
Memorable line: "After the election, I could have had any ambassadorship I wanted, even to the world's gayest country... Ireland."
Isabella Rosselini
Episodes: ‘Black Tie' (Season 1/Ep 12), ‘Up All Night' (Season 1/Ep 13)
Jack has been connected with many beautiful ladies over the course of the show, but none as classy as his estranged wife Bianca, portrayed with grace and poise by Isabella Rossellini. When she sees Jack at a birthday party in the company of Liz things get a little heated, but the true comedy gold comes when she and her former husband meet to thrash out the divorce settlement.
Memorable line: "Dammit, Johnny, you know I love my Big Beef and Cheddar!"
Jon Hamm
Episodes: ‘Generalissimo' (Season 3/Ep 10), ‘St Valentines Day' (Season 3/Ep 11), ‘The Bubble' (Season 3/Ep 15)
It's no secret that Hamm has made hearts flutter during his time as Don Draper on Mad Men, and Liz Lemon doesn't stand a chance when he appears as her upstairs neighbour, Dr Drew Baird. Even though they survive their initial meeting and a monumentally catastrophic first date, Lemon realises that her perfect man may be a little too attractive in one of the most hysterical satires of good-looking people ever.
Memorable line: "Let's do this again sometime, except have it not be anything like this at all."
Jerry Seinfeld
Episodes: ‘SeinfeldVision' (Season 2/Ep 1)
In his drive to dominate television programming, Jack Donaghy dreams up ‘SeinfeldVision', which involves digitally inserting Jerry Seinfeld into other NBC TV shows. Nobody told Jerry this, so when he shows up at the studio for an explanation things get a little tense. It's a rare appearance for the comedian (he's only done three television cameos since finishing his own show), but he demonstrates why audiences spent so long watching him with a great performance.
Memorable line: ‘I was vacationing with my family in Europe in a country only rich people know about.'
30 Rock Season 4 Seven, Mondays at 11.30pm. 30 Rock Enormé Box Set (Seasons 1–3) is out Wed 10 Mar from Universal DVD, RRP$75
