30 Rock/Characters

Thirty Rock

Liz Lemon
"Played By: Tina Fey"

The Show Runner of TGS who pretty much has to babysit everyone else.


 * All Women Love Shoes: Subverted to show her unfeminine side. Not having heels makes her shorter than most everybody else, which adds an element of elfin charm.
 * Author Avatar: She's based on Tina Fey.
 * Berserk Button: Do not even think of touching her food.
 * Brainy Specs: Jenna mentions that she only wears her glasses to look smarter.
 * Catch Phrase: "Blerg" and "I want to go to there".
 * The Chew Toy: "There's no chance that I'm blowing this."
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Hot Librarian
 * Hollywood Dateless
 * Masochist's Meal: "What time do you start throwing out the doughnuts?"
 * Ms. Fanservice: Fey shows off her cleavage many times every episode, but rarely exposes any other flesh.
 * One of Us: Like Tina Fey, she is a huge fan of Star Wars.
 * Only Sane Employee: She's the former trope namer.
 * Show Runner: Liz is TGS's Show Runner. Tina Fey, who plays Liz, is 30 Rock's show runner.
 * Unusual Euphemism: lizzing. (Actually a Portmanteau)

Jack Donaghy
"Played By: Alec Baldwin"

GE Executive who regularly calls for changes on TGS.


 * Badass in Charge
 * Deadpan Snarker: He gets all the best lines.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Horrified that Devon Banks would destroy thousands of jobs for personal reasons.
 * Executive Meddling: He does this regularly.
 * The Irish Diaspora: Jack is staunchly Irish American.
 * Limited Wardrobe: He has almost never been seen without a suit.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Raised Catholic
 * Pointy-Haired Boss: He starts the series as one.
 * Sidekick Ex Machina: A lot of the plots have Liz struggling when she is unable to call on Jack's omnipotence or her surprise when he steps in and resolves issues far beyond her mortal ken.

Tracy Jordan
"Played By: Tracy Morgan"

The famous movie star that Jack brings on to TGS. Played by Tracy Morgan.

"Jack: Tracy, we think your spending has gotten out of control.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Especially when he's off his meds.
 * The Danza
 * Everything Is Racist: Uses this frequently to try and avoid being blamed. It never works.
 * Fantastic Racism: Trained his dog to attack white people, because most ghosts are white.
 * Genius Ditz: Tracy is an American History buff.
 * Happily Married: He visits strip clubs regularly to maintain his image, but he still loves his wife, Angie.
 * It's All About Me: Has this but not as bad as Jenna.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold
 * Large Ham
 * Mad Hatter
 * Man Child: Part of his image since, as a celebrity, he basically gets to be a Karma Houdini.
 * No Fourth Wall: When he's off his meds
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Gets brought up from time to time, that his Man Child antics are actually an act.
 * Rich in Dollars, Poor In Sense

Tracy: (while wearing a shirt made of money) Give me an example."

Later: "Tracy I've put more money into this than my money pit in Conneticut.

Jack You have a house in Conneticut.

Tracy. . . no."


 * Ultimate Job Security: He has it because of his celebrity status.
 * Villain with Good Publicity: After starring in a tough social drama, he can't get anyone to view him as crazy anymore, much to his annoyance. "I can't stop the horrible respect people have for me."

Jenna Maroney
"Played By: Jane Krakowski"

TGS's crazy, attention loving star.


 * Attention Whore: Big time. She even considered having a baby to get more attention.
 * Though she does resort to Suspiciously Specific Denial to try to put bad attention behind her: "I don't know what you're talking about, and that was two years ago."
 * Dumb Blonde: Surprisingly averted. She is, however, monstrously self-obsessed and will do anything for attention.
 * Hidden Depths: Once proved herself a surprisingly efficient businesswoman.
 * It's All About Me: She has this bad.
 * Noodle Incident: Has an unspecified feud with Raven Symone.
 * Manipulative Bitch
 * Parental Abandonment: "My mother's boyfriend raised me to believe ..."
 * White Dwarf Starlet: She's trying to avert this.

Kenneth Parcell
"Played By: Jack McBrayer"

The NBC page who is a Wide-Eyed Idealist despite how he's treated by the staff of TGS.

"Tracey: Ken, you don't wanna be a page forever!
 * Brainless Beauty
 * Deep South: He's from Stone Mountain, Georgia.
 * Expansion Pack Past: Along with most people on the show, but him especially. He's lived forever/300 years/at least long enough to coach Shirley Temple, spent a summer captured by hill folk, his family joined a militia, he randomly speaks Latin . ..
 * Gosh Dang It to Heck
 * Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Everyone on the staff treats him horribly, but he doesn't complain because he loves his job.
 * Jack goes so far as to fake a "not enough oxygen, Someone Has to Die" scenario just to see how far he'll go. Kenneth tries to sacrifice himself without the slightest hesitation, weirding Jack out.
 * Nice Guy
 * The Pollyanna: He regards a guy he's known for a few days as his "best friend ever . . . tied with everyone else he ever met!"
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old:

Kenneth: Who said I've been alive forever?"


 * Star-Making Role: For Jack McBrayer.
 * When She Smiles: A rare male version.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist

Pete Hornberger
"Played By: Scott Adsit"

The beleaguered producer with a big family and a fatalistic outlook.


 * The Archer: Go figure.
 * Bald of Awesome
 * Creepy Child: One of Pete's kids is frequently referenced as "the creepy one"
 * The Cynic: Arguably the most jaded in the entire cast of TGS
 * Deadpan Snarker: To Liz at times.
 * Jaded Washout: Definitely jaded, though not exactly a washout. Although he did get denied the chance to participate in the olympics, and a DUI prevented him from being a Congressman. He still manages to keep his sanity and tends not to relive his past glory.
 * Not So Above It All: Has been becoming increasingly unstable as the series goes on.
 * Only Sane Employee: Slightly less sane than Liz (though Your Mileage May Vary, as he has fewer freakouts), but that's just because he's far more cynical
 * Parental Abandonment: Inverted. Pete confesses to wanting to run away from his wife with each of her seven pregnancies, but he always comes back.

Frank Rossitano
"Played By: Judah Friedlander"


 * Jerk with a Heart of Jerk
 * Man Child
 * The Slacker

Cerie Xerox
"Played By: Katrina Bowden"


 * Hidden Depths
 * Meaningful Name
 * Ms. Fanservice
 * Valley Girl

James 'Toofer' Spurlock
"Played By: Keith Powell"


 * Ivy League for Everyone
 * Twofer Token Minority

Warren "Grizz" Griswold
"Played By: Grizz Chapman"

Part of Tracy Jordan's entourage.


 * Badass Beard
 * The Big Guy: He's seven feet tall.
 * The Danza
 * Gentle Giant: Often shown with a very tender side, and generally quite soft spoken.
 * Genius Bruiser
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Dot Com
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Pretty much all his relationships.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: "You wouldn't think a movie called Somewhere would go absolutely Nowhere"
 * Punny Name: Grizz's fiancee (and later, wife) Feyonce.
 * Noodle Incident: Used to be secret lovers with Liz.

Walter "Dot Com" Slattery
"Played By: Kevin Brown"

Part of Tracy Jordan's entourage.


 * Bald of Awesome
 * But Not Too Black: Occasionally called out on this by Tracy.
 * Gentle Giant: Not as big as Grizz but he's equally soft-spoken and polite.
 * Ivy League for Everyone: Went to Cornell.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: With Grizz.
 * Hidden Depths: Speaks French, did theater in college, and goes on exotic foreign vacations.
 * Team Chef: Able to whip up a gourmet French meal for Kenneth and his date on Valentine's Day.
 * Noodle Incident: He used to be part of Phil Spector's entourage....
 * The Smart Guy

Jonathan
"Played By: Mauilik Pancholy"


 * Ambiguously Gay
 * Bersek Button: Insulting or lightly joking about Jack is not a good idea around him.
 * Butt Monkey
 * Chew Toy
 * Stalker with a Crush: To Jack.

JD Lutz
"Played By: John Lutz"


 * Ambiguously Gay
 * The Danza
 * Butt Monkey
 * Chew Toy

Danny Baker
"Played By: Cheyenne Jackson"


 * Canada, Eh??
 * Out of Focus: Probably due to Tracy Morgan's violently homophobic rant, considering the actor is openly gay.
 * One Steve Limit: His name is actually Jack, but Jack Donaghy forces him to change it to Danny.

Don Geiss
"Played By: Rip Torn"


 * Pointy-Haired Boss

Josh Girard
"Played By: Lonny Ross"


 * Demoted to Extra
 * Put on a Bus
 * Out of Focus

Kathy Geiss
"Played By: Marceline Hugot"


 * Adult Child
 * The Ditz

Devon Banks
"Played By: Will Arnett"


 * Gutteral Growler
 * Psychopathic Manchild
 * Sitcom Arch Nemesis