30 References You Definitely Won’t Understand If You Didn’t Watch ’30 Rock’

Mar 29, 2018 4:56 pm

By Emy LaCroix

Damnit, Lemon! It's been five years since the NBC hit series 30 Rock went off the air, and we still catch ourselves quoting it almost daily! The show was based on the crew that worked on a Saturday Night Live type variety show known as TGS, but the funny and sometimes surprisingly tender moments between the different personalities was what made 30 Rock so amazing.

Each character on the show was totally different, from the workaholic and neurotic Liz Lemon, to the cold-hearted businessman Jack Donaghy, to the simpleton page Kenneth. But watching them interact with Tiny Fey's personal brand of quirky humor was magical! If you never got to know them, you might find yourself left out of inside jokes and hilarious references. If you did, we bet you can find a quote for just about any occasion!

All seven seasons are on Hulu right now, and you should definitely do yourself a favor and watch them. But, if you don't have 50 hours to devote to the cause, we can at least catch you up on all of the best moments so you can laugh along the next time someone references the show. Don't be cry! Scroll through the gallery below to see the best moments and most relatable quotes!

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"My incompetence knows no bounds."

Tracy Jordan is the most self-aware nincompoop you'll ever see. He's lazy, helpless, and ridiculous, but he's proud to be who he is, which makes him so funny and lovable.

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"Shut it down."

When things get to be too much, what do you do? Shut it down! Several characters used this phrase in the show, it basically comes up when there's nowhere else for the story to go, or when a character reaches their wit's end.

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"The devil's temperature."

Lovable, uber-religious, page Kenneth was offered a coffee, to which he responded: "I don't drink coffee, sir. I don't drink hot liquids of any kind. That's the devil's temperature."

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"I drank all the throwing wine!"

One of the funniest storylines on 30 Rock was when Tracy's wife Angie gets her own reality show and Jenna desperately wants to be on it, so she tries to start drama with other characters, leading to this amazing quote.

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"What if the theme was sluts?"

As a matter of fact, Jenna loves any kind of attention. Here she is trying to plan a party where she could dress as scantily as she wants.

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"High fiving a million angels."

Liz loves her high fives, though they're rarely reciprocated. Here she is in a moment of ecstasy, high fiving "a million angels."

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"…Because I'm a hologram."

I mean, that's one way to get out of jury duty!

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"Where are all the baby pigeons?"

Another Kenneth thought. For the record, pigeons build nests high up and away from sight, and their babies stop looking like babies after a couple weeks.

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"I pooted."

Classic Jenna.

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"Give me strength, oh Oprah!"

Liz loves her some Oprah. This is the closest she comes to praying, really.

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"If I die my ghost is gonna haunt you!"

Liz refers to her ghost haunting people several times. Once she threatened to haunt Frank's dreams, and he said she'd find some "disgusting" stuff in there. Ew.

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"I'll take that with cheese."

The reality-show episodes might be the most quotable… because they're meant to be! This was Angie's supposed catchphrase, which literally never made sense.

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"Human empathy, it's as useless as the Winter Olympics."

Jack Donaghy likes to pretend he's a soulless shell of a human, but we all know that's not true. We do love referring to useless things this way, though.

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"It's like I did that push up last year for nothing!"

Same girl, same.

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"Ham!"

Another Angie quote, marked by the high-pitched goofy voice she uses.

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"Oh god, youths!"

Liz, like, really hates kids.

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"What am I, a farmer?"

This snarky response came simply because Liz asked why he was wearing a tuxedo.

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"Florida, the penis of America!"

How Tracy (and let's face it, most other states) really feels about Florida.

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"How do you do, fellow kids?"

this might be one of the most-used quotes from the show, and it's from a cameo! Steve Buscemi appeared as a PI in a few episodes, and in one he tries very poorly to "blend in" in a high school.

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"I want to go to there."

Liz says this several times, basically whenever someone describes something that sounds relaxing.

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"Don't be cry!"

Liz showed her emotional threshold while taking care of an emotional Jack.

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Self-five!

When no one else will high-five to your accomplishments, do it yourself!

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"Goodbye forever, you factory reject dildoes."

Jenna Maroney has the best comebacks, we swear.

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"I look forward to reading your obituary."

Told ya!

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It's a JACK OFF!"

This is 100% not what it looks like. Jack decided to argue with himself about whether or not Liz should get a raise and… well, that's it.

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"Another successful interaction with a man!"

Hilarious because Liz sucks at talking to guys. So, yeah.

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"See you later, suckers!"

Did we already mention how much Jenna likes attention?

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"Yes, may I please speak to pizza?"

This was Liz's attempt to play hardball and take a fake phone call while arguing with Jack. But like, we'll talk to pizza any day.

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"Where's my mac n' cheese?!"

Do NOT mess with Liz's mac n' cheese.

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"Reaganing."

If you've heard the term "Reaganing," now you know where it came from!