Becca Weber
036:064:002
Television Criticism
Meta-humorous
For a show that is long recognized
for it’s stabs at pop culture and willingness to push the boundaries of comedy,
30 Rock has been prevalent in media studies since its inception in 2006. The
show’s ability to allude to real actors in the show, PR debacles, and real world
issues is unparalleled to any other satirical sitcom on air today. 30 Rock’s ballsy
no-bullshit method makes the show stand out amongst other similar sitcoms (i.e.
Arrested Development, The Office, Seinfeld) and their use of referential humor
proves their expertise in the world of comedy. Referential humor (also known as
meta-humor) is described as characters in a television show, “acknowledging that
they live in a fictional universe and are TV characters”
(persephonemagazine.com). This meta-humor deceives the viewer’s expectations of
fiction and can change the way they’re interpreting the show.
Self-referential humor breaks the
fourth wall that separates the real world from a fiction one. Many shows are
afraid to break the fourth wall and often use tactics such as visual trickery, continual
storylines and believable characters to remain consistent and fictitious. But
when it’s done right, the breaking of the fourth wall can be mind-blowingly fun
way to force audiences into recognizing that they are watching a fictional
story in a made up world.
Another tactic that’s similar to
meta-humor is transrealism- when shows use real people and/or events in a
fictional manner. For example in the Larry Sanders Show, Sanders plays a
himself, “interviewing real-life celebrities, who often play weirdly
over-the-top versions of themselves” (io9.com). In 30 Rock, characters are not
only known for making fun of each other in the show, but for making fun of
their real persona’s (i.e. the actors playing these characters). This
self-parody uses the idea of fiction to help make fun of fiction itself. Tracy Morgan plays an exaggerated version of
himself named Tracy Jordan, and uses problems from his real life to enhance his
character. He often pokes fun at his poor health, his colorful personality, and
real stunts he has pulled in the past. This “television inception” has been
used in shows starting as early as the 1950s and it is often multidimensional
in the sense that characters recognize the fact they’re playing a version of
themselves for comedic effect.
Meta-humor is used to describe any
of these self-actualized ideas and 30 Rock uses almost all of these tactics in
each of their episodes. The show often pokes fun at the fact that it’s a show
about a show based on a real life show that is produced by the producer of the original
show along with being written by the writer of the original show. Phew! Exhausting
isn’t it? Meta humor is very complex with multiple layers playing off each
other for the sake of comedy. As Rolling Stone puts it, “You’re on the set of
an actual TV show that’s dominated by an elaborate set of a fictional TV show’s
set, surrounded by actors who can be hard to distinguish from the people
playing them.” (Rollingstone.com). This television inception is funny on many
different levels- one being that real celebrities are making fun of themselves,
that the show is making fun of the idea of TV being a form of entertainment,
and that society is dumb enough to continue to watch a show that makes fun of
society (with themselves included).
Aside from playing with the idea of
television inception, the characters in 30 Rock sometimes reference an aspect
of the show that they technically shouldn’t know about. For example, in Season
7 when Liz Lemon finally marries Kriss (and yes, that is spelled correctly), the episode opens with her singing a song to
the other writers in the tune of the theme song of 30 Rock, (which was composed
by her real life husband, might I add). The line read, “Married, Liz Lemon got
married, and made up this song,” which allowed the show to move from scene into
the opening theme song without skipping a beat. Along with poking fun at the
fact that they are actors on a television show about themselves, Fey also uses product
placement to break the fourth wall- breaking her character in the middle of a
scene while speaking directly to advertisers. In one episode, Alec Baldwin’s
character Jack Donaghy goes off on a tangent about Verizon Wireless phones being
oh so popular and Fey’s character Liz
responds by saying that Verizon’s service is unbeatable and how she wants to
get one for herself. After she finishes her line she looks at the camera and
says, “Can we get our money now?” [https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=d36wUmJGzvA].
Tina’s character is acknowledging that she is on a show and by directly asking
for money she is acknowledging that 30 Rock is in need of money to keep it on
air.
30 Rock is constantly referencing
pop culture and real life celebrities, often using them to play various
versions of themselves. In the first episode of season two, Jerry Seinfeld is
featured on the show, playing a version himself who is defending his role from
the NBC show Seinfeld. By making fun of his old character, 30 Rock is making
fun of his show, his role in television and NBC as a general broadcaster. 30
Rock also regularly used fake TV shows to make fun of real TV shows that are
popular today. For example, TGS is meant to reflect SNL, America’s Kidz Got
Singing is making fun of almost every contest singing show (and especially
Simon Cowell), Gold Case is reflecting Deal or No Deal and Queen of Jordan was
created to poke fun at any Housewives of Whatever that airs on Bravo. 30 Rock
also featured two live episodes which based a lot of its humor on the idea of
“breaking”. “Breaking” is when actors break their role on a show by laughing,
screwing up dialogue, or messing up the set. In one live episode, Morgan’s
character talked about how he wants to “break” in the next episode of TGS and
then goes ahead and “breaks” his role on 30 Rock by laughing uncontrollably in front
of a live audience.
The series finale however, really took
meta-humor to a whole new level when the last episode of 30 Rock was also the
last episode of TGS. As both TGS and 30 Rock was coming to an end, the camera
focused on Tracy Jordan who screams, “Thank you America. That’s our show. Not a
lot of people watched it but the joke’s on you, because we got paid anyway.” After
the episode ended, they give a “one year later” summary of each of the
characters. Grizz is shown staring in his own sitcom produced by Liz and
Dotcom, Jack is shown staring in a different sitcom similar to 30 Rock and the
episode concludes with Kenneth Parcell speaking with Miss Lemon (Liz’s great
granddaughter) where she is pitching a show based on the stories from 30 Rock. Talk
about meta-humor within meta-humor within meta-humor!
Works
Cited
"Breaking the Fourth Wall." RSS.
TV Tropes, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Hiatt, Brian. "The Last Days of '30
Rock'" Rolling Stone. Rolling Stone, 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 30 Mar.
2014.
Kroeger, Jake. "Joke Inception: Meta
Comedy: Is This Still a Bit?: What’s Happening?" Nerdist. Nerdist,
30 Aug. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Mary. "What “30 Rock” Meant to Me |
Persephone Magazine." Persephone Magazine. Wordpress, 6 Feb. 2013.
Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Sanders, Charlie Jane. "The Most
Fourth Wall-Breaking Moments in Television History." Io9. Io9, 06
Aug. 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Temple,
Emily. "The Most Meta TV Shows of All Time." Flavorwire.
Flavorwire, 22 Jan. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
