Tina Fey Reunites '30 Rock' Cast at Radio City for One-Night Show

Roughly 5,000 fans braved a rainstorm Sunday evening at Radio City Music Hall for a one-night-only, never-to-be-televised "30 Rock" reunion celebrating the sitcom's 20th anniversary. The event doubled as a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem.

Conan O'Brien opened with characteristic restraint. "Welcome to the greatest night in the history of entertainment!" he said to raucous applause. "I'm Conan O'Brien, and I'm known to exaggerate." The crowd's cheers were near-deafening as he introduced Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan and Jane Krakowski, with surprise guests including Jon Hamm, Tom Hanks, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Will Forte and Brian Williams.

"What you will see tonight is, in '30 Rock' fashion, an overly ambitious grab bag of nonsense," Fey said from the stage.

Created by Fey, "30 Rock" ran seven seasons on NBC from 2006 to 2013, set behind the scenes of a fictional sketch show, "TGS With Tracy Jordan." Fey plays head writer Liz Lemon, Baldwin plays NBC boss Jack Donaghy, and Krakowski and Morgan play cast members Jenna Maroney and Tracy Jordan.

Why the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem?

Fey said the charity choice was partly penance. "We chose the Boys and Girls of Harlem because they are a great New York institution," she said. "But also because we figured we kind of owed them something because of how much Tracy Jordan struggled to shoot the commercial he did." In a Season 5 episode, Tracy repeatedly failed to remember his lines while filming a PSA for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Fey revealed Jack McBrayer suggested a 20th anniversary reunion. "He probably meant a cast dinner. But I'm not a good listener, so here we are," Fey said. "I wanted to celebrate at Radio City because I like to feel tiny."

She stuffed the 90-minute event with musical numbers, game show sketches and themed skits. "No one has ever seen this show before, including us, because we have not rehearsed it," Fey said. "But one thing I can promise you, from the bottom of my heart, we will have microphone problems."

Who won best guest star?

The show's parade of A-list guests — Carrie Fisher, Steve Martin, Oprah Winfrey — produced one posthumous champion: Elaine Stritch, as Jack's overbearing mother Colleen Donaghy. She beat nominees including Kelsey Grammer's heist-wielding "Frajer" and Sherri Shepherd's Angie Jordan.

"Unfortunately, Elaine can't be here tonight to accept her award because she's dead," Katrina Bowden deadpanned. Stritch died in 2014 at age 89. "So here to accept on her behalf is two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks."

Hanks claimed he was lured in from one block away. "I was on my way to dinner at the Rainbow Room," he said. "I eat there every night to avoid Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax."

Judah Friedlander, who played writer Frank Rossitano, recalled the guest-star roulette: "One week it was Al Gore, and the next it could be Queen Latifah." Bowden asked: "Wait, are those real people who lived?"

Could Tina and Tracy remember their lines?

McBrayer tested Fey and Morgan with niche quotes from seven seasons. Both started strong. Fey knew "a Liz Lemon party is mandatory," and Morgan recalled the advice to "live every week like it's Shark Week."

Then things took a turn. Fey was stumped by Liz in Princess Leia gear dodging jury duty, guessing "Because I can read minds?" The actual line: "Because I'm a hologram." When Morgan blanked on the punchline to "What is this, horseville?", the audience shouted it in unison: "Because I'm surrounded by naysayers. Wordplay!"

Morgan had an excuse. "I'm supposed to remember that?" he said. "You gotta give me a break. I got hit by a truck!" Morgan was severely injured by a vehicle in 2014 — the reference landed with the crowd.

What would Jack Donaghy say?

Brian Williams introduced one of the night's sharpest sketches: Jack Donaghy responding to major news events since the series ended in 2013. Highlights included:

• The 2014 Sony hack, where Jonathan (Maulik Pancholy) clarifies which emails leaked: "It's the one where you offer to give Jenna to Kim Jong Un if it would help."
• Kenneth (McBrayer) revealing in 2017 he was "#MeToo'd by a lady on the camera crew" — over a shared fondness for chickpeas and Mountain Dew.
• Jack shaming Jan. 6 insurrectionists in 2021: "When I defecated on Nancy Pelosi's desk, I looked in her straight in the eye like a man."
• In 2023, Jack's relief that Googling "Barbenheimer" now returns the movies, "and not Cody Barbenheimer, the young man who mysteriously drowned in Lindsey Graham's bathtub over Memorial Day weekend."

The show's writers also staged a montage of predictions that came true, from Jenna's "free Lyle Menendez" tattoo — the brothers were recently granted an early parole hearing — to "MILF Island," which prefigured HBO Max's real dating series "FBoy Island." "Even though we were exhausted and writing absurdist nonsense, so much of what we wrote actually came true," the writers said from the stage.

Chris Parnell revived Dr. Leo Spaceman, the physician promoted to Surgeon General by series' end, to "clear up any confusion about our official health recommendations." Sample FAQ: "Can I give my spouse a GLP-1 without them knowing?" His answer: "If you don't know the law, you can't break it."

How did the night end?

Krakowski, fresh off Broadway's "Oh, Mary!," performed a medley of Jenna Maroney's greatest hits in a sparkly silver dress, flanked by dancers in page uniforms: "That's Her," the feminist anthem "Muffin Top" and "Chunk of My Lung," a parody of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart."

John McEnroe joined her for the "Sunday Night Football"-inspired "Tennis Night in America." Forte, dressed as an angel, reprised Jenna's beau Paul L'astnamé for "O Holy Night." Marceline Hugot, as the mute Kathy Geiss, made a brief appearance on trumpet. Miranda, a self-declared superfan, energized the room with "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" before Krakowski closed with the "Rural Juror" theme song.

Fey's microphone-problem prophecy, fittingly, held. The evening raised money for Harlem kids and proved the show's afterlife — like Jack Donaghy's opinions — remains very much intact.