WEST COAST VERSION: Live Broadcast -- Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) takes drastic measures to prove why TGS should stay a live show.WEST COAST VERSION: Live Broadcast -- Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) takes drastic measures to prove why TGS should stay a live show.WEST COAST VERSION: Live Broadcast -- Kenneth (Jack McBrayer) takes drastic measures to prove why TGS should stay a live show.
- Dot Com
- (as Kevin Brown)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFred Armisen plays multiple characters in this episode, including a crew member in the background in the beginning of the show, impersonating Frank in one of the scenes (his trucker hat reads "FRANK 2.0"), and the phone worker behind Jimmy Fallon during the flashback at the end.
- GoofsWhen Liz tries to say "Hazel and Jenna" she flubs and says "Henna and Jazel" before correcting herself. Forgivable as this was a live broadcast with no way to edit around it.
- Quotes
Kenneth Parcell: NBC had the first two black characters on TV... sort of. For "Alfie & Abner," NBC hired one African-American and one Caucasian because they thought two black people on the same show would make the audience nervous; a rule NBC still uses today!
Alfie: [Scene changes to a black & white 1950s TV show, Alfie & Abner. Tracy Morgan enters dressed in fine clothes as Alfie] Abner, I'm home from work! Where are you, my brother?
Abner: [Entering in ragged overalls with dirt on his face and an afro wig: a blackface character:] Here I is, Alfie!
Alfie: [Offended:] Aw hell no, I'm not doing this!
Kenneth Parcell: [Scene changes back to Kenneth and the TGS crew] NBC received a lot of complaints... that the show wasn't on often enough. So they forced Theodore Freeman to honor his contract.
Abner: [Walks in carrying a large catfish] I's done stole'd dis catfish!
Alfie: Sir, I'm asking you as a human being to please stop talking like that!
Abner: I's gon' eat it until I'm belly-full!
Alfie: This is debasing to the both of us. I was a Tuskegee Airman!
Abner: Zip-a-dee-doo-doo!
Alfie: You may anger me, but I believe non-violence is the path to change.
Abner: I believe you can catch a rainbow in yo hat!
Alfie: I'll kill you, you ignorant cracker!
[Breaks a chair over Abner's head, knocking him out]
Kenneth Parcell: [Cuts back to the TGS crew, Kenneth still telling the story:] Believe it or not, they did not stop doing the show. which made for tense but thrilling live TV!
[Cuts back to "Alfie & Abner," where Alfie and Abner sit across from each other in awkward silence. Abner is obviously scared to death. Alfie is waiting for Abner to say something, giving him a death glare. Abner looks at Alfie, not sure what to say. Finally, after a long, awkward silence:]
Abner: BANJO!
[Alfie tackles Abner, and the screen cuts to a "Technical Difficulties" message]
- Alternate versionsDuring the night of its airing, there were two versions performed, one for east coast audiences (also broadcast to central time zone viewers) and another for west coast audiences
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards (2012)
Ironically - while this 30 Rock episode has been pulled - the actual shows they were mocking can be streamed for free without any problem. I think those old shows SHOULD be available for viewing - we shouldn't pretend like wrongs of the past didn't happen.... but to censor the episode of 30 Rock that uses humor to highlight how ridiculous those shows were, is knee-jerk, short-sighted, and (to quote Tracy Jordan) just ignorant.
This episode should be put back on the streaming services.
- fleck05IMDB
- Feb 18, 2024