This was a great episode in so many ways, but my absolute favorite part was this:
Kenneth: Florence Henderson was nice to the writers, and so they wrote her a wonderful part on The Brady Bunch!
Jenna: I don’t really remember the Brady Bunch, because I was too young. Look daring Kenneth to comment
Kenneth: Pauses
Jenna: Challenging look
Kenneth: Bites lip
Jenna: Clenches jaw
Kenneth: Struggles
Tense violins
Jenna: But being nice to the writers - interesting idea.
30 Rock Turns Stone Mountain into Hicktown USA
The nice part:
Southerners can be the most charming and gracious of people but they/we are not known for our ability to take a joke when the South is poked fun of, so Peet must be a nice guy. OR A DAMNED YANKEE CARPETBAGGER!
Personally I think they should stick with Sexcriminalboat (or Sekkskrimynalbote) as his hometown. Stone Mountain is 30 minutes from downtown Atlanta.
Either way I’ll admit it always irks me when they mention Stone Mountain on the show- it’s an Atlanta suburb, plain and simple. (Though it was the cradle of the newborn KKK, and technically it’s a monadnock and not a mountain (i.e. it’s a great big mountain sized upchuck of rock rather than part of a range)… and it has the world’s larges bas-relief carving… and does have the world’s largest mountainside relief carving… of Jefferson Davis and of two Confederate generals(Lee and Jackson- who had exactly jack and squat respectively to do with the Battles for Atlanta and is thus rather like carving Bradley and Patton onto a mountain in Japan… but other than that it’s just like anyplace else.;))
I love the way 30 ROCK portrays certain groups as fantasy creatures. This time The Gays were portrayed like some sort of elves (“we’re going to party with The Gays!”) and the Stone Mountaineers as some sort of villagers (I love that Liz used fictional characters [Matlock and Elly Mae] to demonstrate nuance in real America), but my favorite was when the Teamsters (with union boss Brian Dennehy) were portrayed as dwarves who guard the secret of where they get their sandwiches as if it were the location of a diamond mine.
It turns out that Donald Glover (former highschool football star Troy on “Community”) is from Stone Mountain. He used to be a writer on 30 Rock, and when it came time to give Kenneth a hometown, the writers looked for a good small-town Southern name.
Dennehy is a mighty large “dwarf.” But yeah, even though I know it’s a suburb and met the guy who used to create laser shows on the carving, that bas relief, with all its associations, defines Stone Mountain to me. A more appropriate carving would show Joe Johnston running away while Sherman tries to kick his ass. 
Then halfway through he morphs into Hood being strapped to his horse, coking up, and screaming “CHARGE!!!” as he gallops off to Tennessee, followed by a nightly railroad ties bonfire bash like the fireworks at Disney.
I’d attend anyway.
There was a nice feature on ventriloquist Jeff Dunham in this Sunday’s NY Times Magazine. True to the “real America” theme of this season, Dunham has cultivated Middle-America to become the third-highest-earning comedian in America, after Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. If you’ve never heard of him, it’s because Seinfeld and Rock made most of their money in TV syndication, while Dunham just plays a sh1tload of live shows (his first Comedy Central special aired just a month ago).
I think Fey and the other writers have struck gold by contrasting the (perceived) cultural differences between coastal and flyover people. This artificial culture divide–along with the cable-news-fueled red state/blue state tribalism–is ripe for clever parody.
When I was a kid we celebrated Charlottesville, VA’s, sesquicentennial, including when Custer (yeah, him) captured the town. Most of the audience considered it negatively. I didn’t, but was ignored.
It wasn’t his first, but it was the highest rated show ever on Comedy Central. His series is the highest rated series ever on Comedy Central. It cracked the top 20 of cable shows. I believe it gets more viewers than the Daily Show and Colbert combined.
He’s not pulling in those kinds of numbers anymore.
http://www.movieline.com/2009/11/jeff-dunhams-ratings-whittle-55.php
That’s what I was going to say. I don’t follow the guy, but I’ve seen him around on TV for a LOOOOONG time. How long has he been around? I’m sure I remember his bits with the “old guy” and the purple puppet (“zooom!” over the head gesture?) from something like 15-20 years ago.
EDIT: wikipedia says he debuted on Carson in 1990. So assuming he was kicking around on other shows too around that same time, yeah I’m sure that’s when I saw him. I also remember José Jalapeño…on a stick.
Shoulda said it was his first TV series, not special. But it’s still odd to see him in the company of Seinfeld and Rock, cansidering his comparative media obscurity.
I am somewhat surprised they went with Stone Mountain when even a cursory search would turn up gems like Baconton, Byromville, Cave Spring, Cobbtown, Dock Junction, Dudley, Eulonia, Flowery Branch, Gumbranch, Homerville, Jesup, Locust Grove, Lookout Mountain, Lumpkin, Ray City, Social Circle, or Swainsboro.
