The 10 Best "30 Rock" Guest Stars

I’m a Liz Lemon devotee of the first order, but I think even casual fans can admit that 30 Rock’s sixth season is off to a staggering start. Liz is hooking up with an affable putz (James Marsden), Jenna’s forcing a new NBC page (Kristen Schaal) to swallow seizure-inducing medication, and Jack Donaghy is experiencing some frustrating sexual chemistry with Avery’s mother (Mary Steenburgen, in a role that should be Lesley Ann Warren's, but whatever). All three of those plots concern guest stars, an area of casting in which 30 Rock totally excels. Ahead of tonight’s new episode, we're ranking the 10 best guest actors and recalling their most amazing lines.

Some guest stars have an advantage in our rankings based on the sheer amount of times they’ve appeared, but I’ve mixed in some priceless one-timers too. Forgive us for leaving off fabulous appearances from Isabella Rossellini, Will Forte, Elizabeth Banks, Edie Falco, James Franco, Tom Hanks, and Matt Damon. Ten is ten. You understand.

10. Carrie Fisher

Fisher was a perfect fit as Liz’s idol Rosemary Howard, who once wrote “edgy” material for a Laugh-In-type series in the ‘60s. Liz’s illusion of the pioneering funny lady shattered upon realizing that Rosemary was a broke lunatic who lived in New York’s oft-overlooked “Little Chechnya” neighborhood.

Key quote [to Liz, in a fit of delusion]: “You’re just like me. You get up in the morning and smoke weed. You obsess about the Jamaican man across the hall… Help me, Liz Lemon, you’re my only hope!”

9. Oprah Winfrey

Oprah played herself in what we later find out is Liz’s hallucination – she thinks she’s talking to Oprah, but she’s really speaking to a bossy 11-year-old girl. Later, when Liz realizes her mistake, she reflects upon the weird things Oprah said that could’ve given away her real identity. Hearing Oprah utter the words “Six Flags” is a priceless treat.

Key quote: “I lost my headgear at Six Flags. My boyfriend is in ninth grade!”

8. Jon Hamm

Though Drew Baird seemed like a promising Liz paramour when we first met him, he turned out to be abominably stupid. Fortunately, he was good-looking enough that Liz still hit on him after his mother died in front of her. Jon Hamm is, weirdly, a natural comedian (and adorable as a moron!), and his straightforward idiocy always left Liz Lemon scrambling for breath.

Key quote: “I was helicoptering into Zimbabwe when I thought I saw someone I knew. So I waved from the helicopter, which it turns out is a big no-no. So the rotor took my right hand clean off. And it turns out the person I was waving to was not my old football coach.”

7. Sherri Shepherd

As Tracy Jordan’s saucy wife Angie, Sherri Shepherd is consistently, almost overwhelmingly funny. The character of Angie requires grave conviction, even when the most self-righteous nuttiness flies out of her mouth, and I’ve yet to see Shepherd undersell a hare-brained notion yet.

Key quote: “I need to look good for my party and I refuse to wear anything my size or appropriate for my age.”

6. Jan Hooks

The SNL vet played Jenna Maroney’s trashy, conniving mother Verna as a self-possessed leech and a frighteningly libidinous tigress. She’s so nasty, and so chockablock with A+ one-liners – and Hooks is fabulous with them. Verna’s creepiest moment? When she sang The Captain and Tennille’s “Do That to Me One More Time” as a duet with Jenna.

Key quote: “I'm throwing (Jenna) a surprise party. And it's at a fancy restaurant. So wear something nice. Like a pair of white jeans and a Dan Marino jersey or something.”

5. Margaret Cho

Avery’s sudden kidnapping in North Korea was bizarre enough, but Margaret Cho’s cameo as a cackling Kim Jong-il made the unreal tangent brilliant. It helps that Cho’s Kim Jong-il impression is identical to the one she does of her mother, a gag she’s perfected after 20+ years in standup.

Key quote: “People of North Korea, it is your dear leader Kim Jong-il, world’s greatest golfer and movie director and best man at Tom Brady’s wedding.”

4. Chris Parnell

Dr. Spaceman is, at once, a tad too extreme for 30 Rock’s vaguely sensible universe and also a wellspring of unforgettable deadpan weirdness. Chris Parnell uses a caricaturized commercial-actor voice when executing Spaceman’s dialogue, and that choice helps the character to be the most unhinged part of the show -- bar none.

Key quote: “So, what can I help you with? I should start by saying that I can't personally help you conceive. Something happened to me while scuba diving.”

3. Dean Winters

Dennis. DENNIS! Liz’s unthinkably awful boyfriend Dennis Duffy calls her “Dummy,” once appeared on To Catch a Predator, and even directed poisonous gas into the TGS studio. Dennis is such a bastard, but his love of food and drunken viewings of The Color Purple mean he always has a key to Liz’s heart. To think of anyone else but the powerfully asinine (in the best way possible) Dean Winters in this critical role is absurd.

Key quote: “Dear Liz Lemon: While other women have bigger boobs than you, no other woman has as big a heart. When I saw you getting ready to go out and get nailed by a bunch of guys last night, I knew for sure it was over between us, and for the first time since the '86 World Series, I cried... I cried like a big, dumb homo. And if it was up to me, we'd be together forever. But there's a new thing called "women's liberation", which gives you women the right to choose and you have chosen to abort me, and that I must live with.”

2. Will Arnett

Will Arnett does “dastardly” like no other comic actor, and the gay Svengali Devon Banks gives him ample opportunity to toy with Jack’s self-confidence while tossing in some homoeroticism for good measure. Devon is wicked and ridiculous, and most importantly, he’s right that Rami was “the better draper” on season four of Project Runway.

Key quote: "Well, you know what they say about rumors, Jack. They make a ru out of mor and s."

1. Elaine Stritch

All hail the most kickass, unflinching, fearsome guest actor on 30 Rock: Jack’s mother Colleen is emasculating, threatening, and ultimately loving, but her rivalry with Jack is an Oedipal conundrum for the ages. Stritch won an Emmy for her portrayal of the nefarious, hip-breaking Colleen in 2007. I tremble while thinking of Colleen’s intense powers of degradation. In joy.

Key quote [to an attendant at a hospital where Jack is staying]: “Tell him his mother's here. And she loves him. But not in a queer way.”