Never Televised, 30 Rock Reunites One Night Only at Radio City

Twenty years to the day after it premiered on NBC, 30 Rock came back to the block it was named for.

On Sunday night the cast took over Radio City Music Hall on Sixth Avenue, a short walk from the real 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The venue's listing billed the 30 Rock 20th anniversary celebration as a one-night-only, never-to-be-televised reunion "with games, nonsense and surprises."

The headliners were Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer. The Hollywood Reporter counted 6,000 fans and about 100 minutes. Variety put the crowd at 5,000 and the show at 90 minutes. Variety adds that they came through a rainstorm to get there.

The series ran on NBC from 2006 to 2013, seven seasons and nearly 140 episodes. When Fey announced the night in August, she invited fans to celebrate a show that the critic Tom Shales once said "needs a better premise and funnier dialogue."

Who Came Through the Door

The listing promised the extended cast and "more special guests." It did not say who. The organizers did not record the night, and Fey asked the room not to film it either.

So the guest list comes from the reporters who were in the seats. Variety's recap has Conan O'Brien opening the show by calling it the greatest night in the history of entertainment, then admitting he is known to exaggerate. He then teased Fey for handing Liz Lemon's love life to a string of handsomer men.

One of those men turned up. Jon Hamm appeared as Dr. Drew Baird, hooks and all, in a sketch built around Liz Lemon's boyfriends. Dr. Drew lost to Dennis Duffy, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Fans had voted on the show's best guest star. The winner was Elaine Stritch, who played Jack Donaghy's mother and died in 2014. Katrina Bowden, who played Cerie, told the room that Stritch could not be there to accept because she is dead. Tom Hanks accepted for her, and said he had only been on his way to dinner at the Rainbow Room, a block up at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Will Forte came back as Paul, Jenna's boyfriend, dressed as an angel for a duet of "O Holy Night." John McEnroe joined Krakowski for "Tennis Night in America." Brian Williams introduced a sketch. Chris Parnell came back as Dr. Spaceman.

Games, Songs and a Tribute

Fey told the room that nobody had seen the show before, the cast included, because nobody had rehearsed it. She also promised microphone problems, Variety reports.

"I wanted to celebrate at Radio City because I like to feel tiny."

That is Fey, quoted by Variety, on why she chose the room. The idea began with McBrayer, who suggested a reunion when they had lunch in Los Angeles last year. Fey said he probably meant a cast dinner.

Krakowski sang a medley of Jenna Maroney's greatest fictional hits, from "Muffin Top" to "Chunk of My Lung." McBrayer hosted a game in which Fey and Morgan had to finish their own lines from old clips. The Hollywood Reporter says John Lutz stood beside them, set to get tased for every miss. Morgan missed a lot.

The best sketch of the night, by the Hollywood Reporter's account, was a desk scene. Maulik Pancholy, as Jonathan, read Baldwin's Donaghy the big news of each year since the show went off the air, and Baldwin answered in character.

The night also stopped for a tribute to crew members who have died, and to Grizz Chapman, who the Hollywood Reporter says died earlier this year. Kevin Brown, who played Dot Com, had come early to a fan event before the show.

Then came the werewolves. Lin-Manuel Miranda walked out in front of a crowd of musicians and dancers and sang "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" with Morgan. Variety says Krakowski closed the evening with the theme from "The Rural Juror."

Where the Money Went

The night was a benefit for the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem. In the announcement, club president and CEO Shaba R. Keys said all net proceeds go to after-school, academic and career programs that serve more than 2,000 young people in Harlem each year.

From the stage, Fey said the cast owed the club one. In a season five episode, Tracy Jordan could not get through a public service announcement for the Boys and Girls Clubs.

Radio City had a busy weekend. Steve Lacy played the hall the night before. For that one, see our Steve Lacy story.

Never televised, as promised. The tape is in a few thousand heads on Sixth Avenue.