The Best 30 Rock Celebrity Guests

The brainchild of "Saturday Night Live" veteran Tina Fey, "30 Rock" is a unique television series loosely based on the actual behind-the-scenes workings of the legendary live comedy ensemble. An outrageous sitcom revolving around the lives of the cast, staff members, and network execs of NBC, one of the broadcast's oldest and largest networks, it's hyper-meta media at its finest.

As a show about television and its unique personalities, the best episodes of "30 Rock" are filled to the brim with comedy legends and icons of the public eye, not only in the cast itself but also in their myriad of celebrity guests. These appearances range from celebrities playing and making fun of themselves, exaggerating certain characteristics of their public image and reputations, to playing hilarious and completely fictional characters, often very different from the typical roles they get to play. 

There's a never-ending list of these appearances, too many to get into all at once, but here we have the very best 13 celebrity guest spots on "30 Rock."

In "SeinfeldVision," the Season 2 premiere, Jerry Seinfeld makes a very meta guest appearance. He arrives at "30 Rock" after learning that NBC is launching a month-long stint of programming all featuring cameo appearances by him. The problem is Seinfeld had no idea this was happening until he saw himself on some of the promos for the upcoming shows. He hadn't been informed about any of this, and he hadn't filmed anything for the network — so naturally, his involvement comes as quite a surprise.

Once Seinfeld arrives at Jack's office, Jack explains that since NBC owns the rights to Seinfeld's voice and likeness, they don't need his permission or any sort of contract to do the special. They can simply digitally insert him into all of the content. Seinfeld is livid, both because he hadn't signed off on this but also because the quality of programming is — questionable, at best. Jack shows him a clip of one of the programs they'll be featuring him in, a reality TV show called "MILF Island." and Seinfeld is displeased, to put it lightly.

Seinfeld and Jack then proceed to get into a heated back-and-forth power struggle over the whole ordeal. Both try to use their money, status, and connection to get the other to back down, and the threats start flying. By the end of the episode, the two men eventually reach a reasonable agreement, and "SeinfeldVision" ends up being a one-night event rather than a month-long special.

At the beginning of the Season 2 episode "Somebody to Love," Jack puts Liz on edge by telling her that the maple syrup scent she keeps smelling in her apartment could very likely be a deadly chemical agent called Northrax. Liz is soon put on further high alert when she notices her neighbor Raheem's (Fred Armisen) apartment is full of maps while delivering mail to him. The last straw comes later when she sees Raheem training at the park on a sort of DIY obstacle course.

Already in a state of paranoia, Liz assumes the worst. After seeing one too many "If you see something, say something" posters, she calls Homeland Security to report Raheem as a suspected terrorist. She's feeling pretty good about this until she opens Raheem's mail out of curiosity, expecting to find further confirmation of his unpatriotic deeds.

Rather than finding instructions on how to build a bomb or hijack a plane, she finds an audition tape for "The Amazing Race." Not only does this explain all of his "suspicious" behavior, but Raheem is actually seen repeatedly professing his love for America in the video. It's too late, though. He has already been arrested and is likely facing deportation. Looks like Liz is just going to have to take the L and live with that one.

Steve Martin makes a "30 Rock" guest appearance in the Season 3 episode "Gavin Volure," where he plays the titular eccentric billionaire. Liz meets Volure when she accompanies Jack to dinner at Volure's mansion, where he quickly falls for her charms. The two later have a great date together at Volure's house, where he must stay due to his agoraphobia. He explains to Liz that because of this condition, they won't be able to be a typical couple, as they can't go out together and will likely never be physically intimate. While this might be a deal breaker for some, it's music to Liz's ears. It seems like she's finally found the one!

Unfortunately, this puppy love doesn't last long, as it's revealed that Volure is neither rich nor agoraphobic but is actually under house arrest for embezzlement, fraud, racketeering, and arson. Not only is this a bummer for Liz's love life, but it's also a financial hit for Jack, who invested in Volure's fake company, Sunstream. He probably should've seen it coming, given that the Sunstream advertisements never actually say what the company does. There's also the fact that "Volure" is a homonym and anagram of "voleur" the French word for thief. Probably should've seen that one coming, Donaghy!

Peter Dinklage appears as Stewart LaGrange in the Season 3 episode "Señor Macho Solo." In the episode, Liz has gone a little baby crazy as her adoption process is taking longer than expected. When she sees Stewart on the street she mistakes him for a small child rather than the fully grown adult that he is and can't help but go up to him and ruffle his hair. She quickly realizes her error and to save face — as well as to spare Stewart any possible insult — claims she was just trying to get his attention so that she could ask him out.

Unfortunately, the baby fever really has its hooks in Liz, and while they're on the date, she pulls Stewart back from a flame, just as one would with a small child. She has no choice but to come clean and admit that she wasn't actually interested in him when they first met but was just ashamed to admit she mistook his dwarfism for adolescence. She claims that she truly does like him, though, and Stewart agrees to give her a second chance. 

The two plan to meet on the Brooklyn Bridge if they want to give it another go. While both show up at the specified time, Liz accidentally approaches a little boy whom she mistakes for Stewart. He sees this and makes a hard u-turn. It's just not in the cards for those two.

James Franco makes a guest appearance as himself in the Season 4 episode "Klaus and Greta," in which he and Jenna enter into a fake celebrity relationship. Jenna gets free publicity out of it, and Franco can use it to disprove rumors that he's in love with a Japanese body pillow.

From the first time the two meet, Franco is prepared. He already has a whole plan in place for how the relationship is going to start "You and I pretend that we met while filming a movie called 'Space Attack' — my title. This movie will never be released because my performance will be deemed too provocative for America." He has also orchestrated some conflict. "One fight a month. And because of a product placement deal with Jamba Juice, the fight will be in a Jamba Juice," Franco explains.

Franco is no phony, however, and he soon realizes that he has nothing to be ashamed of, professing the nature of his true love, "I'm the actor James Franco, d*** it. And I'm in love with, and common law married to, a Japanese body pillow!" He breaks off the relationship with Jenna and starts openly dating Kimiko — the pillow. Everything the actor says in this episode, which is so on brand for him, makes it questionable as to whether he's reading from a script or the writers just had Franco show up on set. Either way, it's iconic.

Matt Damon makes a few sporadic guest appearances in Season 5 as Carol, Liz Lemon's love interest, and his character is definitely a mixed bag. He's got a lot of good qualities — he's a gentleman, charming, funny, and caring, not to mention that he looks great in his pilot uniform. The fact that he's a pilot works really well for Liz since she can hide a lot of her insecurities with him being gone for work so often. She does tell him about her shameful foot secret, so there is some trust there.

However, Carol is also really emotional, often breaking down into tears, which he claims is due to him changing elevation all the time. Whatever it is, Liz is definitely not equipped to handle it. The real issue, though, is that he and Liz are actually too similar — especially with how stubborn they are.

This is what the title of Carol's last episode, "Double-Edged Sword," is referring to, as Liz learns there is such a thing as being too alike. In this particular episode, he and Liz are going on vacation, and Carol is piloting the plane. When the plane is delayed, the two get into a violent standoff that ends with Carol yelling, "I will waste you!" while pointing a gun at Liz, who's using a hostage as a human shield. Talk about a dumpster fire of a relationship.