In the third episode of the first season of "30 Rock," a star was born. Jack McBrayer, playing wide-eyed naif Kenneth the Page, took a role that had initially seemed a throwaway part and made it one of the funniest on TV. Playing against Alec Baldwin, as hilariously Machiavellian Jack Donaghy, McBrayer was the perfect foil: earnest, naive, cheerful, a man-child so guileless that Donaghy can only assume he's a genius. In one of the episode's final moments, as Kenneth the Page wobbles away on his bicycle, Donaghy leans over to Tina Fey, playing show-runner Liz Lemon, and whispers in his whiskey-cured baritone, "In five years, we'll all either be working for him … or be dead by his hand."
And hey, it's possible. You could argue that, in a cast of narcissists, neurotics and megalomaniacs, the true protagonist of "30 Rock," which premiered its third season on NBC Oct. 30, is Kenneth Ellen Parcell, a truly decent human being incapable of the sarcasm and irony that erode the lovable but deeply flawed Lemon. McBrayer's scenes with Baldwin -- not to mention his scenes with Tracy Morgan, as the off-his-rocker star Tracy Jordan -- have become nothing short of classic television, the most gratifying comic exchanges on a network since "Arrested Development." Not bad for a kid from Georgia with a funny accent.
For the past two seasons, as "30 Rock" struggled to find an audience that even remotely matched the volume of its critical acclaim, McBrayer has become something of a cult figure, starring in a music video for Mariah Carey's No. 1 hit "Touch My Body." (She's a fan.) McBrayer, outfitted as a computer tech in full-on "Revenge of the Nerds" mode, makes a house call to Miss Carey's luxurious mansion, which kicks off a hysterical daydream of soft-focus S&M and over-the-top bedroom antics. (A unicorn is involved.) McBrayer also stars in the Web series "Livin' 'Neath the Law" on Will Ferrell's Funny or Die site. In a series of mock infomercials, he goofs on his golden-boy, milquetoast appearance by offering gangland tips on "keeping your bitches in line" and ripping off a drug dealer. ("Use your shiv, a broken beer bottle or a box cutter to give him a 'telephone scar,'" McBrayer chirps, while standing in a playground.) He has inspired both MySpace tributes and glorious praise. He has his own bobblehead doll. And consider that, at one point, the highlight of McBrayer's résumé was winning employee of the month at Applebee's. (As he wrote me in an e-mail, confirming this accomplishment, "Applebee's store #38 in Conyers, Georgia. July of '94. JEALOUS MUCH?!?!?")
I met Jack a few years ago (a friend of a friend, lucky me) and what struck me about him in person, aside from his Southern politesse and honest-to-goodness kindness -- were his good looks. I would not tell him this to his face (though if I did, he would blush ferociously), but for someone who plays "that nerd on '30 Rock,'" he is a handsome guy. He has radiant skin, beautiful eyes. He's in pretty good shape. When someone spotted him in New York City last January, they wrote in to Gawker Stalker, "Saw Jack McBrayer sitting outside at the Bone Lick Park barbecue joint at Greenwich and 7th Avenues, looking way hotter than he does on '30 Rock.'" Defamer even called him "the hottest man on TV," though perhaps it was kidding. What it wasn't kidding about is the fact that he is one of the most interesting characters on television, and if hotness were measured in pure joy per screentime, well, he'd certainly be high on the list.
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