Liz Lemon keeps 'em laughing on 30 Rock.

One of the joys of watching 30 Rock is witnessing how the writers manage to successfully juggle multiple plots without them falling to the ground like lead balloons.

Last night’s episode was the perfect example. The main plot had Jack all in tizzy over having to be the keynote speaker at a company retreat where such corporate buzzwords as “synergy” and “paradigm” are routinely tossed around like softballs.

Meanwhile, in the ‘B’ plot, Jenna decides to go all method acting to play Janis Joplin (or a Janis Joplin-like character if all the legal issues aren’t ironed out) and requests that everyone address her as Janis or Ms. Joplin (if she’s nasty!).

And in the ‘C’ plot, Tracy learns from Dr. Spaceman he has diabetes. The doc is so spaced out (hence the name Dr. Spaceman), he hilariously calls the disease “d-eh-butt-ees.”

Not many comedies can make one story funny, let alone three. But 30 Rock does it practically every week. Which is why it remains TV’s funniest comedy. No other show uses flashbacks more effectively. Well, Scrubs comes in a close second. Last night we saw Liz as Billy Bob Thornton starring in Sling Blade (“I sure do like those french fry poe-tay-toes!”) and Jack pulling off Dick Cheney’s suit jacket before begging him to “be gentle.” Hmmm…yeah, that one had something to do with Jack’s embarrassing years in the Bush Administration. But he doesn’t talk about it. He should. Could turn into a 30 Rock spin-off.

Jack’s afraid to attend the “Six Sigma Retreat to Move Forward” because of the recent CEO debacle at GE and, well, those Bush years. He doesn’t want to look like a joke in front of the sigma six, six middled-aged white dudes who embody the Six Sigma business philosophy, you know, teamwork, insight, brutality (!), male enhancement (!!), hand shakefullness (???) and play hard (!!!).

Liz tells Jack he has “camp jitters.” Jack doesn’t totally disagree and talks Liz into coming with him and to be his “camp friend.” But Liz being Liz, embarrasses Jack in front of the sigma six by acting a little too familiar with him. Seems as if those guys much prefer women to be seen, not heard. And we all know some of the dopey stuff that comes out of Liz’s mouth.

But when Jack finds himself humiliated, Liz comes to the rescue. That’s what you do for friends. And potential lovers. You know Liz and Jack are gonna get together at some point. They’re 30 Rock‘s version of Niles and Daphne.

Before making big speeches, Jack likes to psych himself up by talking to himself in the mirror. That’s fine when you don’t have a live mic clipped to your shirt so everybody can hear you screaming obscenities. It kinda makes ya look crazy. Liz takes the mic, gets in front of the ballroom crowd and pretends it was her pretending to be Jack. The group isn’t buying it so Liz does what drunk women on spring break do all the time — she ripped open her blouse and flashed her boobs. Her boobs were still in her bra, though. Liz wasn’t drunk, after all. Talk about a wonderfully sweet and poignant moment. Liz willing to look like a fool for her boss. You could almost see a single tear slowly streaming down Jack’s face like he was Denzel Washington getting whipped in Glory.

Back to dumb Jenna. When she announces she wants everyone to treat her like Janis, that gave Frank all the ammunition he needs to play a Wikipedia prank on her. Frank tells Jenna if she really wants to do her research, she should read Janis’ Wikipedia entry. Little did Jenna know, Frank was adding all sorts of silly facts about Janis that weren’t true — stuff like, Janis would speedwalk everywhere, was afraid of toilets and ate cats.

Jenna laps it all up because the role was gonna nab her an Oscar. “The academy loves dead singers and the handicapped,” Jenna says. “And Janis was both!” Hands-down, the funniest line of the show.

But when Frank comes clean, Jenna is furious. She yells at Frank. This turns him on ’cause he’s attracted to “damaged goods.” Frank and Jenna make out then have sex later. (We learn Frank was the “second grossiest guy she’s been with. No. 1: The dude from Dog The Bountyhunter.) The next morning, Frank doesn’t want anyone to know he had sex with Jenna, which makes her upset because she thinks Frank should be bragging about getting it on with a hot actress. Turns out, Frank didn’t want anyone to know because he’s sleeping with a bunch of jealous women on the set — everyone from the hair stylist to the cleaning lady, both of whom looked like they wanted to pull a Lorena Bobbit.

Tracy, who’s just as loopy as Jenna, isn’t concerned about the diabetes diagnosis, even after he’s told that he could lose a foot. His solution: Replacing his amputated foot with a wheel like Roise the maid on The Jetsons. “I suppose you (could do that),” Dr. Spaceman deadpans like Peter Graves in Airplane. “But then you’d have to be registered as a motor vehicle.” Tracy keeps eating stuff that’s bad for him and isn’t the least bit intimidated by Ken’s “Hill Witch” story to scare him off all that bad stuff.

Three plot, all of them screamingly funny. Once again 30 Rock proved why it’s the gold-standard for comedic excellence on television.

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