Meghan O'Keefe

At first I was sort of jarred by the fact that Vulture did an “Irish Wake” for 30 Rock because the first things that spring to mind when I think “Irish Wake” are long days of awkwardness in dimly lit funeral home rooms and laminated holy cards and my jokester uncles trying to cut the tension by making fart jokes in the corner and being suffocated by the smell of decaying stargazer lilies and bitter whispers of old family rivalries and hysterical admissions of regret and all the casseroles I had to pretend to like after the actual funerals all took place and how that one time when my dad died, I didn’t have to pretend to like anything. Five different relatives spent three hours desperately canvassing stores in Long Island for Spaghetti-O’s because they didn’t know how else to console a stoic six year old.

And I don’t think any of those things can be captured by a website recapping a sitcom’s finale.

But then I glanced through the article, and you know what? Vulture nailed it.

In my experience, Irish Wakes are less about the corpse on display (non-Irish people get REALLY HUNG UP on the fact that we leave the embalmed corpse on display for a few days) and more about the unresolved feelings everyone left living still has. They’re meant to reunite the family and bind them in grief, when really everyone is dealing with it in their own way. The rituals of the Wake give order to the emotional chaos. You’re there to honor the dead, but really, it’s all about you. 

And this piece isn’t about 30 Rock as much as it’s about how the Vulture writers feel about 30 Rock. 

So, well done. Irish Wake achieved.

p.s. Next time add more dying lilies. It will give it something extra.

…because I’m watching 30 Rock Live from inside of 30 Rock.