Tonight is a big night for the cast of 30 Rock. The Emmy Award winning sitcom will embark on its first ever live episode. Aptly titled "Live Show" tonight's 30 Rock will tape two episode (one for the east coast and one for the west coast) in front of a live audience in studio 8-H where SNL has called home all these years.

This is the first time 30 Rock has officially done a live episode (they performed an un-aired episode on stage during the writer's strike) but the cast isn't too worried. Most of them come from a live theater/TV background. Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan cut their teeth for years doing live TV on SNL. Alec Baldwin might as well consider himself a former SNL cast member seeing as he's hosted the show a shocking 15 times. Not to mention the conditioning he received while hosting the Acadamey Awards this year with Steve Martin.

I have no doubt the show will keep it professional (although a laughter burst of Jimmy Fallon proportions would be awesome) but I do expect a fair amount of Easter Eggs throughout. It will be fun to compare the two episodes and see what (if any) the differences are between them.

What makes a live episode so exciting is the possibility of a disaster. Not that we want anything bad to happen but knowing that there is no safety net is an exciting thing. When you are dealing with live TV anything can happen, and you can pretty much bet something will go wrong tonight, the catch will be to see if we notice. Much like on American Idol or Super Bowl half time shows, people will be tuning in to laugh but also to see if something goes wrong.

In just a few short hours the cast of 30 Rock will go where few sitcoms have gone in the past. A live episode. Sure most sitcoms are filmed in front of a live studio audience, but those epsisodes are shot with four cameras and are later edited for air weeks later.
30 Rock is going completely live which means what we see is what we get

To get pumped for tonight's live episode check out these three videos from Dotcom Productions (remember that's Tracy Jordan spelled backwards).

(Image courtesy of NBC)
 



Tracy Morgan isn't too worried about the live show but Dotcom is having a heck of a time remembering his line.




Here the cast talk about what we can expect from "Live Show." I hope this isn't a spoiler or anything but Tracy Morgan promises a baby will be made live!




I don't know what this is but it is incredibly funny. Check out Lutz and Frank talk about tearjerkers and chick flicks. Classic!