With its fourth season currently airing and a fifth season renewed, 30 Rock shows no sign of slowing down. Awards success has also greeted its doorstep, receiving the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for the third consecutive year.

For those new to this comedy show, 30 Rock stars Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, head writer of fictional sketch show TGS with Tracy Jordan. No comedy would be complete without an ensemble cast. Enter highly-strung movie star Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan), self involved limelight craver Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski), sweet and timid NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) and finally Jack Donaghy (Alex Baldwin) a smooth talking confidant of Lemon’s.

Season 3 carries straight on from where Season 2 finished. Liz is trying to adopt a child, Jack tries to get his old job back at NBC, Tracy is now super rich after his pornographic video game became a hit and Jenna is still trying to become a star by any means necessary! Whilst attempting to hold everything together at network NBC, along with her quest for adoption, Liz still finds time to seek love with hilarious consequences.

With Seasons 1 and 2 gently establishing the characters, Fey now has the opportunity to have fun with the show. Thankfully each actor gets a chance to stretch their comedy muscles and are never overshadowed. This confidence is also seen through the amount of star-studded cameos that appear. Jennifer Aniston’s turn as a bunny boiler and Oprah Winfrey as Liz’s ‘saviour’ are the highlights. Steve Martin, Selma Hayek, Steve Buscemi and Megan Mullally are just the beginning of a long list of visiting stars. There’s also a musical assembly of artists for the season finale which pokes fun at celebrity fuelled charity singles.

Out of all the comedy series out there, 30 Rock definitely stands out from the crowd. It’s so refreshing to watch a comedy show without canned laughter. Each episode is full of witty encounters that are truly funny both at the time and then later when the simplest of things remind you of it. Roll on season 4!