Larry King (30 Rock)

In the episode, Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) considers taking the next step in his relationship with his girlfriend Elisa Pedrera (Salma Hayek).

At the same time, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) loses her cellphone and must go with NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) to Queens to recover it where it is being held for ransom by a taxi driver (Naidu).

According to the Nielsen Media Research, the episode was watched by 6.4 million households during its original broadcast, and received a 2.9 rating/7 share among viewers in the 18–49 demographic.

During his appearance on the program, a breaking story interrupts his interview with show host Larry King—it is being reported that the Asian stocks are falling.

At the NBC studios, the TGS with Tracy Jordan staff, Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit), Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander), James "Toofer" Spurlock (Keith Powell), and J. D. Lutz (John Lutz), try looking for money that Tracy has hidden in the building after revealing this on Larry King Live.

Meanwhile, NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) escorts Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) to Queens to retrieve the cellphone she left in a cab.

The taxi driver, Asif (Ajay Naidu), finds a racy picture of her and threatens to send it to everyone in her address book unless she pays him $2,000.

In November 2008, it was reported that television talk show host Larry King had "quietly filmed an appearance" as himself on 30 Rock.

"Larry King" would become Torn's final appearance on the show, as it is revealed in the fourth season episode "Future Husband" that his character has died.

[8] Comedian actor Brian Stack made his third appearance as Howard Jorgensen, a GE executive and associate of Jack's.

[10][11] Actor Ajay Naidu played Asif, the taxi driver holding Liz's phone for ransom in "Larry King".

[16] When Jack realizes his true feelings for Elisa, he decides to stop her from going to Puerto Rico, but when he sees her outside the 30 Rock building, he tells her, "I was about to do the whole run to the airport thing, like Ross did on Friends and Liz Lemon did in real life", a reference to the Friends television character Ross Geller doing this in the series finale episode "The Last One",[18] and as Liz similarly does in the season two episode "Sandwich Day", where she heads to the airport to make things right with her ex-boyfriend, Floyd DeBarber (Jason Sudeikis).

Bob Sassone of AOL's TV Squad wrote that "Larry King" was the "best of the season so far", saying that there was a "really nice balance" in the episode's plots.

Poniewozik noted that it was "nice" to see the Pete character back,[24] as Scott Adsit had not appeared on 30 Rock for quite some time.

Club's Scott Tobias believed that the episode was not up to "30 Rock's high standards" and commented that a "big problem" was Jack and Elisa's storyline.