TVSquad

Like Bob wrote the other day in his TV Squad review, 30 Rock is the kind of show that you have to watch and really pay attention to in order to get all the great lines and jokes. That includes the lids on Judah Friedlander's noggin. At a recent event, a New York Observer reporter cornered 30 Rock's Frank with a few questions ... all about his hats.

The baseball caps that Judah wears in every show -- and you never see him sans-hat -- are his own creation. It's a shtick that he began nearly two decades ago. "I've been making my own hats for years. I've been doing stand-up for 19 years and my hats have always said world champion in some language." See, the joke is that he's not the world champion of anything. Now, as one of the writers on TGS, Judah tailors his hats to the individual episode. Some are obvious jokes, some are in-jokes, nothing is accidental or unplanned.

"Some of them I write way beforehand, some of them are last minute, some are flat-out jokes, some are in-jokes. Within an episode, if it spans one day, I make one hat; if it spans five days, I'll make five hats for that episode," he told the New York Observer.

In typical Frank fashion, Judah's favorite is perhaps the most bizarre: Half Centaur. It's bizarre because he believes that the implication is possibly possible (or makes you think he does -- you decide.) "So let's say that my dad is half-human and half-horse and my mom is all human, and then if you look at me I just look like a regular human because the horse gene was recessive on me. See, it's like I look like a regular human, but I'm actually half-centaur and I could have a kid one day that is part-horse."

I think this one in the picture -- Time Travel Agent -- may be mine. It just reminds me of The Time Tunnel, a golden oldie favorite from the '60s.

By the way, so far NBC Universal has not exploited the 30 Rock hat biz. They're not mass producing the trucker caps and Judah is not doing it for the dough. "I don't get paid extra for the hats. I just figure they're mine and I happen to be wearing them on the show."

[via TVTattle.com]