Cheers & Jeers: John Slattery Goes Mad on 30 Rock

Cheers to John Slattery for his sidesplitting turn as a true madman on 30 Rock.

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Following in the wingtipped footsteps of costar Jon Hamm, the Emmy nominee hammed it up hilariously as Steve Austin — not the wrestler, or the Six Million Dollar Man, unless you're blind or senile — a Rhode Island congressional candidate/owner of a local paintball facility. Sure, his literally infantile platform (and his even-less-authentic-than-Julianne-Moore's accent) might have seemed silly, but is "I'm a baby" any more ridiculous of a campaign-commercial theme than Christine O'Donnell's "I'm not a witch"?Still, Alec Baldwin's Jack Donaghy backed him, since he was running against Regina Bookman (Queen Latifah), who's out to derail the GE-Kabletown merger. The ongoing inside jokes about NBC weren't limited to Comcast tweaks this week, however: Jack abandoned Austin in part because Jay Leno mocked him ("the kingmaker has spoken," he said, Baldwin's voice dripping with irony). And among the "constitutional originalist" positions of this nutjob — yeah, I'm political, I said it — was this Peacock tease: "We are all responsible for Heroes becoming terrible." Hmmm, maybe he's not so crazy after all.Do you think John Slattery rocked, or did you find him Hard to Watch, based on the book Stone Cold Bummer by Manipulate?

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