Could “Kimmy Schmidt,” “30 Rock,” and “Mad Men” all exist in the same perfect television world?
This past weekend was all about one super magical experience: binging every single episode of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix.
Now that it’s done and over with, and we’ve got a whole loooooong year to wait for the third season to drop, it’s time to obsess about all the tiny details of the season. Like, could Kimmy Schmidt exist in the same television world as both 30 Rock and Mad Men?
It sounds crazy, but it might be true. Here are the facts:
In 30 Rock, Jenna and Liz are hit on by a construction worker. That same construction worker tells Kimmy that he wants to “be her jeans” in Season 1, and comes back in a big way for Season 2 as Titus’ new boyfriend.
There’s also a reference to a drug store employee named “LaDonica” in both 30 Rock and Kimmy Schmidt. She gives Kenneth the Page and Jacqueline Voorhees White a hard time.
So we’ve established a 30 Rock/Kimmy Schmidt. Now how does AMC’s Mad Men fit in to all of this?
Jon Hamm played Don Draper for seven seasons of Mad Men. He also happens to play the Rev. Richard Wayne Gary Wayne on Kimmy Schmidt. You know, the guy who kidnapps Kimmy and the rest of the Mole Women. And in what is by far the best joke of the entire season, Kimmy alludes to Rev. Richard Wayne Gary Wayne being Don Draper with this perfect quote:
If that’s not enough of a Mad Men shoutout, at the end of the season, when Rev. Wayne Gary Wayne calls from prison, he introduces himself over the phone as “Dick.” Which, you know, is short for Richard. Know who else was a Dick? Dick Whitman, Don Draper’s real name.
And wait, there’s still another huge Mad Men connection. Know Kimmy’s short-lived date, Keith? She meets him at a bar and the two hit it off. Keith thinks Kimmy is a soldier. Keith is a soldier. He’s also played by Sam Page… who played Joan Harris’ husband, Greg, on Mad Men. During the show, Greg was a war doctor, making him a war vet, and DO YOU SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING?
It’s not a stretch to suggest that 30 Rock and Kimmy Schmidt could be existing at the same time, and they are both set in New York City, after all. So is Mad Men. Is it a stretch to suggest that the characters from Mad Men have been completely frozen in time — LIKE HOW KIMMY WAS IN THE BUNKER — and are now remerging into the real world to interact with our favorite unbreakable girl? Hopefully this is a Big Question that we’ll get some (hilarious) answers to in Season 3. And please let Pete Campbell show up next!