Nancy Pelosi guest-stars on the series finale of ’30 Rock’

Holly Bailey
·National Correspondent

Nancy Pelosi has received plenty of television airtime as leader of the House Democrats. But on Thursday she’ll score perhaps her biggest on-air cameo yet, guest-starring in the final episode of NBC’s critically acclaimed comedy series “30 Rock.”

The congresswoman is set to play herself as Tiny Fey’s show has its official swan song. According to The New York Times, Pelosi is shown in a mock TV interview in which she accuses Jack Donaghy, played by Alec Baldwin, of being an “economic war criminal.”

Asked why she agreed to the guest spot, Pelosi told the Washington Post, “I would do almost anything Tina Fey asks me to do.”

Pelosi’s appearance comes just weeks after she made the rounds at Sundance Film Festival, where she posed with Robert Redford, the festival’s creator, and other stars including Joseph Gordon-Levitt. She was there as her daughter, Alexandra, made her Sundance debut with a documentary about former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, who resigned from office in 2004 after he revealed he was cheating on his wife with another man.

“30 Rock” isn’t Pelosi’s first turn on the small screen. In 2010, she was a guest judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef.”

She also isn’t the first big political name to guest-star on Fey’s show. Two years ago, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played herself on the sitcom as Donaghy’s ex-girlfriend. And Pelosi’s star turn follows a spate of recent high-profile guest spots on other shows, including cameos by Vice President Joe Biden and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation.”

It’s no surprise that Fey persuaded Pelosi to make an appearance. Both have broken down barriers when it comes to being women in their respective industries. And Fey was a guilty pleasure for many Democrats with her impersonation of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on “Saturday Night Live” during the 2008 election, when Palin was John McCain’s GOP running mate.

“I’m flattered that they asked me to make a cameo in the series finale,” Pelosi told the Post. “I had a lot of fun.”