I don’t know why I forgot to write about it a few weeks ago, but I didn’t hate the Ryan Lochte cameo on 30 Rock. In fact, I laughed rather amply at it, because Tina Fey, that glorious goddess of comedy writing, created a character that was perfect for the guy who spent his birthday hanging out with The Situation – “Sex Idiot”. In case you missed the episode, Lochte played one of Sbarro heiress Pizzarina Sbarro’s boyfriends, as she explained to Jack Donaghy that different guys provide different aspects of relationships for her.

Basically, Lochte played a dipshit who likes having sex. And that just seemed perfect. In fact, if he wants to play that same character in anything he appears in – 90210, The Bachelor, the 2016 Summer Olympics – I’m all for it. But I really hope that people actually liking his performance on 30 Rock doesn’t encourage him to think that he is hilarious. Just kidding, too late.

Nissan has created a new web series called “Date Better with Sentra” with a man identified only as “suave narrator”, and in a new commercial, he’s joined by Lochte, who is as packed with personality as ever.

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It’s strange, as I was settling in to watch college football this weekend, I found myself wondering: “Hey, you know who are two people that we haven’t heard from in a while? Brian McFayden and Verne Troyer.” The former, of course, rose to mild prominence as a VJ on MTV’s Total Request Live in the early 2000s, before the music network completely phased out music, and then as the host of the CW’s Beauty and the Geek. The latter is obviously best known as Mini Me from the Austin Powers franchise and eventually the housemate that got hammered and peed everywhere on VH1’s The Surreal Life before releasing the world’s second most unwanted sex tape, with all due respect to Dustin Diamond.

So what the hell are these two former Y-list celebrities up to these days? Well, wouldn’t you know it, they’re talking Michigan Wolverines football over on the online digital show Campus Insiders, which I believe is that show that always aired in my campus cafeteria. As it turns out, Troyer is a Michigan Wolverines fan, and it was almost impossible to write that without using an adjective like big or huge because of the groaning that would quickly follow.

Of course, that didn’t stop McFayden.

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Aside from Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, most of us would be hard pressed to name another Olympic swimmer, especially those from other countries, because USA! and all that patriotic jazz. But over in South Africa, gold medal swimmer Chad le Clos is the bee’s knees to all the kids, because he took home top the gold in the 200m butterfly, as well as a silver in the 100m butterfly. Whether or not he’s wearing sleeveless leather vests and hanging out with Jersey Shore cast members is still a mystery to me.

Chad had some people concerned, though, when he arrived late to Dubai this week for the 2012 Fina/Arena Swimming World Cup. What the hell, bro? Why were you late to this huge event? It’s cool, he was just making a young girl’s dream come true by attending her high school dance.

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Olympic gold medalist and guy who trademarked the word “JEAH”, Ryan Lochte turned 28-years old on August 3, which was almost 8 weeks ago, and that’s important to remember because he was the guest of honor at Liv in Miami this past weekend, as he celebrated his birthday. At some point Locthe morphed into a sorority girl turning 21, because even if the excuse is that he didn’t have a real birthday because he was in London, that’s BS, because by all accounts the 2012 Summer Olympics was one giant orgy.

The aspiring actor even got behind the turntables (read: a bro’s Air Mac) to play DJ at his own party, but the big news is that he made a new best bro in Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino. Is anyone on this planet even surprised at this point?

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Out of habit, after I watched the season premiere of Saturday Night Live this past weekend, I called it awful, because it followed the same old formula of opening strong and slowly trailing off into laziness. But the episode had its moments, and for once I wasn’t shaking my fist at Seth MacFarlane and screaming bloody murder for FOX. Well, except for one bit in Weekend Update.

Striking while the iron is still dull, I mean hot, the SNL team had MacFarlane imitate Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte, and it was okay. He played too heavy on the dullard part, but people mostly liked it. So of course the gossip webloids couldn’t wait to get a response from the aspiring actor and guy who wants to make out with a dozen desperate girls for ABC.

“Well I gotta admit that was a pretty harsh one, but it’s cool to have Seth parody me,” the swimming champ told Celebuzz. “I think he pegged me wrong, but when I heard he did a skit I knew I was in for it!”

But Lochte has no harsh feelings for MacFarlane. “It’s all in fun and of course if I’m talked about on SNL I know they are gonna get me ‘Go-od,’” he said, referencing faux Lochte’s mispronunciation of NBC show Go On as “goon.” (Via Celebuzz)

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA, I see what you did there, you comedian. This guy’s got A-list written all over him. Lochte also told Extra that SNL was making fun of the old Ryan Lochte and that he’s totes better in front of the cameras now. That’s an interesting perspective. Let’s examine Lochte’s theory, shall we?

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Damn it, Tina.

Back in 2008, NBC’s 30 Rock had an episode entitled “Believe in the Stars” that dealt with Kenneth learning that Olympic hero Tyler Brody was just a fake, because there was no such thing as Olympic tetherball, octuples tennis, or synchronized running. I and the other 2 million people who watch the show religiously laughed because it playfully mocked the fad of Olympic athlete hero worship and how NBC – and every network, for that matter – tries to strike while the iron (or gold, *rimshot*) is hot.

Now, though, the joke has come full circle, because 30 Rock will have a guest appearance by Olympic gold medal swimmer Ryan Lochte this season, and I’m sure that we have someone awesome that we can all thank for this.

Oh, and you can totally thank us, your E! friends, for making this cameo happen. (You are welcome, America!) Because the ultra-busy Lochte is in New York this week covering Fashion Week for E! News (weeknights at 7 p.m.), so he was able to squeeze in the 30 Rock gig.

“It was a long morning. We did a lot of takes, but, you know what, it was fun,” Lochte tells our own Cat Sadler. “Being with Alec Baldwin on set…he’s a great guy. Great actor. I enjoyed it. I had so much fun. And I can’t really tell you what it was about, but it was outrageous.”

Really, a lot of takes? It couldn’t be Lochte’s fault, because he’s a natural, gifted actor. He’s just exploding with personality and charisma. It must have been because one of those talentless hack “actors” couldn’t get his damn lines down. I’m looking at Scott Adsit, that amateur.

30 Rock doesn’t really get any credit for how many hilarious sports jokes it delivers each season – perhaps credit is coming sooner than we think – so maybe we can hope that the premise of Lochte’s cameo is self-aware. But I’ve got $5 on what Frank’s hat will read…

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