Why did Josh leave 30 Rock? The part was planned as a lead — then Tracy Jordan happened
Lonny Ross turns up in 37 episodes of 30 Rock between 2006 and 2009, credited right alongside Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. Then Josh Girard walks out of TGS and the show barely pauses. The reason is built into the premise, and it happened twice — once to the character, once to the actor.
Josh quits TGS in the season 4 premiere, which aired October 15, 2009, after Liz and Jack start scouting for a new cast member behind the writers' backs. He comes back once, in "Audition Day" on November 5, to try to get the job back. He doesn't get it. Cheyenne Jackson's Danny Baker takes the slot instead.
He was the male lead until Jack Donaghy interfered
In the pilot, Josh is the male star of The Girlie Show, discovered by Liz while he was opening for a puppet, sharing the marquee with Jenna Maroney. Jack Donaghy then decides the show needs a name with actual demographic pull, hires Tracy Jordan, and renames the whole thing TGS with Tracy Jordan. Josh keeps the job. He loses the billing.
The character has long been read as a Jimmy Fallon type: young, likable, a performer who also writes sketches. Jack notes in the second episode that Josh scored 760 on his SATs and graduated from SUNY Cortland.
The part shrank season by season
- Season 1 (2006–07) — Recurring guest star, present in the pilot and most writers' room scenes.
- Season 2 (2007–08) — Promoted to series regular alongside Keith Powell and Katrina Bowden.
- Season 3 (2008–09) — Visibly reduced as Tracy, Jenna and Kenneth take up the oxygen.
- Season 4 (2009–10) — Two episodes. He quits in one and fails to get rehired in the other.
The audition that closed the book
"Audition Day" settles the account with some cruelty. Josh reads for the open TGS spot and volunteers, unprompted, that his film work went nowhere, his agent dropped him, and he took a web short he'd rather not describe in detail. The A.V. Club's review that week named the episode's organizing theme outright: desperation. Everyone in the building wants the job, including the janitor and Brian Williams.
Josh does not get it. The season ends with Danny Baker on staff, and Ross's name comes off the credits for season 5.
Did the show ever explain where he went?
Not really. The character is referenced in passing and never resolved, which is roughly how a sketch show treats a departed cast member in real life too.
For the record: Ross shared in the cast's Screen Actors Guild ensemble nomination for 30 Rock, then spent 22 episodes as a billionaire game designer on Cartoon Network's Level Up in 2012–13 and turned up for two episodes of Arrested Development in 2013. Nobody made him audition.