and season finale of the show's third season and the 58th overall episode of the series. "Kidney Now!" was first read by its cast on March 5, 2009; it was filmed on March 16–17, 2009. "He Needs a Kidney", the charity song featured in this episode, was written by show composer and co-executive producer Jeff Richmond. Richmond is married to series creator, executive producer and lead actress Tina Fey. In discussion of the development of "Kidney Now!", Richmond said that Carlock and Fey "were trying to figure out a way to highlight Jack's dad in getting a kidney and how they're going to deal with that", and that the two came to the decision to "take advantage of the singing", as they have done so in the past with different 30 Rock episodes, in which the show's characters have sung songs. Carlock and Fey agreed to the idea that a song be included in the season finale, but that it be an anthem like the 1985 charity song, "We Are the World", as the cause is that the Milton Greene character is in need of a kidney donor. "Basically, the parameters were if 'We Are the World' but they want to get a kidney. I think we had angles that everyone has two kidneys and you'll only need one kidney, and we thought 'Alright, we'll get some distance on that'", said Richmond. While working on the track, Fey suggested to Richmond that he incorporate Milton Greene's name in one part of the song, which he did, as this was sung by singers Cyndi Lauper and Robert Randolph. Giancarlo Vulcano, a music editor and associate arranger on the show, revealed that Richmond taught him the song one morning at Silvercup Studios—where the show is filmed—and they played the first half of "He Needs a Kidney" at the script's read-through. According to Vulcano, the 30 Rock staff loved the song and the two were satisfied with the reception of it. While arranging the instrumentation, Richmond hired violinists for the episode's background music and for "He Needs a Kidney", which according to him he usually does not get the opportunity to have a lot of violin sounds on the show. The recording sessions with the musical guests took place on Stage 1 at Silvercup Studios; Stage 1 serves as the set for TGS with Tracy Jordan, a fictitious comedy sketch show featured on