The Best 'Star Trek: Lower Decks' Jokes, According To The Show's Cast

Star Trek: Lower Decks has earned scorn from certain corners of the Internet, who refuse to even consider the thought of a comedic Trek show. But I genuinely love the way the series – which focuses on the lower decks crew of an unimportant Starfleet ship, far away from the epic action taking place on the bridge of more esteemed ships – embraces the core of what makes Star Trek great while also having plenty of time for ridiculous jokes.

During a recent press event to promote the upcoming second season, we asked series stars Tawny Newsome (who voices Beckett Mariner), Jack Quaid (Brad Boimler), Noël Wells (D'Vana Tendi), and Eugene Cordero (Samanthan Rutherford) about their favorite jokes or gags from the 10-episode first season, and their answers did not disappoint.

Tawny Newsome: "My favorite throwaway joke from season 1 is when we're arguing about who Starfleet's biggest badass is, and Boimler says Roga Danar, and in the booth, I literally said, 'Roga Danar?! Get the f*** out of my face!' It was more to [showrunner] Mike McMahan, and they used it and animated that, and I cannot believe that made it in."

Jack Quaid: "One thing I love that Tawny added was that she just kind of randomly hates this one crew member named Jennifer. Improv'd this whole thing of 'Who is Jen?', and then at one point bumps into Jennifer and says, 'Move, Jennifer!' If it's something that I improvised that I left in, for a while I would just start calling Captain Freeman 'Cap'n Freeman.' Like, Boimler just has this folksy way of greeting the captain. I love it because he wants to be a captain so bad, and he wants to impress the captain, but he literally can't say the word 'captain.'"

Eugene Cordero: "My favorite gag that started happening in season 1 that continues in season 2 is the fact that Star Trek in general has always ended with an 'Aye aye, Captain,' or 'Yes, Captain,' but the fact that Rutherford just says 'okie dokie' so much is my favorite thing. It makes him childlike, it makes it fun, and every time we do it, we laugh in the booth. We're like, 'Can you say that on the job? You can't say okie dokie on the job as a grown-up!' If I ordered something at Starbucks and they said 'okie dokie' to me, I'd be like, I've gotta go. I don't trust whatever's gonna be in this cup."

Noël Wells: "I liked when we found out that Brad Boimler's real name was 'Bradward.' That made me laugh. I like that it was so late in the show when we found out that was his real name, and then they start leaning in to say it so much. That, to me, feels like the promise of the premise of what an animated Star Trek show is: these inside jokes that perhaps couldn't have taken place on another Star Trek series."

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Star Trek: Lower Decks premieres on Paramount+ on August 12, 2021.