[I'm on vacation until November 18, so my friends are looking after The Critical Condition. Today, I'm happy to welcome Maulik Pancholy, star of both "30 Rock" and "Weeds," as he shares his election week adventures, including when he took that picture of Diddy up there]

A week into Obama! It’s been a week, and I’m still dancing for joy. The tyranny is over.

OOOOOW! That was me pinching myself. REALLY HARD.

On Election Day, after standing in line for over two hours, I finally entered the Brooklyn courthouse to vote. The couple in front of me asked their young son if he knew what kind of building we were in. “An airport terminal?” he asked. No. “A hospital?” No. “Barack Obama’s house?” Mmhmm.

Here’s the voting line:

Before entering the archaic, curtained booth with the guillotine-like lever (I imagined squinty little W getting the axe as I cast my vote), I got hit by a wave of real emotion – the kind where your eyes get wet and your lower lip trembles. This is history. I could feel it in the making.

Later that day I went to work on “30 Rock”, where I play Jonathan, Alec Baldwin’s character’s assistant. On the way to my dressing room, I had to pass by the two HUGE security guards that had recently shown up on set. They were there because Tina Fey had become such an important piece of the political puzzle. Crazy.

The adventure continues… after the jump!

That night when I couldn’t stand any more of Wolf and Andy (Blitzer and Cooper, that is) stretching out the time, I decided to take my new little dog out for a walk. And there, on a dark, damp, leaf-covered sidewalk, I heard whooping and screaming from all the windows of all the brownstones in my neighborhood. Great. I’d missed CNN calling the election. But I have to admit there was something magical about being the only person in the middle of the sidewalk just looking down at my puppy with his ears pricked up. I think even he knew.

The next day, I went to the opening night of the MIAAC Indian film festival. Shabana Azmi addressed the audience. Now, Ms. Azmi is a huge actress in India. I even wrote a paper about her work when I was in college. But American she is not. She started her speech with, “Forgive me if I’m a bit incoherent. I was out partying last night.” She, too, was celebrating Obama, because, as she said, “Art can only thrive with freedom, liberal values, and democracy.” Apparently in India, George W. didn’t inspire much confidence in “freedom”.

That same night, I somehow managed to get an invitation to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ birthday party. It was the “History: Change Is Here” party. The stage was flanked with a giant floor-to-ceiling poster of Diddy on one side, and Obama on the other (see below). A little weird. I’m not sure if Diddy was comparing himself to Obama or just wanted to share his birthday festivities with him. In any case, the man knows how to throw a party. Dancing girls, acrobats twirling from the ceiling, AND I was shaking my stuff next to Roland Martin and Cedric the Entertainer. I was so not Sean John enough to be at this party.

And then Diddy came out. And I felt high. He climbed over people. His smile dazzled. He was so close to me! And then….he was reaching out and shaking my hand. WHAT?!

Moments later, as the crowd was going wild, he grabbed the mic and said. “Let’s celebrate. We got a black president, y’all.”

So, yes. I know it’s a week later. But it still seems unbelievable. We got a black president, y’all. Freedom reigns. And Diddy shook my hand. OOOOOOW!