Question: At the start of the episode "No Hope With Dope", Lisa runs into the hallway with exciting news, and Zack responds to Lisa using a sentence ending with "you'll crack your makeup." The audience (primarily young females) starts screaming and cheering very loudly to that line. I am trying to understand what about that "crack your makeup" line was there to scream and go ga-ga about.
Answer: If there is a reference to "cracking" make-up, the inference would be that the person piles it on or simply wears way too much make-up; the more make-up is caked (or piled) on, the less of the person's real face is visible. The implication is that deep down (i.e, underneath all the make-up), the person's face is actually UGLY.
Zack and Lisa are friends (in fact the briefly date in one episode). He is definitely not calling her ugly. After re-watching the episode, it seems like some of the girls in the audience loved Lisa and wanted to cheer her in when she entered a scene. It happens another time when she walks in and it sounds like these same girls scream as soon as she enters the shot.
Answer: Zack is always good for a sarcastic jibe. Lisa was written as the most fashion and make-up conscious of the Bayside High girls. She was also portrayed as serious and somewhat prissy. The "crack your makeup" comment was a throwaway line. Zack was suggesting Lisa doesn't often get overly excited for fear of having to reapply her face. The line is met by laughter and screeches from largely adolescent female audience that seem out of proportion to the humor. "Saved By the Bell" audiences were rather prone to such excessive ebullience for no apparent reason. The reaction didn't last long, and the scene moved on quickly.
Michael Albert
Yeah that doesn't make any sense.