Jerry offends a doorman in the building where Elaine is house-sitting for Mr Pitt, and in trying to fix things, covers for him when he needs to duck out, only for a couch to get stolen. Kramer and George see that Frank now has breasts, causing George to spiral into insecurity and Kramer to invent a support garment for men.

Written by: Tom Gammill & Max Pross
Directed by: Andy Ackerman

The Doorman feels like a Seinfeld character that has been waiting for us all this time. The morality of this show includes the assumption that other people are motivated by things that we’ll never know, that people are defined by what they do rather than what they cause, and that our heroes, if nobody else, are motivated by intense anxiety, so a guy who shows up, is offended by everything Jerry does, and may or may not be fucking with him feels inevitable. Larry Miller gives us the perfect performance for this, being completely inscrutable; he may actually be offended by Jerry every time, but he may also be just messing with Jerry’s head.

Jerry going out of his way to avoid this guy rather than confront or get him fired is also such a great, characteristic turn for this show. One other unstated but always present aspect of Seinfeld is that it’s those liminal spaces, which is to say, this is shit that doesn’t matter; Jerry just wants to get in and out, so he’s going to take the seeming path of least resistance – remember that this space is even more liminal than most, given Elaine shouldn’t be here much longer. I suppose if Seinfeld has any single moral point, it’s that the path of least resistance can sometimes have nothing but resistance.

Meanwhile, we get more of Frank this episode, and it’s remarkable how well he holds up as a character from his singular peculiar nature; partly due to the writing and partly due to the indifferent performance of Jerry Stiller, he comes off as a man with no awareness of how he comes off and no shame, which makes him an incredibly funny pairing with Kramer. In fact, he parallels really well with Newman; Newman is incredibly aware of how he comes off and is aiming to make everyone as impressed with him as he is with himself, but Frank simply powers through the world without fear. It’s incredibly funny to compare his shamelessness with Jerry’s anxiety and terror.

TOPICS O’ THE WEEK

• I notice we’ve had quite a few episodes this season that open with Jerry’s standup but close with a normal scene.
• Funny that this is the kind of show where Kramer faking a robbery to frighten tourists takes up maybe two scenes. The second scene is a reference to Marathon Man.
• Great moments in blocking: Frank is mixing something in a bowl with no explanation in one scene, which is particularly nuts given he’s about to go out and eat.
• “Boy, that brain never stops workin’, does it?”
• “So now we have to rearrange our lives to avoid the doorman?” / “Yes, we do.”
• “He’s a comedian, Mrs Payton, they don’t know how to do anything!”
• Apparently Frank doesn’t just wear shoes in the pool, he wears them in bed.

Biggest Laugh:

Next Week: “The Jimmy”