Elaine’s boyfriend is obsessed with “Desperado”. Jerry claims he invented the umbrella twirl. Kramer befriends Japanese tourists. George hires a cultish carpet cleaner and is upset when they don’t try to recruit him. Jerry is getting cheques from a Japanese show and so he and George attempt to sell their pilot to a Japanese company.

Written by: Stephen O’Donnell and Tom Gammill & Max Pross
Directed by: Andy Ackerman

This is one of my favourite kinds of Seinfeld episodes, where there’s a million plots and gags running along. This is really indicative of late-era Seinfeld, actually, in how it’s a bit wackier than normal and the attitude has evolved slightly; one of my favourite runners from this era is how none of the characters like, care about, or even respect Jerry’s standup, which is really an evolution of how Seinfeld (comedian) has never taken his namesake character that seriously or been afraid of being undignified. At this point in the show, much of the writing staff are fans of the show who managed to become writers for it (this is the last episode Gammill and Pross would work on), and they’re escalating the subtext and the basic character traits.

At the same time, we’ve built up so much continuity that it’s flowing through episodes and holding most of them up – which, again, is simply an escalation of technique we’ve already seen. Most episodes interweaved their plots in funny ways, having something come back from earlier; they even had a habit of suddenly bringing back characters like Poppy midway through an episode with no announcement. The pilot coming back is simply that happening on a broader scale, and we even see things like the urban sombrero come back for a moment. This is part of the show’s ethos of not wasting our time. Nothing is longer than it needs to be, nothing is Not Funny, nothing is extraneous is included.

TOPICS O’ THE WEEK

• “Is this a bit?” / “No, this is just talking.”
• There’s quite a few iconic jokes in this episode. “Who buys umbrellas anyway?”, “Is this customary in your legal system?”, “Boogey man.” / “Boogey?” / “I’m quite sure.”, and most of all, Jerry’s first time answering the phone with “Uncle Leo?”
• “Who are any of her losers?” / “You know, you’re on that list.”
• “Jerry doesn’t have a fax machine.” / “Oh, well I’m sure things will pick up for you soon.”
• “So you’re angry that this bizarre carpet cabal made no attempt to abduct you?” / “They could have at least tried!”
• “It failed here! Because here every time you turn on a TV, all ya see is four morons sitting around an apartment whining about their dates!”
• “Most of the world is carpeted. And we will be the ones who clean it.” / “HIM YOU BRAINWASHED?! WHAT’S HE GOT THAT I DON’T?!”

Biggest Laugh:

Next Week: “The Chicken Roaster”