A Kenny Rogers Chicken joint opens up across the street from Kramer’s apartment, filling his place with red light and making it impossible for him to sleep or see properly, so he trades apartments with Jerry, causing them to swap personalities. Jerry accidentally gets a friend fired. Elaine spends the company expense account on personal items, causing an internal audit. One of the items is a big hat she buys for George, who tries leaving it at a woman’s home to secure a second date.

Written by: Alec Berg & Jeff Schaffer
Directed by: Andy Ackerman

This is one I’d definitely put near the top of Seinfeld. There are so many concepts here, and all of them are great, and all of them weave together. As often, I find myself drawn to the Elaine plot the most; this feels like the best expression of the idea that Elaine is as childish and irresponsible as the goofballs she hangs out with, but less willing to acknowledge it to herself. This is also where Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s performance makes the character; whenever George does something stupid, Jason Alexander sells the shame he’s trying to push through, even when he gets hysterically upset. JLD has no such moment – Elaine blatantly steals from the company, then blatantly tries to get away with it. I think a lot of people are like this; there’s a reactionary aspect to Elaine, not in the political sense, but in that she has no long-term thinking and simply responds to her immediate environment. Whatever makes her most comfortable right now justifies whatever action she takes; this arc has been fun because it’s what always happens when a person like that ends up in charge.

Meanwhile, this is the one that famously has Jerry and Kramer swap apartments, and thus personalities. As always, the episode actually spends much less time on this than you’d expect – two scenes! – in order to get maximum impact out of it. And famously, Seinfeld (comedian) is surprisingly much better at imitating Kramer than Michael Richards is at imitating Jerry. I wonder how much of this comes down to the different skill sets here; as a performer, Seinfeld (comedian) is focused on what’s funny, and his performance as Jerry comes down to the vibe he puts out. Michael Richards has a much stronger focus on extreme behaviour and delivery of individual as opposed to the overall sense he’s trying to project. To put it another way, Seinfeld (comedian) is a worse actor but better audience member, something that definitely comes through him as an editor of someone else’s jokes and in this case, as an impressionist. And on the other hand, Richards has the harder job here – trying to capture the vibes of Seinfeld as opposed to finding the funnies action (see his perfect reaction when he opens the door to reveal the light and jerks back).

And come to think of it, George’s plot also shows off Alexander’s acting skills. On the commentary for The Thing, Kurt Russel makes jokes in a scene where his character is wearing a big hat, and says “That becomes a scene about a hat,” and it’s amazing how Alexander manages to come out from under the hat here so well. His initial glee at meeting Jerry with it on is so funny, but what really gets me is how he manages to act completely normal with it on later, which only serves to make the dumb prop even funnier.

TOPICS O’ THE WEEK

• “I like to think we’ve progressed beyond the need for a knife fight over a citrus drink.” / “Not me!”
• “What do you think of the catalogue?” / “Stinks.” / “There, we just discussed business.”
• “So you go to the bathroom at eleven, and you’re in bed by, what? Two?” / “If that.”
• “Why didn’t you get the big one?”
• “All I can see is that giant red sun in the shape of a cHicKeN!“
• “Jerry, my rods and cones are all screwed up!”
• “Jerry, these are load-bearing walls, they’re not gonna come down!”
• “That’s not gonna be good for business.” / “That’s not gonna be good for anybody.”
• “What, Mr Marbles? He’s harmless!” In another show, Mr Marbles would be the main plot. Here, he’s three fantastic jokes.
• Great blocking: Elaine meets George’s date, then pulls him in by the ear.
• “You told him you didn’t have the hat because you didn’t want to see him again, and… more sympathetic, I could not be.”
• “No, but the difference is negligible.” / “Oh yeah, I like this idea.”
• Michael D Roberts is so great as the auditor, being an actual adult compared to Elaine. “Wait a minute. Can I fire you?” / “No.”
• “̧̎̕V̷̶̸̢̧̲̫̺̤̘͉̗͙̅̋̑́̈͛̈́̈̍̕͠i̵̯̖͌̀̎l̷̳̪̝ͤͮ̃_̢̢̤̼̯͔̟̎̊̇̎ͧ͛̔ͤ̌͛͞ę̴̶̸̶̶̷̡̨̛͚͇̝̭̞͚͕͙̼̩̖̜͔̳ͬͨ̽̂͗͐͊̂̓̈̒͗̀̾̉͒̒̕ w̶̢̧͖͉̙͖̫͓͚̗͚͐ͤ̐̅̉͒͢ͅȇ̵̷͔̆̐̂͌̿͑ͧ͛̕͟e̜̲̜̝ͯ̋͛̀d̶̨̦̥͇͇̦̫̻̳͓̞̖͍ͬ͗ͤ̏̂̓̉̿̇̈ͬ͘͝ͅ!̷̛̛̹͔̥̣̼̼͍̼́̿̇̈́ͯ͑ͧ̆ͫ̿̇ͣ̇͐̀̍̉͊ͫ͡”̵̶̷̨̡̛͓͔͖͈͇̪̤̟͍̳̭͒͑̎̏͑̂͑͛́͌͂̈́ͥ͒ͯ̑̍͘͘͜
• “You speak Burmese?” / “No, Elaine. That was gibberish.”

Biggest Laugh: George’s commitment would be admirable in another context.

Next Week: “The Abstinence”