Elaine becomes annoyed with an inscrutable New Yorker cartoon, which leads her to get a job as a cartoonist. George dates a woman that looks like Jerry. Jerry runs into Sally Weaver and insults her, which leads her to start a one woman show entirely about insulting him. Kramer takes a vow of silence.

Written by: Bruce Eric Kaplan
Directed by: Andy Ackerman

You know, I actually admire Jerry Seinfeld’s work ethos (and nothing else about him). He often gets the short end of the stick when discussing what made the show great; most of the credit is given to Larry David. I think this misses what he brought to the proceedings – I love Curb Your Enthusiasm, but the humour is limited in some ways by its structure. As David once (possibly jokingly) pointed out, the retroscripted approach means he doesn’t have to work on, you know, the script. Seinfeld (comedian) is the weakest actor in the main cast, but an underrated comic performer, and behind the scenes he had a methodical and hard-working approach, being willing to beat a joke over and over until it worked perfectly. And in this plot specifically, we see another aspect of his work approach I admire: a willingness to be the butt of the joke.

It’s easy to think of many other comedians who would react badly when someone made fun of them; Seinfeld seemed overjoyed, even proud when Kathy Griffin did standup insulting him, and it delights me that he’d go so far as to write a whole plot about her. This is something he shares with Larry David and I think merges their respective sensibilities; with David, it’s expressed as a willingness to throw his whole personality and mistakes right in front of the viewer, and with Seinfeld, it’s a desire to chase The Joke above all other concerns. I admire the professionalism here, where the goal of the job is placed above things like ego.

Meanwhile, Elaine’s story feels like another meta-story, as the writers lay out just how difficult it actually is to be funny. It’s easy to respond to criticism with ‘it’s easy to criticise!’, but I feel like the episode manages to thread the needle and remain only funny rather than spiteful throughout; I particularly like that Elaine’s final comic is a very specific level of lousy, where it’s recognisably a joke and you can see how, after hours of racking her brain, she thought it was hilarious, but it’s not really that funny.

Finally, George’s plot doesn’t really go anywhere, but I do delight in its conception. Part of the show’s conceit is that the characters can’t learn anything, or grow, or have any real insight into their lives. I think Seinfeld’s decision to end the show on this season was a smart one, and it points to the cleverness of Always Sunny afterwards in making something with even more longevity by deliberately exaggerating the characters to awfulness. Seinfeld‘s characters are merely neutral, and eventually they’re going to become so awful or neurotic that the premise falls apart; people are already noticing this with Elaine in particular. Anyway, it’s incredibly funny that George simply can’t follow the “I want to date someone like Jerry” thought to its healthier conclusion, that he and Jerry make each other’s lives worthwhile.

TOPICS O’ THE WEEK

• “Why don’t you just give up?”
• “So… Susan’s dead.”
• “Eh, maybe she doesn’t, I don’t care.”
• It is also funny to me that Jerry wants Sally to quit but doesn’t want to be responsible for that happening. This also gets at something Seinfeld understands, that most people want to go through life comfortable and disconnected from the consequences for their actions.
• “What do you know about what you look like?”
• “Well, how should I have broached the subject?” Great blinking from Michael Richards there.
• “I’m gonna get to the bottom of this.” / “Oh, I think we’re at the bottom.”
• “It’s merely a commentary on contemporary mores.”
• “Oh right, cone of silence. How’s that going? Hah!”
• “Wow, good work, Nancy Drew!”
• “It’s so great to see a show that’s about something.”
• “Everything you do has to be so jokey.” / “I’m a comedian…” I love how sadly he says that.
• “The pig says ‘my wife is a slut’?” / “Now that’s a complaint.”
• “I’d like to see that complaint get rectified!”
• “You know, you gotta shut up! Sorry, I haven’t spoken in days.”
• “Puddy has Ziggy sheets.”

Biggest Laugh:

Next Week: “The Strongbox”