Seinfeld: The Post Show Recap | A Podcast About Nothing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2GmGSNvaM Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur didn’t have pretzels, but they were thirsty to start recapping the next episode in the Seinfeld series, despite the holiday season being in full swing. This week, they discussed “The Alternate Side”, which first aired on December 4, 1991, and was written by Larry David and Bill Masters. Akiva shared what shows Seinfeld was going up against on Wednesday nights at 9, the timeslot for season 3. It had to face Doogie Howser MD, Anything But Love, starring Richard Lewis of Curb Your Enthusiasm fame, and a rerun of Jake and the Fat Man. There was some Seinfeld in the news this past week, as Larry David was a guest on Bill Simmons’ BS Report podcast. He discussed the Seinfeld finale, amongst other topics. He shared that he is reluctant to do another season of Curb Your Enthusiasm because he doesn’t want to face doing another finale. Rob and Akiva hoped that isn’t the case, as they both would love another season of Curb. In Jerry’s opening standup, he does a bit about car alarms, and how annoying they are. The episode opens with Jerry in his apartment, realizing that his car has been stolen. George is there, wearing a Mets hat, which prompted Rob and Akiva to discuss how maybe they bounce back and forth between Yankee and Mets hats because Larry is a fan of both teams. Jerry and George are trying to figure out how a thief crosses the wires to get the car started. Jerry decides instead of calling the police, he’ll call his car phone. When the thief picks up the phone (and it’s the voice of Larry David of course), Jerry asks him if he stole the car, which he admits. Kramer gets on the phone and asks the thief to mail him his gloves that are in the glove box. Jerry takes the phone back and asks him how he crossed the wires. The thief tells him that the keys were left in it. Sid, the guy who moves Jerry and the rest of the apartment tenants cars, was the one who left the keys in the car. He is going on vacation, which gives George the idea to take over the car moving business while Sid’s gone. Sid seemed fine with George taking over for him, even though Rob and Akiva thought he agreed to it awfully quickly. Meanwhile, Kramer shares that he was asked to take part in the Woody Allen movie that is filming just downstairs. In the next scene, Jerry and Elaine are waiting in line for Jerry to rent a car. Elaine is telling Jerry all about her new boyfriend Owen, who is a famous writer, but is 66 years old. Jerry finds it preposterous when she says Jerry would really like him, since he hates everyone. When they get to the counter, the lady informs him that they don’t have any midsize cars left, even though he had a reservation. Jerry chastises her for having taken the reservation, but not holding it. Rob felt that this is one of his favorite scenes. Back at Jerry’s apartment, Elaine is second guessing dating this older guy, concluding that she needs to break up with him. George bursts in harried, looking for a bucket of water because a car was overheating. Kramer comes in as well, and he informs them all that he will now have a line in the Woody Allen movie, the iconic, “these pretzels are making me thirsty”. Each of the characters have fun with how they would say the line. Rob and Akiva shared how they would say the line as well. When George says his version of the line, everyone agrees that it was terrible. The next scene has Elaine, who met up with Owen to break it off, bursts into Jerry’s apartment carrying Owen, who had a stroke. As Owen is laying on the couch unconscious, they try to feed him a cookie in case he’s in diabetic shock. Rob felt that this sequence was a particularly dark area to go. Akiva thought that if the particular storyline had been funnier, it might not have seemed so dark. They decided to track some of the darker storylines as they go through the series, plugging the Owen stroke at number one, and “The Pony Remark” at number two. Waiting for the ambulance, they learn that George got in an accident and caused a traffic jam, which delayed the EMTs from arriving quickly. The paramedics finally get to the apartment to take care of Owen, wondering why there are cookie crumbs in his mouth. George comes up to share that it was Jerry’s rental car that he crashed and caused the traffic jam. Kramer tells him that he held up the Woody Allen movie, which caused Woody to refer to George as the “idiot in the blue jacket”. When Sid comes back from vacation, he is not thrilled to learn that George caused such a fiasco with such an easy job. Kramer comes in to read a newspaper article about how Owen had the stroke, and he would have faired much better if a traffic jam hadn’t

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed Podcast recap of Seinfeld Season 3 Episode 10 “The Stranded” first aired on NBC November 27, 1991 Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur didn’t have to wait until two in the morning for Kramer to get together and recap “The Stranded”, the latest episode in their journey through the Seinfeld series. “The Stranded” was the 10th episode of the third season, first airing November 27, 1991. This episode was originally shot in season two, but Larry David wasn’t happy with it and decided to shelve it until the next season. Rob and Akiva agreed with Larry’s take, assuring right off the bat that it will be ranked in the bottom ten of Akiva’s list. Akiva had a bit of news to share before they started in on the recap. Jerry is in the new Chris Rock movie Top Five. Rob heard Jerry on Alec Baldwin’s podcast this week, where Jerry shared a story about how comedian Jackie Mason told Jerry he was going to be a huge star very early on in his career. The opening standup had Jerry doing a bit about the pharmacy. Rob and Akiva enjoyed the joke about the cold medicine options and how the human body picture on the wall uses lightening bolts and red squiggly lines to describe pain. As the episode opens, Jerry and George are at the pharmacy, where George is picking up something to help him get rid of fleas. Rob found it strange that they don’t bring this up in the episode again after the opening scene. While there, George invites Jerry to come with him to a work party out in Long Island. Jerry doesn’t want to go, but George talks him into it by telling him they’ll be women at the party. When George goes to pay for the flea medicine, the clerk gives him back change for a ten dollar bill, but George is sure that he paid with a twenty. He first politely points it out, but when the clerk rebuffs him, he gets aggravated enough that the security guard has to escort him out. He assures the clerk as he’s drug out that he will be back for his money. The next scene has Jerry, George and Elaine out at the party on Long Island. Rob and Akiva wondered how they talked Elaine into going. Jerry and Elaine recognize this party will be boring, so they come up with a signal that will alert the other to get them out of an excruciating conversation, which is patting themselves on the head. Jerry quickly gets into a conversation he wants out of, and immediately goes to the signal. Elaine is simultaneously having a terrible conversation, patting her head as well. Jerry notices and comes over to save her. Still at the party, George and Jerry are talking, George mentioning that he’s hitting it off with Ava, a woman from his office. The scene cuts to Elaine sitting next to a pretentious woman going on and on about her fiancé, wondering where her baby is. Elaine says the famous line, “maybe the dingo ate your baby”. George meanwhile asks Jerry if he can take Ava home in his car, since she told him she wants him to make love to her. Jerry agrees, based on a 90s version of bro code. When Jerry asks George what his response was to “I want you to make love to me” was, George responds, “I long for you”, which he was embarrassed about. As George and Ava are ready to leave, Jerry informs Elaine that they’ll have to find another ride, citing the code. As George is walking Ava out, Elaine notices she has on a real fur coat, which spurs an argument between the two ladies. Akiva and Rob discuss their opinions on wearing fur and being vegetarian. Both agreed that they aren’t overly sensitive to the topic, but would rather not face the wrath of those who are. Jerry calls Kramer to come pick them up, but hours later, Jerry and Elaine are the only ones left at this house waiting for Kramer, while the party hosts uncomfortably wait along with them. Steve, the man throwing the party, is the now famous actor Michael Chiklis. Rob and Akiva mentioned how much of a scumbag the character he plays is. Kramer finally finds the house, but informs Jerry and Elaine that the top on his convertible is broken, so they’ll have to drive down the expressway with the top down in 40 degree weather. Back at Jerry’s apartment, he’s on the phone with George, planning to go to the pharmacy, since he caught a cold from riding in Kramer’s car. As he goes to leave, Steve from the party shows up, since Jerry had insincerely offered him a place to stay in the city to make up for getting stranded at his house until all hours. When Jerry tells him he is about to leave, Steve thinks Jerry is just trying to blow him off. Jerry welcomes him to stay while Jerry’s out. Back at the pharmacy, George is complaining about how uncomfortable he is now at work since he’s dating Ava. He feels like his only

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur continue their journey to watch every Seinfeld episode as they discuss Season 3, Episode 9 “The Nose Job” with episode writer, Peter Mehlman. Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur were sure not to butcher this week’s podcast as they welcomed a big guest from the world of Seinfeld. In addition to breaking down “The Nose Job”, which first aired November 20, 1991, Peter Mehlman, the writer of the episode called in to share some stories from his days writing for the iconic show. With no time for current Seinfeld news in this action packed recap, they delve right into the episode. Jerry’s opening standup is a bit about how the pharmacist window is on a platform above everything else. Rob thought it was only loosely related to the plot, and seemed a little “hacky”. The episode starts at the newsstand, which Rob thought was the first time we see a more expansive set. George and Jerry are talking about how Jerry was able to get a woman’s phone number in 60 seconds during an elevator ride. George asks him how he does it, and the scene cuts to Jerry telling the woman he is responsible for the crop circles in England, though she has no idea what he’s talking about. Jerry points out to George some spinach in his teeth, and George realizes that he had it stuck in there during his job interview earlier. The scene flashes back to the interview, where the interviewer is cringing at the spinach in his teeth. George then starts to tell Jerry about his girlfriend Audrey’s nose. Jerry agrees that it’s a “schnoz”, but thinks George should try not to worry about it. Rob pointed out that the premise of this episode is all about the obsessing over a small imperfection. Akiva mentioned how the show The League had a similar storyline just recently. Next, at Jerry’s apartment, they are all eating pizza with Audrey. Kramer brings up how the guy who took back the jacket is now in jail, and he needs Elaine to come along on this caper to get it back. Akiva pointed out how Elaine is always plugged in to the caper story in these first few seasons. Rob noted that this is the first time we hear Kramer refer to his alias Peter Van Nostrand. When Audrey starts talking about all the beautiful women in New York City, Kramer tells her that she’s as pretty as them, she just needs a nose job. Rob really appreciated how great everyone’s reaction was to this. After some standup from Jerry, the next scene is George at Elaine’s apartment, where Audrey is staying. They start talking about the idea of her getting a nose job. George does a not so subtle job of convincing her it’s a good idea. Elaine comes in admonishing him for it, but George still tries to sell it. In the next scene, Jerry and George are at the coffee shop celebrating that he’s convinced Audrey to get the nose job, while simultaneously feeling like he will be going to hell for it. They also talk about Jerry’s situation with Isabel, the woman from the elevator, and how he hates her as a person, but is so attracted to her physically. He describes it as a chess match between his penis and his brain. They cut to a scene with Jerry giving Kramer Isabel’s number because he doesn’t trust himself not to call her anymore. They are back at Elaine’s apartment as Audrey is going to take the bandages off her nose. As she reveals to them her new nose, they all quickly discover that her nose is dented, with Kramer telling her she got butchered. George is so taken aback that he faints. After they revive George, Audrey runs out of the apartment to go back to the doctor and Elaine lays into George for talking Audrey into this. Back at Jerry’s apartment, Jerry is begging Kramer to give him the number back, but Kramer rips it to shreds and shames him for his behavior. Akiva noted that the big standing ovation Kramer got in this scene took away from it a bit. Next, George and Audrey are at the coffee shop, and Audrey is planning romantic vacations while George looks disinterested. Rob and Akiva debate why George would be “selling low” on Audrey, since she is going back to have the dent fixed soon anyway. One of George’s excuses for not going to Hawaii was that you couldn’t get him on a plane because he sees the FAA reports. All of his excuses were not working with Audrey, so she breaks up with him, and he’s relieved. Back at Jerry’s apartment, he is working on lines with Isabel, and not helping with his sarcastic remarks. Akiva took a moment to read a few tweets from Tawny Kitaen, the actress playing Isabel. Rob thought it would be funny for Akiva to send Tawny a nice message on twitter, sure that she’ll retweet it. With a bit of hesitation, Akiva does,

http://youtu.be/zh-eSxMDzuc Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed Podcast Recap of Seinfeld Season 3, Episode 7 “The Tape” first broadcast November 13, 1991 on NBC Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur worked on their throatiest, sultry voices for this week’s podcast as they breakdown “The Tape”, which first aired November 13, 1991 as part of the third season of Seinfeld. Rob thought this episode really lived up to the moniker of being a show about nothing. Akiva agreed, thinking it was run of the mill, but still funny. Before discussing the plot, Akiva had some current Seinfeld news to share. On Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, Michael Richards was mentioned as being forgiven during a story about Bill Cosby’s controversy. Also, he had a not so fun fact, Carol Ann Susi, the voice of Howard’s mother on The Big Bang Theory, passed away. She also played the lady in the unemployment office in “The Boyfriend”, where she convinces George to date her daughter in exchange for him to continue receiving benefits. Jerry’s opening standup is a dated joke about hair transplants. Rob felt that you wouldn’t hear this bit in 2014. The first scene is in Jerry’s apartment where he is listening to his standup performance on a tape recorder. George comes into the apartment and asks Jerry if he used the bit he gave him about the big toe being the Captain, but Jerry says he tried it and it didn’t work. Akiva wondered if comedians often record their performances, which Rob confirmed is a common practice. Rob also shared a story from his year or two stint into the world of standup comedy where an audience member with turrets syndrome shouted throughout his se derailing the whole thing. George is very excited to talk to Jerry about how he saw on CNN that the Chinese have come up with a cure for baldness, so he wants to call and order this cream. Meanwhile, Jerry gets to a part in his recorded set where a woman starts saying dirty things into the microphone in a breathy voice. George and Kramer take turns listening to the tape, both blown away at how hot and heavy it is. In the next scene at Monks, George is still talking about the cure for baldness. Jerry gets up from the table, and George tells Elaine about the racy message left on Jerry’s tape recorder. She then does the voice, shocking George that she came up with all this dirty stuff. From learning this, George is now visibly attracted to Elaine now. When Jerry comes back, Elaine asks Jerry about the tape. He is quite arrogant about it, saying how this happens to famous people all the time, and it’s not a big deal. Back at Jerry’s apartment, George is on the phone trying to order this cure for baldness. Kramer comes in with his camcorder, pretending to be filming a documentary where Elaine is an adult film star. Jerry plays along, pretending to be the director who discovered Elaine through some friends at the Coast Guard. Elaine continues to play along, making George blush in the process by referring to him as her costar. Rob felt this was a racy premise for 1991. Kramer’s Chinese food delivery shows up, and we get to meet Ping, the delivery boy for the first time. George asks him if he can get on the phone and translate with the balding cream company. Ping does this, assuring George that if he sends the money, he’ll get the cream. Rob enjoyed how Ping took a jab at George by jokingly telling him one of the side effects of the cream was impotence. In the next scene, George and Elaine are talking, and George is still hot under the collar about Elaine on the tape. Jerry meanwhile is back at his apartment, and thinks he has tracked down who left the dirty message, still not aware that it was Elaine. George comes in with balding cream, and Kramer goes to get the camcorder so they can track the hair growth. As he applies the cream to his head, they all notice that it smells terrible. Rob questioned why George wouldn’t rub the cream into his head rather than having it sit on top. When George thinks that Elaine is coming upstairs, he rushes in to wipe off the stinky cream. Kramer randomly asks Jerry how often he cuts his toenails, to which Jerry replies roughly every two to eight weeks. Kramer tells him he had cut his girlfriend with his big toe, and Jerry brings out George’s joke about the big toe as the captain. Meanwhile, Jerry has a date with the woman he thinks left the message, though she didn’t respond like someone who would say the filthy things on the tape. George comes up wearing a giant cowboy hat to hide the cream on his head. Kramer wants to get his camcorder to check the progress. While he’s at his apartment, George finally discloses that he is attracted to Elaine. Floored by this new information, Jerry tells Kramer to leave again once

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed Podcast Recap of Seinfeld Season 3 Episode 7, “The Cafe” first aired on NBC November 6, 1991 Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur were not very, very bad men this week in their recapping of “The Café”, which first aired on November 6, 1991 during the third season of Seinfeld’s original run. Both agreed that they are fully in the mix of greater episodes after the rough start of seasons one and two. Since there was no current news in the Seinfeld universe, they got right to it. Jerry’s opening standup was a bit about the certain store in a neighborhood that could not have success, referring to it as the Bermuda Triangle of retail. Akiva had a restaurant near him in college that would open and close every few weeks, that just didn’t find success. He also shared that the writer of this episode had based the Dream Café on a real life restaurant. The episode opens with Jerry and George standing on the sidewalk talking. Jerry is distracted, looking at and commenting about a new restaurant in his neighborhood, while George is fretting about his new girlfriend thinking he’s both nice and smart, to which he knows he’s neither. George gets frustrated with Jerry for not listening to his plight, especially since he doesn’t know what to do about having to take an IQ test where Monica will learn the truth that he’s not smart. When Jerry asks George what he got on the SATs, George says he tells people 1409, but will go to the grave with his real score. Rob noticed that the score itself is proof that it’s a lie, since it’s not a multiple of ten. Akiva shared that Zack Morris from Saved By The Bell also had an SAT score that ended in an odd number. Then, they speculated what score George could have actually earned, and they settled on around 820. In the next scene at Jerry’s apartment, he is looking out the window with binoculars at the Dream Café, worrying that it compares to a spider clinging for life to the side of the toilet bowl. Rob and Akiva noticed that the hat on the Nerf hoof is once again the Yankees, having switched from Mets to Yankees several times over. They wondered if there was a battle between Larry David and Jerry over this. Elaine meanwhile, is reading at the table, randomly saying the Latin phrase casus belli. When George comes in talking about having to take the IQ test, Elaine mentions she got a 145, which prompts George to think she should take the test for him. Since Monica lives on the first floor, he can just hand the test out the window to Elaine, a legendary feat that he once pulled off in college. Jerry adds that she could go down the road to the Dream Café, since it’s so slow enough to hear a pin drop. They all agree to do this, since they love a caper. We are introduced to Babu Bhatt for the first time in the next scene. Rob and Akiva pointed out that Babu is the first real recurring character to be in a scene besides Jerry’s parents. When Jerry enters the restaurant, Babu is very happy to serve him, telling him about the eclectic menu items, from moussaka to franks and beans. While at the restaurant, Jerry has several inner monologues about how good a person he is for supporting this neighborhood restaurant. Cutting quickly to the next scene, George is at Monica’s preparing to take the test, feigning arrogance about how well he is going to do. Rob and Akiva enjoyed the pace of the editing, how they would cut from the restaurant and back to Monica’s apartment. Elaine shows up outside the window and takes the test down to the Dream Café. Once there, Babu convinces Elaine to order the rigatoni, even though she wanted something simple while she takes the test. When Kramer comes in, he constantly disrupts and annoys Elaine. He is talking about the jacket, aforementioned in “The Parking Garage”, and how he doesn’t want this friend of his mother’s to take it back. He argues with Jerry about whether the term is statue, or statute of limitations, further aggravating Elaine. After Elaine moves tables to get away from Kramer, he continues to cause a disruption, nearly knocking the whole table over when Babu hands him a hot towel. As Babu is enthusiastically catering to Elaine, he knocks over Elaine’s coffee and rigatoni all over the IQ test. After Elaine leaves, Jerry decides to give Babu advice on the restaurant. He tells him he should scrap the idea of a wide range menu, and focus on the cuisine of his native Pakistan. Akiva and Rob debated whether Jerry’s advice was good, both concluding that Babu shouldn’t have been mad at Jerry for it failing, since no one was in there before the change anyway. When Elaine brings back the test to George, she explains that Babu spilled food all over it. When George has to explain this

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed Podcast Recap of Seinfeld Season 3, Episode 6 “The Parking Garage,” First aired on NBC on October 30, 1991 Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur wandered in circles, but they eventually found their way to their microphones to discuss the next episode from the third season in the Seinfeld series. “The Parking Garage” first aired on October 30, 1991, and was another “bottle” episode, where all it’s scenes are shot entirely in one place. The guys felt that this is the type of episode they’ve been waiting for, having waded through enough muck from the first two seasons to make it all worth it. There was a bit of news from the Seinfeld universe this week. Jerry had an interview with Brian Williams where he discussed how he believes he is on the autistic spectrum. This piece didn’t necessarily cause a media controversy or backlash, but both Akiva and Rob felt it was an odd thing for Jerry to proclaim. The opening standup has Jerry talking about the mall, and how the maps are so difficult to follow. Rob thought that it was another bit that had very little to do with the episode plot, while Akiva thought that it was one of those bits that takes away from such a good story. Rob was quite intrigued with the production of this episode. He read that Larry David wrote the episode, and let the production team figure out how to make this expansive idea work. Akiva shared that it was production’s goal to rent out a parking garage, but ultimately they built a set to look like one. Since the set couldn’t be put in front of a live studio audience, the episode was shown after being edited to a live audience that came to see “The Voice”, an episode shot a few weeks later so there could be a laugh track. The episode opens with all four of them walking into the parking garage to find their car. As they enter the garage, we see Kramer is carrying a giant box with an air conditioner in it. Michael Richards famously insisted on carrying an actual air conditioner to make the physical comedy look more authentic. Elaine is carrying a goldfish, George is worried that he will be late for dinner with his parents and Jerry is concerned about finding a bathroom. With the weight of the box getting too much, Kramer decides to leave the air conditioner by a parking spot to pick up after they find the car. Jerry is needing to go to the bathroom so badly that Kramer urges him to just go in the garage. Meanwhile, George explains that the ramifications of not making it to dinner on time will be something his parents hold over his head the rest of his life. He jokes that he can just call them on their car phone and let them know he’s running late, which was an unheard of thing in 1991. Rob and Akiva discussed how the car phone was such a short lived gimmick, with the advancements in cell phones literally making the car phone obsolete. Still not finding the car, Jerry makes the assumption that the car must be on a different level. While continuing to wander for the car, a mother is dragging her son roughly to their car, and George decides to comment to the mother about being so rough. His good Samaritan nature that compelled him to speak up would be short lived as the son calls George ugly . Elaine is so desperate to get to the car to get her fish home that she decides she is going to ask other people to drive them around to look, but everyone she asks rebuffs her. As they keep looking, Jerry’s need to go to the bathroom continues, as does Kramer’s urging for him to relieve himself in the garage. He finally gives in, but when he turns around after finishing, there is a mall security guard waiting for him, and brings to custody. Jerry tries to say that he has a condition, and could die from uromysitisis poisoning if he holds it in. The scene cuts back to George, Elaine and Kramer, who now need to find Jerry. Elaine wants to go to another level to look for him, though George feels once they find Jerry, then never find her. George, getting fed up that everything keeps going wrong, says, what does it matter, we’ll all be dead one day anyway. Kramer finds peace in that thought, to which George scoffs that people like Kramer live to be 120 since they don’t care about anything. Akiva and Rob debated whether that statement could bring them peace of mind, or worry them further. Rob said he likes to think of it as positive, helping him to not worry so much about the little things like traffic. Kramer adds to his Zen-like thought by mentioning how the elderly often stave off death by living each moment to the fullest. While continuing to look for Jerry, George comments to Kramer how he likes his jacket. Rob really liked how Kramer explained that the jacket was left at his house by a friend of his mother, which would becom

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed Podcast Recap of Seinfeld, Season 3, Episode 5 “The Library” first aired on NBC October 16, 1991 Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur were excited to sit down and discuss a classic episode from Season Three in “The Library”, which first aired on October 16, 1991. Akiva shared that this was the real first episode that tied all the storylines together, even though the same claim was made in four or five different episodes. Akiva felt that the powers that be at Seinfeld probably wanted a good episode to be remembered for that feat. With no current news about Seinfeld, the guys jumped right into the recap. Jerry’s standup was about ventriloquist dummies. Rob thought that it was a bit meta to critique another type of comedy, and that it didn’t tie into anything from the plot of the show. The episode opens with Jerry on the phone disputing that he still has a library book checked out from 1971. Both Akiva and Rob have had to shell out late fees for books, videos and DVDs in their past, but never faced the scrutiny of anyone like Lt. Bookman. Jerry explains that he distinctly remembers returning the book because he was with Sherry Becker, who wore an orange dress that showed “what she was working with” for the first time, which was burned into his memory. Jerry brings Kramer along to the library to discuss this missing book, and he explains to Kramer that he was tracked down because of computers. Kramer shares his dislike for the whole library system, from the freeloaders reading newspapers on wooden posts, to the Dewey Decimal System being a sham. Rob and Akiva thought Kramer would be right at home with freeloaders given how he treats Jerry’s apartment like a library. At the library, Kramer shows off his prowess as a ladies man when analyzing the librarian as a lonely spinster in need of “a little Kramer”. Jerry makes a low blow comment about how she’d need penicillin after a meeting with him. Akiva and Rob noted that Kramer’s ignoring the comment is a typical sitcom move that would never happen in real life. When they finally get to talk to the librarian, she informs them that the case has been turned over to the library detective named Lt. Bookman. Rob and Akiva quibble a bit over whether it’s a good joke to have him named Bookman, and decided that they were being too nitpicky. George meets up with them, and he’s frantic about seeing a homeless man who he thinks is their 9th grade Gym teacher, Mr. Heyman. They tell the story to Kramer about how George got him fired for giving him a wedgie, to which Kramer remarks how he didn’t take George for a squealer. As they go to leave, Kramer stays around to flirt with the librarian, asking her what’s a guy to do to get a library card around there. Before recapping the Elaine story, Rob shared how disappointed he was in this storyline. Akiva felt it could be given a pass because it developed Lippman as a recurring character, even though they would switch the actor out after this episode. Elaine is at her office, where she is worried that she is in trouble since no one got her order for lunch. Mr. Lippman then gives her a lukewarm response to her question about a story she edited. At Monk’s, she is worrying about the happenings at her office, and tries to get George to commiserate, since he’s worked in an office. George is transfixed with the Heyman siting, so he completely blows her off by saying “I don’t know about lunch, I don’t know about anything”. George shares with Elaine about how their Gym teacher used to torment him, making him smell his own socks and wear a jock strap on his head the whole class. George then describes the story of the wedgie, and we see a flashback of the event. Mr. Heyman walks up to George and calls him “Cantstandya”. He remarks that George’s underwear is showing, and has a group of students then give him the wedgie. Rob referred to these students as Heyman’s henchmen. Jerry has a mid episode standup about how libraries are like a pathetic friend. The next scene has Lt. Bookman waiting to talk to Jerry at his apartment. Both Rob and Akiva felt that this character was wonderful. They debated the value of this small library having a detective on salary to solely track down overdue books. Rob shared that writer Larry Charles wanted to have the character be like a tough talking cop similar to shows like Dragnet. Bookman lays into Jerry about his abuse of the library rules, and how “party time is over”. After Bookman storms out of the apartment, the librarian, who has met up with Kramer, scurries into Kramer’s apartment to not be seen. Jerry decides to meet up with Sherry Becker to get her take on the lost book. Akiva and Rob pointed out

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed A barking Farfel didn’t disrupt Rob and Akiva from discussing the fourth episode of season three titled “The Dog”. This episode first aired October 9th, 1991, and was widely panned as a subpar episode. Akiva pointed out that other than “The Stranded”, which will come up a few episodes down the road, it’s all quality shows from here forward. One of the few bright spots in this episode for Rob was the first mention of fake movie titles in Prognosis Negative and Ponce De Leon. It’s one of the running gags in the show that Rob really enjoys. Rob mentioned that he can’t put “The Dog” at the bottom of the worst episode list because he enjoys saying Farfel so much. A Seinfeld-y thing in the news now that Akiva found was a clip from Jerry’s web show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, where Michael Richards is impersonating the president of Crackle (the website that sponsors the show). In Jerry’s opening standup, he talks about how airplanes are able to make up time in the air after a delay, leading him to wonder why the plane doesn’t just go that fast all the time if it can. Rob and Akiva discussed if planes don’t always do this because of safety, ultimately concluding that it probably comes down to saving money by going at a more moderate speed. Akiva also added that Jerry deserves a pass for the hacky premise, noting that Jerry created many of these types of bits. The episode begins with Jerry sitting in first class next to an obviously intoxicated Gavin Polone, who is telling Jerry about the virtues of owning a dog. Rob and Akiva agree that Gavin is one of the worst guest characters, perhaps a contender to take the crown from the woman in “The Baby Shower”. Gavin starts to feel queasy, causing an emergency landing in Chicago, but Gavin tells the flight attendants that someone needs to take care of Farfel, his dog, who is crated in the baggage storage. Jerry tries to avoid being the guy to take the dog, but Gavin doesn’t let him off the hook. Back at Jerry’s apartment, Farfel is in Jerry’s bedroom, barking incessantly. Akiva had put in his notes how fake Farfel’s bark was. He also pointed out that Tom Williams was the voice actor credited with Farfel’s bark, and he has credits as a voice actor in over 75 shows and movies. Jerry is at his wit’s end with Farfel, who is messing all over his house, tearing up his furniture. Rob thought that never seeing both Farfel and Kramer’s girlfriend in this episode was too much, and that it could have been better to show one of them. Jerry tells Elaine that it’s been three days since Gavin went to the hospital, and if he doesn’t hear from him soon, then he’ll take Farfel to the pound. Kramer comes in to share that he can’t watch Farfel for him that night since he has to break up with his girlfriend Ellen. Elaine and Jerry tell him they never liked her. Elaine refers to her personality as unpleasant as the Elephant Man is to see, while Jerry wonders why someone hasn’t killed her yet. Kramer is looking forward to hurt her feelings when breaking up with her. Rob and Akiva discussed the etiquette when a friend announces they are breaking up with someone they didn’t like. Rob said he’s always abided by the “first breakup doesn’t take” philosophy, and always offers a politically correct response. George shows up, excited for the three of them to see Prognosis Negative, only to be told Jerry can’t go. George and Elaine are both feeling awkward about going to the movie without Jerry, citing that they are “friends-in-law”, only tied together through Jerry. Akiva and Rob did note that George and Elaine were together alone when slipping George’s boss the mickey, but don’t really interact on their own. There is a mid episode standup bit where Jerry talks about how aliens would assume that dogs were the rulers, since humans follow them around cleaning up their mess, carrying it in little bags. The next scene is George and Elaine at the coffee shop after the movie, but Rob and Akiva wondered what movie the saw, or if they even went to see a movie. While drinking tea at the diner, it’s obvious how difficult a time they are having striking up conversation. They find a common ground making fun of Jerry about how he drinks Morning Thunder tea, not knowing that it has caffeine in it. Rob and Akiva found a series hole in George and Elaine’s talk about Jerry throwing up. In the black and white cookie episode, Jerry mentioned he hadn’t thrown up since 1980, and Elaine has only been in New York for six years. In between the scene at Monks, there is a scene with Kramer breaking up with Ellen in a mean way, shot as a point of

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed Rob and Akiva took the astronaut pen from Jack Klompus to jot down their notes for recapping “The Pen”, which is the 3rd episode of Seinfeld’s season three. The episode first aired October 2, 1991, and is remembered as one of the greats. Rob felt partial to “The Pony Remark” as his favorite so far, but Akiva puts it atop the list of episodes covered on the recap. A few unusual notes about the episode that Rob shared were that it was filmed entirely at the Seinfeld’s retirement community (which was not referred to as Del Boca Vista yet), and that George and Kramer did not appear in it at all. Also, Jason Alexander was none too happy about not appearing in it, having a confrontation with Larry David about it where he said if he was left out of another episode, then he’d want to be out of the show completely. Jerry’s opening standup was a bit about how parents always refer to swimsuits as “trunks”. The episode opens with Jerry’s parents waiting for Jerry and Elaine to arrive, wondering if they should call the airline to check on them. Morty is upset about the missing scotch tape, and threatens to hide it so it won’t get taken again. Rob shared a story about how he used to hide his wallet when he’d come home from the bars, then wouldn’t be able to find it the next day. When Jerry and Elaine finally show up at the Seinfeld’s, they explain that they rented a car, which Jerry’s parents think was a waste. Jerry and Elaine immediately notice that it is extremely hot in their condo. The purpose of Jerry and Elaine’s visit is to commemorate Morty’s end as the condo president, which Rob felt was a strange thing to celebrate, noting that even Uncle Leo came down to take part. Akiva said that it’s possible that they wrote it as Uncle Leo lived down there. Jerry and Elaine have only two options for sleeping arrangements, either a small love seat in the living room, or a pull out couch in the spare bedroom. When Elaine is in the other room, Jerry’s mom asks about his relationship with Elaine, which Jerry shares that they are now just friends. Akiva said this scene might have been a way to show that their arrangement from “The Deal” is officially done. Jack Klompus and his wife come in and immediately started in with Morty about splitting the cost of their dinner the night before. Rob and Akiva noted that Jack Klompus is one of the great sub characters, unlike many of the others that have appeared so far. When Jack is writing out the check, Jerry comments on the pen Jack has, and how he really wants one like it for when he’s writing jokes in bed. Jack tells him to take the pen. Even though Jerry says no thank you at first, Jack talks him into taking it, much to Helen’s chagrin. She tells Jerry when Jack leaves that it was a bad idea to take the pen, since he loves and talks about it so much. Akiva and Rob play a guessing game on how much an astronaut pen must cost. Akiva guessed $50, while Rob guessed $12.99. The cost on Amazon ended up being between $15 and $35. Elaine, who came on the trip to go scuba diving, ends up sleeping on the pull out couch, while Jerry is out on the small love seat in the living room. When Jerry checks on her, she is tossing and turning because of the heat and a giant bar that runs across the middle of the bed. The next day, Elaine wakes up and can barely walk, keeping her from going scuba diving. Rob talked about how he went scuba diving with Rudy, Tina and Richard Hatch, and doesn’t see the big deal in it. Elaine is lying on the floor begging for Morty to turn on the air conditioner, which he has no idea how to work. One of the Seinfeld’s neighbors, Evelyn, comes in and right away brings up to Jerry about the pen, proving Helen right that word would spread about Jerry taking Jack’s pen. Someone else calls Helen to ask about the pen, while Elaine keeps yelling for Morty to get the air conditioning going. The scene cuts to Jerry coming back from scuba diving with black eyes, caused by the pressure from the scuba mask. Jack Klompus comes back over, and Jerry gives him the pen back, saying he doesn’t need it. Morty gets mad at this, yelling at Jack that he should let Jerry keep the pen. Jack points out that you don’t take everything you are offered, just like he didn’t take the sponge cake even though he loves it. In the next scene, Morty, Helen, Elaine and Jerry are having their pictures taken at the ceremony, but Elaine is completely loopy from the muscle relaxers Morty gave her. Uncle Leo walks in with his wife (that will never appear or be spoken of again), and comments to Jerry how his material he saw on The Tonight Show is stale. He offers to have cousin Jeffrey help him write joke

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur continue their journey to watch every Seinfeld episode as they discuss Season 3, Episode 2 “The Truth”. It was all honesty in tonight’s recap, the 19th installment of the Seinfeld: Post Show Recap for Rob and Akiva. “The Truth” was the second episode of the third season, and first aired on September 25, 1991. Rob started right off by describing “The Truth” as an underrated, journeyman episode. Akiva agreed, calling it not great, but not bad. Rob did think that the name of the episode was a bit odd, offering that perhaps they could have named it “The Audit” instead, since “The Truth” doesn’t help to remember what it was about. Akiva noted that this episode was a bit mysterious, in that there was no DVD commentary, production notes or behind the scenes footage. They jump right into recapping with Jerry’s stand up, which he talks about the extra buttons that are provided when you buy a jacket. Rob found it strange that Jerry actually had the pouch with the buttons in it, when Jerry is anything but a prop comic. The opening scene of the show has George sitting at Monk’s Diner with a woman he’s dating. She had chop sticks in her hair, and spoke in a very pretentious manner, which George clearly wasn’t a fan of. The scene cuts to Jerry and Kramer at the apartment, who are going through Jerry’s receipts. He is being audited because Kramer convinced him to donate to a cause to help the Krakatoa’s with a pending volcano eruption, a charity that ended up being fraudulent. Jerry only gave him the donation because he was on a date with Elaine and was trying to be a big shot. When Elaine comes in, she’s not happy because Kramer is dating her roommate, and has been wreaking havoc on her apartment, particularly her pasta strainer. Rob, as the resident Italian, agreed with Elaine that there is no reason that the sauce would go on the pasta before it goes through the strainer. Akiva had never cooked pasta, so he didn’t know. Elaine starts making fun of Jerry when she finds out about the fraudulent charity causing him to be audited. Jerry explains that everything will be fine because George is dating an accountant, and she’s going to help him out. The scene cuts back to George now breaking up with Patrice the accountant. He delivers the famous line “it’s not you, it’s me”, amongst other excuses for why he wants out of the relationship. She pressures him that there must be some other reason, which causes George to spout off how he thinks she’s pretentious, and can’t stand how she says everyone’s full name. Rob wondered if they were playing off the famous scene, “you can’t handle the truth” from A Few Good Men, but Akiva pointed out that it came out after this episode premiered. As Patrice get’s up to leave after being broken up with, she asks George how much she owes for the lunch, and he tells her four dollars. Akiva noted that this is at least the third reference so far to George’s cheapness. Back at Jerry’s apartment, he is talking about how lucky he is to have this accountant take care of his audit. He describes how violently he’d kill Kramer if this wasn’t so. When George comes in, he’s so happy that he is free from Patrice. He forgets that he had her take Jerry’s receipts. When Kramer hears this, he sneaks out of the apartment without a word. Rob said it reminded him of how a dog will silently slip out of a room when they are caught doing something wrong. George is thinking that he can fix things with Patrice, but when he tells them all how he broke up with her, Elaine explains how bad it was to tell the truth. He thinks that telling the truth was no big deal, but when Elaine reveals the truth that he is cheap, he takes it terribly, proving her point. When George tries to call Patrice to make amends, she hangs up on him. In the next scene at Jerry’s apartment, Kramer comes in with a windshield he found on the street. He’s going to make it into a coffee table for Elaine and her roommate’s apartment. Elaine comes in acting very awkward, and it turns out that Kramer accidentally walked in on her naked. Rob and Akiva discussed who they would rather have date their female roommate, and both decided George rather than Kramer, since you could make fun of George all the time. Kramer tries to make it right with Elaine by offering to get naked for her, which Jerry shuts down right away by saying he’s always welcome, but not “Mr. Johnson”. Rob thought this might have been a bit of a risqué statement for television in 1991. Next, George walks in saying he couldn’t get the papers back, since Patric

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes | Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur continue their journey to watch every Seinfeld episode as they discuss the start of Season 3 with “The Note”. After an up and down season two, Rob and Akiva got some massages (with notes for their insurance to cover of course), a new microphone for Akiva, so they’re primed to dive into Seinfeld’s third season. They start off with the first episode of season three, the 18th they have covered so far, called “The Note”, which first aired September 18, 1991. Rob felt that this episode was the first to really have the Seinfeld feel. Akiva agreed it did, even though it wasn’t a great episode. He added that he really felt the Kramer we’ve come to know and love officially took form here. Rob called it a racy episode for 1991. Akiva felt it was more controversial now, since the premise deals with homophobia, and can be viewed as politically incorrect. Rob thought Jerry did a good job in his stand up during the closing credits quelling the notion of having a negative view on homosexuality. They had a few notes pertaining to Seinfeld in the news in 2014. Akiva read something about Jason Alexander sharing how his son is dating an architect, referring to it as a brutal irony in his life. Also, Jerry recently won a Clio award for advertising. In his speech, he tore into the whole premise of advertising and it’s materialism. Jerry’s opening standup was a bit about people referring doctors, and how they always feel they are the best. Akiva thought this was the best standup shown so far. Rob and Akiva said that the enhanced “scat music” version of the theme song was weird and obnoxious. This change would only last for this episode, as NBC pulled the plug on it right away. The episode begins with Jerry getting a massage, saying creepy things about kidnapped kids to the lady Juliana giving the massage, who is obviously put off and alarmed by this. Akiva and Rob thought this was weird and not fitting to Jerry’s character. In the next scene at Jerry’s apartment, he is explaining how he offended the masseuse to George and Elaine, but they don’t seem interested in the story. George just complains about Jerry’s empty fridge, while Elaine keeps trying to change the subject. What does end up peaking their interest is when Jerry explains that he is getting this massage covered by his insurance by getting a note from his friend who is a dentist (not Tim Whatley). George and Elaine decide to utilize this loophole and get themselves free massages as well. When they get there, George learns that he will be getting his massage from a man, which makes him immediately uncomfortable. He asks Elaine to switch, but she doesn’t want a man massaging her either. Rob shared a story about getting a massage from a man when he was in Argentina after Survivor: All Stars. The experience made him think about this very episode, but due to the language barrier, he had no option to ask for a lady instead. George has no choice but to get the massage from Raymond, the tall, attractive, male masseuse. Akiva wondered why George wouldn’t just leave, but Rob noted that he wasn’t going to give up a free massage. As George is getting the massage, Raymond comments how he seems so tense, which George explains was from too much coffee. He’s visibly nervous, giving muttered, nonsensical answers to Raymond’s questions. When he walks out after the massage, George just slinks out past Elaine without a word. Rob and Akiva were delighted with the next scene, calling it a classic. Back at Jerry’s apartment, George starts to explain what happened. George gets to the part about having to take his pants off, and how Raymond got two inches from “there”, which made “it move”. He and Jerry debate whether that means he has a sexual attraction to a man because of this. Akiva and Rob extended the debate themselves, and they concluded that it would take much more than that situation to determine. Kramer walks in and blurts out that he just saw Joe DiMaggio at Dinky Doughnuts. They also wondered why they wouldn’t just call it Dunkin’ Donuts, since they refer to real products like Snapple and Junior Mints throughout the series. During Kramer’s story, George keeps talking to himself about how situations where he’s close to other men, like in a public bathroom, make him uncomfortable. Rob and Akiva discussed how it’s a common thing on Seinfeld for one character to completely ignore a side conversation and just focus on their issue. Jerry assures Kramer that it wasn’t Joe DiMaggio at Dinky Doughnuts, and George finally takes part, adding, why would Joe DiMaggio be eating at a crummy Dinky Doughnuts when he’s a guy who’

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob and Akiva took time away from putting out dinner table fires to gather for the recap of “The Busboy”, the final episode of Seinfeld’s season two. The episode first aired on June 26th, 1991. Rob thought this was a “sweep under the rug” episode, and Akiva agreed, thinking they shelved it until after sweeps week since it wasn’t a great one. In fact, it was the lowest rated episode of the entire series. Before discussing the plot points, Akiva and Rob went over a few overall thoughts. Rob noticed that the entire episode revolved around everyone else but Jerry, who really just added funny jabs and quips as commentary to the ongoing plot. He also pointed out it was odd that George was determined to help out this busboy without any ulterior motive. Akiva thought that being scared of the busboy might have been that motive, and that George can often be interested in the appearance of being a nice person. He agreed with Rob though that it was a bit off from how George typically is. Akiva shared that there was no current stories pertaining to Seinfeld in the news, but he did a little digging into Jason Alexander and Michael Richards’ IMDB pages to see what they’ve been up to lately. Both have made appearances on a TV Land show Kirstie, a network that Rob likened to an “Old Timers Baseball Game”, where the once greats gather. Other than a few smaller market movies and animated spots for Jason Alexander, the list was short. In the episode, Jerry’s opening credits standup has a few jokes about food, which only loosely ties into the episode. Rob and Akiva thought that his joke about stealing a roll off of the room service cart goes against Jerry’s penchant for being cleanly and germ free, while Akiva wondered if Jerry stole his story from last week’s podcast about the empanadas. Rob pointed out that the bit about “the story of the bill” was either used before, or one we’ve heard many times before. Akiva said that half of Jerry’s standup is about restaurants and planes. The episode starts with Jerry, George and Elaine in a restaurant discussing how pesto is the new trendy thing. George wants to like it, but just can’t get on board. Rob and Akiva asked for listeners to post in the comments what might be the 2014 version of pesto when they couldn’t come up with it on their own. He also felt that Jerry’s comment about the older guy wearing a baseball cap makes it obvious that he’s hiding hair plugs would not relate to 2014, since many older people wear caps regularly nowadays. Elaine starts talking about a guy from Seattle who is coming to stay with her for a week. George calls Seattle the “pesto” of cities. Rob and Akiva felt that today, Seattle is fully established, and is “crushing” pesto. The gang notices a menu on fire at a table next to them, and George quickly goes over and puts it out. Elaine makes a sarcastic comment to the manager that they’ll never eat there again, which prompts him to go over and fire the busboy. Rob shared a story about a similar experience his family had at a restaurant where the waiter was fired in the middle of their dinner for drinking on the job, leaving his dad to give a tip to him, plus another the waiter who finished the service. George becomes worried that he’s at fault for getting the busboy fired, and Jerry furthers this fear by talking about how this could lead him to doing a bunch of horrible things. Back at Jerry’s apartment, George is trying to figure out if he can get this busboy a new job. He’s worried that a new restaurant might check his references, and Jerry has a strange line about how the busboy could be one of those guys wondering the city pricking people with pins. Elaine comes in and tells them that with a bit of charm, she was able to get the busboy’s address. George needs to go to the busboy’s apartment, and since Elaine has to use Jerry’s car to pick up her guy at the airport, Jerry tells him to take Kramer. Akiva pointed out that since this episode was filmed early in the season, the Kramer character is still weird and underdeveloped. Rob thought Kramer’s Harley Davidson shirt was out of place. Kramer and George go to the busboy’s apartment. Rob felt that George was particularly out of character in how he talked with the busboy, sounding meek. While there, Antonio the busboy notices they left the door open, and his cat is missing, which he blames on Kramer and George. Akiva and Rob discussed how there was nothing humorous about the busboy character. Akiva mentioned how many of the early episodes went to a dark place like this. Still at the busboy’s apartment a few hours later, George and Kramer are trying to reassure Antonio that the cat will come back. Kramer accidentally breaks a lamp

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Akiva Wienerkur and Rob Cesternino couldn’t wait five, ten minutes to sit down and delve into the feast that was “The Chinese Restaurant”, which first aired in 1991 as part of Seinfeld’s second season. Rob started right off calling it a classic, while Akiva said he was excited to get to a great one after such clunkers. Both agreed that while classic, it was more fun and interesting than funny of an episode. Akiva equated it to some episodes of Louie. Before rehashing the episode, they discussed how having it shot in just one background, while also having it take place in real time were innovative moves for the time. Other notes that Akiva shared were that Kramer was absent from the whole episode because it was one of the first filmed in the season, and Kramer’s storyline was still that he was a hermit. Akiva saw a clip of Michael Richards talking about how disappointed he was to have not been in the episode, since it was so revered and groundbreaking. The standup portion to begin the episode had Jerry doing a bit about payphones, and how the operator sometimes calls back to request more money for the call. Neither Rob nor Akiva, who have both actually used a payphone in their lives, have ever heard of this happening. In the first scene, Jerry, George and Elaine walk into the Chinese restaurant talking about what the city needs. Jerry suggests that waste management and the police force should combine jobs so cops can be doing something when they aren’t fighting crime. They have trouble deciding how many they need to reserve for, since George’s date Tatiana may or may not meet them there. Rob wondered why George would pick this night to introduce her to his crazy friends. Meanwhile, Jerry is nervous about being out on the town since he cancelled plans with his uncle, but had to do it since Plan 9 From Outer Space is playing for one night only and can’t miss making sarcastic comments about the worst movie ever made (though IMDB would rate this movie a 3.9, while Rob Cesternino’s The Scorned earned a 3.0). Knowing they have a small window of time to eat before the show, Elaine wants to look at the menu while waiting, so they can order right away when they get a table. But Jerry says he can’t look at the menu until at the table. In debating this, Akiva said he’s one who will Google the menu of the place hours before to decide, while Rob felt there’s something to waiting until seated that makes sense. George starts to get agitated waiting for the payphone to call Tatiana, due to the man on the phone ignoring him. Akiva pointed out that this is really a 1991 problem. Akiva noticed how unusually large this waiting area is for a Manhattan restaurant, and wondered why they wouldn’t move along to another place, since there are 20 restaurants a block in NYC. Rob said that Larry David and Jerry came up with this episode from them waiting forever at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles, where they’d have to drive somewhere else instead of waiting. While George waits for the phone, Jerry notices a woman eating that he recognizes, but can’t tell from where. Elaine remarks how everyone always looks so happy when they are called to their table, like they’ve won something. George meanwhile, gets more and more angry about the guy on the phone. He asks Jerry if something happens, would he have George’s back. Rob felt that George was out of line here, and Akiva agreed that there really isn’t some kind of phone etiquette that was breached here. After scoffing at George about “rumbling” over the payphone, he asks him if he knows this woman he recognizes, since it’s driving him crazy. The guys started another debate about Elaine’s idea that the waiting area in a restaurant should be based on how hungry you are, and not who got there first. Both felt it would be quite difficult to quantify hunger, and bribery really would be the only way to expedite the process. After hearing Elaine complain about her hunger enough, Jerry offers her 50 dollars ($87.32 in 2014 according to the inflation calculator) to go up to a table and just eat an eggroll off of a plate without saying a word. Akiva and his wife had a similar circumstance where he could have asked for some untouched food from a neighboring table, and was close to asking for it before the waiter bussed it away. Rob felt that it would be too weird to ask for leftovers from other tables, and Akiva asked for the listeners to come up with some tips for how to handle this in the future. Elaine asks George what he thinks, and he replies that for 50 bucks, he’s stick his face in the soup and blow. She walks up to the table and tries to get the people to let her eat an egg roll, and she’ll give them half the money. The older patrons can’t hear her though, since she is talki

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes After escaping the Russian gulag, Rob and Akiva’s cable guy hooked up their TV’s with illegal cable so they could re-watch the next episode in the Seinfeld series for their weekly post show recap. This week, they discussed season two’s “The Baby Shower”, which aired May 16th, 1991. Rob referred to this episode as one in the “awkward teenage years” of the Seinfeld series, with some of the more legendary episodes just right around the corner. In his notes about the episode, Akiva shared how writer Larry Charles, along with co-creator Larry David discussed how this was the first episode that they intended to intertwine the storylines all together. He also read an article recently in the New York Post about how Friends was a more influential show to today’s TV than Seinfeld, though the writer of the article proclaims Seinfeld as the better show. No need to add Friends to the list of shows for Rob and Akiva to recap after Seinfeld, since Akiva hated Friends. Rob enjoyed it during its run, but wouldn’t re-watch it now. In the opening credits standup, Jerry does a routine that loosely ties into the episode about how the remote control offers us a good glimpse at the difference between men and women by how they browse through the channels. Men being the hunters, flip through rapidly, while women as the gatherers, stop on each show to see what it’s about. Akiva had an interesting note about how typically the writer of the episode will write Jerry’s standup that appears in the show, but Larry Charles didn’t consider it his strong suit, so he had Jerry write it. The first scene of the episode has Jerry, Elaine and George chatting at Monk’s Diner. Elaine is talking about having to throw a baby shower for an old college friend named Leslie, who has married a Kennedy. Rob pointed out how the Seinfeld writers have had an infatuation with making Kennedy jokes and references throughout the series. George shares how he once went on a terrible date with Leslie, where she invited him to her one-woman show she was performing about cooking dinner for God. She subsequently dumped a can of chocolate Bosco sauce on his brand new shirt as part of the show. George wanted to confront her about this after the show, but was a “groveling little worm” due to her being so intimidating. Elaine can’t throw the shower at her apartment because her roommate has Lyme disease. Jerry thought she had the Epstein-Barr virus, and Elaine confirms that she does, but with a “twist” of Lyme disease, a joke Akiva quite enjoyed. She gets Jerry to agree to have the baby shower at his apartment while he’s gone to a show during the weekend. Meanwhile, George is getter madder and madder rehashing how Leslie spurned him so many years ago. He wants to one day confront her about it. Akiva shared a story about a distant relative he wanted to tell off one day himself. He was recently given the opportunity to do so, but, like George, pulled the groveling worm routine. The scene ends with George storming out, but not before removing one of the dollars from the tip he leaves. Akiva and Rob remark that they always enjoy the quick jokes about George’s cheapness. The next scene is back at Jerry’s apartment, where he is trying to get TV reception with some rudimentary rabbit ears. Kramer comes in badgering Jerry to let his shady Russian friend hook up illegal cable for only $150. After much protest from Jerry about it being against the law, Jerry gives in when Kramer informs him that the Mets will have 75 games on cable this year. Rob and Akiva loved the dated reference of Kramer when he tells Jerry “Come on, it’s the 90s, it’s Hammer Time!”. Referred to by Rob and Akiva as the craziest thing to ever happen on Seinfeld, the next scene is a dream sequence of Jerry’s. He returns home from his trip to see a group of FBI agents in his apartment, waiting to bust him for the illegal cable. Kramer is there, and has sold Jerry out. When Jerry tries to tell them they’re just patsies, the Russian cable guy appears, but is actually an undercover FBI agent, leading the sting. When Jerry tries to make a run for it, the FBI guys gun him down in horrific fashion. Akiva mentioned that in the notes of the show, writer Larry Charles said he wanted this scene to be Tarantino-esque. Jerry wakes up from the dream and is on his flight to Buffalo for a gig. As he does, the plane is preparing for an emergency landing because of a blizzard. When he arrives back at the airport, George picks him up, and Jerry goes on about how appreciative he is for this. When George keeps making excuses of why they should go back to Jerry’s place instead of out to eat or George’s, Jerry notices that George has the Bosco stained shirt on under a sweater, and is planning on confronting Leslie, who is at Jerry’s apartment for the baby shower. Rob pointed out that George would

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur continue their journey back to recap every Seinfeld episode. This week Rob and Akiva discuss “The Deal” A broken refrigerator and a holiday weekend delayed, but couldn’t stop Rob and Akiva from discussing the next episode in the Seinfeld series titled “The Deal”, which aired as the season two finale in 1991. As Akiva pointed out, this episode is seminal for the series due to Jerry and Elaine deciding that they could be friends with benefits. Though in today’s time the idea of having a physical relationship with someone who’s just a friend isn’t a complicated process, it was a big deal in 1991. Even though Seinfeld decided to put Jerry and Elaine together, it would only last for the one episode, then all would reset back to normal for the start of season three. The guys were ready to jump right into the episode plot after their two weeks off. In the opening standup, Jerry is doing a bit about the differences between men and women trying on clothes. Once again, the joke does not tie into the episode plot. Both found this routine to be classic Jerry standup, though they believed it to be quite dated material. The opening scene has Jerry and Elaine sitting on the couch in Jerry’s apartment watching TV. Rob felt like this was a particularly long scene of just them talking, which Akiva confirmed that it was over six minutes. While they are flipping through the channels, Elaine comes across “the naked channel”, which peeks both their interest. The guys wondered if Jerry just happened to have the money to get the Playboy Channel, or if the typically scrambled channel all of a sudden came in clear. Elaine and Jerry both start talking about how it’s been a while for both of them since they’ve had any sex, and Elaine notices Jerry giving her a “look”. Jerry thinks since they’ve done “that” a bunch of times in the past, why not do “that”, but just as friends. Their only concern is whether or not doing “that” would ruin their friendship. Rob thought that the only thing about this sequence that was off was that a conversation like they had would usually only come up when alcohol is involved. Akiva pointed out that Larry David, who wrote the episode, based this story off of a real life occurrence of his. Jerry and Elaine decide to set some ground rules for venturing into their friends with benefits situation. First, they cannot call each other the day after “that”. Rob thought they could have set stricter guidelines to this, to avoid complication. Rule number two is that sleeping over is optional. The guys mentioned how this rule gets Jerry into trouble later in the episode, and noted how George told Jerry that he got “greedy” with this rule. The third rule is that there is no kissing goodnight. Akiva had a problem with this one. He thought it made it all seem more like a transaction. Rob wondered how it would work with dating someone else, but Akiva countered that dating others was not part of their deal. Rob questioned how this is any different than normal dating. Jerry and Elaine finalize the rules and adjourn to the bedroom. The scene cuts to the next morning when Kramer comes into the apartment to find Elaine wearing Jerry’s shirt and sneakers, which Rob found quite weird for her to be wearing his sneakers. In the next scene, George and Jerry are at Monk’s, chit chatting about Aquaman when Jerry casually mentions that he had sex with Elaine last night. This floors George, saying he needs oxygen, then clamors for details. Jerry’s not in the mood to share the details, but George insists, telling Jerry he better get in the mood. Jerry recounts the situation, and George scoffs about the rules they set up, telling Jerry this has never been successfully done. He compares Jerry to a degenerate gambler thinking he can beat the casino at blackjack. He takes particular umbrage with the second rule, telling Jerry that no woman is ever going to want a man to leave after sex. The next scene is Jerry and Elaine at Elaine’s apartment, where Jerry is eating Elaine’s roommate’s cake. Elaine is angry at Jerry for wanting to leave, since he has a root canal scheduled in the morning. Jerry mentions how he thought staying the night was optional, but Elaine tells him it’s her place, so it’s her option. After all is said and done, Elaine said she is “fine”, which Rob said is usually not the case when a woman says that. Elaine’s roommate, played by Siobhan Fallon, comes in talking about her improve class, which annoys Jerry. When Jerry is ready to leave, he leans in for a kiss goodnight, but Elaine, annoyed with Jerry tells him that it’s against their rules. With Elaine’s birthday coming up, Jerry has a tr

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob and Akiva didn’t let the Labor Day Weekend stop them from recapping the eighth episode of season two titled “The Heart Attack”, which aired April 25, 1991. It was not a favorite of Rob, who felt that the “real” material they were dealing with in the episode was a bit too dark. He felt their niche is when they base the storyline around the mundane. He also mentioned that Larry David and Jerry usually have their finger on the pulse of these episodes they’ve loved so far, whereas the other writers early on tended to be in charge of the misses. Akiva added that later on in the series, Larry Charles and other writers really started to get it, penning some of the greatest stories of the series. There were only a few research notes to be found on this episode by Akiva, who shared that Larry Charles got the idea for the episode from his own fear of aging. They took a moment to mention how Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tim Whatley himself, Bryan Cranston brought some Seinfeld to the 2014 Emmys last week. Both Akiva and Rob found it too bad that Jason Alexander never won an Emmy for his portrayal of George Costanza, though he was nominated seven times. The episode opens with Jerry performing a bit about how great it is to be a grown up, since he can have cookies anytime he wants. Akiva said he will regularly spoil his dinner if it’s not ready in time, but Rob keeps a regulated eating schedule. The first scene has Jerry awakened from a nap on his couch to a strange movie, which compels him to jot down a funny note from it. Rob mentioned how great it was to see another cameo from Larry David, who plays the character in the strange movie. Next, at Monk’s Diner, George is slicing up a cucumber he brought with him. Akiva didn’t find it strange that he did this, pointing out that George is stubborn enough to do just that. Jerry and Elaine are trying to figure out what Jerry had written on the note he took while watching the movie. While they are talking, George starts to panic, thinking he’s having a heart attack. Jerry says to calm down, that he’s thinking about it because he watched a show called “Cardiac Country”. At the hospital, which Rob noted was quite a long sequence, George is talking with another patient in his room, who tells him to shut up. Meanwhile, Jerry is trying to see if the nurse can figure out what his note says. Akiva and Rob found it funny that everyone who looks at the note thinks it says something, rather than just saying “I have no idea”. Next, the doctor comes in and tells Jerry that George didn’t have a heart attack, so Jerry decides to have some fun with it. He asks George if he can have his Blackhawks jacket and if he can date a woman George used to date. George asks Jerry to just put an end to it all, so Jerry puts a pillow over his face as a joke. When he lets George up, George calls him a jerk off. Both Akiva and Rob thought George saying that was a little racy for 1991, and were surprised it wasn’t edited. When Elaine hears from Jerry that George is fine, she jokingly asks George for his apartment when he dies. The doctor comes in to talk with George, but Elaine is so taken with him, she flirts with him the whole time. The doctor tells George while his heart is fine, his tonsils grew back and needed to come out. Kramer comes in with a big plate of food, talking about how great the food is, like Sizzler opened a hospital. Rob shared Kramer’s love for hospital food when he was there with Nicole when she had the baby. Kramer then starts to alarm George about getting surgery. He mentions Bob Sacamano for the first time, describing how he had a botched surgery. He recommends George go holistic, and visit his friend Tor Eckman, played by perennial “that guy” Stephen Tobolowsky. Akiva felt that George’s decision to skip the western medicine was purely financial based. The next scene is Tor Eckman’s apartment, where Jerry goes along with George for good joke material. Rob said that it really showed how little Jerry had to do with the episode plot, since he is just making snide remarks as Tor goes over his spiel. The scene cuts to Elaine and the doctor on a date, where he is holding Elaine’s tongue, telling her how it works medically. Rob and Akiva found this scene awkward and pointless. Back to Tor’s apartment, Jerry continues his wisecracks, though Tor is so crazy, he doesn’t respond to the sarcasm. Jerry tries to get Tor to read his note, but he reads it as a basketball score. Tor gets George to drink this concoction, which caused George to turn purple and need an ambulance back to the hospital. While in the ambulance, the driver and the EMT in back are arguing over a box of Chuckles. The feud gets so bad that they pull the ambulance over to fight. The other EMT gets in to drive a

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Akiva Wienerkur joined Rob once again, this time from his vacation spot nearby Del Boca Vista in Florida to discuss the next episode in the Seinfeld series titled “The Revenge”. Both were quite excited to cover a far more entertaining episode this time around after last week’s subpar “The Statue”. Akiva was delighted that they didn’t spend so much time and effort on the guest characters like they did with Rava and Ray last episode. They opened the show discussing how this episode reminded them how they are headed into a stretch of what greatness is to come. The show is starting to focus on the “core four”, with the storylines getting more complex and intertwined. Rob felt this episode, even more so than “The Statue” was where Michael Richards honed the Kramer character. He also pointed out that this is the first time we see the characters split off into two groups, two plots. In addition, there was a “B” plot with Newman telling Kramer he is going to jump off the building. Newman did not appear on the episode, and his voice was that of co-creator Larry David. Rob noted that the syndicated version actually dubbed in Wayne Knight’s voice in place of Larry’s. The episode plot is based off the real life story of Larry David having famously quit in front of many of the Saturday Night Live staff members, only to show back up the next Monday like nothing happened. The only difference from the episode being that Larry was actually allowed to stay with the job. The standup in the opening credits has Jerry talking about how criminals being arrested are always shown on TV covering their faces. It ties into the episode plot when Jerry talks about how the criminal must be trying to hide so his boss doesn’t find out it’s him. The opening scene begins with George bursting in to his boss’s office to tell him off and quit because he was no longer allowed to use his private bathroom. Akiva highly recommended anyone in a high rise office building to use the bathroom on the floor below if it’s going to take some time. The next scene is in Jerry’s apartment, and Kramer is telling Jerry about how Newman is depressed. Jerry is bagging up his laundry to bring to the “fluff and fold” Laundromat. Kramer asks him if he can throw in some of his clothes, though Jerry doesn’t want Kramer’s “boys” mixing with his. Neither Rob nor Akiva find this to be a huge deal, though Rob wouldn’t necessarily want to mingle his laundry with others. Jerry asks the guy at the Laundromat to wash Kramer’s clothes separately, and will pay whatever it costs. In the aftermath of quitting, George is at Jerry’s apartment discussing the jobs he’d potentially be good at. Both Akiva and Rob found this scene very well done. George is going over what he enjoys, and Akiva likened it to a list a 12 year old would come up with. Jerry suggests George try going back in like nothing ever happened. In the real story, Larry was told to do this by his neighbor, Kenny Kramer. George is back at the meeting Monday morning, and is immediately called out by a loud woman in his office. When the boss comes in and notices George, he asks him why he’s there since he quit. George tries to pawn it off as a joke, but the boss doesn’t buy it. He tells George to get out, calling him a loser in the process. Jerry is picking up his clothing at the Laundromat when George randomly walks in. He recaps the story for Jerry, and tells him that it’s not over yet. He plans on slipping the boss “a mickey” at a company party in order to get revenge. Jerry thinks he has lost his mind, but George is excited, saying that it’s like something out of a movie. George is going to enlist Elaine’s help in getting this done, getting her to agree to do this by telling her that this guy doesn’t recycle. Back at Jerry’s apartment, Kramer informs Jerry that Newman went through with jumping out the window, but it was from the second story, and was done just to get Kramer’s attention. Rob said that this was another real life story from Larry David’s life, since he had a neighbor who did the same thing. Akiva and Rob mentioned that they can really tell this episode was written solely by Larry. Out of left field, Jerry realizes that he left $1500 in the laundry bag and forgot it before bringing it to the laundry mat. Rob found this to be one area in the episode that was underdeveloped. When Jerry asks the Laundromat owner about the money, the guy acts shady about it. Akiva said he knew the guy was innocent because he was wearing a Mets hat, and that he’d be wearing a Yankees hat if guilty. The next scene has Elaine and George preparing to slip his boss the mickey, both excited for their movie-like caper. T

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur gathered once again to discuss “The Statue”, the next episode in season two of the Seinfeld series. The episode, which aired on April 11, 1991 was not a favorite for either, where there were many things out of character from a typical episode. Their off-the-cuff analysis was that too much time was spent on the unlikeable characters of Rava and Ray, neither of whom Akiva and Rob found to be funny. Other points they noted throughout the podcast were the many plot holes, and questions left unanswered, most importantly, whether or not Ray stole the statue. Rob found some of the Kramer scenes funny, and enjoyed the playing of inka-dink, but other than that, deemed this episode 11th out of the 11 so far. Akiva found it better than a few episodes from season one, but mentioned several times that many of the jokes were far too “sitcomy”. Akiva also shared some of his research on the episode before the plot breakdown. The episode was written by Larry Charles, who would be a major writer on Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, and also was a writer for Sasha Baron Cohen’s movies, Borat and The Dictator. He also learned that Nurit Koppel, the actress who played Rava was a girlfriend of comedian Richard Lewis, a longtime friend to Jerry and Larry David. She had apparently broken up with Richard shortly before the guest-starring role. In additional research, he learned that the actor playing Ray, Michael D. Conway had done nothing for 15 years after this episode, but nowadays is a regular working actor. Rob had read some production notes that talked about how this episode was really where the writers started to develop the Kramer character. Their summary of the show was more a factual recount for them, with less debating of their opinions than previous recaps, since most of their insight was about the clunky storyline. Jerry’s standup in the opening credits once again did not tie into the episode plot. The bit was about mail in sweepstakes, which both Rob and Akiva found very dated. The episode begins with Jerry dragging a filthy box from his storage unit that Kramer saw earlier and wanted to dig through. Kramer finds a statue in the mix, which George is dying to have, since it’s exactly the same as one his mother had that he had broken when he was a kid. He refers to the statue breaking as one of the worst experiences of his childhood. Kramer doesn’t want to give the statue up, and after some wrestling for it between him and George, Jerry tells the “numskulls” to break it up, and they’ll decide it with a round of “inka-dink”. George is picked as “it”, which they argue over if it means he wins or loses. Jerry confirms George gets to keep it, though he tells George after the fact that it meant he lost, so George owes him one. In the next scene, Elaine and her new friend Rava are in Jerry’s apartment, and Elaine is hoping to edit the book of Rava, who is a Finnish bookwriter she’s been working with. She’s a strange character, smoking in Jerry’s apartment, acting very depressed. Her boyfriend Ray shows up, who is a pretentious grad student that Jerry describes as verbose. He moonlights as housekeeper, and is there to clean Jerry’s apartment. Jerry marvels at how well Ray does with the cleaning when he returns. In the second stand up spot, Jerry’s bit is about the guilt he feels when a housekeeper cleans his house. Rob and Akiva both related to how Jerry feels, as they feel guilty when their wives are cleaning around them. Rob suggested to the listeners that a good plan is to save money and just do the housework while listening to podcasts. Jerry and Elaine both head over to Rava’s place soon after. They are all talking, and we get the first mention of Elaine’s boss Mr. Lippman. Rob and Akiva found the premise of Jerry even being there with Elaine strange. While there, Jerry spots the statue, and is 99 percent sure that its from his apartment, stolen by Ray when he cleaned. Elaine doesn’t want him to push it by accusing, thinking it could ruin her chance to edit the book. Akiva and Rob wondered why Ray would have this statue out if he just stole it from Jerry’s. Rob agreed that there are many plot holes in this sequence. They both felt if this were a later episode in the series, the story would have concluded with the notion that Ray didn’t actually take it . After they leave Rava’s apartment, we have the first scene where all four of the main characters are in it together. Jerry had called the police, who told him they can’t do anything for him. Kramer wants to “go get him”, Elaine wants him to forget it, but George says he can’t because his mother is expecting this great surprise, and she’s making her famous potatoes. Jerry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PosBEPAVH_M Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes After a few days delay, Rob and Akiva reconvened to discuss the season two episode of Seinfeld called “The Apartment”. It aired on April 4, 1991, after the show was on a six-week hiatus. NBC decided to switch Seinfeld’s time slot to after Cheers, which Akiva pointed out was the best thing that could have happened to the show. Before getting started on the plot, the guys talked about a few shows they could cover after the run of Seinfeld episodes, and Akiva said he’d like to do a podcast about all the shows NBC has had in the spot after the big hit 9 o’clock shows, like Boston Common, Veronica’s Closet or The Single Guy. Akiva did some extra research about the episode. It was not written by Larry David and Jerry, but a magazine writer named Peter Mehlman, who would go on to write 18 episodes in the show’s run. Akiva felt the episode was a bit off kilter from the usual style of the show. Rob watched some DVD extras about how Mehlman formed the idea for the plot. The original idea was to have Elaine move out of the city, but Jerry didn’t want her to. Larry and Jerry thought it better to have the premise of Elaine moving into Jerry’s building instead. The opening credits standup has Jerry talking about painting his apartment, and how he thinks it gets smaller each time he paints. Rob and Akiva both thought that this bit didn’t correlate to the episode and was some of Jerry’s weaker material. The first scene opens with Kramer showing off a different look, having moussed his wild hair down. Elaine invites Jerry to a “Marathon brunch”. Outside in the hallway, Harold and Manny, who Akiva and Rob believe to be the co-supers, are talking about how Jerry’s upstairs neighbor, Mrs. Hudwalker had died. They were looking for someone to rent the place, and it’s only $400 a month, an insanely low amount for an apartment in Manhattan. Jerry mentions how Elaine is looking for a place. Rob wondered if Harold and Manny had a romantic relationship, but Akiva felt that in 1991, TV wasn’t going there yet. Rob also pointed out that the actor who played Harold played the great role of Otho in the movie Beetlejuice. Jerry comes back in to his place and teases Elaine with the big news he has. When he tells her the lady upstairs died and her apartment is for rent at a cheap price, they celebrate. Akiva said it was classic Seinfeld, celebrating death. This scene was the first ever time Elaine does her iconic “get out!” push of Jerry. Immediately after telling Elaine about the apartment, Jerry starts regretting it, lamenting about Elaine potentially popping in unexpectedly all the time. In the next scene, George is walking out of Monk’s alone and bumps into Jerry. Rob noticed that it was one of the only times he remembered seeing a scene of the exterior of the coffee shop. Jerry explains to George how he screwed up telling Elaine to move in upstairs. George tells him he’s doomed. He’ll have to sneak into his apartment like a cat burglar and have to go back to his date’s place instead of taking them to his, referring to it as a permanent road trip where he’ll lose his “home field advantage”. Rob agreed with George’s take, finding it important to be at home where you know where everything is in that type of situation. George then argues with Jerry that since he just left, he can’t go back into Monk’s. Rob and Akiva debate what’s worse, going to a diner or going to the movies alone. Rob said he had no social hang-ups, and wouldn’t mind either. While in the coffee shop, Jerry tries to come up with ways of talking Elaine out of moving in to his building. All he can come up with is that the water flow is too weak, which George counters that for rent that cheap she’d bathe in the toilet. Rob thought this could be a precursor to the episode “The Showerhead” with all the talk of weak water flow. After a clunky segue where Jerry comments on a woman feeding a baby greasy corn beef hash, George starts telling Jerry about his friend Adam with the flat head who just got married. He told George that wearing the wedding ring has caused woman to hit on him more. Akiva and Rob debated this idea, and felt that it’s more of an old wives tale. Jerry then mentions to George that this could be an interesting sociological experiment, noting that Kramer has his father’s old ring that George could put on. Back at Jerry’s apartment, George is trying on the ring, and Kramer tells him not to mess with that, but to get a rug or hair plugs. Rob said that George’s baldness seems to be a regular topic in the early seasons. Akiva and he debated the ages of the cast at the time and agreed that they seem to be in their mid to late 30s. Harol

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Seinfeld Recap of “The Phone Message” Season 2 Episode 4 Akiva and Rob got together once again to discuss the next episode of Seinfeld called “The Phone Message”. Akiva pointed out that this episode is quite ubiquitous, in that through reruns, he’s seen it roughly 70 times. Rob opined that it probably does not hold up well for those watching that are under 30, since they may not even know what an answering machine is. Both agreed that this was a great episode, and Rob slated it number three so far, just behind “The Pony Remark” and “The Jacket”. Akiva agreed that “The Pony Remark” still holds the proverbial belt. They gave a brief synopsis before dissecting the episode in detail. Rob said that the episode involves the perils of the love lives for Jerry and George. Both have dates on the same night, and both go wrong in their own ways. Jerry gets into an argument about a television commercial, where George mistakenly assumes an invite up to her apartment for coffee was just for coffee and not anything more. He tries to get a hold of her to rectify the mistake, but gets her answering machine each time. The episode opens with Jerry doing a bit about the ridiculous enthusiasm people show in commercials. Even if a person is drinking the same soda from the commercial, there is never the excitement happening in real life. Rob and Akiva debated if it is the same in 2014, but Akiva said with DVRs and smartphones, he doesn’t ever see a commercial anymore. The beginning scene has Jerry and George walking into Monk’s Diner discussing how they both have dates on Saturday. George talks about how his self esteem with women is so low, he can never tell if when the smile at him, it’s because they like him or some other reason. He goes on to tell Jerry how when he makes the phone call to ask her out, he likes to eat something like an apple so he can seem casual. Akiva noticed how they chose to sit at the counter and not the booth that would become their main spot over the course of the series. We see the dates. George is talking to Carol about how he hates doing laundry so much, his goal is to get 365 pairs of underwear so he only has to do it once a year. His date seems to think this funny rather than gross. Meanwhile, on Jerry’s date, he jokes with Donna about trying out a funny accent. Rob wondered about this, since Jerry is not known for impressions. The scene cuts back to George, who is doing really well. Carol invites him up for coffee, which George declines since coffee keeps him up if he has it this late. After the awkward pause, George realizes that she didn’t want coffee, that the invite was for something more. Akiva and Rob discussed if Carol really meant coffee, sex, or something in between. They both agreed that it was not for coffee, but sex was probably not happening since George would have said something to ruin it anyway. Jerry’s date would invite him up to her apartment, but it’s being painted, so she suggests they go back to his place. Jerry jokes with her that there is no cake there or anything. Rob and Akiva wondered why it was okay for her to be in her painted apartment, but he couldn’t come up. Rob thought perhaps the show just didn’t want to build a set for Donna’s apartment, and this was a way to keep Jerry from asking her to come up. Back at his apartment, Jerry and Donna are watching TV and chit chatting. Jerry laments wearing tan pants, which makes them both think of the cotton Dockers commercial. Jerry hates it and Donna really likes it, which turns Jerry off. Akiva was surprised that anyone would take such a strong stance like Donna did about a commercial. Rob read an excerpt from Wikipedia that explains how this storyline was based off of Jerry’s real life dislike of the cotton Dockers commercial. Between scenes, there is another Jerry standup routine. In this one, he talks about the scrutiny and magnification of all things when on a date. Rob and Akiva felt that scrutiny on a date is important, in that it helps weed out the ones that have deal breakers. Next, back at Jerry’s apartment, Elaine and Jerry are discussing Donna. Jerry laments how could he date someone who likes this commercial. Elaine mentions how she once broke up with a guy because he had a messy bathroom. George then walks in with some Pepto-Bismol, and is still rambling about his stupidity in turning down the “coffee”. Replaying the conversation over and over, he shares that people as stupid as him shouldn’t be allowed to live. They continue to debate whether coffee meant coffee or not. Elaine tries to convince George that it could have meant coffee. Rob noticed how Elaine, in later seasons, would have had a more definitive voice on this issue as the female of the group. Akiva referenced the Yada Yada ep

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob and Akiva were back at it again this week to discuss the season two episode titled “The Jacket”. Akiva felt, while better than the season one episodes, it didn’t rank up there with “The Pony Remark”. Rob disagreed, pointing out how it was one of the first few examples of an episode that tied together the “A” and “B” story lines, which became a staple of future Seinfeld episodes. The opening credits with Jerry’s stand up was a bit about how Jerry dislikes clothes. He notes how in the future, everyone is always dressed in silver jump suits, and he’s on board with that. Rob noted how silver seemed to be the go to color for futuristic outfits, but in 2014, it seems to have gone to white. Akiva pointed out how Jerry seems to talk a lot about clothes for a guy who hates them. Akiva then proved that he actually is a person who hates clothes, since either his mother or wife have bought his clothes his whole life. The episode opens with Jerry and Elaine in a clothing store. They go on a riff about how there are no good clothes in the back, even though a salesperson will always say they’ll check in the back. Elaine says if the stuff in the back were good, it would be in the front already. Jerry concludes the riff with an idea of a store called “Just Back”. Rob brought up how he is always being mistaken for a store employee, having people coming up to him asking if there is anything more in the back. Akiva thought it has to do with Rob’s “All-American” look. Elaine, who is carrying a book with her in the store, has another shopper comment on how good of a book it is that she’s holding. Jerry brings up that Elaine’s father, Alton Benes wrote it. Rob wondered if Jerry was blowing up Elaine’s spot by bringing this up, but Akiva felt like he was bragging her up. The other shopper mentions how she thinks he deserves a wider audience, but Elaine says she doesn’t think he wants one. Rob thought this was a cryptic comment, which happens from time to time throughout the series. After the other customer leaves, Elaine reminds Jerry that he is supposed to come to dinner with her and her father so he can act as a buffer. Jerry isn’t thrilled, mentioning to Elaine that he prefers the company of nitwits. While browsing, Jerry notices a great looking jacket that fits him perfectly. When he asks Elaine about the price, she tells him there is no ballpark for his idea of how much it costs. Jerry looks at the price, then has dueling thoughts about whether to buy it, ultimately deciding “What’s money?” and makes the purchase. Rob read an email question asking them how much they think the jacket costs, and what is the most they’ve spent on a jacket. Akiva felt the jacket was around $1500, while Rob had figured it to be around $1100. Rob went as far as inputting what an $1100 jacket in 1991 would cost today, which turned out to be $1924.94. The most Rob ever spent on a jacket was $250 while in Argentina in 2003. The next scene is back in Jerry’s apartment, where he is wearing his new jacket while sitting in his pajamas. Kramer comes in, notices how great the jacket looks, and starts badgering him about what it costs. Jerry tells him “I paid what it costs”. Kramer notices Jerry’s old jacket hanging on the hook, and goads him into giving it to him. Akiva and Rob discussed how they both feel tentative when discussing what things cost, and how society seems to generally feel the same way. Akiva noted that Jerry seems to see a lot of his money go down the drain, from losing all his $2500 in “The Stock Tip” then this ruined suede jacket here. They agreed they should keep a running tally throughout the recaps. George comes into the apartment after Kramer leaves, singing “Master of the House”, a number from the play Les Misérables. He tells Jerry how it is stuck in his head, and has been taking over his life. Jerry mentions that Schumann went insane from a single note being stuck in his head. George doesn’t know who this is, and tries to play it off by saying “Oh, you mean Schu-Mon”. Rob asked Akiva the last song that got stuck in his head, which Akiva, much like every other parent of young girls, answered the soundtrack from the movie Frozen. Rob pointed out this scene as an example of the great interactions between Jerry and George, one of the cornerstones of the Seinfeld series. Akiva felt that their relationship is on point. Back on the episode, George notices Jerry’s jacket, and says with a staunch record of heterosexuality, “It’s fabulous”. He tells Jerry he won’t ask how much it costs, then proceeds to hound him with speculation of how much he spent. Kramer comes in and asks Jerry to do him “a solid”. He ha

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur discuss what Rob calls the first great Seinfeld episode of all time, “The Pony Remark”. The plot of the episode involves Jerry and Elaine attending the 50th anniversary party of one of Jerry’s relatives, Manya. Since the party is so boring Elaine makes a comment about how she doesn’t like ponies and Jerry chimes in that he hates anybody who ever had a pony – not knowing that Manya was very attached to a pony from her childhood in Poland. The comment upsets Manya so much that she ends the party prematurely. Days later, Jerry learns that Manya has died and her funeral is in conflict with the championship game for his softball team. Jerry weighs whether or not he should attend the funeral of his relative whom he did not know but may have inadvertently killed. Not surprisingly, the episode is taken from events that occurred in the real life of Larry David. Among the topics discussed in the episode are how the Kramer character is finally starting to take shape with his discussion of levels in his apartment, the cheapness of the real Morty Seinfeld and how great George is in his limited role in this episode. Plus, we take a closer look at some of the unique rules in Jerry’s softball league. Join us next week when Rob and Akiva discuss the final Seinfeld episode from the first season of the show “The Jacket”. Watch “The Pony Remark” Seinfeld Season 2, Episode 2: The Pony Remark – From Seinfeld.me Seinfeld, The Post Show Recap: Review of Season 2’s “The Pony Remark” Subscribe to Post Show Recaps [saf]     Our #Seinfeld re-watch podcast covers the 1st truly great episode as we recap #ThePonyRemark ► http://t.co/3yg1jiyTWs pic.twitter.com/KZDYzgytWB — Rob Cesternino (@robcesternino) July 19, 2014  

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur are back and are pumped up to talk Seinfeld. Rob points out that Seinfeld has been in the pop culture zeitgeist this week because of the 25th anniversary of the pilot. By an unofficial count of 95% to 5% on listener feedback, Rob ensures that they will be “Masters of their Domain”, and go the distance by covering all 180 episodes (minus the montage episodes). They plan on still conducting the poll for the 25 best, and will note it in a recap if that episode makes the list. Season 2 of Seinfeld started in January of 1991, which was a year and a half since the premiere of the pilot. It took NBC that long to air just the five episodes of season 1. Akiva mentioned how crazy it was for a show to get the second season pickup despite not being a standout. In their overall thoughts of the episode, both Akiva and Rob felt that “The Ex-Girlfriend” was not one that either would be putting in their top 25 episodes. Akiva even felt this was bottom ten worthy. Rob enjoyed the main four characters, but felt the plot was lacking. Both thought that the storyline of this episode would have been tied back together in a creative way if it came later on in the series. Akiva points out that this was the first writing job for both Larry David and Jerry, so they may have been learning on the fly. Plot Discussion The episode starts off with Jerry and George in the car discussing how George wants to break up with his girlfriend, Marlene. As a side note, Akiva points out that the actress playing Marlene also plays a romantic interest of George later in the series in “The Soup”. George explains to Jerry how he was trapped into saying “I love you”, so breaking up will be that much harder. He would rather fake his kidnapping than face her. How George credits himself for being so nice to say I love you back to her is something Rob notices that each of the main characters does throughout the series. They all try to justify being a good person on the rare occasion they do nice things. Elaine’s storyline has her talking about an acquaintance in her building that has gone from saying hello to her, to nodding, to no recognition at all. She wants to get to the bottom of it, and George encourages her to confront him. Akiva points out how ironic it is that George would never confront someone himself, but he champions the cause for Elaine to do so. Kramer’s contribution to the episode is a flimsy storyline about fruit according to Rob and Akiva. Kramer tries to convince Jerry to return his bad cantaloupe, but Jerry feels that buying fruit is a gamble, and if it’s bad, then throw it out. Rob adds how the version of Kramer is roughly 90% of the polished version we see in later seasons. They haven’t given him any storylines yet of substance to highlight him. Next, George comes in to tell the details of his breakup, which he compares to a prison break. He has a problem in that he left some books at her apartment that he wants back. He asks Jerry to arrange to pick them up for him. Rob feels like this is too tall a request to ask a friend. He doesn’t feel like there’s anyone he will go through that awkward a situation for. Akiva agrees with Jerry’s point from the episode that once you read the book, it’s worthless, going as far as telling the Recap listeners to throw out their old books. When Jerry picks up the books, Marlene says that they should remain friends even though she’s broken up with George. Jerry awkwardly agrees, and then proceeds to get inundated with calls over the next several days. Though annoyed by her, Jerry tells Kramer he can’t resist her, eventually succumbing to her “sexiness”, and kissing her a little. Kramer assures Jerry that George won’t be mad at him, because it’s better that it’s a nice guy like Jerry going out with her as opposed to some other jerk, and George would want Jerry to be happy. Another side plot that Akiva and Rob felt wasn’t tied together well was George’s visit to the chiropractor. It seemed to them as an opportunity for some standup material of Jerry’s about waiting rooms to be put on TV, though it did give us an enjoyable cheap George moment. The guys point out a couple more jokes on the show that had no real connection to the plot. Jerry and Elaine’s conversation about slow moving and fast moving elevators seemed like a weak segue into how Jerry will tell George about Marlene according to Rob. The episode ends with Jerry telling George about Marlene at Monks. Rob and Akiva felt this scene to be a little clunky, with George granting Jerry permission to pursue her, but the ending of the scene with George swallowing a fly was a strange way to go out. Lastly, when Jerry tells Marlene they are free to date, she tells him no, because she saw his standup and wasn’t a fan. Akiva and Rob Both enjoyed Jerry’s standup at the end credits about what women want in men. Rob and Akiva agreed that there wasn’t too mu

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur recap the final episode of Season 1 of Seinfeld: “The Stock Tip”. In this episode Jerry and George both put $2,500 into the same stock based on the recommendation that George has gotten from a friend of his who knows the exact time to sell. As the stock plummets once Jerry and George are shareholders, George is unable to get a hold of his contact. Meanwhile, Jerry tries to take his relationship with Vanessa (from The Stakeout) to “Phase 2”. Against George’s recommendation, Jerry takes Vanessa away and has a terrible weekend in Vermont. Jerry finally decides to sell the stock before it goes up 6 points earning George a lot of money. Among the plot points discussed in the episode, Rob and Akiva talk about the following: Does Superman actually have a sense of humor? Is George or Jerry right about this debate? Why does Elaine have such an issue with cruelty to animals in these early episodes considering some of the stances she takes against animals in future seasons? How did a Seinfeld episode end with George being the big winner? Why was Kramer filled with glee as Jerry’s stock continued to go down? What are some of the reasons that Vanessa would not disclose what perfume she was wearing? Join us next week when Rob and Akiva discuss the final Seinfeld episode from the first episode of the second season of Seinfeld: “The Ex-Girlfriend”. Please let us know what you thought about the episode in the comments and whether you’d like to see the Seinfeld podcast cover the top 25 episodes or the entire Seinfeld catalog. Watch “The Stock Tip” Seinfeld Season 1, Episode 5 – From Seinfeld.me Seinfeld, The Post Show Recap: Review of Season 1’s “The Stock Tip” Subscribe to Post Show Recaps [saf]

http://youtu.be/XkZVKHoxCYA Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur continue their journey back to recap all of Season one of Seinfeld as they discuss the fourth episode to ever air, “Male Unbonding”. The plot of the episode involves Jerry trying to break things off with an old childhood friend, Joel Horneck. As the episode goes on, Jerry realizes that there’s no easy to break up with a male friend the way you break off a romantic relationship with a woman. Among the plot points discussed in the episode, Rob and Akiva talk about the following: What are the different ways this episode is shot that set it apart from other Seinfeld episodes? Why were the best parts of the episode talking about Joel Horneck rather than seeing him? Why are things not working in George’s latest romantic relationship? How did George get floss on his hand during his date? Is there still anybody out there that is a “screener”? Are there actually places where you can now make your own pizza pie? What are the real reasons Jerry doesn’t like hanging out with Horneck? Would anybody actually ever give away Knicks tickets in 2014? Would Joel Horneck actually know the difference between real turkey and turkey roll? Which is worse to hear in a relationship “We need to talk” or “Whose bra is this?” Should the person who breaks off the relationship have to pay the check? What would George do with all his pennies in 2014? What should people do instead of making an “excuse rolodex” in 2014? How often did people have to check their machine (as Elaine does) in 1990? Join us next week when Rob and Akiva discuss the final Seinfeld episode from the first season of the show “The Stock Tip”. Please let us know what you thought about the episode in the comments and what Seinfeld related podcast ideas you’d like to hear about before we attempt our top 25 episode countdown. Watch “Male Unbonding” Seinfeld Season 1, Episode 4 – From Seinfeld.me Seinfeld, The Post Show Recap: Review of Season 1’s “Male Unbonding” Subscribe to Post Show Recaps [saf]

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur recap the third episode of Seinfeld to ever air, “The Robbery” which originally aired on June 7, 1990. Rob and Akiva recap many of the interesting developments from the episode including: How come all the problems with Jerry’s apartment went away after this episode of Seinfeld? Were viewers in Iceland offended by this episode? Is it worse to get a toe or a finger? How bad is Elaine’s living situation at this point? Is Jerry acting odd when they go to view the apartment? Was Jerry trying to rip off Elaine for the couch in his apartment? Should interference have been called on the coin flip? How much was the rent at the apartment Jerry goes to see? How could a waitress at Monk’s afford the great apartment? Be sure to join Rob and Akiva next week when we recap Seinfeld season 1, episode 4: “Male Un-Bonding.” Watch “The Robbery” Online Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast feed: postshowrecaps.com/SeinfeldiTunes Seinfeld: The Post Show Recap | “The Robbery” Check out our Series Pilot Recap Click to hear our recap of Seinfeld Season 1, Episode 1 Recap: “Good News, Bad News” Listen to Episode #1 of the Seinfeld: The Post Show Recap

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur recap the second episode of Seinfeld to ever air, “The Stakeout” which originally aired on May 31, 1990. Rob and Akiva recap many of the interesting developments from the episode including: How does the debut of the Elaine character affect the dynamics of the show? What are the key differences between Elaine’s character and the version of Elaine that Julia Louis-Dreyfus would play in the future seasons of the show? What has changed between the pilot episode and the first episode to air in 1990? How does Jerry’s inner-monologue work in this episode? How does the first mention of George’s wanting to be an architect and Art Vandelay play out in this episode? What do Rob and Akiva make of the impostor who is playing Morty Seinfeld in this episode? How has the pornography video business changed since 1990? Should Jerry have had to apologize for not bringing a gift to Pamela’s birthday party? Who is hotter, Elaine or Loni Anderson? Is it better to be in a platonic or riconic relationship? Why did Jerry’s family all need to meet up at his house before the wedding? Are words from the urban dictionary fair play in a game of Scrabble? Should anybody want to read the biography being authored by Jerry’s uncle, Mack? What happened to these family members of Jerry over the rest of the series? Be sure to join Rob and Akiva next week when we recap Seinfeld season 1, episode 3: “The Robbery.” Watch “The Stakeout” Online Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast feed: postshowrecaps.com/SeinfeldiTunes Seinfeld Season 1, Episode 2 Recap: “The Stakeout” Check out our Series Pilot Recap Click to hear our recap of Seinfeld Season 1, Episode 1 Recap: Good News, Bad News Listen to Episode #1 of the Seinfeld: The Post Show Recap

Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe to the Seinfeld ONLY Podcast on iTunes 25 Years after the original premiere of Seinfeld in the summer of 1989, Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur have decided that it’s time to go back to podcast about nothing. In this episode, Rob and Akiva discuss a number of topics from the original Seinfeld premiere including: What are the key differences between this original pilot and the future episodes of Seinfeld to come? What do Rob and Akiva think of the female waitress that is in the Elaine role in the pilot played by Lee Garlington? Why is George so concerned with drinking decaf? What are some of the major differences in George and Kramer Kessler’s character? Why is the woman that Jerry is trying to date potentially the worst person in the entire world? How is the stand-up comedy integrated in to the episode differently than the ways it was used in the future episodes? What are the things that are different about Jerry’s apartment? What piece of advice does George give that he will be able to use several seasons down the line in the series? How does Rob utilize Jerry’s laundry advice about “once you’re wet, you’re wet” in his real life? Let us know if you’re excited for a Seinfeld podcast here on Post Show Recaps. This is the first recap podcast we’ve done for a non-current show and we want to make sure this is something you want on this site and on the Post Show Recaps podcast. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Be sure to check out our next Seinfeld Post Show Recap discussing episode #2, The Stakeout Look for the Seinfeld Recap ONLY podcast feed to make it’s debut on iTunes sometime later this week. Watch the Original Episode Seinfeld Season 1, Episode 1 – From Seinfeld.me Seinfeld Season 1, Episode 1 Recap: Good News, Bad News Subscribe to Post Show Recaps [saf]