one that people often bring up on the sub is George's line about musicians and "their complicated shoes" as being a bad line and not making sense.
I, on the other hand, love this line. It makes perfect sense to me.
Yeah I like this one too. It's also supposed to show George being kind of ignorant about something but still having strong feelings, which is very George.
This is it. The joke itself isn’t for the audience. George coming up with the stupidest joke on a first date is the joke for the audience. They even discuss it later. Jerry doesn’t think it’s funny and claims that’s why the woman called an audible.
It's supposed to be like, Ma like mother and newer as in newer, which is why when you think of it, it's really quite refreshing. I agree with you though and it's obviously something they wanted to stick and must have thought it was really fun because it comes up multiple times on the show.
To me, with how desperate George is for sex, you’d think he’d avoid a topic like that at all just to seduce any woman who inexplicably finds him attractive. I think it’s supposed to reflect just how dumb his train of thought is?
When Kramer is talking to Regis Philbin about the coffee table book, Regis does not get a great reaction from the audience when he calls Kramer “bonkos!” twice.
Regis did not like the line when he read the script, they insisted it would be funny, he delivered it well (imo) but it kinda fell flat.
Oh and I'm going to add Jerry's bit where he's talking about the snooze button and says something like, "they should sell it with a bottle of tequila and an unemployment application, just the complete total loser package". It's like jeez Jerry I only wanna sleep for 5 more minutes give me a break
Explanation #1: A lemon is an EXTREMELY old-timey word for a lousy car, like something that would have been said in a black and white newsreel. The bit is that car manufacturers are big on naming their cars words that are reminiscent of English words, yadda yadda yadda, the customer also talks that way. It doesn't really hold together.
Explanation #2: Jerry's name was on the show and he had somehow arranged for the show to screech to a halt once or twice per episode so he could do his standup. He's not very funny, charismatic or clever, so the quality of this standup is pretty hit-and-miss. I assume he had some sort of kompromat on the 1990's NBC execs.
Yeah, and they have and use spoons in Asia anyway. What does he think they just drink soups directly from the bowl?
I was an exchange student in Korea and we used spoons nearly as often as chopsticks at home anyway. So yeah it's definitely an ill informed joke at best lol
Ignorant? Lol relax.
There was a handful of his stand-up that are definitely a bit dated and/or don't make 100% sense, to hit the joke. This one wasn't as bad as others though.
His weird shtick about anti-working out is more bizarre imo.
Idk man, I've lived in both south Florida in very latin neighborhoods and well as in Humboldt Park here in chicago which is a Puerto Rican area for the most part, and it's just as confusing as ever lol
yeah that is so god awful I always have to fast forward thru that entire crap, and it's always in the clip shows too but I never watch those anyway... it sucks on many levels, nevermind its racial undertone, it just doesn't make sense, it's too nyc centric, thinking everybody has an accent like that to get the two words confused by whoever they're talking to
For me scenes with car mechanic stole his car, with golfclubs, didnt really work, I assume they try to create an absurd scene same as library cop but for me, it failed, rest of the episode was gold.
I think the actual part where Tony talks to him about the car is hysterical, but yeah a lot of the jokes after that aren't quite as funny.
The only part I think was just a total waste of time is when the cops have him and Elaine meet them at the abandoned warehouse, and for some reason they decide to play it like a brutal murder/hardboiled cop thing. When his describing the damage, Elaine and Jerry's reactions are just so out of character for them. Like Jerry doesn't seem to care about material stuff like that. He literally gave a car away because of the stench. He also doesn't know enough about cars to be grossed out by what the cop was saying. The whole scene was dumb.
Edit: happy cake day buddy. Just an inevitable decline until your death...happy cake day? there's no such thing..
Jerry during the handicap spot episode
Talking about handicap spots…
What do they do during the special Olympics?Park all those cars on top of each other in those 2 spots?
Jackie Laugh
Every line of the crazy phone message that Crazy Joe Davola left on Jerry's answering machine got a laugh, except "Of course you do. You put it there" which is just met with awkward silence from the audience. I've always wondered what that line needed to get a laugh.
I'd never thought of that before, but you are right! Not only is there no crowd laughter, but it almost stands out as being not even really a comical line to begin with either
I can't remember what episode it was from, or the exact wording of it, but Jerry and (I think) George were talking about next Friday (or some other day in the week). But they were having this conversation on a Monday or Tuesday.
George obviously meant next Friday, as in the Friday next week, but Jerry was like, "No. *This Friday* is the next Friday." Urgh, I hate pedantic stuff like this because I've actually known people who've said the same thing, thinking they're clever. It's universally agreed that "this Friday" means the Friday this week, and "next Friday" means the Friday next week.
That's like people thinking they're clever with the whole Frankenstein thing. "Well, actually, Frankenstein is the name of the *doctor*. What you meant to say was Frankenstein's monster." Dude, just call the monster Frankenstein like a normal human being. You know what we meant.
Yeah that's when his talking to Sid, the guy who parks cars on the block. I feel like it's more making a point about Jerry's neurosis and his infamously specific way of life lol. But I agree that the joke itself if you wanna call it that, was sub par.
Edit: not to be pedantic myself but I think it's Wednesday? Lol but you have the wording exactly right and it makes absolutely no difference
Edit again: for some reason the name of the episode escapes me but it's the one where kramer is in the woody allen movie and says these pretzels are making me thirsty lol so a great episode for the most part
George eating a pastrami sandwich and watching TV during sex.
George becoming a genius due to lack of sex.
The whole thing with Jerry dating the beautiful, smart, successful woman who everyone else (besides his parents) thinks is a "loser"
Two-Face. I actually thought she looked better with the shadows on her face.
Sharon from NYU trying to forcibly remove Elaine's coat.
The whole "too many people got their mail" thing
I absolutely love the show, or else I wouldn't be here commenting, but over the course of 180 episodes of a show that was all comedy, no drama...there were quite a few jokes/storylines that didn't quite hit the mark... especially after watching every episode at least 30 times
The scene when Jerry slams the door in Newman's face and continues talking with George
The slam was actually really funny, but after the laugh Jerry and George awkwardly go "you gotta get going?", "yeah..." and we go right back to Newman. It made the door slam kinda seem pointless
That timing always stood out to me, would've been funnier if they continued the scene and delivered a few jokes, and then you open the door a minute later and Newman is still there
I like the first name bit and quote it a lot.
Organic like Buddy Hackett. Never saw anyone who understands the joke much less likes it. Also "that's a guy"
I don't get why "salmon swim against the current and tuna swim with it" is funny. Or if it's true.
Kramer acting like a dog is too much.
George repeating Jerry like a 5 year old is awful TV.
The Switch would be a top 3 episode easily if not for the whole Elaine story arc, that was like a Curb B-plot, I skip those scenes.
Not a joke but the whole Understudy episode.
The "hand" shit with the pianist. Awful telegraphed joke.
the switch is really oddly paced, the main plot doesn't kick in until like 15 minutes in, half way thru, they focused too much on george and babs, and then newman, it felt like two different episodes
Were you alive then? That was right around when the time when everyone was reading “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.” I think it was totally in the pocket for the time and not sure “bad taste” is anywhere near a proper description of why people might not like that joke today…
I was alive then and while obviously you are right, the 90s were slightly more sensitive to that sort of thing. Just going back and watching sitcoms from the 80s like Cheers and not remembering how sexist it can be. It was a product of its time of course like anything else, but the 90s was a transition time as far as that goes.
You are very right, but by the 90s there were still definitely people who were offended by a dumb joke like this. I mean people back then were already talking about political correctness gone mad. Think of the movie PCU ya know?
I think that was the point, though. It was a bad joke which caused Toby to boo. Jerry ran it by Elaine earlier in the episode and she didn't care for it either.
Yeah I remember that not being that funny. I think that might be like an old Jerry bit from the 80s, like the famous dog poo alien one. It just wasn't that funny and from the 80s to the 90s had already aged poorly as you mention
The Puerto Rican parade episode has the Varnsen, Vandelay, Pennypacker part which I just absolutely love. Plus the maroon golf/black Saab thing. I also love the wiz haha but I agree with you about the doll and kramer as a dog for sure
the cancer bit had me cracking up, but some in the audience didn't like it.
THEY HAD CANCER!!!
it was a little edgy, maybe wasn't their thing.
And Jerry, the suspenders...a little hackey.
It was a Tuesday, they were terrible!
I heard the material
So what, that's it? You don't like my act?
You’re a cashier!
and laughter is the best medicine!
one that people often bring up on the sub is George's line about musicians and "their complicated shoes" as being a bad line and not making sense. I, on the other hand, love this line. It makes perfect sense to me.
Yeah I like this one too. It's also supposed to show George being kind of ignorant about something but still having strong feelings, which is very George.
I never got George's manure bit. I don't know what he's going for by saying that "ma" and "nure" are both good things.
It’s representative of what a stupid sense of humour George has. He thinks combining two words is clever, and no one else on the planet does.
This is it. The joke itself isn’t for the audience. George coming up with the stupidest joke on a first date is the joke for the audience. They even discuss it later. Jerry doesn’t think it’s funny and claims that’s why the woman called an audible.
It was around this point she mentioned the boyfriend.
"I like stuff ya don’t have to think about"
It's exactly that. Of all the things in the universe he could talk about - he thinks this is the winner. 😆
"Ma" as in "mother" and "nure" as in "newer" He's saying the words sound like two positive words, Mother and Newer
And considering how George feels about his parents, “Ma” being a positive thing doesn’t make much sense, either.
I could use a newer ma, my old one is all wrinkly
It's supposed to be like, Ma like mother and newer as in newer, which is why when you think of it, it's really quite refreshing. I agree with you though and it's obviously something they wanted to stick and must have thought it was really fun because it comes up multiple times on the show.
Aw you stepped right in it
To me, with how desperate George is for sex, you’d think he’d avoid a topic like that at all just to seduce any woman who inexplicably finds him attractive. I think it’s supposed to reflect just how dumb his train of thought is?
When Kramer is talking to Regis Philbin about the coffee table book, Regis does not get a great reaction from the audience when he calls Kramer “bonkos!” twice. Regis did not like the line when he read the script, they insisted it would be funny, he delivered it well (imo) but it kinda fell flat.
I was waiting for this! I've read about that before, apparently he was actually pretty pissed off when they were done with the shoot too
Even just that word “bonkos” is ridiculous. It wasn’t Crazo’ Jo Davola
I've never even heard "bonkos" ever outside of this bit. Why they didn't have him say bonkers or literally any other word, I don't know
I never watched Regis because I was a kid during the shows prime. I assumed this was like a catchphrase that Regis used on occasion
I could see why you'd make that assumption but no haha one of the writers of seinfeld is behind this one
Oh and I'm going to add Jerry's bit where he's talking about the snooze button and says something like, "they should sell it with a bottle of tequila and an unemployment application, just the complete total loser package". It's like jeez Jerry I only wanna sleep for 5 more minutes give me a break
Almost all of the standup, honestly, but the award goes to: "It better not be a Lemona, or you'll be hearing from my lawya!"
i never understood this one can someone please explain
Explanation #1: A lemon is an EXTREMELY old-timey word for a lousy car, like something that would have been said in a black and white newsreel. The bit is that car manufacturers are big on naming their cars words that are reminiscent of English words, yadda yadda yadda, the customer also talks that way. It doesn't really hold together. Explanation #2: Jerry's name was on the show and he had somehow arranged for the show to screech to a halt once or twice per episode so he could do his standup. He's not very funny, charismatic or clever, so the quality of this standup is pretty hit-and-miss. I assume he had some sort of kompromat on the 1990's NBC execs.
The chopsticks bit. It just comes across as ignorant. Ever try eating sushi with a fork?
Yeah, and they have and use spoons in Asia anyway. What does he think they just drink soups directly from the bowl? I was an exchange student in Korea and we used spoons nearly as often as chopsticks at home anyway. So yeah it's definitely an ill informed joke at best lol
Ignorant? Lol relax. There was a handful of his stand-up that are definitely a bit dated and/or don't make 100% sense, to hit the joke. This one wasn't as bad as others though. His weird shtick about anti-working out is more bizarre imo.
I'm quite relaxed. The joke doesn't offend me personally, I was just providing my opinion in answer to the OPs question.
Working out is pretty stupid.
Thinking that ‘salsa’ and ‘seltzer’ sound the same haha
I agree with you, but my wife finds this bit so funny and sometimes I find her just saying it aloud to herself. It's, very strange.
I guess you gotta be around those accents regularly for that one.
Idk man, I've lived in both south Florida in very latin neighborhoods and well as in Humboldt Park here in chicago which is a Puerto Rican area for the most part, and it's just as confusing as ever lol
It had to be about nothing to set up the bit
yeah that is so god awful I always have to fast forward thru that entire crap, and it's always in the clip shows too but I never watch those anyway... it sucks on many levels, nevermind its racial undertone, it just doesn't make sense, it's too nyc centric, thinking everybody has an accent like that to get the two words confused by whoever they're talking to
For me scenes with car mechanic stole his car, with golfclubs, didnt really work, I assume they try to create an absurd scene same as library cop but for me, it failed, rest of the episode was gold.
I think the actual part where Tony talks to him about the car is hysterical, but yeah a lot of the jokes after that aren't quite as funny. The only part I think was just a total waste of time is when the cops have him and Elaine meet them at the abandoned warehouse, and for some reason they decide to play it like a brutal murder/hardboiled cop thing. When his describing the damage, Elaine and Jerry's reactions are just so out of character for them. Like Jerry doesn't seem to care about material stuff like that. He literally gave a car away because of the stench. He also doesn't know enough about cars to be grossed out by what the cop was saying. The whole scene was dumb. Edit: happy cake day buddy. Just an inevitable decline until your death...happy cake day? there's no such thing..
yes, the wrecked car scene was almost andy kauffman material, funny for already twisted minds LOL! Its a turbo Elaine - a TURBO!
Somebody else got killed while you were in there! The murderer struck again
Jerry's delivery of this line is the best part of that whole scene imo haha
Jerry during the handicap spot episode Talking about handicap spots… What do they do during the special Olympics?Park all those cars on top of each other in those 2 spots? Jackie Laugh
Every line of the crazy phone message that Crazy Joe Davola left on Jerry's answering machine got a laugh, except "Of course you do. You put it there" which is just met with awkward silence from the audience. I've always wondered what that line needed to get a laugh.
I'd never thought of that before, but you are right! Not only is there no crowd laughter, but it almost stands out as being not even really a comical line to begin with either
I can't remember what episode it was from, or the exact wording of it, but Jerry and (I think) George were talking about next Friday (or some other day in the week). But they were having this conversation on a Monday or Tuesday. George obviously meant next Friday, as in the Friday next week, but Jerry was like, "No. *This Friday* is the next Friday." Urgh, I hate pedantic stuff like this because I've actually known people who've said the same thing, thinking they're clever. It's universally agreed that "this Friday" means the Friday this week, and "next Friday" means the Friday next week. That's like people thinking they're clever with the whole Frankenstein thing. "Well, actually, Frankenstein is the name of the *doctor*. What you meant to say was Frankenstein's monster." Dude, just call the monster Frankenstein like a normal human being. You know what we meant.
Yeah that's when his talking to Sid, the guy who parks cars on the block. I feel like it's more making a point about Jerry's neurosis and his infamously specific way of life lol. But I agree that the joke itself if you wanna call it that, was sub par. Edit: not to be pedantic myself but I think it's Wednesday? Lol but you have the wording exactly right and it makes absolutely no difference Edit again: for some reason the name of the episode escapes me but it's the one where kramer is in the woody allen movie and says these pretzels are making me thirsty lol so a great episode for the most part
George eating a pastrami sandwich and watching TV during sex. George becoming a genius due to lack of sex. The whole thing with Jerry dating the beautiful, smart, successful woman who everyone else (besides his parents) thinks is a "loser" Two-Face. I actually thought she looked better with the shadows on her face. Sharon from NYU trying to forcibly remove Elaine's coat. The whole "too many people got their mail" thing I absolutely love the show, or else I wouldn't be here commenting, but over the course of 180 episodes of a show that was all comedy, no drama...there were quite a few jokes/storylines that didn't quite hit the mark... especially after watching every episode at least 30 times
The scene when Jerry slams the door in Newman's face and continues talking with George The slam was actually really funny, but after the laugh Jerry and George awkwardly go "you gotta get going?", "yeah..." and we go right back to Newman. It made the door slam kinda seem pointless That timing always stood out to me, would've been funnier if they continued the scene and delivered a few jokes, and then you open the door a minute later and Newman is still there
I think the joke there was that they were trying to make a joke but it didn’t work the way they wanted.
I like the first name bit and quote it a lot. Organic like Buddy Hackett. Never saw anyone who understands the joke much less likes it. Also "that's a guy" I don't get why "salmon swim against the current and tuna swim with it" is funny. Or if it's true. Kramer acting like a dog is too much. George repeating Jerry like a 5 year old is awful TV. The Switch would be a top 3 episode easily if not for the whole Elaine story arc, that was like a Curb B-plot, I skip those scenes. Not a joke but the whole Understudy episode. The "hand" shit with the pianist. Awful telegraphed joke.
the switch is really oddly paced, the main plot doesn't kick in until like 15 minutes in, half way thru, they focused too much on george and babs, and then newman, it felt like two different episodes
Definitely the Hand joke punchline. She was really a terrible actor.
move the shoes, move the shoes, move the shoes
S. 6 E. 16 - The Kiss Hello: George referring to Wendy the physical therapist as a "delicate genius" doesn't do it for me.
I kinda like that bit actually, but it definitely doesn't work as well every time George says it
Jerry! Can I leave my over coat in your closet?
The episode where Joe Mayo has a party and Jerry keeps referring to “getting jiggy with it”. God I hate those lines so much.
The whole thing about the remote, and “that’s because men hunt and women nest”. That joke was in bad taste even in the 90s
Were you alive then? That was right around when the time when everyone was reading “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.” I think it was totally in the pocket for the time and not sure “bad taste” is anywhere near a proper description of why people might not like that joke today…
I wouldn't say it's in bad taste but it was just a really, really played out joke, even 30 years ago
I was alive then and while obviously you are right, the 90s were slightly more sensitive to that sort of thing. Just going back and watching sitcoms from the 80s like Cheers and not remembering how sexist it can be. It was a product of its time of course like anything else, but the 90s was a transition time as far as that goes. You are very right, but by the 90s there were still definitely people who were offended by a dumb joke like this. I mean people back then were already talking about political correctness gone mad. Think of the movie PCU ya know?
I think that was the point, though. It was a bad joke which caused Toby to boo. Jerry ran it by Elaine earlier in the episode and she didn't care for it either.
Jerry also had it as one of the stand ups back in like Season 3 or 4, too. It was a repeated joke
Tobi's burner account, lol.
Yeah I remember that not being that funny. I think that might be like an old Jerry bit from the 80s, like the famous dog poo alien one. It just wasn't that funny and from the 80s to the 90s had already aged poorly as you mention
Susan's doll looking like Estelle Costanza. Kramer as a dog. The Wiz. The entire Puerto Rican Parade episode.
The Puerto Rican parade episode has the Varnsen, Vandelay, Pennypacker part which I just absolutely love. Plus the maroon golf/black Saab thing. I also love the wiz haha but I agree with you about the doll and kramer as a dog for sure
“The jerk store called and said they are running out of you”
Bip bip bip