The Bizarro Jerry
Encyclopedia
"The Bizarro Jerry" is the 137th episode
of the American
television
sitcom Seinfeld
. This was the third episode for the eighth season. It was originally broadcast on the NBC
network on October 3, 1996. The title and plot extensively reference the Bizarro
(the polar opposite of Superman
) and Bizarro-Earth concepts that originally appeared in various comic book
s published by DC
. This episode is famous for introducing the phrase "man hands".
David Mandel
wrote the episode in response to his girlfriend ending their long-distance relationship
. His now-wife was self conscious about what she calls her farm hands. According to Mandel, "It’s the modern equivalent of a Shakespeare sonnet.” The hands seen in the episode belong to actor James Rekart.
Elaine
breaks up with her boyfriend Kevin (from "The Soul Mate"), but they decide to "just be friends." Much to Elaine's surprise, Kevin is thrilled at the idea, and starts becoming a much more reliable friend than Jerry
. Meanwhile, Kramer
accidentally gets a job at a company called Brandt/Leland when he aids an employee in the hall and starts going to meetings. He soon finds out he fits right in and starts working there for no pay, stating his reason as doing it "just for me." When Jerry asks Kramer what he does, Kramer responds, "TCB - you know, taking care of business"! Various scenes depict Kramer eating crackers at lunch and shining his shoes at the water cooler.
Jerry starts dating Jillian (Kristin Bauer
), an attractive woman whose only flaw is that she has "man hands." George
uses a picture of Jillian to get into the "forbidden city", a club of attractive women and models
, by saying that Jillian is his late fiancee Susan. Unfortunately, his luck ends when he accidentally burns the picture with a hair dryer. Jerry becomes bored at home, now that Kramer is "working", Elaine is always hanging out with Kevin and his friends (Gene and Feldman, who are complete opposites, but physical look-alikes of George and Kramer, respectively), and George only comes to him when he wants something.
By the end of the episode, Kramer gets fired by Leland because of his shoddy work ("It's almost as if you have no business training at all"). Jerry wants to be "just friends" with Jillian, who doesn't take too well to the idea. While trying to get another picture of her from her purse for George, she grabs Jerry's wrist (which Jerry later describes as almost ripping his arm right out of the socket). George tries to use a picture of a model from a magazine to get back into the club, but his plan is foiled when he accidentally confronts exactly the same model from the magazine picture and gets kicked out. Elaine decides to stay with her "Bizarro friends", but is explicitly asked to leave by them when they don't take to some of the normal things she usually does with Jerry like eating from the fridge and pushing someone with her outbursts of "get out!"
Later, George takes Jerry to the location of the club, but all they find is a meat packing plant. George is shocked while Jerry doesn't believe there ever was a club there. As they leave, they miss seeing the photo George had taken from a magazine, lying amidst the sawdust on the ground.
At the very end of the show, a scene takes place in Kevin's apartment (which has a Bizarro statue by the door, similar to how Jerry's apartment has a Superman statue by the door) in which Kevin, Gene, and Feldman all join in a group hug, and the following line is spoken in the same way that the Bizarro from the Superman Universe speaks:
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
of the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
sitcom Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
. This was the third episode for the eighth season. It was originally broadcast on the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
network on October 3, 1996. The title and plot extensively reference the Bizarro
Bizarro
Bizarro is a fictional character that appears in publications published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman and first appeared in Superboy #68...
(the polar opposite of Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
) and Bizarro-Earth concepts that originally appeared in various comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s published by DC
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. This episode is famous for introducing the phrase "man hands".
David Mandel
David Mandel
David Mandel is an executive producer and director of Curb Your Enthusiasm , and one of the producers of the teen-comedy Eurotrip. He was a writer for Seinfeld during its seventh, eighth, and ninth seasons. He is also one of the creators of Clerks: The Animated Series, and he was a writer for...
wrote the episode in response to his girlfriend ending their long-distance relationship
Long-distance relationship
A long-distance relationship is typically an intimate relationship that takes place when the partners are separated by a considerable distance....
. His now-wife was self conscious about what she calls her farm hands. According to Mandel, "It’s the modern equivalent of a Shakespeare sonnet.” The hands seen in the episode belong to actor James Rekart.
Plot
The signature Seinfeld theme song is played backwards in the tag scene of the episode - another reference to the "Bizarro" theme.Elaine
Elaine Benes
Elaine Marie Benes is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Elaine's best friend is her ex-boyfriend Jerry Seinfeld; she is also good friends with George Costanza and Cosmo Kramer...
breaks up with her boyfriend Kevin (from "The Soul Mate"), but they decide to "just be friends." Much to Elaine's surprise, Kevin is thrilled at the idea, and starts becoming a much more reliable friend than Jerry
Jerry Seinfeld (character)
Jerome "Jerry" Seinfeld is the main protagonist of the American television sitcom Seinfeld . The straight man among his group of friends, this semi-fictionalized version of comedian Jerry Seinfeld was named after, co-created by, based on, and played by Seinfeld himself.The series revolves around...
. Meanwhile, Kramer
Cosmo Kramer
Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Michael Richards...
accidentally gets a job at a company called Brandt/Leland when he aids an employee in the hall and starts going to meetings. He soon finds out he fits right in and starts working there for no pay, stating his reason as doing it "just for me." When Jerry asks Kramer what he does, Kramer responds, "TCB - you know, taking care of business"! Various scenes depict Kramer eating crackers at lunch and shining his shoes at the water cooler.
Jerry starts dating Jillian (Kristin Bauer
Kristin Bauer
Kristin Bauer van Straten is an American film and television actress, perhaps best known for her role as vampire Pam in the HBO series True Blood.-Biography:...
), an attractive woman whose only flaw is that she has "man hands." George
George Costanza
George Louis Costanza is a character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Jason Alexander. He has variously been described as a "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man" , "Lord of the Idiots" , and as "the greatest sitcom character of all time"...
uses a picture of Jillian to get into the "forbidden city", a club of attractive women and models
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
, by saying that Jillian is his late fiancee Susan. Unfortunately, his luck ends when he accidentally burns the picture with a hair dryer. Jerry becomes bored at home, now that Kramer is "working", Elaine is always hanging out with Kevin and his friends (Gene and Feldman, who are complete opposites, but physical look-alikes of George and Kramer, respectively), and George only comes to him when he wants something.
By the end of the episode, Kramer gets fired by Leland because of his shoddy work ("It's almost as if you have no business training at all"). Jerry wants to be "just friends" with Jillian, who doesn't take too well to the idea. While trying to get another picture of her from her purse for George, she grabs Jerry's wrist (which Jerry later describes as almost ripping his arm right out of the socket). George tries to use a picture of a model from a magazine to get back into the club, but his plan is foiled when he accidentally confronts exactly the same model from the magazine picture and gets kicked out. Elaine decides to stay with her "Bizarro friends", but is explicitly asked to leave by them when they don't take to some of the normal things she usually does with Jerry like eating from the fridge and pushing someone with her outbursts of "get out!"
Later, George takes Jerry to the location of the club, but all they find is a meat packing plant. George is shocked while Jerry doesn't believe there ever was a club there. As they leave, they miss seeing the photo George had taken from a magazine, lying amidst the sawdust on the ground.
Cultural references
- When George starts dating models, he makes a reference to Jerry by saying "Flame on!". This is a reference to The Fantastic Four's team member, the Human TorchHuman TorchThe Human Torch is a fictional character and superhero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, he is a member of the superhero team the Fantastic Four, debuting in The Fantastic Four #1...
.
Bizarro Counterparts
- Elaine describes Kevin as Jerry's opposite since Kevin is reliable and kind, contrasted to Jerry's forgetfulness and indifference.
- Gene is shown to be quiet, courteous, charitable and well dressed as opposed to George being loud, obnoxious, cheap and slobbish.
- Feldman acts generously to his friends, regularly buying them lunch and bringing Kevin groceries. He also always knocks on Kevin's door and waits for him to unlock it. This is opposite to Kramer, who constantly takes Jerry's groceries and bursts through his door without warning. As opposed to Kramer's zany schemes which often are seen through to the end, Feldman has good ideas which he rejects as silly.
- Vargas, a FedExFedExFedEx Corporation , originally known as FDX Corporation, is a logistics services company, based in the United States with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee...
worker, is good friends with Kevin, opposed to Newman, a postal workerUnited States Postal ServiceThe United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
and mutual enemies with Jerry.
- Elaine hangs out with these counterpart friends at Reggie's, which Jerry describes as the "Bizarro Coffee Shop".
- Kevin's apartment, where he and his friends spend time reading, is a mirror image to Jerry's. Also seen in the background of Kevin's apartment is a unicycle, which also is a reflection on Jerry's bicycle hanging in his apartment, and a PC - the opposite of Jerry's MacMacintoshThe Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
. Kevin also has a statue of Bizarro as a counter part to Jerry's statue of Superman.
- The episode also features a quintessential conversation in the Seinfeld repertoire when Elaine compares Kevin (aka Bizarro Jerry) to Jerry:
- "...They read."
- Jerry: "I read."
- Elaine: "Books, Jerry."
- Jerry: "Oh... big deal!"
Superman reference
The concept of a Bizarro universe is directly taken from the Superman universe, in addition to verbal references to Superman:- Jerry: Yeah, like BizarroBizarroBizarro is a fictional character that appears in publications published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman and first appeared in Superboy #68...
SupermanSupermanSuperman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
—Superman's exact opposite, who lives in the backwards Bizarro world. Up is down; down is up. He says "Hello" when he leaves, "Goodbye" when he arrives. - Elaine: Shouldn't he say "bad bye"? Isn't that the opposite of goodbye?
- Jerry: No, it's still goodbye.
- Elaine: Does he live underwater?
- Jerry: No.
- Elaine: Is he black?
- Jerry: Look, just forget the whole thing. All right?
At the very end of the show, a scene takes place in Kevin's apartment (which has a Bizarro statue by the door, similar to how Jerry's apartment has a Superman statue by the door) in which Kevin, Gene, and Feldman all join in a group hug, and the following line is spoken in the same way that the Bizarro from the Superman Universe speaks:
- Kevin: Oh...me so happy. Me want to cry.
Quotes
- Jerry: She had man hands.
- Jerry: So what do you do down there all day?
Kramer: TCB, you know; taking care of business.
- Jerry: What's in the briefcase?
Kramer: Crackers.
Trivia
Kramer's acronym TCB (taking care of business) has in some circles become a more sophisticated slang term replacing "doing a Number Two" or "taking a dump," or "shooting submarines," etc. The origin of this use is unknown, but it has recently been growing in popularity, most likely due to its subtlety and delicateness in comparison to the better known expressions which use more vivid imagery.Examples:
- "I have to, you know, TCB."
- "Lucy had to TCB; she'll be back in a few minutes."
- "I prefer to do my TCB-ing promptly following my noonday meal."