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The Comeback (Seinfeld episode)
Encyclopedia
"The Comeback" is the 147th episode of the NBC
sitcom
Seinfeld. This was the 13th episode for the 8th season. It aired on January 30, 1997.
The episode was written by Gregg Kavet
& Andy Robin
and was directed by David Owen Trainor
.
Like many episodes of Seinfeld, this episode contains a plotline for each of the main characters. George Costanza
goes to great lengths to deliver a retort to a coworker (the eponymous comeback, a phenomenon described by the French expression "L'esprit de l'escalier"). Jerry Seinfeld
knows the secret of a worker from a tennis club pro shop — that he is a bad tennis player. After seeing a movie, Cosmo Kramer
decides he needs a living will
. Elaine Benes
has a tragic romance with a video rental place worker who shares her taste in movies.
named Reilly (Joel Polis
). When Reilly notices George stuffing himself with shrimp cocktail at a meeting, he remarks: "Hey George, the ocean called; they're running out of shrimp." Slow-witted George cannot think of a comeback until later, while driving to the tennis club to meet Jerry. His comeback is: "Well, the Jerk Store called, and they're running out of you." George becomes obsessed with recreating the encounter so that he can make use of his comeback.
Jerry, Elaine and Kramer disapprove of "jerk store" as a comeback mainly because "there are no jerk stores." Elaine suggests, "Your cranium called. It's got some space to rent." Jerry offers, "The zoo called. You're due back by six." Kramer finally suggests that George simply tell Reilly that he slept with his wife.
After discovering that Reilly was let go from the Yankees and now works for Firestone
, George flies to Akron
, Ohio
, sets up a meeting, and brings a tray of shrimp just to try out the jerk store line. When he says it, however, Reilly shoots back with "What's the difference? You're their all-time best seller." George, unprepared for this ends up using Kramer's line, "Yeah? Well I had sex with your wife!" He is then told that Reilly's wife is in a coma.
During the end credits, George is seen driving away from the airport back in New York, muttering to himself that he could not think of another comeback, when he utters, "The life support
machine called...", and in an ecstatic fit, whips his car into a U-turn
to head back to the airport and fly back to Firestone to deliver yet another comeback, all the while yelling out "You're beat, Reilly! You just screwed yourself!"
an man named Miloš (Mark Harelik
). Later, while playing at a different club with Elaine, Jerry discovers that Miloš is a horrible tennis player. In Jerry's eyes, this undermines Miloš' credibility as a salesman.
When Jerry confronts Miloš at the pro shop, he offers to do anything in exchange for Jerry not revealing his secret. Jerry implies that if Miloš sets him up with an attractive woman that they see in the shop, he will be silent. Later Jerry runs into the woman, who is named Patty (Ivana Miličević
), waiting for him outside his apartment. She initially comes on strong, but recoils in shame after revealing that she is Miloš' wife and was instructed to come onto Jerry by her husband (of course she does not know Miloš' reason for setting up the date was to convince Jerry to keep his secret). The incident makes her lose respect for Miloš.
In a new deal, Miloš wants Jerry to let him win in a game of tennis to regain Patty's respect. During the game, Miloš becomes boastful and gloating. After winning another game against Jerry, he exclaims "Another game for Miloš!" Jerry begins to play harder, frustrated at Miloš' taunts. Jerry hits a ball wide of Miloš who swings wildly at it, releasing his racquet into the air, which finally comes down on another tennis player who falls on a ball machine, redirecting its aim to Kramer's head.
On a subsequent visit to the video store, Kramer convinces Elaine to forego Vincent's pick in favor of a Gene pick, Weekend at Bernie's II
. Vincent feels betrayed by this and terminates their relationship. He sends her the play button from his VCR, and stops making picks.
After Elaine rents Vincent's pick that she spurned in favor of Weekend at Bernie's II, Vincent agrees to meet her at his apartment if she brings some things from the store. The stuff he wants includes vodka, cigarettes and fireworks. When she is at his apartment, he refuses to open the door all the way so Elaine can see him. A woman walks up who turns out to be Vincent's mom. She says that Vincent is 15 years old. Elaine takes the vodka from the bag and walks off.
The relationship between Elaine and Vincent is a reference to The Phantom of the Opera
, which was in its 9th year on Broadway at the time
).
After Kramer finishes watching the movie (when the woman miraculously comes out of the coma), he decides he needs to get his living will annulled, but he misses his appointment with Shellbach because he drives so slowly for fear of getting in an accident. He learns that he can catch up with Shellbach at the tennis club. When he catches up with him, a sequence of events caused by Jerry and Milos' tennis game causes a ball machine to fire at Kramer at top speed. Kramer collapses and ends up in the hospital. When Elaine visits him, looking for an outlet for her VCR, she unplugs a large plug. Kramer wakes up, and seeing the plug, he thinks Elaine is removing his life-support.
A slightly baffling element to this episode is that Kramer claims not to have known that a coma victim may regain consciousness despite having previously witnessed Martin regain consciousness from his coma in The Suicide.
to use as a filming location. To compensate, they used a massive crane to drape a large tent over an outdoor tennis court, making it look like an indoor court. Unfortunately, this episode was filmed during the period when El Niño was beginning to affect the weather patterns in the United States
, resulting in heavy rain in Los Angeles on the week the crew needed to shoot their tennis court scenes. The rain collected on the outside of the tent, and several large puddles can be seen on the court in several shots in the episode. The tent finally collapsed in a heap shortly after filming of the master shots wrapped, so the remaining footage was filmed back at the studio on a makeshift half-court set.
The role of Vincent was played by Danny Strong
and voiced by Robby Benson
. The role of Reilly was played by character actor Joel Polis
.
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...
sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
Seinfeld. This was the 13th episode for the 8th season. It aired on January 30, 1997.
The episode was written by Gregg Kavet
Gregg Kavet
Gregg Kavet is a writer and director who worked on NBC's Seinfeld for several seasons with collaborator Andy Robin. The team wrote episodes including "The Jimmy", "The Hot Tub", "The Caddy", "The Bottle Deposit", "The Fatigues", "The Comeback", "The Nap", and "The Slicer"...
& Andy Robin
Andy Robin
Andy Robin is a writer and director and student at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He started his career at Saturday Night Live and spent several seasons on NBC's Seinfeld, initially solo, later partnering with collaborator Gregg Kavet...
and was directed by David Owen Trainor
David Owen Trainor
David Owen Trainor is an American television director.He began his career working as a camera operator on the feature film Paramedics in 1988. He then went on to camera operate on the sitcom Seinfeld in 1990 before being promoted to technical coordinator in 1991. He went on direct two episodes of...
.
Like many episodes of Seinfeld, this episode contains a plotline for each of the main characters. George Costanza
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"...
goes to great lengths to deliver a retort to a coworker (the eponymous comeback, a phenomenon described by the French expression "L'esprit de l'escalier"). Jerry Seinfeld
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...
knows the secret of a worker from a tennis club pro shop — that he is a bad tennis player. After seeing a movie, Cosmo 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...
decides he needs a living will
Living will
An advance health care directive, also known as living will, personal directive, advance directive, or advance decision, are instructions given by individuals specifying what actions should be taken for their health in the event that they are no longer able to make decisions due to illness or...
. Elaine Benes
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...
has a tragic romance with a video rental place worker who shares her taste in movies.
George's Comeback
George Costanza has a conflict with one of his coworkers at the New York YankeesNew York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
named Reilly (Joel Polis
Joel Polis
Joel Polis is an American television, film and stage actor. He has appeared in over one hundred television programs and films during his career.-Career:...
). When Reilly notices George stuffing himself with shrimp cocktail at a meeting, he remarks: "Hey George, the ocean called; they're running out of shrimp." Slow-witted George cannot think of a comeback until later, while driving to the tennis club to meet Jerry. His comeback is: "Well, the Jerk Store called, and they're running out of you." George becomes obsessed with recreating the encounter so that he can make use of his comeback.
Jerry, Elaine and Kramer disapprove of "jerk store" as a comeback mainly because "there are no jerk stores." Elaine suggests, "Your cranium called. It's got some space to rent." Jerry offers, "The zoo called. You're due back by six." Kramer finally suggests that George simply tell Reilly that he slept with his wife.
After discovering that Reilly was let go from the Yankees and now works for Firestone
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 to supply pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles. The company...
, George flies to Akron
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, sets up a meeting, and brings a tray of shrimp just to try out the jerk store line. When he says it, however, Reilly shoots back with "What's the difference? You're their all-time best seller." George, unprepared for this ends up using Kramer's line, "Yeah? Well I had sex with your wife!" He is then told that Reilly's wife is in a coma.
During the end credits, George is seen driving away from the airport back in New York, muttering to himself that he could not think of another comeback, when he utters, "The life support
Life support
Life support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...
machine called...", and in an ecstatic fit, whips his car into a U-turn
U-turn (maneuver)
A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180 degree rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others it is treated as a more ordinary turn, merely extended...
to head back to the airport and fly back to Firestone to deliver yet another comeback, all the while yelling out "You're beat, Reilly! You just screwed yourself!"
The Bad Tennis Player
Jerry meets George at a private tennis club to play tennis. He goes to the pro shop where he is pressured into buying a brand new racquet by the worker there — an Eastern EuropeEastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an man named Miloš (Mark Harelik
Mark Harelik
Mark Harelik is an American television, film, and stage actor, as well as a playwright.-Career:Harelik has appeared in the films Election, Jurassic Park III and For Your Consideration; He was the voice of Rogers in The Swan Princess, and he has played parts on the television sitcoms Seinfeld,...
). Later, while playing at a different club with Elaine, Jerry discovers that Miloš is a horrible tennis player. In Jerry's eyes, this undermines Miloš' credibility as a salesman.
When Jerry confronts Miloš at the pro shop, he offers to do anything in exchange for Jerry not revealing his secret. Jerry implies that if Miloš sets him up with an attractive woman that they see in the shop, he will be silent. Later Jerry runs into the woman, who is named Patty (Ivana Miličević
Ivana Milicevic
-Early life:Miličević was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina to a Croatian family, the daughter of Tonka, a homemaker, and Damir Miličević, a slaughterhouse worker and entrepreneur. She emigrated to the United States at the age of five and was raised in Michigan...
), waiting for him outside his apartment. She initially comes on strong, but recoils in shame after revealing that she is Miloš' wife and was instructed to come onto Jerry by her husband (of course she does not know Miloš' reason for setting up the date was to convince Jerry to keep his secret). The incident makes her lose respect for Miloš.
In a new deal, Miloš wants Jerry to let him win in a game of tennis to regain Patty's respect. During the game, Miloš becomes boastful and gloating. After winning another game against Jerry, he exclaims "Another game for Miloš!" Jerry begins to play harder, frustrated at Miloš' taunts. Jerry hits a ball wide of Miloš who swings wildly at it, releasing his racquet into the air, which finally comes down on another tennis player who falls on a ball machine, redirecting its aim to Kramer's head.
Vincent
Elaine runs into Kramer at Champagne Video, while browsing the staff picks. Elaine is a fan of Vincent's picks, with whom she has the same taste in movies. (Kramer characterizes Vincent as an arthouse goon.) Later, while Elaine is watching Vincent's latest pick, he calls her on the telephone. Elaine becomes romantically interested in him, but is unable to meet him in person.On a subsequent visit to the video store, Kramer convinces Elaine to forego Vincent's pick in favor of a Gene pick, Weekend at Bernie's II
Weekend at Bernie's II
Weekend at Bernie's II is a comedy film released in 1993 by TriStar Pictures and was the sequel to the 1989 comedy Weekend at Bernie's.- Plot :...
. Vincent feels betrayed by this and terminates their relationship. He sends her the play button from his VCR, and stops making picks.
After Elaine rents Vincent's pick that she spurned in favor of Weekend at Bernie's II, Vincent agrees to meet her at his apartment if she brings some things from the store. The stuff he wants includes vodka, cigarettes and fireworks. When she is at his apartment, he refuses to open the door all the way so Elaine can see him. A woman walks up who turns out to be Vincent's mom. She says that Vincent is 15 years old. Elaine takes the vodka from the bag and walks off.
The relationship between Elaine and Vincent is a reference to The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
, which was in its 9th year on Broadway at the time
Coma Kramer
While at the video store, Kramer rents The Other Side of Darkness, a (fictional) straight-to-video movie that deals with a woman in a coma. Frightened by the movie, he has a living will drawn up. At first he considers making Jerry his executor, but decides that he is too sentimental after Jerry refuses to throw away his old tennis racquet. He decides Elaine should be his executor instead and they meet with a lawyer named Shellbach (played by Ben SteinBen Stein
Benjamin Jeremy "Ben" Stein is an American actor, writer, lawyer, and commentator on political and economic issues. He attained early success as a speechwriter for American presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
).
After Kramer finishes watching the movie (when the woman miraculously comes out of the coma), he decides he needs to get his living will annulled, but he misses his appointment with Shellbach because he drives so slowly for fear of getting in an accident. He learns that he can catch up with Shellbach at the tennis club. When he catches up with him, a sequence of events caused by Jerry and Milos' tennis game causes a ball machine to fire at Kramer at top speed. Kramer collapses and ends up in the hospital. When Elaine visits him, looking for an outlet for her VCR, she unplugs a large plug. Kramer wakes up, and seeing the plug, he thinks Elaine is removing his life-support.
A slightly baffling element to this episode is that Kramer claims not to have known that a coma victim may regain consciousness despite having previously witnessed Martin regain consciousness from his coma in The Suicide.
Production
The tennis court scenes in this episode were set in an indoor court, but the crew could not find an available indoor court in all of Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to use as a filming location. To compensate, they used a massive crane to drape a large tent over an outdoor tennis court, making it look like an indoor court. Unfortunately, this episode was filmed during the period when El Niño was beginning to affect the weather patterns in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, resulting in heavy rain in Los Angeles on the week the crew needed to shoot their tennis court scenes. The rain collected on the outside of the tent, and several large puddles can be seen on the court in several shots in the episode. The tent finally collapsed in a heap shortly after filming of the master shots wrapped, so the remaining footage was filmed back at the studio on a makeshift half-court set.
The role of Vincent was played by Danny Strong
Danny Strong
Daniel W. Strong is an American actor and writer in film and television.-Early life:Strong was born and raised in Manhattan Beach, California. where he would rent videos from Video Archives, becoming friends with Quentin Tarantino who was then a clerk there...
and voiced by Robby Benson
Robby Benson
Robby Benson is an American film and television actor, television director, educator and singer.-Early life:Benson was born Robin David Segal in Dallas, Texas, the son of Freda Ann , a singer, actress, and business promotions manager, and Jerry Segal, a writer...
. The role of Reilly was played by character actor Joel Polis
Joel Polis
Joel Polis is an American television, film and stage actor. He has appeared in over one hundred television programs and films during his career.-Career:...
.