Episode 20: The Fire

Episode #84; 5:20


Our Summary

Kramer is dating a hilarious co-worker, Toby, of Elaine, who heckles Jerry, who heckles her, causing her to get her pinky toe severed, where Kramer saves the toe after a hilarious sequence of events. Meanwhile Toby gets the job Elaine wanted and George acts cowardly twice, in a fire and at supposed gun point.



Our Commentary

Hilarious OCB and CCB enclose one of the funniest episodes throughout Seinfeld. Although this episode is on the Top 50 it deserves to be in the Top 10 which may be a real Top 50. Everything about this episode just makes me cry with laughter. Perhaps one of the funniest single episode characters is found within a fellow redhead by the name of Tobey Maguire. Everything about her from her Terry Daniels look alike appearance and personality to her constant jovialness or joviality, I'm not sure if either of which is a word, to her hilarious laugh, Tobey is simply hilarious. We get some brilliant LC writing throughout the episode with some brilliant linking. Eric the Clown (which Jared Jerome a week ago, in the ocean, told me is Jon Favreau) is in rare form with his berating of George that he's obsessed with some clown from the sixties man, as George, who is clearly ticked off, has to belittle Eric the Cloowwwn. Hilarious stuff with Elaine making fun of Tobey, but even better is Jerry's ignoring Elaine about her little annoyances, and even better then that is Tobey's "I'd like that." Brilliantly executed is Tobey's booing and hissing and constant blatherings throughout Jerry's set and then Jerry's sticking it back to the man at Pendant Publishing. George was really in rare form with his pushing everyone out of the way in the b-day party and then his "seeminglys" and "to the untrained eyeses" simply get me rolling, with the homies that is. Press File, Save right now just in case the computer crashes because this is good stuff, as I get my hair out of my eyes, good stuff. I save the best for last ladies and gents because in this episode we find perhaps one of the funniest single takes in the annals of Seinfeld lore: Kramer's story of him getting Tobey's pinky toe from Pendant to the hospital is simply priceless. I believe Mastercard said it best: Kramer taking food from the fridge for one week? $50. Kramer's winnings at the OTB? Maybe $18,000. Kramer's telling of Spidey's pinky toe story? Priceless. Finally, this hilarious episode ends as it should with a previously unknown spotting of the big fella, and no I'm not talkin about Mikey Warshaw, I'm talking about Norman Brenner. Overall, one of the greatest episodes every conceived in any television show and certainly LC's crowning acheivement.Adam - I laughed till I cried. That's all there is to it!!

As a postnote, while putting in the links and helptips in this episode, I realized that this was LC's final episode. Seinfeld went down a level of funniness after this man left, as noticed in the Sixth Season. They needed a whole season in order to get back into the rythem of funniness. They were basically sitting shiva for a year, mourning the loss, not the death, but just the loss, of Larry Charles, comedy writer extraordinaire.


EPISODE GUIDE from Jerry Seinfeld: The Entire Domain by Kathleen Tracy

84."The Fire" (May 5, 1994)

SUMMARY Kramer is dating one of Elaine's co-workers. When he takes her to Jerry's show, she turns into a heckler. Jerry gets revenge by heckling the woman at her office. She's so upset, she runs into the street, where her toe is severed by a street sweeper. Kramer finds the toe, commandeers a bus to take it to the hospital and saves the passengers from a gunman. George panics when there is a fire at his girlfriend's apartment and acts like a coward.

DIRECTOR Tom Cherones

TELEPLAY Larry Charles

GUEST CAST Melanie Chartoff (Robin); Veanne Cox (Toby); Jon Favreau (Clown); Dom Irrera (Ronnie); Lisa Pescia (Joanne); Hiram Kasten (Michael); Lawrence LeJohn (Fireman)

RECURRING CAST Estelle Harris (Estelle Costanza); Jerry Stiller (Frank Costanza)


Stats


2nd Siyum

Dates/Boyfriends/Girlfriends
GEORGE
Robin
Girls Who Broke Up With George
Robin - Ran out of fire

KRAMER
Toby

Larry David
Voice of the emcee at the Improv Club


3rd Siyum

Norman Brenner
Bystander at end of ep


Tours

NYC MTA Bus

Full Script