Episode #116; 7:6
Our Commentary
SOUP NAZI: Bread -- $2 extra.
GEORGE: $2? But everyone in front of me got free bread.
SOUP NAZI: You want bread?
GEORGE: Yes, please.
SOUP NAZI: $3!
GEORGE: What?
SOUP NAZI: No soup for you! [snaps fingers]
[cashier takes George's soup and gives him back his money]
Then, Jerry living under a Nazi regime, George continuing to bottle up his anger with the schmoopies until he decides to cancel his double date with Jerry and Sheila, which is his ideal moment in life, that Jerry and him double date and Jerry follow through with the pact, and get married as well. This shows how much George is angry with the schmoopies. "Just like that?" "Just like that." Then we get Kramer giving Sheila the come hither look, and another hilarious scene, with Kramer being very serious and inspiring:
KRAMER: Well, a bowl of muligatawny would hit the spot.
ELAINE: Mulligatawny?
KRAMER: Yeah. It's an Indian soup. It's simmered to perfection by one of
the great soup artisans in the modern era.
ELAINE: Oh! Who? The Soup Nazi?
KRAMER: He's not a Nazi. He just happens to be a little eccentric. Most
geniuses are.
Then we get the Soup Nazi telling George "You're pushing your luck little man." after George acknowledging the bread given to him this time. He must say Sorry and Thank You in response. Elaine, being super annoying and taking her dandy time, gets what she deserves by the Soup Nazi. After Elaine gives her insane look-a-like and then:
SOUP NAZI: Very good. Very good.
ELAINE: Well, I --
SOUP NAZI: You know something?
ELAINE: Hmmm?
SOUP NAZI: No soup for you!
ELAINE: What?
SOUP NAZI: Come back one year! Next!
Then, we have possibly two of the funniest characters in anything ever, the gay Street Toughs. From "es gorgeous" to "eh just pick it up", which is repeated thrice hourly in this house. The entire scene, in George's words, is like Mr. Kruger: Too much, too much. Then we have one of greatest scenes Jerry has ever performed, with his look to the Soup Nazi, and then, to total disbelief, chooses the soup (which Jerry, hilariously, must correct Elaine that it was a bisque) over Sheila, with his "Do I know you?".
We then start something so hilarious that I needed to put in a new paragraph. Starting with Jerry thinking that George is happy about him splitting up with Sheila and ending with Jerry actually splitting up with Sheila, only to find George with his now public displaying Susan and her baby bluey, with a middle in Monk's, with one of the funniest scenes ever.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's take this one step at a time. First we get Jerry telling George that he and Sheila are "kind of on the outs". We then get me falling on the floor, with George saying "Happy? Why should I be happy?" with a follow up "Why should I care?" when he is screaming exuberantly inside with joy. Then, after being confronted by Jerry, George finally lets it all out:
GEORGE: All right. I am happy, and I'll tell ya why -- because the two of
you were making me and every one of your friends sick! Right, Elaine?
[Elaine sneaks out of Jerry's apartment] (which is perfect Elaine)
JERRY: Is that so?
GEORGE: Yeah. Yeah. With all that kissing and the shmoopy, shmoopy,
shmoopy, shmoopy, shmoopy out in public like that. It's disgusting!
JERRY: Disgusting?
GEORGE: People who do that should be arrested.
JERRY: Well, I guess I have all the more reason to get back with her.
Stimply hilarious. Then George brings up the pact again and we cut to the Soup Nazi, who is listening with an attentive ear to Kramer's story about Elaine's stolen armoire. We get a beautiful Newman saying jambalaya both inside and outside the store, as well as a great "good job" sign from Kramer to Newman about his ordering at the Soup Nazi. As usual, Kramer is friends with these nuts, and unbelievably, the Soup Nazi gives his armoire to Kramer's mystery friend. We then have a guy who's part Spanish thinking that he can say "por favor", to which both the Soup Nazi and Kramer think is utterly repulsive and worthy of not getting soup. Cut to Monk's with Jerry trying to make up with Sheila by opening up with a hilarious Bavarian cream pie joke. They make up and start again with the shmoopies as George and Susan enter Monk's. When asked if they want to join Jerry and Sheila, Susan says yes while George says no. And then the world explodes. My heart rips out of my chest, itself laughing hysterically, not being able to pump the blood to my mouth which is dying of laughter, and as my brain loses its last bits of oxygen, it catches one last glimpse of comedic brilliance of this scene. For me to summarize it would be an injustice. I will simply let you read it with my occasional commentary in parentheses and hear it, if you wish:
Luckily I was able to revive myself, b/c there's plenty of more hilariousness left in this ep, not to mention the rest of Seinfeld. We next cut to Kramer at Elaine's apartment, where he surprises her with an armoire. She's taken aback at it and can't believe it. Kramer feeds her a "Did the K-Man do it or did the K-Man do it?" and she, like an inborn reflex replies, "The K-Man did it!" Already extremely suprised and at a loss of words, she demands to know how much Kramer paid for such a beautiful armoire. When he replies, "How 'bout zero?", Elaine can't take it anymore. This is too insane for her to handle. And then he drops the bomb on her when asked where he got it from then:
KRAMER: I'll tell ya where I got it. I got it from the guy you so callously refer to as the Soup Nazi.
At this moment, Elaine, with all of her might, putting together all of the "Get Out"s that she has ever done, compressing them, packing the molecules as close together as possible, until the pressure is so much that it needs to explode, she gives her:
ELAINE: Get out!
[Elaine pushes on Kramer's chest, causing him to fall backwards through her swinging door]
It doesn't get much better than that. Kramer finishes the scene by telling Elaine that "He's a dear." We then cut to George and Susan, who are still at Monk's. Finally finished with his battle of the wits against Jerry, George is content to revert to his usual lifestyle, and nothing says George like a movie, or in this case, figuring out how much tip you should leave on $8.15. Susan however, didn't realize that what just happened was all a game between Jerry and George. She, as an adult, understood that to be real, but George, the child, thought it was just a game. Susan tells him how proud she is of him that he expresses his feelings in front of Jerry. George answers these deep and serious statements with "Huh?" And then Susan reminds George of what just happened:
SUSAN: [in babying voice] Because you love your little kiki don't you?
As George just realizes what he's gotten himself into.
Cut to The Soup Nazi, where Bania, who just bought soup, tells a young black kid that the Soup Nazi is in a good mood and the guy is very glad indeed. Elaine is up next and she can't express the words to tell the Soup Nazi how grateful she is for giving her, through Kramer, the armoire. The Soup Nazi, obviously suprised that it was for Elaine:
SOUP NAZI: You? If I knew it was for you, I never would have given it to him in the first place! I would have taken a hatchet and smashed it to pieces! Now, who wants soup? Next! Speak up!"
As the black guy is shaking with fear. Hilarious.
Cut to Jerry and Kramer on the street, where they see the two Street Toughs who mugged Kramer for the armoire. First Kramer tries to get a cop, but Jerry convinces him that there are no cops nearby and that they should confront them. Once again, words can not simply describe this insanely hilarious scene, so read along as you listen, if you'd like:
BOB: Oh, wow look, that one is gorgeous. I would just kill for that one.
RAY: Oh, not in blue. Blue does not go with all.
BOB: Oh, please. Do you know what you're talking about? Because I don't think you know what you're talking about. Take a look at that.
KRAMER: Excuse me.
RAY: Are you talking to me?
KRAMER: Uh, well, uh, we --
RAY: I said, are you talking to me?
BOB: Well, maybe, he was talking to me. Was you talking to him? Because you was obviously talking to one of us. So what is it? Who?! Who was you talking to?!
KRAMER: Well, wha -- I, uh -- uh, we were kind of, uh, talking to each other, weren't we?
[Jerry & Kramer turn around and run away, as I foam at the mouth from laughter]
Cut to Elaine and Jerry at Elaine's place, where they find the Soup Nazi's recipes which were left in the armoire by accident. Elaine comes up with some imaginitive ways of screwing the Soup Nazi by using these and Jerry tries to stop her. Elaine threatens him. We don't know who won the fight, probably Elaine though b/c she gets there first. Although, on the other hand, Jerry may have won and could have gotten there first, but instead takes the time to stick it to George in the following great scene.
First we have a one-two punch of hilariousness:
Then Jerry comes along, sticks it to George repeatedly and George knowing it and just playing along, taking the grief in turn that he's stuck with the truth that he's stuck with Susan and Jerry can dump and date whoever he wishes:
JERRY: Yeah. Well, she was very affectionate - which I love. You know I love that - but mentally, we couldn't quite make the connection.
GEORGE: Really?
JERRY: Yeah. Too bad, 'cause you gotta have the affection - which you obviously have. I think it's great that you're so open with your affections in public. See, we had that.
SUSAN: Mmm-hmm.
GEORGE: You did?
JERRY: Oh, yeah. But the mental thing. But anyway. I'll see ya.
GEORGE: Yeah. See ya.
Cut to the Soup Nazi, where Ana Gasteyer gets the quick boot from the store right after the commercial. Elaine, who was hiding in the back, comes to the forefront to stick it to the Soup Nazi to tell him it's all over with a repeat of Kramer's favorite soup, mulligatawny. This scene is too famous for words, so I'll just put it in:
SOUP NAZI: Next!
ELAINE: Hello.
SOUP NAZI: You. You think you can get soup? Please. You're wasting everyone's time.
ELAINE: I don't want soup. I can make my own soup. "5 cups chopped Porcine mushrooms, half a cup of olive oil, 3 pounds celery."
SOUP NAZI: That is my recipe for wild mushroom.
ELAINE: Yeah, that's right. I got 'em all. Cold cucumber, corn and crab chowder, mulligatawny.
SOUP NAZI: Mulliga...tawny?
ELAINE: You're through Soup Nazi. Pack it up. No more soup for you. Next!
We end the ep during the credits with Newman telling Jerry something that Jerry should have already known, that the Soup Nazi won't make soup any more b/c of Elaine and her threats of making it known to the world, how to make the soup. I don't think they should be going so crazy to get the soup then, if they can make it themselves, or buy it in any store that should have it, once Elaine publishes the recipes, but this is all nitpicking, which is all I can do as this episode is perfection perceived, perfection achieved, and perfection perfected. None of that actually made any sense, but nevertheless, this episode was one of the funniest episodes that anyone has ever imagined or written. It would have to be considering that it is a Top 5 episode, of the funniest show of all time, Seinfeld. Spike Feresten should've gotten 22 Emmy's for the writing in this episode, one Emmy for every minute of hilarious dialogue that was formed inside his hilarious brain. A brilliant script, brilliant performances, and brilliant direction by Andy Ackerman leads this ep into the stratosphere of hilariousness and perfection. For me to say well done would be an understatement. Perfectly done.
116."The Soup Nazi" (November 2, 1995) SUMMARY Everyone wants soup from the Soup Nazi, who has very strict ordering procedures.
George and Elaine are bothered by how affectionate Jerry is with his new girlfriend. Elaine buys
an armoire, which is stolen while Kramer is supposed to be watching it. He replaces it with one
given to him by the Soup Nazi, which contains his soup recipes. Elaine makes an ordering error in
front of the Soup Nazi and is banned for a year. George confronts Jerry and reminds him about
their pact. CATCHPHRASE "No soup for you!" OF SPECIAL NOTE The Soup Nazi is based on A1 Yeganeh, the owner of Soup Kitchen
International in Manhattan. DIRECTOR Andy Ackerman TELEPLAY Spike Feresten GUEST CAST Alexandra Wentworth (Sheila); Larry Thomas (Soup Nazi); John Paragon (Ray);
Yul Vazquez (Bob); Thom Barry (Super); Vince Melocchi (Furniture Guy); Ana Gasteyer
(Woman); Cedric Duplechain (Customer); Mike Michaud (Customer) RECURRING CAST Steve Hytner (Bania); Wayne Knight (Newman); Heidi Swedberg (Susan)
Adam - JUST A WARNING: THIS IS BEING WRITTEN A FEW MONTHS AFTER WATCHING THIS EPISODE, AS WE JUST REALIZED NOW, THAT HE DIDN'T WRITE A COMMENTARY FOR THIS EPISODE. One Kenneth Bania graces us with his presence in this Top 5 episode. Only for a minute or so. This alone shows me that the gang was serious about this ep. To throw Kenneth Bania into the mix, for only a minute, to have him come back to the set, just to be in this episode for a minute, shows me that the gang was serious about this one. Forget everything else in the episode. I'd like to talk about Kenneth Bania. Trying to cut the line, like only Kenneth Bania can. Saying that the Soup Nazi is in a good mood today, as only Kenneth Bania can. And then going to the back of the line, as only Kenneth Bania can. This episode flies into the Top 5 and doesn't look back. That's all.
EPISODE GUIDE from Jerry Seinfeld: The Entire Domain by Kathleen Tracy
Stats
2nd Siyum
SNL Cast Members
Ana Gesteyer
Dates/Boyfriends/Girlfriends
JERRY
Sheila
First Times
Street Toughs
3rd Siyum