Episode 18: The Friar's Club

Episode #128; 7:18


Our Summary

George sets Jerry up with Susan's best friend. They all go to the show that she works at, The Flying Sandos Brothers, and Jerry gets involved in the act, when they throw his jacket into the audience. Really though, it is not his jacket, but a jacket he had to borrow from The Friar's Club, b/c he didn't fit their dress code. This obviously ruins his chances of becoming a member of the club. Elaine thinks that her new coworker is faking being deaf so he doesn't have to do a lot of work, and Elaine ends up having to do it instead. George is ecstatic that the wedding must be postponed to June, and Kramer is sleeping only 20 minutes every 3 hours, which ends up getting him throw into the river.



Our Commentary

This Top 50 ep is a laughfest. It's high up in the echelon of the Top 50 with it's brilliant dose of physical and oral comedy. It just misses the Top 25, OK, OK, maybe it's on the Top 25, I'll have to see how many there are on there. Because only 88 were allowed on the Top 50, so I guess only 40 eps are allowed on the Top 25. After writing some of this commentary, it's in the Top 25. Anyway, to the ep at hand: First off, we're missing the OCB, which after reading the script, is hilarious. Now, what we do have: You know it's gonna be one of the funniest episodes when the The Flying Sandos Brothers is played by The Flying Karamazov Brothers or the fact that Jackie Chiles steps in at the end of the ep for 2 seconds adding another ep to his credit. Great stuff with George doing the Singing in the Rain spoof, wheels are in motion, Jerry commenting sarcastically about how great the book Kramer is reading on Leonardo De Vinci. And then we reach Kramerection. No, it's not Kramer having an erection, it's the mixture of Kramer and perfection = Kramerection. Throughout this ep, Kramer is so on form it's scary. He is the quintessential Kramer. He's never more Kramer than he is in this ep. He starts it off with the nutty idea of sleeping only 20 minutes every 3 hours. I'll give you the pertinent lines:

JERRY: Just imagine how much more you'll accomplish.
KRAMER: Oh, I got a lot of things in the hopper, buddy.
Kramer heads for the door.
JERRY: I didn't know you had a hopper.
KRAMER: (smiling) Oh, I got a hopper. A big hopper.

KRAMER: (enthusiastic) Oh, I'm percolating, Jerry. I'm telling you, I have never felt so fertile. I'm mossy, Jerry. My brain is mossy. Listen to this idea. (fetches a spoon from the drawer) A restaurant that serves only peanut butter and jelly. (clicks tongue)
JERRY: What d'you call it?
KRAMER: P B and J's. What d'you think?
JERRY: (deadpan) I think you need more sleep.
KRAMER: (dismissive) Ahh.

Kramer begins to exit.
JERRY: (indicates the bowl of cereal) No milk?
KRAMER: Oh, I'll be back.

Kramer coming into Jerry's bedroom and waking him up at 4 in the morning.

Kramer taking Jerry's jacket, knowing that it's from The Friar's Club and doesn't belong to him.

KRAMER: (laughing to himself) Somehow I dozed off and woke up in a pile of garbage.

Jerry trying to wake Kramer up:
JERRY: (louder) Hey!!
Kramer snaps awake with a jerk.
KRAMER: Watch out, boy.

Kramer and Connie, his gal, in his apt.:
KRAMER: Oh, it's uh, it's a bold adventure.
Connie leans in and begins to kiss Kramer's neck.
KRAMER: Ooh. Well, this is uh, risky business, huh? I'm all a-twitter.

The entire scene at

[The Hudson River]
Kramer breaks the surface with a splutter. He looks round, panicky and confused.
KRAMER: HEY!! Sh..! Shii! MAMA!!
Kramer looks to one side, where he sees a large ferry bearing down on him. He turns and begins swimming away from the vessel.
KRAMER: AAH! AAGH!

After coming back from his dip in the Hudson:

JERRY: What'd she do?
KRAMER: I don't know! (building to a shout) But I woke up in the Hudson River in a SACK!! I think she drugged me, but she's a murderer and I'm calling the cops.

At Connie's apt. with the police:

KRAMER: (pointing) That's her, officer.
CONNIE: (shocked) Kramer! Oh my god, I thought you were...
KRAMER: (animated) What? Sleeping with the fishes? I guess I woke up!

Back to the rest of the ep:
Rob Schneider is hilarious as Bob, with his pointing and his subtle humor. It's just a great job. Then we have George and his Gatsby fixation of him, Jerry, Susan, and Hallie, in that order. He has to tell Hallie that Jerry is funny, loving every second that Jerry is having a good time with her with his sarcastic comment that she just bought her own dinner. Then an oft-quoted imitation of "Hanky... Others", with his "Friars", which will now also be repeated oft times. Jerry then notes about how he likes the crest as does everyone else, which leads us to 7:19 The Wig Master, where in the beginning of the ep he gets a blazer with a crest b/c of this. Then we get hilarious stuff with Bob winking at Elaine b/c he's got to have lunch with Mr. P, Jerry's comment to Elaine that he though he would be taller, Elaine's response later on that she can't handle Jerry's shananigans right now cuz of her work, Jerry feeding George about how he loves Hallie, when he didn't even talk to her, and Peterman's face when he overhears Elaine sexing it up for Bob. Hilarious stuff with "Agrabah!" as the Sandos' magic word, Italian mafia names of Connie, Tony, and Joey, then the Sandos brother not having a clue about the jacket, when they just performed the trick with it, and later clean it, their Nisht answer in the negative, and then closing the door on Jerry's face. Then we get our first shoelace convo between George and Susan b/c they have nothing to say to each other. Then Jerry inexplicably doesn't care that the object the 2 guys are carrying out of Kramer's place is a human body approximately the same size and shape as Kramer. Great Peterman moment with his "That kind of cruelty would be grounds for dismissal." Then we get the whole sour, desour, sweeten bit between Jerry and George, ending in another Gatsby wish by George. Great stuff with Pat Cooper and his dissing of George that he ain't in showbiz, Bob diving into Elaine's breasts (man I'd have given up red meat to be Schneider there), a follow up sour, sweeten, bitter, good connection to make Elaine deaf cuz she's there too at the show with Bob's earpiece, and we finish this bad boy up with a Jackie Chiles. Overall, a solidly hilarious ep, worthy of Top 25 status. Adam - Hilarious episode. Worthy of Top 50, and even Top 25 status. This episode is too good for words. Kramer is on fire in this episode. Never again will Kramer be on so much. What an episode, what an episode.


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

128."The Friar's Club" (March 7, 1996)

SUMMARY George fixes Jerry up with Susan's best friend. Jerry has to borrow a jacket at the Friar's Club, which he forgets to return; he thinks the Gypsies stole it. Kramer tries to sleep only twenty minutes at a time. Elaine thinks a coworker is pretending to be deaf to get out of work. George's wedding is delayed until June.

OF SPECIAL NOTE This episode has also been referred to as "The Gypsies."

DIRECTOR Andy Ackerman

TELEPLAY David Mandel

GUEST CAST Rob Schneider (Bob); Pat Cooper (Himself); Samantha Smith (II) (Hallie); Lisa Kushell (Connie); Robert Martin Robinson (Maltre d'); Norman Large (Detective); Peggy Lane (Waitress); The Flying Karamazov Brothers (The Flying Sandos Brothers)

RECURRING CAST Phil Morris (Jackie Chiles); John O'Hurley (J. Peterman); Heidi Swedberg (Susan)

Stats


2nd Siyum

Movie Spoofs
Singing in the Rain - (George dancing, swinging around the lamppost like in the famous scene in the movie, which I have never actually seen, the movie that is, but I've seen the scene a million times)

SNL Cast Members
Rob Schneider

Dates/Boyfriends/Girlfriends
JERRY
Hallie
Girls Who Broke Up With Jerry
Hallie - Soured
ELAINE
*Bob
Guys Elaine Broke Up With
*Bob - Dove into her breasts
KRAMER
Connie
Girls Kramer Broke Up With
Connie - Tried to kill him

Crazy Kramer Ideas
A restaurant that sells only peanut butter and jelly, called PB&J’s

Celebrities (*Real)
*Pat Cooper
Uncle Milty
David Steinberg


3rd Siyum

JERRY Get Out = 3 in 2:5 The Apartment, 6:16 The Beard, 7:18 The Friar’s Club

Full Script