Elaine becomes the office skank and then the office Tina Turner, and then, thanks to Peterman, must get him off smack. George reads a book in the bathroom and can't get any money whatsoever for it, so he tries stealing another book and returning it, in order to get his money back. It would have worked had Jerry not ratted him out. Jerry only did so in order to get his Uncle Leo off the hook, who had stolen days before, and b/c of his priors (crime of passion), he would've gone to jail. Meanwhile, Kramer and Newman come up with an idea to have rigshaws in Manhattan and to have the homeless pull them. This of course fails, with one of the bums, namely Rusty, from 6:16 The Beard, where he was known as "Homeless Man". Kramer then must pull the rigshaw back uptown, and needs to rest, letting go of the rigshaw, causing Newman to go flying down the street into Elaine's rehabilitated fake boyfriend, Zach.
Our Commentary
This Top 50 ep just misses the Top 25. There are tons of hilarious stuff in this episode, starting with the most hilarious beginning part of an episode of all time of any television show. It's Kramer at his best, especially his holding the door so the guy won't come in and beat him up and his impersonation of Jerry doing his comic bit. Then we have a great spoof of Cape Fear, the entire rigshaw business is just awesome, office skank, ten names for opium by Peterman, Kramer and Newman in Jerry's bedroom, and that George's book is flagged but only by scanning the book with a computer, which makes sense, but then in typical Season Nine nutty fashion, Rebecca DeMornay steps in, corrects the pronunciation of her name, and then says it's flagged just by looking at it!!! Overall, hilarious episode. Adam - Great episode. Hilarious beginning, Jerry Hello, "and who is your Uncle" in a funny voice, this episode was great.
EPISODE GUIDE from Jerry Seinfeld: The Entire Domain by Kathleen Tracy
173."The Bookstore" (April 9, 1998)
SUMMARY George is forced to buy an expensive book after he reads it while using a bookstore bathroom. Jerry
catches Uncle Leo shoplifting and accidentally gets him arrested. Kramer and Newman hire homeless people for
their new rickshaw business. Elaine gets drunk at the office party and makes out with a guy.
DIRECTOR Andy Ackerman
TELEPLAY Spike Feresten; story: Spike Feresten, Darin Henry, and Marc Jaffe
GUEST CAST Jonathan Penner (Zach); Ted Rooney (Crichton); John Gries (Rusty); Sonya Eddy (Rebecca
DeMornay); Merrin Dungey (Cashier); Kevin Ruf (Security Guard); Heather Morgan (Server); Lauren Bowles
(Waitress); Mark Daniel Cade (Walter); Sloppy Joe (Hobo Joe)
RECURRING CAST Wayne Knight (Newman); Len Lesser (Uncle Leo); Barney Martin (Morty Seinfeld); John
O'Hurley (J. Peterman); Liz Sheridan (Helen Seinfeld)