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Post by sbtbfanatic on Oct 3, 2014 13:14:01 GMT
Jerry often said that his favourite part of the show was the one on one banter between Jerry and George - the Abbott & Costello style pure verbal humour. Much as I love Kramer, Elaine, Newman and everything else about the show, I think he had a point. What's your favourite Jerry & George conversation? I nominate the following exchange from The Ticket, where George (not for the first time) is ranting on about Ted Danson:
G: I can't live knowing Ted Danson makes that much more money than me. Who's he?
J: He's somebody.
G: What about me?
J: You're nobody.
G: Why him? Why not me?
J: He's good, you're not.
G: I'm better than him.
J: You're worse - much, much worse.
You just get so much pay-off from earlier conversations in that condensed little exchange, and it's performed superbly by the two protagonists. When Jerry says 'He's good, you're not', it absolutely slays me.
In so many of the pair's scenes, I love the way Jerry maintains an amused detachment from George, almost as though he's some kind of a circus act - give him a nudge here, and a poke there, and just watch him go!
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Oct 3, 2014 13:15:01 GMT
Their exchange in The Fix-Up, where George asks what Elaine's friend looks like, and Jerry has to try to answer every single question is absolutely hilarious. It's my favorite Larry Charles script, and that whole sequence is awesome.
The scene where George gets the idea for "a show about nothing" is pretty good as well. "People always say to me, 'You know, you're quite a character'".
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Oct 3, 2014 13:15:37 GMT
And of course, the aftermath of The Fire.
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Oct 3, 2014 13:16:39 GMT
I liked the time in the Virgin where George was trying to get an excuse to get out of talking to Dalrymple.
"My poor sister died. She was standing and then she was laughing and then they SHOT her! That's the kind of sick city that we're livin' in. They shoot you for laughing. I must go and comfort my poor family. Jerry, take me home so I can comfort my... my poor family."
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Oct 3, 2014 13:17:25 GMT
I liked that one too. Normally I wouldn't like a joke about someone trying to get out of something by lying about their sister dying, but they somehow made it funny.
Another great Jerry and George moment occurs in The Stakeout. This is a very early episode, but it's still great:
JERRY: If I see her, what do I say that I’m doing here in the building?
GEORGE: You came to see me. I work in the building.
JERRY: What do you do?
GEORGE: I’m an architect.
JERRY: You’re an architect?
GEORGE: I’m not?
JERRY: I don’t see architecture comin from you.
GEORGE: (somewhat annoyed) I suppose you could be an architect.
JERRY: I never said that I was the architect. Just somethin’ else.
GEORGE: All right, she’s not even gonna ask, if we see her, which is remote.
JERRY: Well whaddaya want me to say, that I just wandered in here?
GEORGE: We’re having lunch with a friend. He works in the building.
JERRY: What is his name?
GEORGE: Bert... Har... bin... son. Bert Har-bin-son.
JERRY: Bert Harbinson? It sounds made up.
GEORGE: No good? All right, uh how about Art... Cor.....
JERRY: Art Cor...
GEORGE: ...velay.
JERRY: Corvelay?
GEORGE: Yeah, right.
JERRY: Well, what does he do?
GEORGE: He’s an importer.
JERRY: Just imports, no exports?
GEORGE: (annoyed) He’s an importer/exporter, okay? (beat) Elaine ever call you back?
JERRY: No, I guess she’s still mad.
GEORGE: I don’t understand, you never talk to her about other women?
JERRY: Never. (The elevator door opens.) Wait a second. That’s her. On the right.
GEORGE: (anxious) I forgot who I am! Who am I?!
JERRY: You’re you. We’re having lunch with Art Corvelay.
GEORGE: Vandelay!
JERRY: Corvelay!
GEORGE: Let me be the architect! I can do it!
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Oct 3, 2014 13:17:59 GMT
In The Massesue when George wants to know if Jodie liked him.
George: "You hesitated?
Jer: "I was blowing on the coffee"
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Oct 3, 2014 13:18:12 GMT
Well, there are so many. This one from The Phone Message comes to mind:
Jer: "I got one problem. You're going to keep her busy in the other room. What if she somehow gets away from you, and is coming in? You have to signal me that she's coming."
George: "A signal, right. OK, OK. The signal is... I'll call out tippy toe!"
Jer: "Tippy toe? I don't think so."
George: "You don't like tippy toe."
Jer: "No tippy toe."
George: "All right... OK, I got it. I'll sing."
Jer: "What song?"
George: "Uhhh.. how do you solve a problem like Maria?"
Jer: "What is that?"
George: "Oh, it's a lovely song. (singing) How do you solve a problem like Maria-"
Jer: "You got anything else?"
George: "You pick it."
Jer: "Lemon Tree."
George: "Peter, Paul, and Mary."
Jer: "No. Trini Lopez. Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower..."
George: "OK. You got the tapes?"
Jer: "Standard. Micro."
George: "How do you feel? Confident?"
Jer: "Feel good."
George: "You nervous?"
Jer: "Not at all."
George: "Get up, get up, that's her! Oh, the hell with this! I'm scared to death! Just walk away! It's off! Cancel everything! Go!"
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Oct 3, 2014 13:19:18 GMT
Oh yeah. Some great stuff there. The Fix-Up scene is pure genius, and one of the reasons why it makes my all-time favourite eps shortlist. A pinkish hue!
Some other great ones I've seen again recently include the whole menage-a-trois storyline (surely one of Costanza's finest hours) in The Switch - the conversations in the coffee shop and in Jerry's apartment. The whole military planning around the operation is superbly done, and the plan George finally comes up with elevates stupidity to truly sublime heights. Also the 'pact' dialogue in the coffee shop, from The Engagement, is a cracker . . . 'like I don't know I'm pathetic!'
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Post by sbtbfanatic on Oct 3, 2014 13:20:58 GMT
My favourites (well, that i can think of off-hand) are; the one, i think in 'The Apartment' where Jerry describes to George what an idiot he is, and George asks him to have some respect, for he is Costanza, lord of the idiots!
And of course, The Race, in the coffee shop where they pretend not to know each other....after George has been having a dig at Jerry's act and how it strikes him that everybody is doing that sort of comedy these days...Jerry takes a pause then says 'boy, you really went bald there, didn't you'
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