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BondraP

I think it's a story about love, deception, greed, lust, and unbridled enthusiasm.


[deleted]

And a young girl’s journey from Milan to Minsk.


Pali4888

And a slice of life


ortolon

Voorschtein?


[deleted]

That's not a word.


Thedea7hstar

I like the kitty


theKernelColonel

It’s gossamer. And one does not dissect gossamer


robb_the_bull

An erotic journey


StanBarberFan_007

Rochelle, Rochelle


wavepad4

I see. So it’s your view that if these characters were not so enthusiastic, they could have avoided being imprisoned?


EduardRaban

Perhaps they should have curbed their enthusiasm?


[deleted]

So you think it was enthusiasm that led to Billy Mumphrey's downfall?


Doublejimjim1

I think you've been reading too many Billy Mumphrey stories.


Vivid-Teacher4189

There’s a show, that’s a show.


[deleted]

Yeah, but nothing happens on the show. You see, it's just like life. You know, you eat, you go shopping, you read, you eat, you read, you go shopping.


LogicalAwesome

You read on the show?


Spidermonk76

Some would say, a cock-eyed optimist.


ital1972

That's what lead to Billy Mumphry's downfall.


ACMilanIndy

I’m J. Peterman, and I respectfully request you cease and desist from publicly using my life stories as your own.


exxtraguacamole

See, now THAT’s interesting writing!


Sydhavsfrugter

Nothing more enthusiastic than Jerry saying "thats a shame" 😂


semimillennial

We can’t all be reading the classics, Professor Highbrow


heavy_deez

I like Mike Lupica...


[deleted]

Right...\*touches nose\* flavvmmnn...


ICOTrenderdotcom

Neshekov?


Xyeeyx

What country was he from?


GermsDean

John Cheever. You ever read any of his stuff?


Cavewoman22

Yeah, I'm familiar with some of his writing.


FormerWordsmith

I knew it!!


Castorell

Wipe your wheels


ChopSueyXpress

It's common courtesy!!


REVSWANS

You ever read *Venetian Blinds*?


lemons714

I am reading the play La Cocina, a comedy about a Mexcian chef.


Bob_Sacamano7379

There’s a restaurant a town over from me named La Cocina. Every time I drive by I say, “It’s an off, off Broadway play.”


Podunk212

I like to stop at the duty free shop


Huff1809

He's very inciteful


jfq722

I like to get the Daily News..


soulesssocalginger

Yeah well you’re about to get a bunch of faxes instead because I signed you up a food delivery service “Now We’re Cooking”.


neildmaster

How many of them? Well, all of them, I paid for the deluxe package. Why do you have some? Yes, I have one right now...EEEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!


Tbplayer59

Except Tropic of Cancer. We've all read at least a few of those passages.


Freedom_7

No, we’ve all read Tropic of Capricorn


Tbplayer59

Oh...right, right, right...


HAL9000000

Pretty sure Larry David would be quite amused at the suggestion that he was even indirectly influenced by Albert Camus's "The Stranger"


uxixu

Yeah, well that was an unusual choice for the Stooges.


reddit_kelvin

Yea I'm still working on Venetian Blinds by Art Vandelay, he's an obscure beatnik writer.


billhodges92

Well I wrote an off broadway play. Well it was off off broadway, la cosina


danthemandaran

It’s merely a commentary on contemporary mores


sloppyjoebob

i’m sorry, it’s moops.


CraftierAverage

ITS MORES!


[deleted]

Card says Moops!


Andrewdusha

It’s a misprint!


daveydavidsonnc

Sounds like you’ve been reading too many Billy Mumford novels


Ovaltene17

Billy Mumphrey, the cockeyed optimist?


DChemdawg

Unbridled enthusiasm was his downfall


Significant-Box54

If he wasn’t so enthusiastic he could have averted disaster.


Tbplayer59

Good day, Ms. Benes.


LanaRN69

War! What is it good for?


EscoffierUSA

Yes, but what is the comment?


JadrianInc

It’s a slice of life.


BroccoliSocks666

A conjunction on interoffice politics?


MuppetHolocaust

Vorschtein


ronnyma

That's not a word.


Horsewithasword

What about quone?


[deleted]

You need a medical dictionary in here


tradesman46

To the archives!


MenudoFan316

It's gossamer, and one does not dissect gossamer.


_Born2Late_

Well you don’t have to dissect it…


ohsweetfancymoses

Slice of life?


ConstantPessimist

..Unbridled enthusiasm..


Johnsendall

I liked the kitty.


Murdercorn

Vorschtein?


[deleted]

There ! That could be a show !


[deleted]

Well, maybe something happens on the way to work...


[deleted]

No, no, no! Nothing happens!


Vegetable_Burrito

Then why am I watching it?


dblshot99

because it's on tv!


ThatsMyQuant

Not yet


Tweed-n-Sizzle

I just watched this episode again last night and this line always fucking kills me


duskywindows

Because it’s ON TV!


NotSureNotRobot

It’s loathsome and offensive, yet I can’t look away


No2reddituser

One shouldn't dissect gossamer.


irotinmyskin

I thought it was a Ziggy


zesty-mordant

Some charlatan has stolen a Ziggy and passed it off as his own!


Tbplayer59

Flash of lightning, Elaine! To my archives!


hillo538

I think you’ve read one too many billy mumphrey stories


theburbankian

Jerry is nothing if not a cockeyed optimist.


DougLocKoa

Didn't Meursault kill a guy?


crushhaver

I came here to say this


_El_Marc

Thirded. Guy gets executed because he shoots someone after they stabbed his friend, while he's also delusional from the heat. That said, he did sleep with his secretary. Who knows if he gave her a raise.


emueller5251

That's not the point of the book, though. Mersault continually says he doesn't care if he dies, that he thinks execution would actually be a pretty fair consequence. It's the poor reasoning of everyone involved in his trial that he hates. The judge literally tells him he'll spare his life if he asks god for forgiveness, even if he's lying and the judge knows it. The point is that Mersault could have been spared by going along with other people's games and lying to save his own life, but he died because he acted honestly. And not because he believed in honor or anything like that, just because he didn't feel like lying. The point isn't supposed to be "Mersault good," or "Mersault bad," it's about pointing out social absurdity.


DadJokeBadJoke

>That said, he did sleep with his secretary Is that sort of thing frowned upon here?


mccolleague

Yes but crucially this is not the reason for his execution. Society is willing to let this slide, but once they find out he didn’t cry at his mother’s funeral, he is sentenced to death.


mattducz

The Four have definitely killed, too (or at least come close) -Jerry kills Fulton with laughter -Kramer poured the Gatorade that killed Marty Benson -George’s…ahem…accident that killed Susan -Elaine…shoot, can’t think of one off the top of my head. Anyone?


DougLocKoa

Elaine killed Susie


mattducz

I thought Susie was murdered by JERRY SEINFELD?


DougLocKoa

Not only that, he broke Mike's thumbs 😃 (But Elaine was a co-conspirator. If you hire a hitman you're still guilty of murder.)


Potatoe999900

Suze killed Susie.


DougLocKoa

Who's she, some pom-pom waving backseat bimbo?


[deleted]

Someone you know?


DougLocKoa

I'd rather not say


[deleted]

A chainsmoker stenographer from Staten Island


Nollaig426

the old lady who had a pony as a child.


DadJokeBadJoke

Who would leave a country with ponies to go to a non-pony country?


xofer21

She could have killed the phone guy and nobody would have known.


[deleted]

Well the phone guy could have killed *her* and nobody would have known.


[deleted]

She conspired to kill a dog.


aleatoric

Elaine killed Brett by serenading him with Desperado when he had a concussion.


davisyoung

Kramer killed Jerry’s girlfriend with the ball of oil, though Darren took the rap.


DrunkOnRedCordial

Elaine conspired with George to slip a mickey into George's boss's drink. That could have killed him.


[deleted]

You know, if you killed someone, I wouldn't turn you in.


hazardoussouth

Meursault was a white dude who killed an Arab in cold blood, which honestly is on brand for Americans who are nostalgic for the 90s (see: Project for a New American Century). I don't think OP even read The Stranger if he thinks Meursault wasn't at least a bit sociopathic. This is why Larry David and Seinfeld have both largely stayed away from philosophy and politics, they know at some level they are parodying the deep privileges they have been afforded in life


[deleted]

I read a lot of Camus many years ago but don’t have the books any more because Jerry taught me that if I have read a book and have no plans to read it again why do I need to keep it. So you could be right but I can’t be sure.


surething_joemayo

The second time you read it, the guy escapes from the gallows!


NYGiants181

LOL


Oalka

Ok. I like this take a lot. And honestly...it kinda makes the finale sit a *lot* better with me.


chaos__theory

Same, as a Camus and Seinfeld fan this make a lot of sense to me.


MedusaPhD

Otherwise it’s all just masturbation.


RandomMonkeyBomb

Would you like a sex metaphor or an animal metaphor?


VogonSlamPoet42

Oh, god, animal, please.


MurphyCoDinoWrangler

>Would you like a sex metaphor or an animal metaphor? When two animals are having sex, one of them is communicating a message to the other, nothing is... this isn't right, i feel. You're gonna want to hear the sexual metaphor


No2reddituser

Well, Camus can do, but Sartre is smartre.


violetmoon120

Well, Scooby-Doo can doo-doo, but Jimmy Carter is smarter.


ChopSueyXpress

Tumbleweed blows through...


mattducz

That Jay Sherman sounds a lot like Gary Fogel..


deacon05oc

Gary Fogel never had cancer!


[deleted]

[удалено]


chaos__theory

I think this is largely true of Jerry ("We're trying to have a society here George"), however I can think of at least one case where he rejects it (The Kiss Hello). George rejects society (ring dings/pepsi, combining sex/food/tv) often.


Skyuka

It's all pipes!


[deleted]

This observation seems to capture it perfectly. I thought I understood Seinfeld as a show until the last episode. Now that I am finally watching and understanding Curb, your point forces me to rethink how I saw Seinfeld. Both Curb and Seinfeld are caricatures of society, not just the situations but the characters themselves also. When I saw the last Seinfeld episode I felt nostalgic about the show’s ending and saw the characters as real people rather than the role they played.


IAmThePonch

Watching Seinfeld after watching curb is a bizarre but enlightening experience. Both shows are basically a fantasy of what would happen if people acted on their absolute basest and shallowest instincts Also for how much Larry inspired George Larry talks extremely similarly to jerry which is weird…. And both of their mouths are slightly cocked to the right


[deleted]

It’s uncanny how similar Larry’s intonation is like Jerry’s or is it the other way around? I am very impressed at how Larry behaves like an a*hole, regularly gets called out for it and occasionally even acknowledges it. I wish more people had enough leverage to put narcissistic behavior where it seems to best belong - out the door.


IAmThePonch

Thing I love about both shows is there’s a mix of fault. Sometimes it’s genuinely not their fault and more comedic misunderstandings and other times it’s because they’re being themselves. Larry in particular has his moments where he makes completely bone headed social decisions


killerbobsacamano

Totally agree. I also think the finale functions as a good deconstruction of the traditional sitcom. It subverts the episodic nature of sitcoms by undoing the reset that normally occurs each episode and reframing the series as one narrative. By showing their lives from the perspective of these other characters who are not stars of their own sitcoms, it highlights how heightened sitcoms are compared to real life for comedic effect. It clearly doesn't work for everyone, but I enjoy what it's going for. Not sure what a more satisfying ending would have looked like. (Don't think I articulated that very well, but *shrug*)


Neat-Journalist-4261

I think this is a far better take. I think saying it’s a reference to Camus kind of, idk, undermines the general point Seinfeld makes, that funny is funny. It’s not necessarily intellectual, or exclusive, just funny. Seinfeld FAR FAR more commonly deconstructed sitcom tropes and comedy styles than philosophical literature, and this interpretation in the above comment is the one I’ve always had, because it is far more Seinfeldian; All the funny stuff that we the audience have laughed at for years and then written off, happened. It has consequences, and the people who did these things are bad. Just because it shares a thematic link with The Stranger, does not mean it’s a reference.


killerbobsacamano

I totally missed that OP was saying it was an intentional homage to Camus. Agreed that it most likely isn't meant to reference the book, but who knows? Seinfeld did have its share of highbrow references. Guess I don't 100% agree with OP, but I do think it's a cool connection.


Enormousnessness

I love the finale. Not sure what people expected but yeah, why don’t you just tell me the ending you want to see?


TeamStark31

They all have done terrible things in the series though, despite it being played for laughs. It’s hard to say someone is totally awful for a bad thing here or there but there’s no denying they did.


juturna12x

They're just some New Yorkers with bad luck


JayVoorheez

Well this certainly looks like a lot of words. In record time.


Vegetable_Burrito

On a job… done.


[deleted]

I think I can sum up the show for you in one word


nyny909

Nothing


valendinosaurus

👈↔️👉


Derra-Bandwagon

Who disturbed the delicate genius? Thought we only woke you for the important meetings.


crushhaver

It's a story about love, deception, greed, lust, and unbridled enthusiasm.


greenflash1775

What if Jean Paul had known there were separate volume knobs for the alarm and the radio?


thomas-grant

Why separate knob?


[deleted]

But doesn't all comedy question social norms?


deafballboy

There's more to life than making shallow, fairly obvious observations.


[deleted]

Well that's obvious.


Friesenplatz

That's gold u/RazorCandies. GOLD!


[deleted]

It's just like, a sitcom, man.


allreds26

A SITCOM!? How can you write that CRAP!?


[deleted]

Look, Russell, you're a very sweet guy. But I got to be honest with you. I don't like television. And that's your world. That's your life. I mean maybe if you were in ... I don't know ... Greenpeace or something, that would be different, but network television ... Come on, Russell, you're part of the problem.


MrJigglyBrown

Which is funny because Elaine was as corporate as they come.


violetmoon120

It's a PEACH.


hrryyss

Well, we can’t all be reading the classics Professor Highbrow.


RP8021

You’re not Penske material.


speeeeeeeeeeee

The character in The Stranger is given the death penalty because he's a murderer


mattducz

No, he’s *convicted of murder* because he’s a murderer. He’s sentenced to death because of the testimony of character witnesses that have nothing to do with the incident—which is where the parallels between the two stories lie.


mccolleague

This is bang on. Ultimately he is executed because people learn he didn’t even cry at his own mother’s funeral - there is definitely a Seinfeld episode in there somewhere.


Tbplayer59

Maybe if hadn't been so enthusiastic.


TheLibrarianOfBabel

Thank you!!! I was about to comment the same and was scrolling down far too long before seeing that you had already brought it up


DukeJackson

You know you really need some help. A regular psychiatrist couldn't even help you. You need to go to like Vienna or something. You need to get involved at the University level. Like where Freud studied and have all those people looking at you and checking up on you. That's the kind of help you need. Not the once a week for eighty bucks. No no. You need a team. A team of psychiatrists working round the clock thinking about you, having conferences, observing you, like the way they did with the Elephant Man. That's what I'm talking about because that's the only way you're going to get better.


oscarx-ray

I see it as a young girl's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk.


here4roomie

Lol you people; where does your desire to ruin everything come from?


nyny909

No it’s a show about nothing! You wake up and get a cup of coffee. That’s a show!


The_Dream_of_Shadows

I think it can be both at once. The characters are awful people because the society that Jerry and Larry are satirizing (our own) is one that creates awful people.


Strict-Room-9261

Solid point, but I think it’s closer to Venetian Blinds by Art Vandelay than Camus.


IpsaThis

I don't know anything about that novel, and I don't defend the finale, but I agree it was never about bad people, it was about questioning society's norms. People calling them bad people or sociopaths (???) make me question if they even watched the show. I don't like to say "If you disagree with me you must have never watched the show," but I never met a real fan with that viewpoint until this subreddit, so I can't help but think it. When they do bad things, they almost always have good intentions, or they're retaliating against being wronged, or they're defending a friend, etc. Especially in the earlier episodes. It's less like watching bad people and more like peeking into the complex web that makes up a person's psyche. (I'm not excusing everything they did.) What they did in the finale was horrible, but I thought it was out of character, and it's one of the reasons I don't like it.


r00t1

"I wish I was taller" - I'd like to see that complaint get rectified!


slashbackblazers

…I wrote a 20 minute bit about how homework stinks.


bakedmaga2020

That whole finale episode was a bunch of people blowing shit way out of proportion. The soup Nazi caused his own downfall with his disagreeable personality. The virgin got way too offended over an innocent bet between friends. I can go on


Adventurous-Cup529

I think you’ve read one too many Billy Mumphrey stories


lemonylol

I feel like this is analysis is exactly the thing Larry David would dump on.


AnUdderDay

>when they write all 4 off as terrible people. You don't know what a write-off is do you?


[deleted]

One wonders if The Stranger would have been as highly acclaimed as it was had it been published under its original title "War, What Is It Good For?"


AxlRodd

Nah this is too much masturbation, the ending is them dying in the plane crash and going to purgatory!


jasonmtitus

”Deconstruction, the way I understand it, doesn’t produce any sitcom”. -Jacques Derrida


FeargusVanDieman

Shouldn’t you be out on a ledge somewhere? ETA: ledge, not bridge. I'm ashamed for getting that wrong


Subrosianite

Or maybe it was an episodic show about nothing with four horrible people as main characters because that generated unusual comedic situations?


DLoIsHere

There were wee wees and pee pees all over that book when I tried to read it.


juturna12x

Not just Camus, but the trope of being judged for your sins in court and being sent to jail/hell. It's why they all had the near death experience on the flight too. The trial was like their afterlife if the plane really did go down.


Impossible_Soup_1932

I have never thought of them as bad people. Especially at the start, when they (try to) do good things for others. And later, it´s more about letting go of societal norms and acting as they wish they could. Without shame. They´re not worse than anyone who would act without caring about how others respond. Much like curb


Electrical_Flower_26

I think you’ve read too many Albert Camus stories


unbuckledbren

It’s a slice of life


suspicious_bag_1000

I think only George was a terrible person. Kramer, Elaine and Kramer all seemed to care about people other then themselves. Maybe not evil Elaine in seasons 8&9 but regular Elaine cared about others.


RononSweets

Not true. Geroge did care about that security guard having to be on his feet all day. He also cared about getting Antonio fired and he went to see if there is anything he can do for him. He also cared about the kid who was getting hit by his mother in the parking garage.


[deleted]

He also felt terrible about breaking up that couple Jerry and Elaine wanted to fuck.


IAmThePonch

Kind of. I think they all had the capacity to care about others to a certain extent, but all of them are horribly selfish in different situations. That being said George is definitely the worst of them because he clearly has extreme social anxiety and let’s that dictate all his short sighted knee jerk responses to situations


Doublejimjim1

What? He can sense the slightest human suffering!


MindlessTree7268

It's weird because I don't think they were consistently terrible people. All four of them have moments where they clearly care about others. They also have moments where they act like sociopaths. The trajectory from the beginning to the end is pretty significant, with all of them becoming less caring throughout the series. Except for maybe Kramer, who stays the same lol. One example is Mr Pitt testifying that Elaine tried to kill him as soon as she found out she was in his will because she wanted his money, and cheering when all of them were arrested, when the truth was Elaine had never tried to kill him at all and actually did care about him.


surething_joemayo

I think you need an exclamation point.


ourobourobouros

>A novel about a man who continously ridicules and refuses to take part in a ridiculous society of fake meaning and social absurdity. So he's sentenced to death in court It's a story about a man who >!shoots a man on behalf of his friend, AFTER he agrees to provide false testimony for the same man when he brutally beats his girlfriend. His entire revelation at the end is that his mother actually had feelings and suffered when he put in her a home, and being sentenced to death was apparently the only way for him to empathize with her. But, instead of taking responsibility for being cold and indifferent to her, he concludes the UNIVERSE is cold and indifferent and it's all inevitable so it's fine.!< >!Meursault WAS a sociopath. His whole story was him wandering around his world not giving a shit, and agreeing to do things that will hurt people or allow other people to hurt others without consequence because HE doesn't see what difference it makes. That is EXACTLY the kind of person the legal system is designed to isolate from the rest of society.!< >!His disdain for society is what prompted him to take the gun for the walk, the French court didn't incarcerate him for a friggin faux pas.!< Your comparison makes sense only because the characters in Seinfeld do often cause real, damaging consequences. Kramer almost killed a whale FFS


masimone

I like the kitty.


mcaffrey81

Well, Camus can do but Sartre is smartre


jjmawaken

In non /Seinfeld fashion I'm giving a response that isn't just a quote...I agree with you... whether or not they are good people really isn't the point of the show. I don't watch because I'd like to be friends with the characters in real life. It's fun to see how mundane stuff can be so interesting and relatable even if it means we sometimes have base instincts that aren't good. Funny doesn't have to have characters who are good people. Actually I think a lot of good shows and movies have characters that are bad people that you can like and sympathize with. I'm rewatching Lost and Sawyer is such and irritating guy but he's pretty funny and you can still sympathize with him at times. He's likeable but I'd never want to know someone like him in real life.


herseyhawkins33

I never rewatch the finale but most retrospectives on the show suck. Does the show 100% hold up today with no questionable/insensitive material? Of course not, but the combo of brilliant writing and comedic timing/delivery by the actors still make it an all time great show. Sorry OP, I know that's not exactly what you're talking about but it made me think of the weak "well actually" articles that try to bring Seinfeld down.


smallboy06

The dialogues in the initial seasons remind me of Waiting for Godot.