S04E11 - The Contest
No: 51 | Season: 4 Episode: 11 | Air Date: 18-Nov-1992 | Production #411
Summary
George swears off doing 'you know' after being caught by his mother, causing her to throw her back out and ending up in the hospital. When Jerry proposes a contest to see who can go the longest without. Elaine and Kramer want in, but the four of them soon get into situations that test their will power to temptation.
Director and Writers
Director: Tom Cherones
Writers: Larry David
Quotes
Estelle: George... I'm huuunnnggry!
George: Hang on, ma, hang on.
George: I am king of the county. You?
Jerry: Lord of the manor.
Elaine: John F. Kennedy Jun-ya!
Kramer: So, you're still master of your domain.
Jerry: Yes. Yes I am. Master of my domain.
Marla: (sleeping with JFK Jr.) Oh, John. That was wonderful.
Jerry: (on Kramer's chance of winning the contest) You'll be out before the check comes!
Elaine: What happened?
Jerry: I told her about the contest.
Elaine: Ohh, boy, she's a whack-o.
Jerry: But the question is, are you still master of your domain?
Elaine: I'm queen of the castle.
Elaine: (angrily) He left with Marla, the virgin?!
Jerry: What happened?
Elaine: It was, uh, John John.
Jerry and George: Ohhhhh. John John.
Notes and Trivia
Although it is alluded to, the word "masturbation" is never once mentioned throughout the entire episode. The script originally did use the word but Seinfeld and David realized that the episode would be funnier and less controversial without it. Larry David also claims that if NBC had rejected the episode he would have quit. In fact, it is reported that NBC received only 31 complaints from viewers.
According to Larry David on the Season 4 DVD extras, the censors requested only one change to the script: the removal of the word "Snapple".
This episode was based on a real-life "contest" that Larry David had with friends that reportedly lasted several months. Apparently, Larry David won... just like George.
This episode marks the first appearance of George's mother Estelle.
When Kramer enters Jerry's apartment and says "I'm out", it is the 100th time Kramer enters Jerry's apartment starting from the first episode.
In the 2008 Emmys the scene where the gang create and start the contest, was in the Top 5 Memorable Moments.
This episode received an Emmy nomination in 1993 for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing in a Comedy Series.
George throwing the Tic Tacs on the bed for Estelle to eat so she would stop complaining was completely improvised by Jason Alexander. According to Jerry Seinfeld, this was not part of the script, and after Jason Alexander did it, Estelle Harris could not stop laughing for 20 minutes.
Is ranked no 1 episode by "TV Guide's Top 100 TV Episodes" of all time.
On the Letterman show, Julia Louis-Dreyfus admitted that the censors would not allow the cast to say the word "masturbation".
TV Guide named this episode, specifically the moment where Kramer says he's out, as the third funniest moment in TV history.
Tom Cherones won the Director's Guild of America Award for this episode.
Thanks to this episode, Seinfeld won the Emmy for best Comedy, Writing and Supporting Actor (Michael Richards).
When Elaine says, "And then there were three", she is making a reference to Agatha Christie's book "And Then There Were None," which was also published as "Ten Little Indians."
In the final episode of the series, George reveals that he cheated in the contest.
Goofs
When Jerry and Marla are making out on the couch and someone walks by the bathroom window in the background.
When the aerobics instructor tells Elaine that she made an impression on JFK Jr., Elaine grabs the aerobics instructor by the jacket, and the jacket begins to hang below the instructor's shoulder. In subsequent cuts, the jacket repeatedly changes position.
Cast
Jerry Seinfeld | Jerry Seinfeld |
Julia Louis-Dreyfus | Elaine Benes |
Michael Richards | Kramer |
Jason Alexander | George Costanza |
Estelle Harris | Estelle Constanza |
Jane Leeves | Marla |
Ilana Levine | Joyce |
Rachel Sweet | Shelly |
Andrea Parker | Nurse |
Ruth Cohen | Ruthie Cohen |