Seinfeld: The Red Dot | Episode 29 Recap Podcast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTsTFTIvwJw Listen to the Podcast: Subscribe: Seinfeld Podcast in iTunes  |  Seinfeld Podcast RSS Feed In true Festivus fashion, Rob Cesternino and Akiva Wienerkur demonstrated their feats of strength by getting together to recap the next episode in the Seinfeld run, despite being smack dab in the middle of a busy Hanukkah and Christmas season. This time, they tackled “The Red Dot”, which was the 12th episode in season three, first airing December 11, 1991. Akiva pointed out that this episode was one of only a few with a holiday theme. There was some Seinfeld in the news this week, as Jerry did some standup on Jimmy Fallon where he talked about consolidating the excess junk in his house. Akiva is a big fan of this philosophy, while Rob would like to be able to do this, but just can’t bear throwing something out he might need later. Another bit of news this week was Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee posting another episode with Kramer playing the president of Crackle, which did not keep Akiva’s interest. Also, Rob went to a local Long Island bagel shop this week while visiting family that had a real soup Nazi vibe. Jerry’s opening standup was about the knife store in the mall, which fell a bit flat and didn’t really tie into the episode. The episode opens at a Pendant Publishing holiday party, where the real Mr. Lippman finally makes an appearance. Akiva noted that he was actually credited in the episode as Mr. Breckman. George and Jerry are there and debating how the Statue of Liberty was hauled to America. Jerry tells George not to say anything about Elaine’s new office fling, who also happens to be “off the wagon” as a recovering alcoholic. They then debate whether being sober is “on” or “off” the wagon, as George thinks it’s being “on the wagon” to be sober. When Elaine comes up to them, she tells George that there is a job opening as a reader that she has set him up with. Soon after, Dick, Elaine’s new fling comes up and has a cantankerous conversation with Jerry. Elaine has Jerry look after her vodka cranberry drink while she takes George to Mr. Lippman, but when Jerry sets it down, Dick walks off with that instead of his nonalcoholic version. He’ll later be seen pounding more drinks, falling completely off the wagon. Cutting to George and Elaine with Lippman, Lippman asks George who he reads, but George can only come up with a sports writer named Mike Lupica. Lippman wants to know more, so George makes up Art Vandelay, a beatnik writer from The Village. Akiva thought that George’s lies like this are some of the best running jokes throughout the series. In the next scene, George and Jerry are browsing a department store so George can get Elaine a thank you present for getting him the job. He notices a cashmere sweater marked down to $85 from $650, and only because there is a small red dot blemishing it. He tries to convince Jerry that the dot is not noticeable, but Jerry tells him he sees a cheap man holding a sweater trying to get away with something. Rob thought this sequence didn’t hold up with the rest of the plot. Akiva agreed, adding that George is too cheap to spend $85 on a present for anyone. Back at Jerry’s apartment, Elaine tells Jerry she thinks Dick is back off the wagon, and Jerry tells her she can be sure by seeing if she can smell it on him. Rob and Akiva debated whether you can smell alcohol on someone, determining that alcoholics go to great measures to mask the smell. When Kramer comes in, they ask him to take a drink of “Hennigans” Jerry has in his cabinet so they can see if he smells of it, which they determine they cannot.