"The Stand In" is the 80th episode of the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcom '' Seinfeld''. This was the 16th episode of the fifth season. It aired on February 24, 1994. In this episode, Jerry struggles to get a hospitalized friend to laugh,

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

persists in dating a woman he doesn't like to avoid being perceived as unable to commit, and Kramer encourages his friend

Mickey Abbott This is a list of characters who appeared on '' Seinfeld''. This list features only characters who appeared in multiple episodes; those that appeared in only one are not included here. Primary characters Jerry Seinfeld George Costanza Elain ...

to wear lifts in order to keep his job as a stand-in.

Plot

Riding on a bus, Jerry and

meet a friend, Al Netche, who tells them another friend, Fulton, is in the hospital, and has asked Jerry to visit him as he "needs a good laugh." Jerry visits Fulton and tells a story about a guy named "Pachyderm" juggling hot pizza slices, but Fulton never laughs. George has nothing to talk about with his girlfriend, Daphne, and wants to break up. Daphne tells George that Al advised her to end the relationship as George doesn't commit and will end up hurting her. George postpones the breakup in order to prove Al wrong. Kramer gets a job as a stand-in in the series '' All My Children'', along with his friend

, a little person. Mickey is worried about keeping his job as the child actor he stands in for is going through a

growth spurt Human height or stature is the distance from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head in a human body, standing erect. It is measured using a stadiometer, in centimetres when using the metric system or SI system, or feet and inches when u ...

. Kramer suggests Mickey use lifts to increase his height. Mickey reluctantly agrees. Jerry sets up a date for Elaine with his friend, Phil Totola. The date is ruined when Phil abruptly flashes his genitals. When he bumps into Phil at the hospital, Jerry drops hints that such exposure is offensive, but they seemingly go over Phil's head. Mickey plans to date Tammy, a little woman. Johnny Bigiano, another little person stand-in who envies Mickey, breaks into Mickey's

locker A locker is a small, usually narrow storage compartment. They are commonly found in dedicated cabinets, very often in large numbers, in various public places such as locker rooms, workplaces, elementary schools, middle and high schools, tran ...

and finds the lifts. Mickey is ostracized by the other little people. As Tammy leaves with Johnny, Mickey angrily attacks Kramer. Jerry feels added pressure to be funny after his visit to the hospital coincides with a deterioration in Fulton's condition. He offers to do his act with new material. Jerry is so funny that Fulton dies from laughter. To George's relief, Daphne says that she met another person: Jerry Persach, nicknamed "Pachyderm.”

Production

Larry David Lawrence Gene David (born July 2, 1947) is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the television sitcom ''Seinfeld'', on which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seve ...

got the idea for the Mickey Abbott plot when he noticed how many little people worked as stand-ins for child actors (little people are preferred over children as stand-ins because children cannot legally work as many hours a day as adults). Michael Richards recalled being immediately excited by his work with Danny Woodburn, the actor who plays Mickey, due to the chemistry between their two characters. In the scene where Mickey attacks a seated Kramer, Richards wore a back brace and padding so that he could take a full fall without injury. A man exposing his penis on a date was drawn from a real date staff writer

Carol Leifer Carol Leifer ( ; born July 27, 1956) is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actress whose career as a stand-up comedian started in the 1970s when she was in college. She has written many television scripts including ''The Larry Sanders ...

had.

Reception

David Sims of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' gave the episode a B grade saying: " he episodeis not a great episode, especially considering Larry David wrote it, but it's got some very impressive touches, and Phil Totola's dick move (pardon the pun) is one of them".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stand In, The Seinfeld (season 5) episodes 1994 American television episodes Television episodes written by Larry David