The Fusilli Jerry

"**The Fusilli Jerry**"
"The Fusilli Jerry"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 6; Episode 21
Directed by	Andy Ackerman
Story by	Marjorie Gross & Jonathan Gross and Ron Hauge & Charlie Rubin
Teleplay by	Marjorie Gross
Production code	619
Original air date	April 27, 1995
Guest appearances
	Jerry Stiller as Frank Costanza; Estelle Harris as Estelle Costanza; Patrick Warburton as David Puddy; Marla Sucharetza as Nancy Klopper; Lou Cutell as Dr. Howard Cooperman; Yvette Cruise as Clerk; Jeff Coopwood as Security Guard; Judith Shelton as Sally; Apollo Dukakis as Dr. Bakersoll;
Episode chronology
← Previous; "The Doodle"	Next →; "The Diplomat's Club"
	Seinfeld season 6
	List of episodes

"The Fusilli Jerry" is the 107th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This is the 21st episode of the sixth season.^[1] It aired on April 27, 1995.^[1] In this episode, Jerry falls out with David Puddy for stealing his move during sex, only to deprive Elaine of sexual pleasure and himself of a trusted mechanic. Kramer gets issued the license plate "ASSMAN", and makes a pasta sculpture of Jerry.

Since its release, "The Fusilli Jerry" has seen positive critical reception and has appeared on rankings of the best Seinfeld episodes.

Plot

Kramer is due to pick up new license plates, but, in a mix-up, the Department of Motor Vehicles issues the vanity plate "ASSMAN" in his name.

Elaine is dating David Puddy, Jerry's friend and "the only honest mechanic in New York". During sex, Puddy performs a move that Jerry is known for using. Having told Puddy this move himself, Jerry feels betrayed. George, unable to pleasure his girlfriend Nancy, is in need of Jerry's move; Jerry instructs George in meticulous detail, and expects him to do the move justice.

On a whim, Kramer makes a miniature sculpture of Jerry out of fusilli. He suspects that ASSMAN is proctologist humor, since hilarious, improbable cases of rectal foreign bodies abound in their line of work. This gives Jerry ideas for where he would like to put Kramer's sculpture.

Jerry calls out Puddy for stealing his move; Puddy insists he could have thought it up himself, but loses enthusiasm for the move, to Elaine's dismay. Helping George pick up Estelle from a clinic after her eye job, Kramer gets away with using staff parking by passing off his car as a proctologist's. Driving back, he brakes hard and reaches out to brace Estelle, just short of touching her breast.

Jerry takes his business to a different mechanic, who gives him an inflated repair estimate. Elaine is underwhelmed by Puddy debuting a "new move", which George recognizes as his own. A phone number left on Kramer's windshield turns out to be from a big-bottomed woman.

After botching Jerry's move once, George aces it, giving Nancy an eye-opening experience—but she is disgusted that he needed crib notes. Elaine gets Jerry a new estimate from Puddy during pillow talk; seeing the difference, Jerry, valuing a good mechanic over sex, yields his move to Puddy. Estelle smugly assumes Kramer was wooing her by "stopping short", but Frank is incensed that Kramer used his own renowned move from forty years ago on his wife. Frank picks a fight with Kramer, but falls on the fusilli Jerry, jamming it up his rectum.

Frank takes his improbable case to a proctologist, who turns out to be the rightful owner of the ASSMAN plates. Estelle, learning of Frank's ordeal, sheds tears of relief, ruining her eye job.

Production

"The Fusilli Jerry" had a large number of writers. Marjorie Gross and her brother Jonathan came up with the Jerry, George, and Elaine stories; Ron Hauge and Charlie Rubin came up with the license plate story; and Marjorie Gross wrote the actual teleplay.^[2] The writers had not intended for David Puddy to be funny himself, only to serve as a foil to Elaine, and so were impressed with how funny Patrick Warburton made the character in his audition.^[3]

The sequence where Frank Costanza falls on "Fusilli Jerry" required numerous takes, with actor Jerry Stiller making a different vocalization of pain on each take.^[3] Throughout the scene Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who played Elaine, had to dig her fingernails into her skin to keep from breaking out into laughter at Stiller's performance; she can be seen doing this in the finished episode when Stiller first comes in.^[4]

Reception

"The Fusilli Jerry" has generally attracted positive reception from critics. In 1995, John P. McCarthy of Variety said of the episode, "Only Seinfeld could deal with proctology, lovemaking techniques and corkscrew pasta in the same half-hour, and with hilarious results."^[5] David Sims of The A.V. Club called the episode "the 'classic' episode of season 6, the episode with tropes everyone remembers, much like 'The Puffy Shirt' of season 5, 'The Contest' of season 4 and so on and so forth." Sims also praised the clever intersection of the episode's plotlines as well as Kramer's story arc, dubbing the episode the "best Kramer episode ever."^[6]

Rolling Stone named the episode one of the "10 Seinfeld Episodes You Forgot You Loved" that gets "unfairly overlooked."^[7] Vulture named "The Fusilli Jerry" the fourteenth best Seinfeld episode, praising the "brilliant way" Kramer stops short on Estelle Costanza as well as the introduction of David Puddy.^[8]

Callback

In the Seinfeld episode "The Understudy," Kramer gives Bette Midler a "Macaroni Midler" and Frank stops short with his ex-lover from his time in Korea. Calling back to this episode's "Fusilli Jerry" and "stopping short".^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b "Seinfeld Season 6 Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
^ Seinfeld Season 6: Notes about Nothing - "The Fusilli Jerry" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005.
^ ^a ^b Seinfeld Season 6: Inside Look - "The Fusilli Jerry" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005.
^ Alexander, Jason; Louis-Dreyfus, Julia (2005). Seinfeld Season 6: Audio Commentary - "The Fusilli Jerry" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
^ McCarthy, John P. (April 28, 1995). "Seinfeld the Fusilli Jerry". Variety. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
^ Sims, David (July 14, 2011). "Seinfeld: "The Fusilli Jerry"/"The Diplomat's Club"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
^ ^a ^b Eliscu, Jenny (May 11, 2020). "Stopping Short: 10 'Seinfeld' Episodes You Forgot You Loved". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
^ Fitzmaurice, Larry (September 1, 2021). "All 169 Seinfeld Episodes, Ranked From Worst to Best". Vulture. Retrieved September 27, 2022.

External links

"The Fusilli Jerry" at IMDb

[tvguide-1] "Seinfeld Season 6 Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved December 10, 2021.

[2] Seinfeld Season 6: Notes about Nothing - "The Fusilli Jerry" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005.

[InsLook-3] Seinfeld Season 6: Inside Look - "The Fusilli Jerry" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005.

[4] Alexander, Jason; Louis-Dreyfus, Julia (2005). Seinfeld Season 6: Audio Commentary - "The Fusilli Jerry" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

[variety-5] McCarthy, John P. (April 28, 1995). "Seinfeld the Fusilli Jerry". Variety. Retrieved November 18, 2019.

[6] Sims, David (July 14, 2011). "Seinfeld: "The Fusilli Jerry"/"The Diplomat's Club"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved November 18, 2019.

[rs_10_overlooked-7] Eliscu, Jenny (May 11, 2020). "Stopping Short: 10 'Seinfeld' Episodes You Forgot You Loved". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 27, 2022.

[8] Fitzmaurice, Larry (September 1, 2021). "All 169 Seinfeld Episodes, Ranked From Worst to Best". Vulture. Retrieved September 27, 2022.

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v t e Seinfeld episodes
Season 1	"The Seinfeld Chronicles" "The Stake Out" "The Robbery" "Male Unbonding" "The Stock Tip"
Season 2	"The Ex-Girlfriend" "The Pony Remark" "The Jacket" "The Phone Message" "The Apartment" "The Statue" "The Revenge" "The Heart Attack" "The Deal" "The Baby Shower" "The Chinese Restaurant" "The Busboy"
Season 3	"The Note" "The Truth" "The Pen" "The Dog" "The Library" "The Parking Garage" "The Cafe" "The Tape" "The Nose Job" "The Stranded" "The Alternate Side" "The Red Dot" "The Subway" "The Pez Dispenser" "The Suicide" "The Fix-Up" "The Boyfriend"† "The Limo" "The Good Samaritan" "The Letter" "The Parking Space" "The Keys"
Season 4	"The Trip"† "The Pitch" "The Ticket" "The Wallet" "The Watch" "The Bubble Boy" "The Cheever Letters" "The Opera" "The Virgin" "The Contest" "The Airport" "The Pick" "The Movie" "The Visa" "The Shoes" "The Outing" "The Old Man" "The Implant" "The Junior Mint" "The Smelly Car" "The Handicap Spot" "The Pilot"†
Season 5	"The Mango" "The Puffy Shirt" "The Glasses" "The Sniffing Accountant" "The Bris" "The Lip Reader" "The Non-Fat Yogurt" "The Barber" "The Masseuse" "The Cigar Store Indian" "The Conversion" "The Stall" "The Dinner Party" "The Marine Biologist" "The Pie" "The Stand In" "The Wife" "The Raincoats"† "The Fire" "The Hamptons" "The Opposite"
Season 6	"The Chaperone" "The Big Salad" "The Pledge Drive" "The Chinese Woman" "The Couch" "The Gymnast" "The Soup" "The Mom & Pop Store" "The Secretary" "The Race" "The Switch" "The Label Maker" "The Scofflaw" "The Highlights of 100"† "The Beard" "The Kiss Hello" "The Doorman" "The Jimmy" "The Doodle" "The Fusilli Jerry" "The Diplomat's Club" "The Face Painter" "The Understudy"
Season 7	"The Engagement" "The Postponement" "The Maestro" "The Wink" "The Hot Tub" "The Soup Nazi" "The Secret Code" "The Pool Guy" "The Sponge" "The Gum" "The Rye" "The Caddy" "The Seven" "The Cadillac"† "The Shower Head" "The Doll" "The Friar's Club" "The Wig Master" "The Calzone" "The Bottle Deposit"† "The Wait Out" "The Invitations"
Season 8	"The Foundation" "The Soul Mate" "The Bizarro Jerry" "The Little Kicks" "The Package" "The Fatigues" "The Checks" "The Chicken Roaster" "The Abstinence" "The Andrea Doria" "The Little Jerry" "The Money" "The Comeback" "The Van Buren Boys" "The Susie" "The Pothole" "The English Patient" "The Nap" "The Yada Yada" "The Millennium" "The Muffin Tops" "The Summer of George"
Season 9	"The Butter Shave" "The Voice" "The Serenity Now" "The Blood" "The Junk Mail" "The Merv Griffin Show" "The Slicer" "The Betrayal" "The Apology" "The Strike" "The Dealership" "The Reverse Peephole" "The Cartoon" "The Strongbox" "The Wizard" "The Burning" "The Bookstore" "The Frogger" "The Maid" "The Puerto Rican Day" "The Chronicle"† "The Finale"†
† Indicates two-part episode