Nobody may ever accuse the Nineteen Nineties sitcom “Seinfeld” of being a present for the book-averse jocks of the world, however in season 8 the collection took its nerdiest flip of all within the episode “The Bizarro Jerry.” Within the episode, which is simply among the many finest “Seinfeld episodes of all time,” Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) agrees to hang around along with her ex-boyfriend, Kevin (Tim DeKay), and two of his mates. They find yourself being the whole opposites of her different ex-boyfriend, Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), and his two finest mates, George (Jason Alexander) and Kramer (Michael Richards). When Elaine tries to debate the entire freaky expertise with Jerry, he instantly turns to his love of “Superman” to clarify it in a really comedian e book manner: she’s met the bizarro variations of her mates! In the long run, Bizarro Jerry, Bizarro George, and Bizarro Kramer even get to fulfill their alternates in one of many present’s extra surreal (however hilarious) moments.
It seems that the entire purpose that the present was capable of discover the bizarre concept was due to the way in which writing episodes modified after collection creator Larry David left the present, giving collection writers an opportunity to deal with ideas that may not have gotten previous his very specific eye. Author David Mandel pushed for his “bizarro” concept, impressed by a “Superman” villain, and the remainder is sitcom historical past.
Seinfeld’s love of Superman made a Bizarro storyline really feel pure
Each the character of Jerry and the real-life Jerry Seinfeld are large followers of Superman, and Mandel revealed that Seinfeld performed a serious function in bringing the Bizarro Jerry episode to the display:
“In fact, there had been Superman references on the present as a result of Jerry was a Superman fan, so after I pitched the idea of the Bizarro Jerry, Jerry was throughout it. He knew what it was and liked it and he noticed why that will be humorous. I all the time give him credit score as a result of he was the one to say ‘take it additional.’ It is due to Jerry that there is that ending scene of the present the place they really speak in Bizarro-speak.”
Bizarro Superman was created by Otto Binder and George Papp within the 1958 comedian “Superboy” #68, and the character has had a unusual and convoluted historical past. He’s the shadow model of Superman and is his evil reverse, very like the mirror variations of characters in “Star Trek,” though as an alternative of tell-tale facial hair to depict his evil, Bizarro Superman is a grizzled, grey model of his alternate self. Bizarro-speak is simply talking in reverse (assume the individuals within the purple room in “Twin Peaks” or simply backmasking basically, just like the credit of “It is At all times Sunny in Philadelphia”), however it does sound actually eerie and added one other nerdy stage to the episode. Whereas the Bizarro variations of the blokes had been only a one-off bit, they had been a pleasant method to deliver a few of Seinfeld’s real-life love for comics into the present.
The episode was additionally a dig at sitcom competitor Buddies
There was one other inspiration behind “The Bizarro Jerry,” in accordance with Mandel, and it wasn’t as heart-warming as Seinfeld’s love for Superman. He stated that the concept for Elaine to fulfill a man who needed to be mates after breaking apart was partially impressed by the success of the collection “Buddies,” which was airing on the similar time interval on the identical community. Mandel elaborated, saying that he was shocked there was a present referred to as “Buddies” in any respect as a result of he could not think about wanting new mates at his age:
“I do know for me, I do know rather a lot of individuals, however the individuals I contemplate ‘mates’ are individuals I’ve recognized for a lengthy time. I do not want any f***ing mates. I am good. And the ‘Seinfeld’ characters, they’re good. They do not want it or need it.”
That implies that whereas the Bizarro variations of Jerry and the gang are very nice individuals who attempt to be pleasant, they only do not match with the acerbic crew that they are mirroring. They find yourself wanting slightly foolish consequently, which is a dig at “Buddies” courtesy of Mandel. Oddly sufficient, “Seinfeld” and “Buddies” technically exist inside the similar canonical universe due to slightly present referred to as “Mad About You,” so it is doable that the gang may have crossed paths with the buddies from “Buddies,” theoretically. Simply imagining George and Chandler (Matthew Perry) making an attempt to out-neurotic each other is sufficient to make an individual anxious, so possibly it is a good factor that by no means occurred…
Oh effectively. We’ll all the time have Bizarro Jerry.