The Face Painter

Another delight. It starts with Jerry's girlfriend who is an understudy in a Bette Midler musical. She breaks into tears at the end of Beaches. George's girlfriend works at the zoo. Kramer comes in and announces that he had a confrontation with a chimpanzee. The thing threw a banana peel at him and he threw it back at the monkey. The monkey went into depression. Now the zoo wants Kramer to apologize. He refuses but finally gives in in one of those great scenes. The other plot has to do with that idiot boyfriend of Elaine's. A guy gives Jerry Ranger tickets. This guy is a New Jersey Devils fan and paints his face. He is completely nuts. George tells the girlfriend he loves her but she has a bad ear, or so he thinks.

Season 6, Episode 22, "The Face Painter"

"The Face Painter" is an excellent episode, that relies almost entirely on Jason Alexander, who delivers one of his best performances as George Constanza. George has been becoming more and more of a jerkass as the series progressed, but on "The Face Painter" he's sympathetic as well.

He's not alone, though. Patrick Warburton reprises his role as David Puddy, and where his previous appearance on "The Fusilli Jerry" was pretty tame, this time he nails the character. His interactions with Elaine are hilarious, and set the pace for most of season 9 (on which he'd be used a bit excessively - though he's still one of the funniest actors on the show). Kramer is also hilarious in a pretty dumb and inconsequential but entertaining side-plot.