The Doorman

Loved this episode on the whole. I did not pick up any reference in the literature to the scene where Elaine is trying to "get their stories straight" regarding the couch robbery. Is that scene an homage to any known movie scene? Sounds a little like Jimmy Cagney or some other Film Noir classic. Anyone know if this has been identified.? Great scene!

Season 6, Episode 17, "The Doorman"

An interesting thought that just occurred to me: for a while there, Jerry replaced George as the show's Larry David stand-in. In this episode and in "The Kiss Hello" he gets himself into situations that would have felt right at home on a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode.

"The Doorman is another classic 6th season episode, fueled mainly by two supporting actors: Jerry Stiller is as great as ever as Frank Constanza, and stand-up comic Larry Williams is hilarious and menacing as the titular doorman. The four leads almost seem to play second fiddle to those two, but Jerry and Kramer both have their moments to shine. It's an excellent and irregular episode that fits right into the sixth season.

Let me start by saying that Jason Alexander has one of the greatest faces in the history of comedy. He is the master of the long take. In this episode Jerry goes to Elaine's boss's apartment building and gets into a conflict with the doorman. This escalates into a series of uncomfortable confrontations with the guy. He get totally into Jerry's head. In the second plot, George's father (Jerry Stiller) is separated from his mother. When George and Kramer see him without his shirt, they discover that he has huge breasts. Kramer, never missing a chance to get into a business, designs a "mansierre." A bra for men. While this is going on, George believe he has the breast gene and will face the same problem. Finally, while Jerry takes over for the doorman, a couch gets stolen. The next scenes are to die for.

In "The Doorman", Jerry unintentionally gets into a feud with Mr. Pitt's doorman, culminating with the lobby's couch being stolen and Jerry taking the blame. George's parents separate and Frank comes to stay with him. George tries to figure out how to get rid of him. Kramer & Frank come up with an idea to sell male bras and George begins to worry that male breasts might be hereditary.

Another classic episode, the mansserie is a Seinfeld reference that has transcended the show's airtime. I always love it when Kramer tries to get some type of entrepreneurial business going. I am not as big of fan of the doorman subplot but I have to admit that Larry Miller is perfect for the role.