The Fire (Seinfeld)

"**The Fire**"
"The Fire"
Seinfeld episode
Episode no.	Season 5; Episode 20
Directed by	Tom Cherones
Written by	Larry Charles
Production code	520
Original air date	May 5, 1994
Guest appearances
	Melanie Chartoff as Robin; Veanne Cox as Toby; Dom Irrera as Ronnie Kaye; Jon Favreau as Eric the Clown; as Joanne; as Michael; Patience Cleveland as Old Lady; as Fireman; Jerry Stiller as Frank Costanza (voice, uncredited); Estelle Harris as Estelle Costanza (voice, uncredited);
Episode chronology
← Previous; "The Raincoats"	Next →; "The Hamptons"
	Seinfeld (season 5)
	List of episodes

"The Fire" is the 84th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld and the 20th episode of the fifth season.^[1] It originally aired on May 5, 1994, on NBC.^[1] This was the final episode to be written by Larry Charles. In this episode, Elaine's co-worker Toby annoys her with her enthusiasm and ruins one of Jerry's shows with well-meaning heckling, Kramer becomes a hero while saving Toby's severed pinky toe, and George exposes his own cowardice when he discovers a fire at a children's birthday party.

Plot[]

Kramer is at Pendant Publishing discussing his idea of a coffee table book about coffee tables with Elaine and her hyperenthusiastic co-worker Toby, whom Elaine can't stand. Kramer invites Toby to see Jerry's act, where she variously cheers, boos, and hisses him, thinking this to be part of the stand-up comedy experience. Out of consideration for Kramer, Jerry refrains from making any retort against her and becomes flustered, earning a bad review from a major magazine critic. George suggests that Jerry get the "ultimate comedian's revenge" by going to her place of work and heckling her in return.

George attends his girlfriend Robin's son's birthday party. He panics when a small fire breaks out in the kitchen and pushes down everyone in his path, including Robin's son and mother and an elderly woman with a walker, in his rush to get out. The clown, Eric, puts out the fire with his shoe. Disgusted by George's cowardice, Robin breaks up with him.

Jerry goes to Pendant Publishing and heckles Toby. Upset, she runs out of the building where her foot is run over by a street sweeper, severing her pinky toe. After an ambulance takes her away, Kramer finds the toe, boards a bus, and fights a gunman to get to the hospital, where her toe is successfully reattached. To Elaine's indignation, Toby receives a promotion that Elaine had wanted because her boss felt sorry for her because of the accident. Toby's first order of business is getting Kramer's coffee table book published.

Jerry convinces the critic to return to the comedy club to judge his performance again. Inspired by Kramer's heroic toe recovery, George approaches Robin at the club and asks for a second chance, saying he's changed. However, when he spots a prop comic holding a fake gun, he screams, panics and runs away, as he did with the fire, ruining Jerry's act.

Production[]

Writer Larry Charles said the episode was sparked by the mental image of George pushing women and children out of his way to escape a fire, and he built the rest of the episode off of this starting image.^[2] The Toby/Elaine rivalry was inspired by the office politics at a show next door to Seinfeld; one of the employees had lost a baby, and some of her co-workers were jealous of the attention their boss gave her because of this tragedy.^[2]

The voice that announces Jerry's name before he goes on stage is that of show co-creator Larry David.^[3] Robin was played by Melanie Chartoff, whom Larry David and Michael Richards knew from the time they worked on the short-lived sketch series Fridays. Jon Favreau made his first television acting appearance in this episode as Eric the Clown.

It was originally planned that Kramer's adventure in the bus would be filmed in action, and the resulting footage intercut with the scene in which he recounts what happened. However, the audience reaction to Kramer's monologue was so positive that the bus scene was deemed unnecessary.^[2] The sequence where he finds the toe and ices it inside a Cracker Jack box was filmed, but not used, and appears among the deleted scenes in the DVD release.

Legacy[]

The Season 5 DVD contains an animated rendition of Kramer's telling of the pinky toe story as part of Seinimation, a series of short animated bonus features on DVDs of the last four seasons, directed by Eric Yahnker.

References[]

^ ^a ^b "Seinfeld Season 5 Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Seinfeld Season 5: Inside Look - "The Fire" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005.
^ Seinfeld Season 5: Notes about Nothing - "The Fire" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005.

External links[]

"The Fire" at IMDb

[tvguide-1] "Seinfeld Season 5 Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved 2 December 2021.

[InsLook-2] Seinfeld Season 5: Inside Look - "The Fire" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005.

[3] Seinfeld Season 5: Notes about Nothing - "The Fire" (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. 2005.

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v t 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