In the unfortunately titled “Seinfeld” episode “The Cigar Store Indian” (December 9, 1993), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is forced to take the subway home from a dinner party with George (Jason Alexander) and his father Frank (Jerry Stiller). For reading material, she steals Frank’s TV Guide, an issue with NBC News anchor Al Roker on the cover. Elaine leaves the TV Guide on the train when she leaves, and a stalker (Sam Lloyd) finds it and fashions it into a bouquet.
The missing TV Guide leads to a string of comedic replacements. Frank noticed that his TV Guide would like it back, putting Elaine in a bind. Elaine’s and George’s friend Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) explains the predicament to his girlfriend Winona’s (Kimberly Norris), and she kindly offers her TV Guide as a replacement. There is a row over the TV Guide, however, as it has tzatziki sauce spilled on it on its way to Frank, and Frank no longer wants it. Later still, Winona, now angry at Jerry about another matter, wants her TV Guide back. By then, however, it’s too late to retrieve it from Frank. Jerry loses his girlfriend over the matter.
Elaine and Jerry then have to specially order an expensive replacement TV Guide to return to Frank, and take the subway to his place to present it to him. In the episode’s final scene, Al Roker himself sits down next to Elaine on the subway and begins flirting. It’s a surreal ending, with Al Roker symbolically emerging from the TV Guide cover. He is a manifestation of Elaine’s headaches.
Roker isn’t an actor, of course, but he was famous enough for a cameo on “Seinfeld.” Back in 1993, shortly before his episode was to air, Roker appeared on “The Today Show” to talk about his then-upcoming appearance and shared some behind-the-scenes interviews with viewers. He asked his co-stars for advice, and they were all hilariously flip. Alexander, however, gives a funny but weirdly useful piece of advice to Roker. One can fill a scene, he says, if he imagines someone nearby has just broken wind.
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Livin’ la vida Roker
Ricky reading a TV Guide to Elaine on a subway on Seinfeld – NBC
Roker, of course, is now best known for his stint as the weather reporter on “The Today Show,” although his 1993 episode of “Seinfeld” aired before that gig began. He was still known for his gregariousness, his smile, and his generally trustworthy nature. He was certainly a big enough TV celebrity to appear on the cover of a TV Guide. Although Roker was a natural in front of a camera, he wasn’t used to acting, and he turned to his “Seinfeld” co-stars for advice.
Seinfeld himself says, in a relaxed fashion, that acting “is really just pretending.” Technique, he says, or worrying about motivation, is anathema to performance, and that it’s easier and more effective to be natural. Roker notes, however, that Seinfeld is a comedian, and that Jason Alexander — a Tony winner — might be the better teacher. Alexander is flippant at first, saying that the best way to get to the end of a scene is to say to one’s self, “Please, God, don’t let me screw it up.” But then Alexander thinks of a piece of practical direction he could give to Roker, and it actually makes sense, even if it is a little rude. Alexander said:
“If the scene is essentially over, but the camera is still lingering, there’s going to be a moment when you don’t know what to play. And if you just play ‘Who Passed Wind?’ And it’s good for any situation. It covers everything. Someone could have said ‘Al, I love you.'”
Alexander demonstrated by shifting about his eyes, looking vaguely suspicious, but mostly inscrutable. And he was right. It’s a great way to fill a scene. One looks like they are being thoughtful, but one can totally see how Alexander is scanning for an errant fart. Roker had no reason to employ Alexander’s tactic. He mostly just smiles and gives a finger gun. But that is some good acting advice. Theater students, take note.
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