The Voice (Seinfeld)

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Voice
Series = Seinfeld


Caption = George in his office.
Season = 9
Episode = 158
Airdate = October 2, 1997
Production =
Writer = Alec Berg & Jeff Schaffer & David Mandel
Director = Andy Ackerman
Guests =
Episode list = List of "Seinfeld" episodes
Season list = Infobox Seinfeld season 9 episode list
Prev =
Next =

"The Voice" is the 158th episode of the NBC sitcom "Seinfeld". This was the 2nd episode for the 9th and final season. It aired on October 2, 1997.

Plot

George's employer wants to get rid of him, since they now know he isn't really handicapped and they don't like him. He has a one-year contract with Play Now, which he will exploit by meeting only the most basic requirement of showing up for work every day.

Jerry and George mock the sounds that Jerry's girlfriend Claire's stomach makes during the night chiefly by saying "helloooo" in a loud, booming voice. Jerry envisions the belly button as the mouth and the sound the stomach makes its voice. Because of the "bump-into," Jerry tells Elaine that she is destined to backslide into her relationship with David Puddy. She bets him $50 that she won't. The next day Jerry discovers that Elaine didn't go home last night. He accuses her of seeing Puddy. She says the sex they had was an isolated incident. Jerry agrees, but since the dinner they also had was more of a commitment, he demands that she pay up.

Kramer is tired of seeing all his ideas implemented before he has a chance to implement them himself. He contends that all the little day to day incidental things keep getting in his way and prevent him from realizing his ideas. He gets an intern from New York University, Darin, to help him out with Kramerica Industries, the corporation he had previously set up to develop some of his ideas. With this help he'll be freed from those day to day activities and be able to develop his ideas, such as the oil tanker bladder.

Meanwhile, George is fighting the siege mentality that he is encountering at work and Elaine just can't get Puddy off her mind. No matter what the obstacle, George endeavors to occupy his office. Jerry tells Claire about the voice and she leaves him. The university takes Kramer's intern away from him, pointing out that Kramerica Industries consists of only "a solitary man with a messy apartment which may or may not contain a chicken". Kramer replies, "and with Darin's help, we'll get that chicken." Claire says they can get back together if he won't do the voice ever again, but he decides he prefers the voice. To Jerry's great disappointment, however, everyone is tired of the voice. Elaine pays up and they decide on a double or nothing bet. The intern comes back on his own because he believes in Kramerica.

Play Now tries to negotiate with George, but he won't give in. Later, he offers his office and one of their rubber balls to allow Kramer to test his oil bladder idea. The big test takes place at George's workplace where Jerry plans to meet Claire. They try to warn her about the falling rubber ball of oil, but all she hears is the voice from Jerry.

The lawsuit that is filed by Claire puts Play Now out of business and George out of his contract. Kramer somehow manages to shift the blame to Darin, whom he claims will be 'going away for a "very" long time...' The incident makes the voice popular among the gang again, and Elaine realizes she wants to be with Puddy, although he wants to break up. This episode was originally going to be titled "The Backslide."

Trivia

*The basis of the talking stomach was Seinfeld writer Spike Feresten's real life experience of imagining his girlfriend's ass talk to him while she slept. He recounted the idea to his fellow writers on Seinfeld, where the ass's voice became something of an inside-joke. He told his girlfriend this, and her reaction was much like Clarie's in the episode. After the writing staff decided to incorporate it into an episode, Seinfeld decided to change it to her stomach talking to her, so that it wouldn't appear to be simple "body humor." Seinfeld later commented that he wished they had kept it as a talking ass.

*The scene where Jerry was making a decision between being with Claire, or having the inside belly button joke pays homage to what looked like the same scene in "The Invitations" and "The Engagement".Fact|date=April 2008