The Comeback

"The Comeback" is the 147th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. This was the thirteenth episode of the eighth season, originally airing on January 30, 1997. The episode was written by Gregg Kavet & Andy Robin and was directed by David Owen Trainor. In the episode, George Costanza goes to great lengths to deliver a retort (the eponymous comeback) to a coworker that he thought of too late to deliver on the spot (a phenomenon described by the French expression l'esprit de l'escalier). Jerry Seinfeld learns the proprietor of a tennis pro shop is a bad tennis player. After seeing a movie, Cosmo Kramer decides he needs a living will. Elaine Benes has a tragic romance with a video rental shop worker who shares her taste in movies. Plot George's coworker Reilly notices him stuffing himself with shrimp cocktail at a meeting and remarks: "Hey George, the ocean called; they're running out of shrimp." After the meeting, George thinks up a comeback: "Well, the Jerk Store called, and they're running out of you." He becomes obsessed with recreating the encounter so that he can make use of this comeback, despite Jerry, Elaine and Kramer all telling him that the comeback makes no sense.