| Series: | Seinfeld |
| Season: | 5 |
| Episode: | 12 |
| Production: | 512 |
| Director: | Tom Cherones |
| Guests: |
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| Episode List: | List of Seinfeld episodes |
| Prev: | The Conversion |
| Next: | The Dinner Party |
"The Stall" is the 76th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. It is the 12th episode of the fifth season, and first aired on January 6, 1994.[1] In this episode, Jerry tries to keep Elaine from finding out that his girlfriend Jane is the same woman she had a bathroom altercation with over a lack of toilet paper, while Kramer suspects Jane is a worker on a phone sex line.
In a movie theater restroom, Elaine, realizing her stall does not have any toilet paper, asks the woman in the next stall to give her some. The woman refuses, claiming she "can't spare a square". Annoyed by Elaine's continued pleas, the woman storms out and returns to her seat, and is revealed to be Jerry's girlfriend, Jane. Elaine returns to her seat next to her boyfriend Tony. Each woman vents about the stall incident to her date.
Jerry is fed up with Kramer using his phone to prank call phone sex lines. Elaine tells Jerry about the stall incident. He realizes the woman Elaine was bickering with was Jane and talks his way out of a double date with Elaine and Tony, since Elaine boasts that she will recognize the woman's voice if she hears it again. George idolizes Tony. Jerry thinks that Elaine dates Tony only because he is physically attractive, and that Tony is a "male bimbo", or "mimbo" for short.
Elaine calls Jerry on his buzzer to tell him she's coming up, while Jane is there. Jerry disguises Jane's voice by giving her many pieces of gum, muffling her voice. Tony invites George and Kramer to go rock climbing. During the climb, Tony falls when Kramer and George neglect to secure his rope. Elaine is worried about the possibility of damage to his face. George apologizes to Tony, who says that he does not want to see him anymore.
After being introduced to Jane, Kramer privately tells Jerry that he thinks Jane is "Erica", one of the girls on the phone sex line that he has been calling. Despite Jane's suspicious vagueness whenever discussing her job, Jerry does not believe him. Kramer makes a date with Erica to prove she is Jane. When Jane arrives at the coffee shop, she greets Jerry instead of Kramer, but Kramer and Jerry still accuse her. When she maintains that she only sells paper goods, Elaine recognizes Jane's voice. Jane excuses herself to the bathroom. Elaine runs past her, gathers all the toilet paper in the bathroom, and sits in one of the stalls waiting for Jane to ask for toilet paper. When she does, Elaine vengefully says that she "can't spare a square" and walks out with the toilet paper. Jane tells Jerry to never call her again. She says the same to Kramer, revealing that it was indeed her voice on the phone sex line.
Larry Charles got the idea for the toilet paper argument from a Dear Abby letter.[2] Actor Michael Richards said the episode contained one of his biggest regrets from Seinfeld. Immediately after filming, he realized that the rock climbing scene had great potential for physical comedy, which his performance neglected to tap into.[2]
The ending of "The Stall" was cut due to length constraints. The final scene had Elaine and Tony happily rock climbing together, with Tony's face completely healed. However, upon noticing a pimple on Elaine's face, Tony breaks up with her and leaves her stranded halfway up the mountain. The episode as broadcast leaves the Elaine/Tony plot unresolved.