Who doesn’t love some good advice? Maybe you’d turn to your parents, perhaps a close friend, or even a stranger who’ll publish your problems in a magazine. Yes, when seeing a clairvoyant seems a bit much seeking the wisdom of an advice columnist is the next best thing. And one person who sorely needed advice was Jerry Seinfeld.
Long talkers, puffy shirts, marble rye, re-gifting, shrinkage, anti-dentites, these are problems that the average joe struggles with on a daily basis, one that was celebrated by the show about nothing. In fact, the mundane problems that Seinfeld presented are so average that one episode’s plot was used to troll one American advice columnist.
Responding to a query to her column Ask Amy, Amy Dickinson was tricked into responding to what was simply the plot from the Seinfeld episode The Boyfriend. Writing under the name ‘Feeling Foolish’, the person assumed the character of Jerry posing to Dickson that a famous sports star was using him to date his ex-girlfriend. You can ready the query below.
“Dear Amy: I recently ran into a famous local sports figure at my gym. I didn’t want to bother him, but much to my surprise he approached me. Turns out he knew me from my profession. He asked if I wanted to go out for coffee, and we exchanged numbers. A few days later we had coffee, and I thought it was pretty cool that he considered us friends.
“Then everything changed. He told me he was interested in taking out a woman we ran into. She is my ex-girlfriend and we’ve remained good friends. He asked me a couple of times if I wouldn’t mind if he asked her out. I reluctantly said no. I made plans with him, and then after talking to my ex I found out that he ditched our plans to go out with her.
“The next day he called me and asked if I could help him move some furniture. I barely know the guy, next thing he will be asking me to drive him to the airport. Two friends of mine warned me not to trust this guy. What’s the deal – am I being too rash or should I dump the guy as a friend? – Feeling Foolish”
In case you haven’t seen this two part episode of the classic comedy, major league baseball star Keith Hernandez guest stars in the episode as himself, and after meeting Jerry in a gym locker room proceeds to snake his way into Jerry’s life with hilarious consequences.
Dickson responded in kind with “Dear Foolish: The good news here is that you won’t have to dump the guy as a friend because he is not a friend. He’s an opportunist who just keeps asking you for stuff. I suspect that when you turn down his generous offer to let you move furniture for him, you’ll likely never hear from him again.”
That’s some pretty good advice, as good as any advice Kramer’s caddy would give.
Dickson, who has a sense of humour, was in good spirits once it was made clear that ‘Feeling Foolish’ was pulling her leg. A similar incident had occurred last year when another person sent through a problem that mirrored the plot from the critically reviled film The Room.
The best part of being punked in my column is seeing how much readers enjoy it! Keeping you on your toes, America: https://t.co/FmlyP8hqur
— Amy Dickinson (@AskingAmy) January 25, 2016
Story first seen on The Optimist.
