# Seinfeld question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 18, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934 "2014-11-18T03:43:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/1 "2014-11-18T03:43:35Z")
In the episode where Kramer gets a chicken and ends up part of a cockfighting ring, Kramer and Jerry are training little Jerry Seinfeld (the chicken). During one part before the big fight, Kramer says he’s going to draw a hot bath for the chicken. Jerry for some reason gets all serious and tells him to “Be careful”, to which Kramer nods some kind of understanding. Now I’ve always understood that to be Kramer might accidentally boil the chicken, but I realized it only made sense if Jerry was warning Kramer so that he wouldn’t do it again. But he’s never accidentally boiled a chicken before, has he? Is there some cut scene that’s not show in syndication that I missed? Jerry warning doesn’t make any sense otherwise ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/2 "2014-11-18T03:45:54Z")
I remember the scene you mean, and I think it’s just a joke where Jerry is pretending to be stern. I doubt there’s any deeper meaning. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/3 "2014-11-18T03:57:34Z")
He’s saying “Don’t accidentally kill the chicken”, but it’s also a callback to when George (after Susan died) was going to throw a party (or something to that effect) and said he would take care of the invitations. Jerry looked at him and said the same exact thing in the same exact way (because it was the invitations he had picked out that killed Susan), so it’s a double joke. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/4 "2014-11-18T04:15:48Z")
Oooh, thanks, I gotta watch that one again ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/5 "2014-11-18T15:50:34Z")
I just saw that scene yesterday (on TBS) and I also thought the line was a little out of character. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/6 "2014-11-18T16:24:45Z")
Kramer’s not the most responsible guy in the world. I can see why Jerry told him to be careful before giving a live chicken a hot bath. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/7 "2014-11-18T16:34:25Z")
There was also an episode where Kramer had a hot tub in his apartment, and there was some sort of mishap. Might have been a callback to that. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/8 "2014-11-18T16:57:40Z")
“Far as I can tell, your entire enterprise is little more than a solitary man with a messy apartment which may or may not contain a chicken.” ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/9 "2014-11-18T17:04:06Z")
I always thought that line was a little meta humour. As in “don’t worry audience, we aren’t going to do the accidentally cooked the chicken gag”. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/10 "2014-11-18T18:50:50Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > “Far as I can tell, your entire enterprise is little more than a solitary man with a messy apartment which may or may not contain a chicken.” And with Darren’s help, we’re gonna get that chicken! ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/11 "2014-11-18T18:58:04Z")
I took the line reading as that Jerry was already thinking three steps ahead where Kramer boils the chicken alive and was nipping it in the bud. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/12 "2014-11-18T19:32:06Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > There was also an episode where Kramer had a hot tub in his apartment, and there was some sort of mishap. Might have been a callback to that. Or when he buttered himself and fell asleep in the sun. “Put a fork in me, Jerry; I’m cooked!” ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/13 "2014-11-18T19:35:36Z")
Any chance it was referring to the _Simpsons_ episode where Homer draws a hot bath for Pinchy the lobster and accidentily cooks him? ---
**Author:** ![justmeetee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@justmeetee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justmeetee)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/14 "2014-11-18T19:51:02Z")
Could it be that since dipping a chicken in hot water before plucking makes the feathers much, much easier to remove, he didn’t want wet stinky feathers and a bald chicken on his hands? ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/15 "2014-11-18T20:59:08Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > There was also an episode where Kramer had a hot tub in his apartment, and there was some sort of mishap. Might have been a callback to that. Or maybe the episode where Kramer spilled hot coffee on himself. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/16 "2014-11-18T21:05:58Z")
I thought it had to do with the fact that giving a chicken a hot bath is a stupid thing to do, and no matter how carefully you do it, it’s still stupid. It’s like a kid saying he’s going to play with matches, and the parent says “OK, just be careful.” I haven’t seen it in years, though, and I don’t remember it that clearly. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2014, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-question/704934/17 "2014-11-19T00:05:50Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Any chance it was referring to the _Simpsons_ episode where Homer draws a hot bath for Pinchy the lobster and accidentily cooks him? No, that episode of the Simpsons didn’t air until almost exactly two years after the Seinfeld episode did.