On “Seinfeld” Kramer had friends that never appeared. Bob Sacamano, Lomez , Jay Riemenschneider , just to name a few.
Kramer always brought these names up to make a point about about a topic, claiming the same thing happened to these friends of his. Like providing an expert that nobody can cross examine. In the spectrum of the show, I’m wondering if such characters actually existed or if Kramer just made them up.
I ask this because there is a guy I work with (actually he works a different shift but I still have lots of contact with him) that does the exact same thing. Regardless of the topic he always has a friend, a former cow orker, a cousin, etc. who is in the field of the topic or had an experience relevant to what’s being discussed, etc, etc… He uses such people to prove his points or back up that he knows what he’s talking about as someone he knows did it or had it happen to them, or is an expert on the subject and they told him all about it.
Of course, the rest of us know he doesn’t have acquaintance with any of these people . When challenged on his claim he’ll get very defensive and insist that he’ll introduce us to such person and they can tell us the facts. Of course, that’s never happened.
Is there a name for doing this. Lying seems too easy a term to fall back on and I wouldn’t go so far as to say delusional as I’m sure he knows such people don’t really exist. Currently we all just use the term “full of shit”.
There was the episode where Bob Sacamano was working at a condom factory, and gave Kramer defective condoms. Kramer had given one to George, and later told him to not use the condom because it was defective, but George had already used it and hijinks ensued.
So there is a tangible link to the existence of Sacamano, which may also suggest that the other guys are real as well. That’s not to say, however, that some of the stuff Kramer attributed to him was real… because a lot of it was out there.
My maternal grandfather didn’t try to claim he was right by bringing up the expertise of other people he alleged knew. But he could tell some stories. Everyone just called him a bullshitter and King of Bullshit.
This dude at work. there has to be a proper psych term for this other than bullshitter I would think.
Probably for cafe society, but this has a long provenance. Stanley Kowalski in the Tennessee Williams play, A Streetcar Named Desire, exhibited this trope. I was just a kid when I saw the film version, and I was really struck how Brando really sold the “loud mouth with no real evidence” character. The closest thing the Tropes page has for Stanley is Obfuscating Stupidity – obviously an idiot, but skilled at deflecting. Obfuscating Stupidity - TV Tropes
I don’t think it would be one-upmanship, as he’s not tooting his own horn, just bullshitting to support his own position. Not certain it would be a narcissistic trait, as I would think then he would be the one with that experience, not others.
No because I’m looking for a real life term. Thing is, this guy doesn’t otherwise tell outright lies. It’s only when he wants to bolster his credibility on something when he claims to have an acquaintance that told him all about it. It’s an odd trait.
My first thought was that there is no single word, but it’s a reference/appeal to an (invisible) authority, a fake anecdote or consensus fallacy.
“Well my friend, Jay Reimenshneider eats horse all the time…” Anecdotal, fake, or he considers Jay an authority… or is showing consensus for whomever is going to eat horse meat.
I never got the sense that Kramer made up Bob Sacamano for the purpose of telling wild tales. I believed that Bob Sacamano was real, but he told wild tales which Kramer then chose to believe and repeat.
Here is a list of Bob Sacamano’s mentions on the show. Others seem to have interacted with him, but also off camera. Jerry bought the Russian hat from him, and they were all invited to a party thrown by him.
[Moderating] Treppenwitz, that’s not what this thread is about, and you know it, and that makes that post completely irrelevant except as a jab. Don’t do that.