The Sponge 

After learning that her prophylactic of choice is being discontinued, Elaine buys a case of Today sponges and scrutinizes her dates for their sponge-worthiness.

Director:

Andy Ackerman

Writers:

Larry David (created by), Jerry Seinfeld (created by)

Stars:

Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Jerry Seinfeld	...	Jerry Seinfeld
Julia Louis-Dreyfus	...	Elaine Benes
Michael Richards	...	Cosmo Kramer
Jason Alexander	...	George Costanza
Heidi Swedberg	...	Susan Ross
Jennifer Guthrie	...	Lena
Scott Patterson	...	Billy
John Paragon	...	Cedric
Yul Vazquez	...	Bob
David Byrd	...	Roger
Ileen Getz	...	Organizer
Steven Hack	...	Walker #1
Wren T. Brown	...	Walker #2
Patricia Bethune	...	Walker #3 (as P.B. Hutton)
Susan Moore	...	Monica

Storyline

Elaine's birth control method of choice is being discontinued and she goes all over New York to find the last remaining case. After she successfully finds it, she then begins the agonizing process of determining whether or not her dates are "sponge-worthy". Kramer participates in an AIDS walk but when he refuses to wear the ribbon, he suffers the consequences. Meanwhile, Jerry meets a woman and doesn't get her phone number. He then gets it from the list of participants in the AIDS walk. He tells George, who proceeds to tell Susan, who then starts a chain reaction of phone calls and ultimately winds up getting back to Jerry, who gets dumped as a result.

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Plot Keywords:

sponge | birth control | kissing | all night poker game | intimidation | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 1995 (USA)

Filming Locations:

CBS Studio Center - 4024 Radford Avenue, Studio City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shapiro/West Productions, Castle Rock Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

23 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode was written by Peter Mehlman. One of the initial story lines of this episode was Kramer (Michael Richards) & Newman (Wayne Knight) buying stocks in the contraceptive devices as Kramer had heard a rumour the sponge was going out of business.

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Goofs

Other companies make sponges so it wouldn't be hard to find a replacement.

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Quotes

[Kramer is cornered in an alley for not wearing the red ribbon at the AIDS walk]
Bob: So, what's it going to be? Are you going to wear the ribbon?
Cosmo Kramer: No! Never!
Bob: But I'm wearing wearing the ribbon.
[points to Cedric]
Bob: He's wearing the ribbon. We are all wearing the ribbon! So why aren't *you* going to wear the ribbon?
Cosmo Kramer: [yelling] This is America! I don't have to wear anything I don't wanna wear!
Cedric: What are we going to do with him?
Cosmo Kramer: Huh?
Bob: I guess we will just have to teach him to wear the ribbon!
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Seinfeld: The Chronicle (1998)

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Soundtracks

Black Stompers
(uncredited)
Music by Roger-Roger (as Eric Swann)
Plays during the montage of Elaine searching for sponges.

User Reviews

"Run down your case for me again"

What an entertaining episode. Four great story lines and a swell pace.

Although there are four stories, only three of them interconnect with each other. As you may have guessed, Kramer is the one set apart. Nevertheless his story is quite entertaining even if the good stuff only appears in the end. From the moment he goes to the AIDS walk everything clicks. Bob and Cedric make another stellar appearance and we get a hilarious, though pretty fantastical, scene concerning Kramer and his non-ribbon attitude.

But the great part of this episode is the other three stories. Although they interconnect with each other beautifully, they all are strong individually. Jerry is dating a woman that's too good for him, George is dealing with the no-secret Susan's policy and Elaine is surviving the sponge hiatus. The season's arc gets a key aspect in the long term relationship book and that is no matter what's the topic, you have to share with your wife. Elaine shines in her quest for sponges and the subsequent analysis for using them.

A great episode all in all.