The Checks

"The Checks" is the 141st episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. This was the seventh episode for the eighth season. It aired on NBC on November 7, 1996.

Elaine's new boyfriend, Brett (James Patrick Stuart), is obsessed with furniture designed by a (fictional) designer named Karl Farbman, and the song "Desperado" by the Eagles; he is so obsessed with the latter that he insists Elaine be silent whenever it plays. Jerry spots an umbrella salesman using the sales technique he invented which was named "The Twirl". However, the salesman explains that it was in fact invented by Teddy Padillac, a long-time umbrella salesman who Jerry once worked with.

Meanwhile, hundreds of twelve-cent royalty checks keep arriving from Jerry's brief appearance on a Japanese television show, the "Super Terrific Happy Hour". Kramer warns George that the carpet cleaners he hired are actually a front for a religious cult. Intrigued, George tries to be converted, but they're not interested in him.

Kramer meets some Japanese businessmen on vacation and he takes them on a tour around the city. Confused about the exchange rate of ¥30,000 (which is about $250 in American dollars), Kramer spends all of their money on expensive clothing and souvenirs. Brett delivers an oversized chest of drawers to Kramer and thinks that Jerry might be jealous. Kramer thinks the TV pilot that Jerry and George did would be perfect for Japanese television, hence his trying to impress the Japanese tourists. They pitch it to a couple of Japanese TV executives who are uninterested and tell Jerry and George to leave. Jerry, due to his writer's cramp from signing all the royalty checks, spills his coffee and leaves a stain on the carpet.

Elaine tries to find a song that she and Brett can share, including "Witchy Woman", also by the Eagles, but he rejects them out-of-hand; Elaine then suggests that they share "Desperado", but Brett says that it's "his" song. Having run out of money, Kramer puts his Japanese friends up at his place, sleeping in the chest of drawers (much like a capsule hotel) and has fun drinking with them in his hot tub. Jerry, caught in the rain and needing an umbrella, runs into former co-worker and umbrella salesman, Teddy Padillac. Padillac, incensed that Jerry is trying to take credit for "The Twirl", demands $200 for an umbrella. Jerry, unable to come up with the money, is left standing in the pouring rain. Brett happens to drive by and converses with Jerry for a moment. He is convinced that Jerry is down on his luck since he is unable to afford an umbrella and that he would offer him a ride, but he's with Karl Farbman in a two-seated car.