After Seinfeld, Jason Alexander Had A Darkly Funny Cameo In Another Huge Sitcom
Most of the main "Seinfeld" cast struggled a bit in the years after the show ended. After you've created one of the biggest sitcoms of all times, what's next? Julia Louis-Dreyfus' first attempt at a new sitcom, "Watching Ellie," was cancelled after one season. Meanwhile it took nine years before Jerry Seinfeld could make his cinematic masterpiece, "Bee Movie." And as for Michael Richards? Well, let's not talk about him.
Jason Alexander, who played arguably the show's standout supporting character George Costanza, has never landed a role even close to the same level. That's not to say he's a failure of course; he's still had countless roles in TV, film and theater. He's one of those actors who will stop by your favorite show for an episode or two, and no viewer will ever be upset to see him there. My personal favorite surprise Jason Alexander appearance is when he showed up in the puppet episode of "Community" as a shrooms-loving mountain man, although his feud with Larry David throughout "Curb Your Enthusiasm" was also pretty great.
One of his earliest post-"Seinfeld" one-episode roles came in the hit sitcom "Friends," a show that had started off airing side-by-side with "Seinfeld" on NBC. "Friends" continued for six seasons after "Seinfeld" ended, and Alexander showed up in the season 7 episode, "The One Where Rosita Dies." in 2001. What sort of character did he play? Well, the guy was sort of like George — but somehow even sadder.
The tragic story of Earl, the man ignored by all his co-workers
Alexander's character is Earl, a guy who tells Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) over the phone that he's planning to kill himself. Why does he want to do this? Well, because he feels unappreciated in life, and it's easy to understand why. None of his coworkers seem to care about him or even acknowledge him at all, and his life outside the office doesn't seem much better. You might think, "Oh, perhaps Earl should be more assertive," but no: We see him loudly telling his coworkers that he plans to kill himself, and they don't even seem to hear him. It's like he's already dead, and Phoebe's the kid from "The Sixth Sense" who can talk to ghosts.
If this was an episode of "Seinfeld," there's a good chance that Earl's cry for help would've been met with annoyance by one of the main characters. Kramer probably would've tried to help, but he would've dropped the ball in some way and made things worse. But thankfully, this is an episode of "Friends," a much kinder show, so luckily Earl has Phoebe there to help him out. She rushes over to his office to persuade him to live, bringing up her own mother's suicide in the process. The storyline often threatens to get serious, but the ridiculous extent of Earl's situation helps to keep things light and breezy. Earl agrees to embrace life again, and that's the last we see of him on the show. For both him and Phoebe's sake, let's hope his newfound lease on life is built to last.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline phone number is 1-800-273-8255.