The Stand In (Seinfeld) not a great episode, especially considering Larry David wrote it, but it's got some very impressive touches, and Phil Totola's dick move (pardon the pun) is one of them". The Stand In (Seinfeld) "The Stand In" is the 80th episode of the NBC sitcom "Seinfeld". This was the 16th episode of the fifth season. It aired on February 24, 1994. In this episode, Jerry struggles to get a hospitalized friend to laugh, George persists in dating a woman he doesn't like to avoid being perceived as unable to commit, and Kramer encourages his friend Mickey Abbott to wear lifts in
The Shoes (Seinfeld) the Super Bowl. It's revealed in the DVD "Inside Look" that many on the show were worried that people would be viewing "Seinfeld" for the first time in this new spot and therefore would know nothing about the story arc of Jerry and George's NBC pilot. The show's popularity skyrocketed through the rest of the season, however, starting its successful run. As David Sims wrote at "The A.V. Club", "The whole thing was promoted during the Super Bowl and was the start of "Seinfeld" moving from semi-popular critical hit to world-invading zeitgeist water-cooler explosion." Reviewer David Sims gave the episode