The Kipper and the Corpse working at the Savoy he found a guest dead in his room, and was told to discreetly dispose of the body. Cleese turned this into "The Kipper and the Corpse" and the character who died was named Mr. Leeman in his honour. Basil and Sybil are working the bar where Mrs. Chase is fussing over her shih-tzu dog and Dr. Price wants some sausages, but all they can offer him are sandwiches. During the evening, a guest, Mr. Leeman, returns to "Fawlty Towers" feeling unwell; his business colleagues leave, after sympathising and making arrangements for a meeting the next morning.
The Puppy Episode feed of the episode and rented a 5,000-seat theatre for a viewing party, with about 1,000 people attending. Local activists circulated a petition requesting that Abilene, Texas-area affiliate KTXS-TV not air the episode but were unsuccessful. "The Puppy Episode" was the highest-rated episode ever of "Ellen", drawing some 42 million viewers. "The Puppy Episode" won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and a second for Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing. The episode won a Peabody Award and DeGeneres won a GLAAD Media Award in 1998. Show character Ellen Morgan's coming out has been described as "the