"Who can go the longest without masturbating?": The day "Seinfeld" tackled sexuality

The word will never be uttered. And yet, throughout the twenty minutes of The Contest , the eleventh episode of the fourth season of the series Seinfeld, there will be only one thing to talk about: masturbation. And a silly bet between a group of friends, designating the one who can go the longest without masturbating. This group of friends is Jerry Seinfeld's.

In 1989, this New York stand-up comedian and his friend Larry David created an autobiographical series, describing his own romantic and zany adventures. In this autofictional sitcom, filmed in a studio in front of an audience whose laughter can be heard, Jerry Seinfeld (playing himself) is a confirmed bachelor, a neat freak who lives only on breakfast cereal.

In his apartment in northwest Manhattan or in the diner downstairs, Jerry Seinfeld chats with his cheap and selfish best friend, George Costanza (played by Jason Alexander), his invasive and eccentric neighbor, Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards), and his scathingly ironic ex-girlfriend, Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). In short, all the ingredients of the sitcoms that American television is accustomed to? Well, no. Because Seinfeld 's wit is cynical, mocking, fast-paced, acerbic, and profoundly New York. When The Contest aired on NBC on November 18, 1992, Seinfeld already had his audience of initiates. But while the ratings were good, they weren't sensational.

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