Is the Actor a Cult Leader?--Seinfeld's "Understudy," Nietzsche's Overman Artwork

5 Star Tossers

Playful academic podcast that looks at movies and other cultural objects through the lens of 5 groovy themes: Pervs 'R Us, Beast & Sovereign, Il vaut mieux Lyotard que jamais, Marx Grudge, and What Would Jesus Do?

All Episodes

5 Star Tossers

Is the Actor a Cult Leader?--Seinfeld's "Understudy," Nietzsche's Overman

January 23, 2022 • 5 Star Tossers • Season 2 • Episode 1

The Tossers obsess over the final scene of a Seinfeld episode (Season 6, Episode 23), where an actor bombs on stage and begs the audience to let her start again. Why, we wonder, is it impossible for her to start again? Why is the audience so cruel? Maybe she can start again? Along the way, we discuss Shakespeare, Hannah Gadsby, Aristotle's Catharsis, Robert Musil's The Man Without Qualities, and Nietzsche's fear that actors now rule the world.

https://app.databyss.org/5-star-tossers-bj5h8glrb4wnlt/pages/i7bflkbyk2dmg9