Peter and Bobby Farrelly were complete unknowns in 1994 when they stormed the cinemas with the comedy hit “Dumb and Dumber”. It was the third Jim Carrey film of the year and by far the funniest. With its outrageously gross gags (Jeff Daniels’ explosive diarrhea sequence is a low-class classic) and aggressively silly shenanigans, the film ushered in a new era of silly humor that made Jerry Lewis’ work look like parlor farces. (/Film ranks “Dumb and Dumber” as the Farrellys’ best work to date.) The Farrellys doubled down on their vile shit with the box office disappointment “Kingpin” in 1996, only to rise to rotting fame two years later with the raunchy blockbuster “There’s Something About Mary.”
While people in the industry were somewhat familiar with the Farrellys as purveyors of comedy pitches, mainstream moviegoers were amazed, well, dumb through their rapid rise. So if you were hungry for more Farrelly comedies while waiting for the brothers’ fourth feature, Me, Myself & Irene, check out IMDb for past credits. What they found was a writing credit for Peter on a 1987 Paul Reiser comedy special and, most interestingly, a story credit for Peter and Bobby on Seinfeld. While no one was surprised to learn that these two comedy dynamos had written the funniest sitcom of the 1990s, their no-holds-barred style seemed a bit over the top for the acerbic series.
So, Which “Seinfeld” episode was it?and why didn’t they write more?
Peter and Bobby Farrelly were responsible for The Virgin
Peter and Bobby Farrelly share a “story by” role with longtime “Seinfeld” writer and producer Peter Mehlman in the fourth season episode “The Virgin.” The series has many classic episodes, but if you’re a fan of the series, this one should jump out for several reasons. After all, it involves a) George getting Susan fired from NBC for kissing her in front of her colleague, b) Jerry starting dating a virgin, Marla, played by the future Frasier actress Jane Leeves, and c) Elaine creates tension between Jerry and Marla blurts out a story about her diaphragm.
Nothing in the episode would be considered objectionable to a network sitcom today, but in 1992, Elaine’s repeated, emphatic utterances of the word “diaphragm” probably led some red-faced parents to abruptly switch the channel to PBS. This quickly escalating part of the deal, which elicited loud laughter, feels like old, old-fashioned Farrellys. Was it? Maybe not.
In a Reddit AMA from 2014the brothers explained that their involvement in the episode ended with their pitch. In her own words:
PETE: Well, we hate to burst your bubble. But we sold the idea… and in return we got credit for the story. But the actual script was written by Peter Mehlman. We sold the idea in a room where we introduced Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry Charles. By the way, these people don’t laugh when you suggest ideas to them; it was very scary. At least that wasn’t the case for us.
BOBBY: So it was very scary.
PETE: But we were very happy that they bought at least one of our ideas, and that was The Virgin.
I can’t imagine pitching a comedy to two geniuses like Seinfeld and David and getting a petrified reaction. This is like the nuclear version of a comedy club stage bombing (in fact, the “Seinfeld” writers’ room was not typical). But they survived and sold the episode, and two years later, Dumb and Dumber made a ton of money in theaters. This ends the origin story of the Farrellys’ show business.
