- After suffering what he thinks is a heart attack, George discovers he has inflamed tonsils and seeks alternative medicine to heal.
- At lunch at Monk's, George thinks he's having a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital to learn that the only thing wrong with him is tonsillitis. Kramer suggests that he should seek alternative therapies to surgery and suggest he visit his own herbalist, Tor. Jerry thinks it's all ridiculous, especially after he sees just what Tor is up to. Elaine meanwhile takes a liking to George's doctor and they go out on a date that doesn't go too well.—garykmcd
- After watching a science-fiction B movie (featuring a cameo by series co-creator Larry David), Jerry goes to bed, but wakes up in the middle of the night laughing. He scrawls a joke for his stand-up comedy act. The following day he is unable to read what he wrote down.
While Jerry has lunch with George and Elaine at Monk's Café, hoping they can interpret his scrawl, George becomes alarmed and thinks he is having a heart attack; they have him transported to a hospital. Jerry knows there is nothing wrong with George and tells Elaine. Elaine asks George if she can have his apartment. Jerry wants to bring a new friend into his group, a person that George hates.
Once he's there, it is discovered that he actually needs a tonsillectomy- his second one, as it turns out, as he had had his tonsils removed when he was younger, but now they have grown back (this is possible); it allegedly happened to show writer Larry Charles. George says that the last time he got his tonsils taken out, he didn't get to have any ice cream. Kramer recommends a holistic healer as a better and less expensive alternative. Kramer says that no matter what, George should not allow the hospital to cut into him. Jerry warns George that the healer Kramer is recommending had spent time in prison, but because of the large difference in price ($4000 vs $38), George decides to take Kramer's advice. Kramer claims that the medical establishment framed Tor for practicing alternate medicine, which would have destroyed big business.
Meanwhile, Elaine becomes attracted to George's doctor and goes on a date with him, only to discover that he has a fetish for tongues, which causes her to dump him right away as soon as the date ends.
George, Kramer and Jerry, who is there only in the hope of collecting comedy material, meet Tor Eckman, the holistic healer (Stephen Tobolowsky). Eckman performs a number of unorthodox methods to determine George's real ailment, which he concludes has nothing to do with his tonsils, but with his "imbalance with nature". He then concocts a tea containing "cramp bark," "cleavers," and "couch grass" that would remove his ailment, also prescribing that George is to stop using hot water entirely.
Upon drinking the tea, George becomes purple and has to be transported to the hospital again. On their way, the EMT (John Fleck) and the driver get into an altercation over a missing Chuckle, causing the two men to fight outside. Later, Jerry, Kramer, and the driver are debating whether or not they should bring the EMT back, when the driver, who's trying to pick fight on Kramer while not looking at the road, causes a crash. Later, George and Jerry are found in the hospital in neck braces. George indicates that he had the tonsillectomy, and Elaine is in the hospital only briefly, so as to avoid "Doctor Tongue", to give George some ice cream. The hospital television shows the science fiction movie again, and Jerry remembers that what he wrote down, was a line from the movie (Flaming Globes of Zigmund). As he realizes this, he notes "that's not funny."
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content