Eccentric Smithsonian: Seinfeld's puffy shirt

On the same day we saw this exhibit at the Smithsonian...

...we saw this on TV later on in our hotel room! You can't make stuff like that up!

The Smithsonian Institution (or "that Smith Brothers Institute" as Barney Fife would say) is full of national treasures, not the least of which is the puffy shirt worn by Jerry Seinfeld in episode 66 of his TV series. In it, as you recall, Jerry winds up wearing an outlandish pirate shirt on the Today Show with Bryant Gumble because Kramer's girlfriend, the designer of the shirt, is a bit of a low-talker, and he was just being polite. It sits enshrined behind Plexiglas, next to Fred Rogers' red sweater. Upon its induction, Seinfeld commented that surely this was the most embarrassing moment in the museum's history. The same day we viewed the shirt in all its Smithsonian splendor, we retired to our hotel suite, The Virginian, for a little r&r and some color TV viewing. Seinfeld was on (not hard to miss, as it is on about 100 times a day) and spookily, the puffy shirt episode was being broadcast. Coincidence? I think not. We are not alone.