Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Frank's bellow is a fake calm that sounds exactly like rage, and that contradiction made it the best-known shout in the show. It is what you say through your teeth when the printer jams, and the full joke, "serenity now, insanity later", is what people reach for when someone is bottling things up.
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In context
Spoilers for SeinfeldShow the scene
In "The Serenity Now" (Seinfeld, season 9, first aired October 9, 1997), Frank Costanza has taken up a mantra to keep his blood pressure down: shout "Serenity now!" whenever it threatens to rise. He is selling computers from his garage, with George and old rival Lloyd Braun on his sales staff. Lloyd warns George that the mantra only bottles up anger, and gives the other half of the saying: "insanity later." He is proved right when Kramer, who has also been using it, finally explodes and smashes George's computers. Steve Koren wrote the episode.
Sources (2)
- Seinfeld Wiki: The Serenity NowPlotReference checked
- Wikipedia: The Serenity NowLead and PlotReference checked
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