Today, we look at how Seinfeld improbably made Johnnie Cochran essentially a recurring character on the series.
This is “My Name It is Nothin’,” a look at when movies and TV shows feature celebrities, characters and/or famous people without featuring the actual celebrity/famous people. You know, changing the names so that you can tell the story without legal issues.
May is a Month of My Name it is Nothin’ (or perhaps May Name it is Nothin’)!
For a character who didn’t debut until the seventh season of Seinfeld, it’s remarkable that Phil Morris’ Johnnie Cochran riff, Jackie Chiles, managed to appear in six episodes before the show ended after nine seasons. That’s a lot of appearances for a recurring character. Uncle Leo, for instance, only appeared in 14 episodes, and Len Lesser first played Leo in the second season of the series (in the case of Seinfeld, the second season is really kind of the “real” first season, since there were only five episodes in Season 1).
Johnnie Cochran, of course, was one of the most famous defense attorneys in the country, especially after he successfully got O.J. Simpson acquitted of the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson (and her friend, Ronald Goldman). Jackie Chiles took Cochran’s bombastic approach and applied it to absurd cases that Kramer would bring to Chiles, beginning with Season 7’s “The Maestro,” where Kramer sues a coffee company after he burns himself while sneaking a coffee into a movie theater. Kramer accepts their offer of a lifetime supply of coffee before they reach the monetary part of their settlement offer, driving Chiles crazy. Yet Chiles returns to work with Kramer a number of other times, including the finale, where he fails to defend Kramer, Jerry, George and Elaine from violating a Good Samaritan Law.
Cochran got a kick out of the impression, but when Morris began to do Jackie Chiles for commercials, Cochran objected, and Morris stopped doing the character. After Cochran’s passing, Morris has returned to the character, most recently in a pretzel commercial…
Thanks to my pal, Bill Walko, for suggesting this one! If anyone else has a suggestion for a future My Name It Ain’t Nuthin’, drop me a line at brian@poprefs.com!
