Step Off!

Introduction

(January 6, 1994—9:00 p.m.) An episode of the sitcom Seinfeld titled “The Stall” aired on NBC's Thursday night, “Must See TV” lineup. Like so many people, it was my favorite show on television at the time, and I was making my sitcom debut on this particular episode. I was portraying Elaine's somewhat-vapid, thrill-seeking boyfriend, Tony, who was armed with a catchphrase symbolic of the 1990s. “Step off!” Was I excited? As I was taught to say at the University of North Carolina, “You're darn tootin', fig newton!”—which I believe means, yes. As far as television “street cred” went in the 90s, there was none better than appearing on Seinfeld. Obviously, there was no social media at the time, so if you wanted to get yourself “out there” and recognized as a comedic actor, this was the transcendent show to do it on.

Somewhere around the 6:41 mark in the program, a new word was introduced into pop culture folklore. Jerry and Elaine were sitting in his car discussing the reason she was dating Tony. Jerry was adamant it was only for his looks, then he uttered the line, “Elaine, he's a male bimbo…he's a mimbo.” The line got a huge laugh and rightfully so, but little did I know, that word spoken on that night would change my life forever.

The following morning, I was leaving a doctor's office in Beverly Hills, where I'd just finished getting a “cast physical” for a new CBS series that I was set to star in with one of my idols, the legendary George C. Scott. I put “cast physical” ...