#3: The Lazy Way To Success

In Barbara S. Morris' essay, Why Is George So Funny?, one of the words used to describe George Costanza is lazy. This is displayed as George does as little as possible to get by, not only at work but in his personal life as well. For example, in the episode "The Fatigues," George is asked to give a presentation on risk management, a subject he knows nothing about. He finds a textbook about risk management, but instead of actually reading the book he fakes being blind so that he can get the book on tape. When he discovers that he cannot tolerate to listen to the book on tape because the voice sounds exactly like his own, he makes Jerry's girlfriend into his protégée and tells her to read the book and write a report that defines risk management. In the end, the actual report on risk management was switched with a comedy bit on Ovaltine and although the presentation was a bunch of nonsense, George's boss thought he was a genius. What makes George lazy is that he takes credit for work he has never actually done. Another example of this is in "The Pitch" when George says he wrote a Broadway play called "La Cocina." I think this shows George's laziness because he says he has done all these noteworthy things without actually doing them, and the worst part is he never gets caught.

Another character that could be described as lazy is Frank Barone from Everybody Loves Raymond. All he ever does is sit in his chair and yell at his wife Marie to make him a sandwich! These two characters both do as little as possible to get by in life, after all that's what being lazy is all about.