Fred Mertz - inconsistent ?

Didnt Jerry say to his girl friend in 'The Phone Messages' that he had never seen a single episode of 'I Love Lucy' in his entire life, along with the bit on being 'lactose intolerant' (I have no patience with lactose, and I wont stand for it) ? How does he know about Fred Mertz then , when he says in the 'The Apartment' - 'What am I, Fred Mertz now ? I cant be a shusher, I used to be the shushee'

AT wrote:

We've just been over this in great depth, but here's are the basic theories on this.

1. Jerry could be lying. Because of the Melrose Place incident in "The Beard", we know Jerry is not above lying about his television viewing habits.

2. We don't know if the stand-up monologues are supposed to be TV Jerry or real Jerry. If it's real Jerry doing the stand-up, there's no problem.

3. Jerry doesn't need to have seen Lucy to know who Fred Mertz is. It's a very famous show which people talk about all the time.

• It is indeed an inconsistency.

Perhaps we should have a poll to see which of these most people believe.

Keith Davenport wrote:

5. Jerry's grandparents lived in Fred Mertz's building. He met the old man on visits to Manhattan. If you remember, Fred had been a vaudeville performer in his youth. As an old man, he appeared on the Joe Franklin Show, doing his old routines with Ethel.

Here we go again...

Where's this guy been? Out to lunch?