“Crazy” Joe Davola leaves Jerry a message saying he will put the “kibosh” on him. Kramer has tickets for the opera Pagliacci, and everyone is going, including Elaine and her boyfriend, Joey. Elaine drops in on Joe’s apartment where she discovers that he has a wall of pictures of her that he took with his telephoto lens. After repeatedly calling her “Nedda” and insinuating she is cheating on him, he tries to trap her in the apartment, so she maces him with cherry Binaca and ends their relationship.
Jerry, Kramer, Elaine, and George go to the opera, where Elaine tells the others that Joey isn’t coming, and Susan has to pick up a friend at the airport and can’t come either, they have two extra tickets. George and Kramer attempt to scalp the tickets, each trying to get a better deal than the other, because George tries to sell the tickets for too little, and won’t listen to Kramer.
As Jerry and Elaine wait for their friends to return, they are asked by a street performer impersonating Canio for a tip. Jerry had flipped a coin earlier, and it was taken by another spectator, so he didn’t have any money for the clown, which annoyed him.
Meanwhile, “Crazy” Joe is getting ready for the opera by working out and sobbing as Canio’s aria plays. He then puts on the white makeup for Canio’s character, Pagliaccio. Later, Joe is seen, now in full Pagliaccio costume, walking through a park on his way to the opera house. He is mocked by a group of menacing men, but uses martial arts to knock them all out.
Kramer is approached by a clown (not knowing it’s “Crazy” Joe Davola) who wants to buy the leftover ticket to Pagliacci. Kramer then claims that the clown looks “familiar”, to which the clown asks him if he ever went to the circus and if he liked it; Kramer answers that he had gone when he was little and that he was scared of the clowns. The clown then asks Kramer if he’s still scared of clowns (while giving a menacing smile), to which Kramer uneasily answers “Yeah”.
Jerry and Elaine are still standing outside, and they get to talking about “their nutjobs” and discover that each of their Joes is the same person. They freak out, because Joe is probably now out to get both of them. Soon, the clown returns, and when Jerry tells him that he doesn’t have any money, the clown responds, “I don’t want any money.” As they both stand there, Elaine thinks she smells cherries and the clown says, “It’s Binaca”, just as the real Canio starts to sing. Jerry and Elaine both scream (realizing it’s “Crazy” Joe) and run away.
George has finally agreed to sell the ticket to someone as Susan runs up and says she can join him because her friend’s plane was diverted to Philadelphia. George gives her ticket to her, and deftly gives the man his own; since he will not attend the show, he must then invent an explanation that will please Susan.
Kramer shows up with the tickets, and he, Elaine and Jerry take their seats. They are joined by Susan, and Harry Fong, the chubby Asian man to whom George sold his ticket. They ask where George is, and Harry says that he got George’s ticket and Susan also tells them that he was “uncomfortable.” Jerry and Elaine ask Kramer to whom he gave the last ticket, and Kramer says, “Some nut in a clown suit” just as the curtain comes up, causing Jerry and Elaine to panic as the opera audience claps for applause and the episode closes.