There might be Seinfeld episodes that are funnier overall than “,” but I don’t think the show ever topped the two minutes surrounding the first mention of “the tractor story.” Jerry is annoyed that his girlfriend, Sophie, has started saying “it’s me” when she calls, prompting George to suggest that he pulls the “old switcheroo” and do the “it’s me” to her. When he does, Sophie believes he’s someone named Rafe and mentions that she hasn’t told Jerry about “the tractor story.” Everything after that is fantastic, including Jerry’s fake voice, the fact that the name Rafe is just weird enough to throw Jerry off, the abrupt way that Jerry hangs up and his relief at avoiding being caught, and then the MVP of a scene that’s already very over-the-top: George’s “beep beep beep,” a weird little moment that completely derails any concern about “the tractor story.” Jerry Seinfeld didn’t break too often on the show, but it’s clear that he’s having a lot of fun being extremely silly in this scene. [Sam Barsanti]
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Undoubtedly the one with the Frogger arcade game.
And not just for Peter Stormare, either.
Slippery Pete.
Slippery Pete!
The scene of George trying to push the machine across the street Frogger-style was a minor stroke of genius.
I’ve seen this episode at least ten times, and I still laugh at that scene every single time.
“WHERE ARE THE HOLES?”
‘”Let’s just say ‘good’.” Also, “It feels like we’re stealing it.”
i was always partial to the serial killer subplot of this episode. Kramer’s suggested nicknames of “the denoginizer” and “son of dad” always get me.
THE HOLES
The Betrayal is such high concept that it could come crashing down at any moment. Yet the execution is so amazing that it elevates it further. Probably the best episode of any sitcom I’ve ever seen.
“You can stuff your sorries in a sack, mister.”
I used this in conversation just this week and got ZERO RECOGNITION from my friends.
The upcoming holiday is a great opportunity for you to make new friends.
“I figure the best way to punish you would be to sleep with Elaine.”“The only person that punishes is Elaine, and cruelly, at that.”“FUNNY GUY!”
Everyone one this page needs to visit Reddit Writes Seinfeld.https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditWritesSeinfeld
“The Mango” is officially call “The Orgasm,” but Kramer getting banned from Joe’s for trying to return a bad peach will always be a delight for me. After Kramer gets banned he explains his fear of supermarket fruit – “The apples are mealy. The oranges are dry. I don’t know what’s going on with the papayas.” – with such desperation. And, of course, Elaine explaining that she faked orgasms with Jerry.
I also love The Marine Biologist for all the same reasons as Caitlin PenzeyMoog. George’s description of him being out there with the whale and then pulling out Kramer’s golf ball is the perfect capper to an excellent episode.
George’s story might be the best scene in any episode and I was shocked Caitlin didn’t mention that.
That isn’t my favorite episode, but George’s speech is my favorite scene in any episode. Especially ” like an old man trying to return soup at a deli”
Gwen Ihnat has the choice of episode right but the “The sea was angry that day, my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli” is the greatest single line in the series.
Maybe the greatest line of the 90s.
Best Scene is a whole different, tougher category for me. Might go with the scene in “The Race” where Jerry and George have to pretend not to know each other, and take the opportunity to sling passively-aggressively insults.
The sea was angry…
Hole in one.
Titleist
…Is that a Titleist?
These are all good choices. Two others that spring to mind are “The Beard” and “The Strike.” “The Beard” is the one where George starts wearing a wig, which makes him more confident, only to end up dating a woman who turns out to be bald and he rejects her, at which point Elaine snatches the wig from his head and shouts one of my favorite lines of the series—”I DON’T LIKE THIS THING, AND HERE’S WHAT I’M DOING WITH IT”—before chucking it out of Jerry’s window (only for the wig to be retrieved by a passing homeless guy). Elaine herself is acting as the titular beard for a closeted gay friend who she ends up falling for. She asks Jerry if it’s possible to get tye guy to “switch teams,” thus kicking off an extended metaphor about sports equipment, switch hitters, etc. Kramer is making $50 a pop doing police line-ups (because Kramer), and while tagging along to the station Jerry meets and starts dating one of the officers, only for it to fall apart when she gives him a polygraph to see if he’s lying about liking Melrose Place (he most definitely is). Oh and Kramer wanting the Tupperwear back from when he gives the homeless guy some food is one of the most Seinfeld things ever.“The Strike” gave us Festivus, the Human Fund, the term “two face” being redefined as someone who looks good under certain lighting and bad otherwise, and finally an explanation as to why Kramer hasn’t been working for the past 12 years—he’s been on strike from his job making bagles.
“It’s like saying to Pavarotti, teach me, to sing like you.”That entire scene is gold.
I actually know the bald woman, and I must have watched this episode a dozen times without realizing it.
Random fact, the homeless guy also played Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite.
Jon Gries! He pops up as the same homeless guy who drives the rickshaw for Kramer and Newman.
And he’s in Real Genius.
and he was on LOST.
“The Strike” is a damned good one, especially gives us a good look at one of the more underrated Seinfeld characters, Mr. Kruger. I love that he’s not really concerned about George embezzling $20,000 from the company, only that George gave him “a fake Christmas present”.
Oh that Michael I hate him, he’s just so smug.
“The Bizarro Jerry”, which has the best Kramer subplot of all time.“Well, I’m sorry. There’s just no way that we could keep you on.”“But I don’t even really work here!” “That’s what makes this so difficult.”Plus Jerry’s girlfriend tearing apart lobster with her bare hands, and “Sorry, we’ve already got a George.”
That’s another good one, for sure. It reminds me, too, of the Jerry-Kramer a-plot from “Chicken Roaster,” the one where Jerry and Kramer switch apartments—and adopt each other’s personalities—when a Kenny Roger’s Roasters opens across from Kramer’s apartment and the neon sign disrupts Kramer’s—then Jerry’s— sleep. Lots of folks have pointed out that Seinfeld isn’t the best actor, but in that one in particular he’s got Richards’s mannerisms and cadence down cold (and Richards does a fine Seinfeldized-Kramer, too).
Maybe he isn’t, but he was still necessary as a (relative) straight man to anchor the insanity of George, Kramer, and the others. That’s why Seinfeld as a sitcom will never be topped-almost every character, main and supporting, from Kramer to Peterman to Jackie Chiles to Frank and Estelle Costanza, was cast to utter perfection.
I swear I actually typed out “Jerry was the straight man that anchored the insanity of the rest of the cast” but deleted it because I was trying for concision. Seeing the character who fulfills that role give in to their own flights of insanity is always fun, whether it’s Jerry, or Anne on Parks and Rec, or Bob on Bob’s Burgers, and so on.
They’re real casting coups, and they’re spectacular.
Jerry: Really. So, what do you do down there all day?Kramer: T.C.B. You know, taking care of business.
Kramer: Can’t forget my brief case.
Jerry: What do you got in there?Kramer: Crackers.
It’s astonishing how much plot is in The Strike’s 22 minutes. There’s also Elaine’s confrontation with the people at the end of her fake number.
Also, The Strike has one of the funniest line reads ever. “AS I RAINED BLOWS UPON HIM, I thought…there has to be a better way.”
Jerry Stiller is a national treasure!
“She’s a two-face.”“Like the Batman villain?”“…If that helps you.”
A great episode. I love when George waggles his finger and corrects Elaine: “I was bald.”
“Correction: I WAS bald!” And “…but it isn’t.” I love Kruger so much.
Elaine throwing the wig out the window never stops being funny for me. It’s up there with the I Love Lucy chocolate factory scene for things that always make me laugh, even though I’ve seen them endless times
I HATE THIS THING, AND THIS IS WHAT I THINK OF IT
“The Race.” It’s the perfect balance between the sardonic pseudo-realism of the early seasons and the over-the-top hijinks of the late seasons. It’s also just laugh-out-loud funny throughout: Jerry’s line readings of “Duncan Meyer,” “I choose not to run!” (with George pointing at him), and “boy that’s some tart cider!”; the Superman scene at the end with Elaine’s amazing physical comedy in slow-motion. It’s perfect.
“Maybe I will, Lois. Maybe I will.” *winks*
Nothing beats George becoming a hand model. “His hand became deformed like a claw. He soon had to be fed by cub scouts.”
And of course, the super-casual reveal that George won The Contest the previous season (by cheating, as revealed in the finale).
“He could have had any woman in the world… But none could match the beauty of his own hand.”I still quote that from time-to-time, particularly as an illustration of an instantly cringe-inducing statement.
“He was not … master of his own domain.”
That episode upsets me too much. George getting his hands burned by an iron just as he’s found a career he likes and a fulfilling new life saddens me much more than his usual misfortunes do. Of course, in the real world he could have sued the soft-talking woman for loss of income.
My all time favorite is The Cheever Letters. Obviously the A story is the fallout from Kramer burning down Susan’s father’s cabin. Both of the major scenes from that arc are brilliant. First George and Susan trying to tell Mr. Ross about the fire (Uh, George? Burned.). Mrs. Ross’ glee slays me every time. Then they follow it up with the incredible reveal that Mr. Ross and John Cheever were lovers (I fear my… orgasm… has left me a cripple. P.S. loved the cabin). Jerry and George awkwardly trying to extract themselves from the apartment is delightful, as is George’s recommendation to Ricky that he consider podiatry (There’s nothing wrong with the feet!). The B story with Jerry’s dirty talk is also great. The diner scene with George getting increasingly worked up about the details then very confused when the punchline hits is such a quintessential Jerry/George interaction. Those stories are so overstuffed that Kramer’s arc of trying to replace the cigars that burned down Mr. Ross’ cabin is kind of a throw away. But to me, the main stories are so perfect that I find myself going back to this episode again and again.
“Time is what he’s indicating there.”
“Onward and upward!”
“Time is what he’s indicating there” is one of my favorite lines of the show.
Are you talking about “the panties your mother laid out for you”? Second only to “These pretzels are making me thirsty”.
We’re celebrating the 30th anniversary of Seinfeld
Truly. My favorite episodes of Seinfeld are all the ones I continue to miss.For all the supposed brilliance about making a show for nine seasons about absolutely nothing, Seinfeld still remains a show about nothing./lukewarm take
The Voice. The episode where Jerry does the voice of his gf’s belly button, Kramer gets an intern for Kramerica, and George tries to stay on at Play Now after they discover he’s not handicapped.
Oh God, Kramer’s intern is the BEST.
‘Oh Darren is going away for a long long time’
He went on to create “The Grinder” with Rob Lowe and Fred Savage, an unfortunate one-season sitcom a few years back.
He was also Brad’s smarmy friend in a few eps of Home Improvement.
“If you’d told me ten years ago that I’d be solving the world’s energy problems, I’d have said you were crazy. Now let’s push this big ball of oil out the window.”
“Mr. Thomassoulo likes to play dirty. Well, there’s nothing dirtier than a giant ball of oil.”
“And with Darren’s help, we’ll get that chicken!”
That’s the best part of the episode, right there…
“High tea with a Mr. Newman.”
“Heeellooooooooo!”
I’m a weed in Hitler’s bunker!
Your fly is open. The university lady says that line so beautifully.
Two years later!But yes, she invests that line with so much withering contempt it’s basically a master class in about 2/5ths of a second.
“The Gum” had it all. It’s like a Rube Goldberg machine of intertwining plots and long payoffs. Kramer obsessed with Lloyd Braun’s mental health, Jerry roped into a buttload of crappy gum because he’s maintaining a rouse with Geoffrey Ha[rhar]arwood’s glasses, Elaine the floozy with the missing blouse button, ancient hot dogs, the demise of Jo[h]n Voigt’s car, .. . . and on and on.
Impossible to choose.
Ditto for the Opposite for me, although I dearly love it for -natch – opposite reasons than listed here. George disobeying every natural instinct, yelling at rude moviegoers, berating George Steinbrenner, and not sleeping with a girl on the first date are all fantastic, culminating in a scene where he tells his parents he loves and respects them. Jerry turns to Kramer and mutters “Opposite.”
My favorite Seinfeld episode was that one where they were all basically rotten, but you kind of rooted for them anyway.
“The Puffy Shirt.” I will say, though, that I was a huge “Seinfeld” fan during its first run, but man, it does not hold up to repeated viewing. You finally catch on that many episodes revolved around simply saying a word or phrase over and over again in different situations. “Chocolate babka” comes to mind. How many times can you laugh at somebody saying “chocolate babka” when you’re seeing the episode for the third time? Episodes that I screamed over the first time around just irritate me now…and let’s just say I view Michael Richards a little differently in light of the most idiotic, vicious, self-negating racist interlude I’ve ever seen from a celebrity. Somebody’s got a loose gear.
BUT I DON’T WANNA BE A PIRATE!
This is like asking which is my favorite raspberry in a box of raspberries from the grocer. Aside from one or two that are a little squashed and that one that’s a bit moldy, they’re all excellent
I guess it’s “The Stranded” because it has this:
She looks so justifiably pleased with herself after saying that!
My mom always loved those little Elaine looks of pleasure whenever she messed with someone.
Her revenge for “Can’t spare a square…”
Yeah, it’s all about moments for me: that, “Stellllaaa!”, the bit where Kramer tells Jerry he’s going to make is apartment into all “levels” and when promising he’ll be able to get it done in a month the way Jerry cheerfully replies “I’ll give you a year!”, “stop it Kramer, you’re freaking me out,” Kramer’s “that’d be funny…” when the hippie kids in the van start getting Manson-y, and all sorts of little things…
‘completely carpeted, like ancient Egypt’
The ‘levels’ conversation is my go to moment for the show. Kramer’s assertion that he didn’t lose the bet because he decided he didn’t want to do it anymore is such a perfect moment. My brother tries to welch out on bets like that all the time. Infuriating.
CLERK: You have lost a lotta hair.(pause)GEORGE: That’s what they tell me!
Since every decision I have ever made in my life has been wrong, the answer’s easy.
‘The Comeback’ captures that feeling everyone has when they wish they had thought of a response and takes it to an extreme and hilarious level. If you say “jerk store” everyone knows what you’re talking about. I love the look on George’s face when he thinks that he has finally hooked Riley into the setup.
YES!!! The George storyline in “The Comeback” has perhaps the most perfect punchline in all of Seinfeld. And with such perfect timing, too. They let the camera linger on George, looking smugly triumphant, just long enough before the manager, sidling up to him, says, “His wife’s in a coma.”
I still remember my mother laughing really hard after the “his wife’s in a coma” line. With a shocked look on her face to boot!
George *standing up* to finally deliver the Jerk Store line is my favorite part.
Probably my favorite episode because it has a scene set in my hometown of Akron.
I decided I was going to go to the trouble of figuring out my Kinja login thingie so I could nominate “The Comeback” for best episode. I don’t even remember what Jerry and Elaine were doing for the entire episode but it doesn’t matter because the George storyline is the best
“The Subway”. Ernie Sabella as the naked guy, Kramer and “the mudder”, Coney Island in the fog. It’s one of those episodes that non-New Yorkers think is too over the top but locals know doesn’t even come close to weirdness that can happen on a subway.
And Elaine’s slow mental breakdown on the stalled train, culminating with internally screaming “MOTHERFUCKER!” when the train stops again after just a few seconds.
“Why are we stopping? We’re on a train! There’s no traffic!”
“Something’s touching me!”
“The Subway” is generally a great one, particularly Elaine’s and Jerry’s storylines, but I never liked the ending of Kramer’s. I can’t really explain why.
… if you think people being weird is a NYC thing you need to get out and about more.
“The Chicken Roaster” makes me laugh more than any other episode. “Vile weed!”
And instantly going back to a dignified pose as he walks out.
Mustard! I need mustard!
“Newman, you wouldn’t eat broccoli if it were deep fried in chocolate sauce!”
To this day my wife calls broccoli a ‘vile weed’.
i came here hoping somebody said this. every thing about this ep is really the best. the sable hat. the alarm clock. seth managing the roaster. all the way down to the final line(s).“that’s not gonna be good for business.”“that’s not gonna be good for anyone.”
Kramer bending backward against the red light when he opens the door.
My only memory of Seinfeld is Kramer playing billiards and failing hard at it.Which episode was that again?
It was Kramer and Frank Costanza playing on a table in Frank’s house in a room that was too small for it, but heck if I can remember the episode.Oh no wait— it was “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doll_(Seinfeld)“>The Doll”.
The place to be! (The episode was “The Doll”)
You can fuck right off with this Jewish bullshit.
It took many years to finally choose only 1- I’m not certain what it’s titled, but it’s the one where, A. Kramer salvages the Merv Griffin set, B. George runs over then begrudgingly rescues a squirrel, and C. Jerry drugs his gf so he can play with her toy collection is, for me, wall-to-wall comedy gold.
The name of that episode is actually “The Merv Griffin Show.” https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0697731/
“The Old Man.” Or “The Switch.” Or “The Cheever Letters.” Or “The Fire.” Or “The Pen.” Or “The Junior Mint.”
Wow, an appreciation of a 30 year old show that doesn’t once delve into self-righteous complaints about certain jokes haven’t aged well.
Mostly because there’s shockingly few of those. At the same time Friends was holding up one guy accidentally kissing another as the most embarrassing skeleton in the closet imaginable, Seinfeld was having a devoted family man completely unashamed of his affair with John Cheever.
He feared his orgasm would leave him a cripple.
The old woman yelling “ I KNEW IT” with such menace always kills me.
“I loved him. In a way *you* would never understand.”
It would be redundant. Ever since Seinfeld revealed himself to be a racist by not booking enough black people on the first season of Comedians in Cars, the whole thing became tainted.
I have read people complaining about the “Not that there’s anything wrong with that” line in recent years. However, considering the era, the episode was pretty pro-gay and won a GLAAD award.
Only because I haven’t seen any one mention it, let me put in a nod for “The Gum”. Anytime my circle of friends is introduced to new food item, someone, usually me, will say “It’s a perfectly sane food to eat”. It also has the one of the show’s best visual gags, Jerry’s glasses.
I love most of it, but it does kind of lose me at the end with Jerry’s glasses inexplicably making him deaf as well as blind. Even the writers laugh at how contrived it is on the commentary.
This one is up there for me. “Is it just me, or is that a lot of gum? “It’s a lot of gum!”“This is what the holidays are all about, 3 buddies sitting around chewing gum.”
I’m much more of a fan of the plots that are more focused on a unified event than the later ones which seemed much more about giving each character a catch phrase or action.So ones like The Opera, The Limo, and The Parking Garage are favorites — I can’t count the number of times I’ve come across later season episodes in the middle of some failed B or C plot where I can’t recall for the life of me what the rest of the show was even about.
Jerry singing the Bugs Bunny – Road Runner Hour theme song while dancing to it. So goddamn funny.
When I was in college in the ‘90s, “Seinfeld” was so popular that in my market it was syndicated with back-to-back episodes every night, i.e., a “Seinfeld” hour from 5-6 p.m. Once we were all sitting around our basement apartment watching it, waiting from someone to come over with, err, something for us (something that ironically is now legal in this and many other states). When the guy finally arrived around 5:50 p.m. (pre-cell phones, this time) we did what we needed to do, but I found it funny how the guy looked at the TV, laughed, and remarked about how he had been to five other pads in the last hour and at every one they were all watching “Seinfeld.” Personal anecdote, but I always remembered that as a testament to “Seinfeld”’s popularity because everyone was watching the exact same thing at the exact same time… a type of popularity that doesn’t really exist anymore.
In central Iowa, Seinfeld was on from 6-7. The Simpsons was on from 5-6.
And one assumes you wore an onion tied to your belt, as was the style at the time.
Now that I think about it, yeah, same thing with us (in Colo.). So I guess the guy came by at 6:50 p.m.
There was a period when I lived in SF in the late 90s where on Sundays one channel would air The Simpsons from 6-7, then another would air it from 7-8 and then the new episode would come on Fox at 8.
Of course these days if you want 2.5 hours of Simpsons all you have to do is flip to FXX.
7-to-8 affair in my neck of the woods.(After Seinfeld made its way to cable, my grandfather was extremely proud of the fact that he could – and would – watch Seinfeld something like 20 times a week.)
Tis was the same block in East Tennessee. I would truly be a different person if those viewing locks didn’t exist.
“something that ironically is now legal in this and many other states”Yes, I know it’s still Pride Month, but how many gay weddings did you attend? I mean, every night?
everyone was watching the exact same thing at the exact same time… a type of popularity that doesn’t really exist anymore.
Well, ACTUALLY, based on my twitter feed after every Game of Thrones episode…
But are you the… master of your domain?
You? You will be out before we pay the cheque.
This. I can’t believe how far down in the comments I had to dig to find “The Contest”. This is the easy choice for me.Kramer popping back into the apartment after the briefest of absences, slapping down his money and saying, “I’m out!” is my favorite Seinfeld gag.
I was pretty young when that episode aired for the first time, and let me tell you, I had no idea what the contest entailed.
“Elaine… Benes… Kennedy… Juniaaaaahhhh!”
Though now you can’t help but feel she really lucked out, after John John killed himself and his wife in a plane crash.
Like Elaine ever would have let him take flying lessons…
I guess people wanted to avoid mentioning it since it’s too obvious a choice, but it really is a classic.
“The Chicken Roaster”
Mr. Marbles?!?!
There’s ‘The Contest’…and then everything else.
I think I gotta go with “The Merv Griffin Show”. The moment where Kramer decides to shut down the show and retool, so he pulls the plug and just sits there in the dark . . . outSTANDING!
…..and we’re BACK!
“Now for those of us who don’t know, sidling is what?”“Kramer, what the hell is wrong with you?”Honestly, based on the responses in the article, and the subsequent comments, I’m glad to see that the dismissal of the Larry David-less seasons seems to have fallen by the wayside. There’s an incredible amount of great stuff in the last two years.
Elaine sets aside her morals to play with an EZ Bake Oven. So good.
More wine and heavy gravy?
There’s got to be a “How Seinfeld Normalized Rape Culture” take somewhere out there.
Also the fact that, after being initially confused, the three of them immediately get on board with this bizarre new thing Kramer’s doing. Sort of an ‘Always Sunny’ precursor, although I always thought the comparison was a little forced.
You idiot! Hawks eat squirrels!
“What kind of woman drinks an entire box of wine?!”That whole episode is completely ridiculous on every level, and I love every minute of it.
I knew mine would be from the later seasons, as I disagree with the “generally held wisdom that the post-Larry David seasons of Seinfeld get a little too cartoonish for their own good.” And after 10 minutes of thinking, The Merv Griffin Show was my answer.NEWMAN: What about a guest-host?KRAMER: I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.
I’ll take Season 8 and 9 over Season 1 and 2 (and most of Season 3) any day.
So…you and Jerry dated for awhile. Tell me – what was that like?Wrong card…
So…you and Jerry dated for awhile. Tell us- what was that like?Wrong card…
How come nobody picked a Season 8 episode?Oh.
These pretzels…
…are MAKIN’ me THIRsty!
I can’t remember exactly which episode it was, but I loved the plotline about Jerry being unable to remember his girlfriend’s name. “…Mulva?”Cracks me up every time.
That’s The Junior Mint. I recently found out the guy who gets the mint dropped in him was also Bub from Day of the Dead.
One of the few times I remember them leaving Jerry breaking in the episode, on the line “Now let’s go watch them slice this fat bastard up.” I can only assume that was the best take out of dozens. Though to be fair to Jerry… that’s a pretty hilarious line.
“Now let’s go watch them slice that fat bastard up”
Dolores!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“ . . . gipple?”
Aretha!
I once saw a car with the license plate MULVA. It made me very happy.
Hest?
For me, THE GUM is the perfect Seinfeld episode. Each storyline is hilarious and then the way it ties together at the end with this (chef’s kiss):
My god, there are so many, but the world must have become too P.C. to not include The Jimmy! Seriously? Right with it is The Old Man. Agree with an above poster about The Chicken Roaster, which is a close 2nd to The Slicer. Of course The Rye is one of my top 5 all time. What do you feed this animal? Oats and hay. The Strike of course, but The Fire, The Wink, The Calzone (I know you’re in the building George!). I always enjoyed The Bottle Deposit (that’s 2) and The Hamptons. My God, it doesn’t end.
Love The Bottle Deposit. “Get better George!”
I was always partial to the Library Cop.
“Hard feelings? What do you know about hard feelings? Ever had a man die in your arms? Ever kill somebody?”Philip Baker Hall should’ve won every award possible for this masterclass.
This is the episode which turned it around for me! I watched a couple of “The Seinfeld Chronicles” when they were first braodcast and gave up on the show. I was really disappointed because I thought Seinfeld was a terrific stand-up comedian and was excited to see what he would do on a sitcom. A year of so later a co-worker handed me a vhs tape he recorded of the show insisting that it got better. When this one played I was hooked!
“WHO? WHO DOESN’T WANT TO WEAR THE RIBBON?”
Every now and then I try watching an episode of Seinfeld. It barely raises a smirk with me. I’d always assumed it was just that I was seeing the wrong episodes. But this week I saw the Latex salesman one. If that’s one of the best, I can now safely give up on it. Humour’s subjective so I am absolutely not saying it’s not funny. I’m just saying I don’t find it funny. At all.
See, that’s how you say you don’t like something.
Perhaps the superfluous U in humor is the problem. I never got Benny Hill, so we’re even.
You should try using the letter U more – it seems you have a natural talent for it, using words like “superfluous”.I’ve got nothing against American humour in general, and there are all manner of US sitcoms that I’ve loved over the years. But Seinfeld is one that I just don’t get. Arrested Development is another.
Another great thing about “The Burning”: the reveal of the tractor story, that she believes she got gonorrhea from riding on a tractor in a bathing suit because he ex-boyfriend told her so. All that build up to such a stupid reveals was just great.
I also love “The Burning” but not for the Jerry story. George’s interactions with Mr. Kruger were the highlight for me, as the scenes where George is trying to get work done but finds his boss acting as he typically does is one of the best of season nine.George: Don’t you even care? This is your company. It’s your name on the outside of the building. Speaking of which, the R fell off and all it says now is K-UGER.Kruger: K-UGER. That sounds like one of those old time car horns, huh? K-UGER! K-UGER!
In an age where more celebs are being held accountable for what they do or say (especially in the past) and people so often refuse to forgive or forget, it’s been fascinating to see everyone’s favorite show, Seinfeld, be totally immune to Michael Richard’s racist outbust.
Because it’s genius. It’d be like chucking The Searchers on the scrapheap becaause of John Wayne
I think to a degree it’s because Richard’s outburst happened almost 10 years after Seinfeld went off the air, and also that he’s kept a really low profile since Seinfeld. Out of sight, out of mind.
Plus, it wasn’t something that was kept under wraps and then suddenly revealed during the later “era of accountability.” Even if the consequences weren’t what they might have been had it happened in the last few years, the feeling that the whole thing’s been hashed over already, and that it came out in the open when it actually happened kind of takes the wind out of people’s zeal to apply any kind of retroactive taint to the show.
Oddly enough, whenever I watch a Seinfeld rerun (which is only ever at my parents; it’s my dad’s favorite show and he keeps wanting to show me and my kids old episodes) Richards’s outburst does come to mind when he shows up. But just for a second. Since I’ve never really seen him in anything besides Seinfeld (and UHF, I guess), I really don’t see him as anyone besides Kramer. Psychologically, the guy who shouted a racial slur on stage, to me, literally isn’t the same person as the wacky next-door neighbor on the TV.
I always got the impression Richards was trying to go full “edgelord” in a misguided attempt to improv a standup routine, rather than go full “DUI-arrest Mel Gibson.”
Have you seen the Comedians in Cars Jerry did with Richards? That incident clearly broke him.
It was also addressed on the Seinfeld Reunion season on Curbs which went a long way to take the sting out of it.
Should it have been? Even at the time, it felt, if we’re being honest, like a bizarre, ill-conceived attempt to shock the crowd into laughing from a very strange guy. And he strenuously apologized. Having said that, his “fifty years ago” line was kind of funny.
Wow, as I was reading it I really thought this was going to be about Jerry Seinfeld’s penchant for high school girls/married women.Never forget, folks!
1). That incident was a huge deal in 2006 and completely destroyed his career. What more do you want us to do, put a giant black block over the screen whenever Kramer walks in?2). Watch his comedians in cars interview with Seinfeld. He gives a pretty convincing and thorough apology.
It’s more the Danny Hoch anecdote that poisoned the show for me. I don’t really have an absolute ban on the show, but realizing that it sometimes craps on people of color definitely dented my enthusiasm. Michael Richards was obviously a clueless weirdo who fucked up big time, but this really speaks to the essence of the show. And they didn’t pay him. 🙂
I think it helps that a) he’s not the lead or the key creative force of the show (it would be a much bigger deal if Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David had made comments like that), and b) a one-time racist outburst, while definitely bad, is way less bad than a serial pattern of harassment or physical abuse.
The Contest. Just a genius concept which they carry off perfectly.
The invitations – the darkest episode by far with George trying to hide his glee over Susans death. When George asked Marisa Tomei out after the funeral , there were audible gasps from the audience . Add Janene Garofalo’s whirlwind romance with Jerry, and you have one for the ages ..
Has anyone else seen those trendy girls walking around in their serapes and wide-brimmed hats and thought that Elaine’s timing was just a couple decades off with the urban sombrero?
The one where Kramer opens a smoking lounge at his place and the one where Kramer adopts a highway.
“You look like an old catcher’s mitt!”
“It’s ‘Pipe Night’!”
“This is the most public yet of my many humiliations.”
Any time we get on new highway that hasn’t yet had the lane markers painted my wife and I say to each other ‘luxurious!’
I said that today!
I was biking with my son today, and we got on a new stretch of road and I said it.
Kenny Rodgers Roasters episode. Mr. Marbles?That’s not good for business. That’s not good for anyone.
“Y’know my friend Bob Scamano?”
“I thought he was Kramer’s friend.”
“Well, he called last night around 3 AM, we got to talkin’; he sells Russian hats down in Battery Park. Forty bucks.”
I’d be hard-pressed to name a single Seinfeld episode I don’t absolutely adore, aside, of course, from the finalealways baffles me that people don’t understand the finale. the show couldn’t have ended any other way
Really? Some kind of nonsensical trial where they go to prison for not tackling an armed robber was the only possible ending? I feel like there may have been other options that would have been just as good, like an abrupt fade to black, or the discovery that they were in purgatory all along.
I understand it, but I don’t like it. The characterization of the core four as cruel and selfish doesn’t really jive with huge chunks of the show, as the characters often go out of their way to help others. They’re ineffective, afraid of conflict, and oblivious, but they’re never malicious.
Larry David’s bitterness about his inability to launch a career outside the show after leaving it shows so much.
Curb Your Enthusiasm begs to differ with your assertion.
Yeah… Seinfeld finale 1998. First episode of Curb 2000. I’m not sure how future success (that he didn’t know would happen) would dampen his (alleged) bitterness while working on the finale.
You’re both right in that the first couple of seasons of Curb are heavily informed by David’s dealings with studios post-seinfeld. Another thing thats fascinated me is that he has an almost woody allen-esque pathology to make the same plot over and over again. Like Woody making Crimes and Misdemeanors again and again in his career, almost every one of Larry David’s works, besides Curb and Seinfeld, involves someone who feels that a great idea of theirs has been stolen by another. Wonder if thats based on anything real.
Did he have time by then? It wasn’t even 2 years since he left.
The Latex Salesman bit in “The Boyfriend” highlights one of the primary themes of Seinfeld beyond general mundane middle-class somethings. In the Seinfeldiverse, your every irrational social or bureaucratic fear is true — The bookstore will figure out that the book you’re trying to return has been read in the bathroom; The library will send a detective to investigate your overdue book; and the woman you once stole a marble rye from will be on the board of your parents’ condo association and recognize you at their meeting.
The inspiration for the unemployment bit came from the early-’90s recession, when the Federal government underwrote extensions of unemployment benefits. With those extensions came the requirement that beneficiaries had to report two places per week at which they’d sought work. In reality that simply meant that you had write down on a submitted form two places/week where you’d sent application letters, or filled out forms, or simply asked someone if they were hiring (“You’re not? I can still put your name and address on my application form”).I was subject to this myself at the time, and was thus treated to a bit of real-world absurdist comedy. The state required that all recipients of benefits show up at their local office for a brief presentation (which you could cite to count as one of your job search attempts). The presentation was to explain (plead, really) to everyone that they didn’t need to get some sort of signature from the place they applied, or ask them to call the unemployment office, or send in a job description or promotional literature from the company, or really do anything other than write down a name and address. It was an amazing black comedic display watching state employees do everything they could to communicate “This is a meaningless, bullshit requirement and you can really just write down anything you wish — please stop overthinking it and tying up staff by asking for guidance” without expressly saying so.
That’s a really insightful analysis of the show. It’s essentially a “what if”: what if the pigeons don’t fly away as I approach? What if the guy at the Chinese restaurant isn’t ever going to call out our table? It’s almost like a ‘Twilight Zone’ of the mundane.
Interesting that you mention The Twilight Zone, because 1) the show definitely goes in those fantastical directions from time-to-time, as when George starts “doing the opposite” (and really most of his job experiences, for that matter), and 2) I believe I’ve previously discussed in this forum how that’s a fundamental principle of horror — What if there really is a monster under the bed, or the guy checking me into the motel is a psycho taxidermist? Instead of “The Show about Nothing”, I think you could effectively describe Seinfeld as a show about “mundane horror”.
Jerry says a few times in the commentaries that one of his favorite jokes is when a character runs up against some middle management jackass who completely has it out for them for absolutely no reason.
You know, I was struggling to find a favourite episode to answer this column’s question, but your comment has made me think that ‘The Doorman’ is a strong contender. Larry Miller infuses his petty character with so much menace.
Spot on. I’m sure its already been mentioned in the comments by Philip Baker Hall’s Lt. Bookman is a tour de force. Maybe the funniest few minutes of comedy I’ve ever seen.Lt Bookman: Yeah ‘71, that was my first year on the job. Bad year for libraries. Bad year for America. Hippies burning library cards, Abby Hoffman telling everybody to steal books. I don’t judge a man by the length of his hair or the kind of music he listens to. Rock was never my bag. But you put on a pair of shoes when you walk into the New York Public Library, fella.
It begins and ends with Marine Biologist, for me. Most Seinfeld episodes are great (some are duds), but Marine Biologist is superlative. Maybe the best written sitcom episode of all time.
“The sea was angry that day…”
“I do not think that word means what you think it means.” Inigo MontoyaSuperlative.
Superlative = of the highest quality or degreeInigo is talking to you on this one.
Yup. I’m wrong. “Sometimes words have two meanings” Led Zeppelin Inigo talks to me a lot. Someday maybe I’ll listen…
The best, without a doubt, is The Yada Yada! It has everything! George’s new girlfriend keeps including “Yada Yada” in her stories. Jerry is offended by Tim Whatley’s Jewish jokes. Elaine tries to help her friends adopt a baby. Kramer and Mickey fight over two women. The best is when Kramer calls Jerry an anti-dentite!And then Robert Wagner brings it home!
You anti-dentite bastard!
“You yada yada’d the best part!”Slyly/sheepishly(?) “I mentioned the soup.”
I don’t think there’s any sheepishness.Also, I have to mention that the line is, “I mentioned the bisque”, simply because Elaine’s enunciation of the last words is so great.
You are totally right about the bisque. My mistake. You don’t think Elaine is a little sheepish about having sex that’s not as good as lobster bisque? I see it, but maybe I’m reading into it.
Anyone with George’s parents. They really did a number on him.
The Cadillac. Whenever Aunt May shows up in the new Spider-man movies, all I can hear is “Marisa Tomei!” in George’s voice.
I never really loved Seinfeld. I mean sure, it was funny, but it never made me feel anything. I know I’m in the extreme minority on this but I always thought Mad About You was a vastly superior show that never got its due.
I always wanted this to be the episode of “Mad About You” that George and Susan were watching at that moment.
Its funny that they allowed this, given that was a fellow NBC show. “This is the last thing a man would ever want to watch.”
Agreed. My understanding, and I’m not up on the Hollywood gossip, is that Larry David and Paul Reiser are friends in real life and this was good-natured ribbing.
Jerry Seinfeld also did a guest appearance on Mad About You.
Your comment about Mad About You being a vastly superior show is funnier than the entire run of Mad About You…
“funny, but never made me feel anything”That’s practically the mission statement of the show.
They threw quite a few shots at Cheers and LA Law in the early years.
Mad About You would have been fine except I could never get behind the mass delusion that Helen Hunt was supposed to be soooo beautiful and hot because she wore jogging pants with no underwear! Ugggghhhh!
I definitely had a thing for her as a teen. I dunno, she had kind eyes and good hair.
I liked Mad About You, but, yeah, no.
It’s subjective and depends what you value in a show. Seinfeld is brilliant humor, Mad About You is decent humor with characters you might actually care about. I never cared for any of the Seinfeld gang, which made the humor meaningless. It’s the same reason I can’t get into Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry David’s character is despicable. To me, his basic unlikeability kinda just makes it unfunny. Oh he was an asshole and it backfired. I’m supposed to laugh? As I said, I know I’m in the minority on this. XD
Favorite Quote & Favorite bit of physical comedy:
But their genitals still line up.
So many great episodes but I have to mention “The Betrayal” where the episode goes backwards. So many great sight gags based on that premise (Kramer’s giant lollypop), not to mention jokes written backwards where the payoff is a simple statement mentioned at the end/beginning (Kramer’s battle with Franklin Delano Romanowski. It’s amazing comedy writing and so unique.
Moops.
Absolutely none of them. An entirely tedious show about unlikeable people.
thanks for stopping by Bookman!
Watching those clips….wow, did they dress Jerry is some ugly shirts. The purple turtleneck?
The 90s was a fashion wasteland.
The Susie! Latter-day Seinfeld sometimes gets a bad rep (specially from people like Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiims on his old recaps) but my god, the show was never funnier than in those 2 last seasons IMO. And The Susie has it all, Peterman being Peterman, the guy with the broken thumbs, Elaine trying to keep it together at that meeting… I love that episode.
The last season is my favorite. It has a lot of gems. Even in 2019, The Wizard holds up when it comes to white people’s fear of discussing race:
It reminds me a bit of 30 Rock:
Here’s my hot take:
The last 2 seasons of Seinfeld were The Simpsons spec scripts rewritten for people who wouldn’t watch cartoons. (It’s a markedly different show than what preceded it, but it’s still very, very funny.)
There’s no Moops!!!
Mine is the one where they get stuck in the mall parking garage. The fact that the car not starting was entirely unplanned shocked me when I learned about it. You can even see the cast breaking character when it happens.
I know it’s not cool to pick an episode from the post-Larry David seasons, but “The Little Kicks” is the one that made me laugh the hardest, not just because of every instance of Elaine doing that ridiculous dance or someone else impersonating her, but because of the B-story about Jerry being a genius at bootlegging movies. The way the two stories converge at the end is brilliant, even by Seinfeld standards.
“You think Ukraine is weak?”
1. Bubble Boy.2. The Voice.All the rest.
Has anyone mentioned The Subway yet? George is tied to a bed and robbed, and there’s a funny line about his mom looking worse than Hazel.
Y’know…“Hazel really puts your mother to shame…”
I mean, come on, there are a lot of great episodes, but “The Fussili Jerry” episode is great! Elaine starts dating Puddy and Puddy uses a sex move that he stole from Jerry. There is the “stop short” bit with Kramer and George’s mom which pisses off George’s dad because it is his “move”. Also intertwined into the episode is the “ASSMAN” story line. Plus there is me, Fussile Jerry. It’s the best!
I’m so embarrassed that I missed mention The Fusilli Jerry. One of my top 5. So YOU’RE the Assman”
“The Limo”. Yes, the premise is ridiculous and outlandish, even by the standards of the show. But the moment to moment comedy is fantastic, and it has solid guest stars to boot.“The Frogger” is a runner-up solely for the hilarious climactic scene with George attempting to get the arcade cabinet across the street.
Mine is also The Marine Biologist. It’s just such a perfect balance of regular and absurd, and it all comes together so nicely without feeling forced.
It’s Pride Weekend right now, and I keep thinking of “The Puerto Rican Day” due to the crowds outside my apartment. The episode probably isn’t as funny as I remember because it was banned for a while, but there’s something relatable about finding yourself trapped in a crowd.
god but I hate this show. Yes, I hate watched it. And it made me grumpy and cynical.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus kicked ass in every episode and was perfection in The Betrayal. “Goodnight, Jugdish” and the laughter that followed was so damn great.
Julia really was the glue that held the show together.
It might not have the funniest moments, (for funniest moments I’ll go with Kramer being mistaken for mentally challenged in the episode with Mel Torme or the episode with the Phil Rizutto doll) but I’ve always been fondest of “The Limo” for having the best plot of any episode. “They can’t shoot us!” “Sure, no one gets shot in the city.”
“… You’re not going to open with that, are you?”
That’s The Jimmy. One of my Top 5.
“The sea was angry that day my friends!” Marine Biologist indeed is my favorite too.
The Race goes under the radar a bit but I think it’s hilarious all the way through and Communist Kramer Mall Santa is a highlight. “Sata’s a commie!”
The one with all the wanking and flicking.
Am I the only person who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the show? I never wanted to see it when it aired, and from the brief scenes I’ve seen of the show in syndication and what I’ve read about it, I don’t think I missed anything.
You care so little about it you even took the time to comment on this article to tell everyone how little you care!
Yes.
Don’t worry, I’m sure there are other humorless people that will provide the validation you’re seeking!
These days, it’s any that don’t pay money into Steve Bannon’s pocket. Which, sadly, is none of them.
They’re all pretty good but when it’s an episode with Mickey Abbot everything else has to wait.
For me a single scene can make an episode and a lot of the strongest scenes always came at the end of episodes. This is because they served as a final punchline for a joke that built throughout the last 20 minutes or sometimes as an aside to a running bit over a multi espidode arc.George’s story about saving the whale, the race between Jerry and his high school nemesis, George backing away from a rambling Steinbrenner all still make me laugh.
It’s hard to pick just one complete episode though.
The opposite is my fave, it not really for the Elaine line, but more for George’s lunacy, Steinbrenner’s “hire this man” and George’s freakout on the guys in the movie theater. The Kenny Rogers roasters one is also hilarious just for Kramer’s plaintive “Kenny? Kenny?” When the sign goes out, and for Jerry’s spot on Kramer impressions.
Whatever you say, Crowell
The Cartoon: all the characters get separate, but equal, storylines. Jerry’s feud with Kathy Griffin’s character; George’s increasing uncomfortableness dating a Jerry lookalike; Kramer’s vow of silence and Elaine’s beef with, then brief moment of glory at, the cartoon department of The New Yorker. It’s full of great Julia Louis Dreyfus line readings:“You doodle a couple of bears at a cocktail party talking about the stock market and you think you’re doing comedy”.“Everything’s got to be such a joke with you” [Jerry: I’m a comedian][reading silent Kramer’s caption suggestion] “The pig says ‘My wife is a slut’?”
“My wife is a slut” made me belly laugh as a 13 year old and it still gets me to this day.“Now that’s a complaint.”
“It’s a Ziggy! Elaine, to the archives!!”
What’s the median age of AV Club writers here? Because everybody’s heavily biased towards the post-Larry David years and I’ve got Hypotheses about these choices.
The final episode should have centered around Bob Sacamano (played, of course, by Lorenzo Music). The main cast would be the background players. Maybe revisit classic scenes and reveal that Sacamano was there in the background, just off camera, the entire time!
The Abstinence is my pick too. It’s Seinfeldian madness at its very best
Not necessarily an episode but I would say almost once a month I find myself saying, “Oh, this has disaster written all over it!”
That scene in “The Pool Guy” where George is standing in front of a movie audience yelling venomously that he knows Jerry and friends are out there laughing at him – I relate to that level of social anxiety and frustration wayyy too much.
I know you’re there, laughing at me! Laughing and lying and laughing! I had to go to Reggies, Jerry! Reggies!
The Frogger and Merv Griffin show episodes are my two favorites
For me it’s ‘The Library’ and ‘The Chinese Restaurant’.Bookman’s lines in the former, and lines like ‘WE’RE LIVING IN A SOCIETY’ as well as, of course ‘CARTWRIGHT!’ in the latter are great.
The phrase ‘you and yer good-time buddies’ kills me.
I like ‘flaunting convention, making the scene’
I swear, I use ”We’re living in a Society!” in almost every comment I write online.
I liked the show before that, but “The Chinese Restaurant” was the first episode where it seemed like something that could pretty much happen to you in real life.
I’m shocked that “The Contest” does not appear on this list. “I was alone. My mother had a Glamour magazine..”
When George destroyed the World Series trophy and Babe Ruth’s uniform in an attempt to get fired from the Yankees only to be praised for his vision and forward-thinking.
People have rightly highlighted that many of the show’s top moments are bits of Kramer physical comedy, but for me this scene is one of his all-time best and for the most part it’s just him sitting at the dinner table:It’s just such perfect Seinfeldian writing: hilarious, cynical, and getting so hyper-specific about in a topic in a way that isn’t quite true but which is close enough to reality to be totally believable.
I only watched a few episodes: The finale, that I’m still amazed to this day, ended the way it did, with the characters going to jail (Incidentally sometime before that I read an interview with JLD, who said someone joked that Seinfeld should end in a big fiery death. So you could say Princess Di died so Seinfeld could live, just in prison).The three-part episode where Kramer runs off to Hollywood and becomes a suspected serial killer (just because people keep going to the cops and making statements about the weird shit Kramer says and does). The last episode has Kramer being let go because the serial killer strikes again while he’s locked up. It’s got a fucked up morbid ending where Kramer, George and Jerry are all happily shouting “They found another body!”
Great look back, we also rated our top 6 and The Pool Boy is in mine, it’s brilliant:
https://thepopculturallists.com/2017/03/24/seinfeld-episodes-the-best-jerry-the-best/
Marine Biologist is probably my #1 just because of that final scene, but I also really love The Burning because it’s got the Elaine vs. Puddy “I’m not the one going to hell” conflict, the Kramer gonnerhea conflict, George leaving the meeting after making jokes, and the “it’s me” call leading to the tractor story.
There may be episodes with higher peaks, but The Strike is the best complete episode. There’s like 3 episodes worth of great ideas: Tim Whatley’s Hanukkah party, Kramer’s strike ending and then starting again, Elaine’s sub-card fiasco with denim-vest, Elaine’s interactions with the guys at the OTB place, the Two-Face, the Human Fund, and of course Festivus. It’s the perfect episode.
Piffy Shirt.
Puffy. Spell check hates me.
A question – as somebody who has enjoyed occasional Seinfeld reruns and would like to watch more, is it worth watching the complete series, starting with later seasons, or just picking some of the more popular episodes?
As a fan, I think they’re all worth watching (even though the 4-episode first season is kinda weak). But you’re not really missing any important plot points if you watch them out of order.
I guess mine is “The Strike” (aka the Festivus episode), but there are really too many memorable ones to narrow it down even to a top 5.
Plus:
“Bubble Boy” from S4 and “The Voice” from S9.The “Moops” gets me every time along with the look on the parents’ when the bubble wall starts collapsing.The Voice isn’t funny for its namesake bit, but for the big ball of oil and the earnest intern, Darin, for Kramerica.
‘’What a nice watch! My boyfriend has one exactly like it.’’
Ugggh! Nothing more painful than really hitting it off with someone and then watching in horror as she frantically scales back the interaction with you knowing full well you messed up somewhere along the way. And yes, this is experience talking. lol, fml.
People are seriously making a big deal about a paid streaming service having reruns of a 20 year old show that’s been played on an endless rerun loop since it went off the air over a decade ago.
And a hack sitcom no more inspired than any other sitcom at that.
So much for “premium” content.
Now you’re being marketed shows you’ve already watched a million times for free as if it’s a big deal you’re now being charged for them.
Great job, everyone.