Trivia for
"Seinfeld" (1990) More at IMDbPro »

• Larry David was the original voice of Newman in "The Revenge," but Wayne Knight overdubbed the voice for syndication.
  
  
• The restaurant exterior belongs to Tom's Restaurant, which is the same restaurant that was immortalized in the Suzanne Vega song "Tom's Diner." It is near the Columbia University campus in Manhattan at West 112th Street and Broadway.
  
  
• Jerry tells a polygraph examiner that his address is 129 West 81st Street.
  
  
• The character of Cosmo Kramer is based on Kenny Kramer, a man who worked across the hall from co-creator Larry David. In a self-confessed move to cash-in on the sitcom's popularity, Kenny Kramer formed the "Kramer Reality Tour", an officially-recognized New York City tour which visits the real-life locations often featured in the sitcom. In the 1997 season of "Seinfeld", Cosmo Kramer's memoirs are published by J. Peterman as his own. Wanting to make the most of the situation, Cosmo Kramer starts a "Peterman Reality Tour", offering a tour of the real-life locations featured in the memoirs.
  
  
• The original script was called "Stand Up". It was to be a 90-minute mockumentary about how a stand-up comedian writes his jokes based on his everyday life. It was to air in place of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) for one night. NBC liked the script so much that they decided to develop it into a pilot instead.
  
  
• Kramer's wardrobe of mostly 1960s and 1970s clothing was not intended to make him into retro fashions, so much as to suggest that he hadn't bought clothes in several years. The pants in particular were always about an inch too short in order to stress this. In later seasons, appropriate clothing became increasingly difficult for producers to find, due to the combination of it getting older and older as well as the extreme popularity of Kramer as a character, forcing them to have tailors personally make Kramer's clothing out of retro fabrics. Often, they would create numerous back-up copies of the clothing in case it was damaged during the physical comedy.
  
  
• Michael Richards always wore clothes one size too big to make Kramer appear to be laid back and loose.
  
  
• The costume department always fitted Jason Alexander (George) with an outfit that was one size too small. This was done to make him look uncool.
  
  
• As Larry David states on the DVD, the character of Elaine's father, the gruff war vet/author Alton Benes, was based on the father of his former girlfriend Monica Yates, the late writer Richard Yates (author of "Revolutionary Road").
  
  
• The show's often-repeated phrase, "Yada, yada, yada," was ranked #1 in TV Guide's list of TV's 20 Top Catchphrases (21-27 August 2005 issue).
  
  
• Jerry is the only character to appear in every episode. Elaine does not appear in "The Seinfeld Chronicles" and "The Trip (Parts 1 and 2)", Kramer does not appear in "The Chinese Restaurant" and "The Pen", and George does not appear in "The Pen".
  
  
• Jerry's apartment number is 5A. Kramer's apartment number is 5B.
  
  
• In a season three episode, George can be seen wearing a baseball shirt that says "Broadway Bound". Jason Alexander appeared in a play of this name by 'Neil Simon' during its original New York run.
  
  
• In addition to Jerry having a sister who is only mentioned once (in "The Chinese Restaurant"), George has a brother who is mentioned only twice in the series: "The Suicide" (his brother impregnated a woman named Pauline) and "The Parking Space" (George's father, mother and brother never pay for parking). Elaine has a sister, Gail, who she visits in St. Louis, and who she calls after she sends Gail's son her exposed nipple Christmas card. Elaine also mentions a brother-in-law (presumably Gail's husband) in "The Phone Message" (he blurted out secret business information on an answering machine).
  
  
• Elaine's middle name is Marie. George's middle name is Louis. Jerry's real first name is Jerome.
  
  
• Bob Balaban played an NBC network executive who approved a sitcom pilot to be called "Jerry". Balaban was chosen because of his resemblance to NBC executive Warren Littlefield, the man who allowed Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David to produce the "Seinfeld" pilot. Balaban also played Littlefield himself in the HBO movie The Late Shift (1996) (TV).
  
  
• The first DVD releases of the show (23 November 2004) were the first DVDs to be released under Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment's new name, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
  
  
• In the very first episode, the first conversation was between George and Jerry about a button. In the very last episode, when they were sitting in jail, the last conversation they had was the same thing about the button.
  
  
• The Soup Nazi is based on the actual owner of a take-out soup business in Manhattan on West 55th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue.
  
  
• Jerry Stiller plays George's dad. Ben Stiller (Jerry's real-life son) is married to Christine Taylor, who guest-starred on the show as Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend.
  
  
• In the episode where Elaine dates a man named Joel Rifkin, she tries to have him change his name, since Joel Rifkin is also the name of a man involved in a notorious New York City murder case. One of the initial suggestions for a new name was O.J. This episode was shot in 1993, a year before O.J. Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman.
  
  
• We find out in "The Dog" that Elaine has lived in New York since 1986.
  
  
• In Jerry's apartment, he has a picture on the wall of a black Porsche 911 catching air going over a hill. In real life, Jerry is an avid Porsche fan and collector.
  
  
• In the final episode of the series, the trial pays homage to Inherit the Wind (1960). Particularly, the scene where the attorney discusses how many important people will descend upon their little town, because the case is so high profile.
  
  
• Voted the #1 top TV series of all time, beating out #2, "I Love Lucy" (1951), and #3, "The Honeymooners" (1955), in the list of 50 shows chosen by TV Guide editors, April 2002.
  
  
• Jerry Seinfeld turned down an offer from NBC that would have made him $110 million for a tenth season of the show.
  
  
• ABC Entertainment executive Lloyd Braun lent his name to a character appearing in three episodes, "The Non-Fat Yogurt", "The Gum", and "The Serenity Now", and is a neighbor and nemesis of George Costanza.
  
  
• In the episode in which Kramer options his coffee table book for a movie and moves to Florida, several newspaper headlines are featured as he runs for condo council president. In smaller print on these pages, other headlines read, "Larry David Gets Hole in One" "Larry David Injures Elbow", and "Larry David Never To Play Golf Again".
  
  
• As Kramer became more popular, his entrance applause grew so prolonged that the cast complained it was ruining the pacing of their scenes. Directors subsequently asked the audience not to applaud so much when Kramer entered.
  
  
• Larry David, co-creator and executive producer, appears several times throughout the series. He is the voice of George M. Steinbrenner III, The Man In The Cape (Frank's divorce lawyer) and the owner of a newsstand. He was also one of the last voices heard on the show, as the "I'm gonna cut you!" prisoner at the very end of the final episode.
  
  
• When the final episode aired on May 14, 1998, the TV Land network honored the occasion by airing no programming in the show's timeslot. Instead the network just showed a still photo of a closed office door.
  
  
• At Jerry Seinfeld's high school, Massapequa HS on Long Island, there was a teacher named Mr. Bevilaqua - he was the wrestling coach there. In one of the episodes Jerry had a race that was officiated by Mr. Bevilaqua.
  
  
• In the episode where George thinks someone stole his glasses from the gym locker room, he is eating a bag of Rold Gold pretzels. At the time, Jason Alexander was a spokesman for the product.
  
  
• Lee Garlington was originally supposed to be a member of the cast, as Claire, the coffee shop waitress who gave Jerry and George friendly advice. She appeared in the pilot episode. But when the show was picked up, her character was dropped.
  
  
• A Superman figurine can be seen on Jerry's bookshelf in some episodes. In some episodes, Jerry wears red and blue which are the colors of Superman's uniform. In some episodes, Jerry and George ponder what Superman would do in their situation.
  
  
• Danny DeVito, Nathan Lane, David Alan Grier, Larry Miller, Kevin Dunn and Brad Hall were considered for the role of George.
  
  
• Steve Vinovich, Larry Hankin, and Tony Shalhoub were considered for the role of Kramer. Larry Hankin later played Kramer in the show within the show in the episode The Pilot.
  
  
• Kramer sublet Paul Buchman's ("Mad About You" (1992)) apartment.
  
  
• In early episodes, Jerry's apartment number switches from 3A to 5A
  
  
• The building used for the exterior shots where Elaine works is 600 Madison Avenue in Manhattan between 57th and 58th street.
  
  
• Morty Seinfeld (Jerry's father ) was originally played by Philip Bruns for one episode, then played by Barney Martin for the rest of the series run.
  
  
• Several movie videos can be seen at Jerry's stereo shelf including Child's Play 2 (1990) in the later seasons.
  
  
• While they are waiting in the Chinese restaurant, Jerry lists the many people that will be getting phone calls as a result of him being seen there. One of the included people was his sister. His sister has never appeared on the show, nor is she ever referenced again.
  
  
• The apartment used for exterior shots of 129 West 81st Street, New York, New York, is not actually in New York at all, but is 757 S. New Hampshire Avenue, Los Angeles, California. There's a Taco Bell directly across from it.
  
  
• In the series finale, Kramer suggests that he, George, Elaine, and Seinfeld do a musical such as "Bye, Bye, Birdie" or "My Fair Lady". Jason Alexander, who plays George, did in fact star in Bye Bye Birdie (1995) (TV) as Albert Peterson.
  
  
• In one of the episodes, Jerry is walking down the street with one of his buddies, and in the background, there's a building with a sign on it that reads "Kal's Signs". Jerry Seinfeld's real life dad's name is Kal, and he really made signs for a living.
  
  
• The famous Seinfeld fictions (George's pseudo career as an architect, the fictional importer/exporter, and the fictional Art Vandelay) are introduced in "The Stakeout".
  
  
• The night before the final episode, ABC aired an episode of "Dharma & Greg" (1997) in which the couple tries to have sex in public because everyone will be indoors watching the "Seinfeld" finale.
  
  
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus did not appear in the series' pilot episode. In fact, she was unaware that the episode existed until it was released as part of the DVD box set in 2004.
  
  
• One of only three series in American history to rank #1 in the ratings for its entire final network season. The other two were "I Love Lucy" (1951) (in 1956-57) and "The Andy Griffith Show" (1960) (in 1967-68).
  
  
• Many plots of the early episodes were completely based on the episode writer's real life troubles, including "The Chinese Restaurant", "The Jacket", "The Robbery", "The Cafe", "The Nose Job", and many others.
  
  
• "The Cafe" is the first episode to have applause by the studio audience as Kramer entered, though interestingly, it happened when Kramer entered the Dream Cafe rather than Jerry's apartment.
  
  
• Throughout the series, there are numerous references to Kramer's friend Bob Saccamano, but the character is never seen.
  
  
• During the original airing of the finale, MTV aired original cartoons that were specially timed to fit into the finale's commercial breaks, so that viewers could freely watch both of them and not worry about missing anything.
  
  
• Kramer's famous "I'm out of the contest!" moment, was his 100th entrance into Jerry's apartment.
  
  
• The character of Lloyd Braun (George's childhood neighbor, and rival) is played by two different actors, first Peter Keleghan then, four years later, Matt McCoy.
  
  
• Jerry has a copy of the computer game Red Baron (1990) (VG) next to his Mac.
  
  
• Out of the four main characters, Kramer is the only one to have never had an "inner monologue". In other words, his inner thoughts are never heard.
  
  
• Megan Mullally auditioned for the role of Elaine
  
  
• The model of the bike Jerry never rides, hanging in his apartment, changes throughout the series.
  
  
• The puffy shirt used in "The Puffy Shirt" episode is currently placed in the Smithsonian. A doll-sized replica was included with the fifth season DVD set.
  
  
• Before the show was set to air, Jerry Seinfeld asked Jason Alexander what he thought their chances for success were. Alexander said he thought they "didn't have a chance." When asked why, Alexander responded, "Because the audience for this show is me, and I don't watch TV."
  
  
• Although Jerry uses a Apple computers/ Mac through out the series, he has various IBM-PC Microsoft office products (Word, Excel, MS windows) on his desk next to his computer
  
  
• In the very first show, Kramer's last name was Kessler. Jerry is heard saying Kessler exactly the same way as he does Kramer. This was because Kenny Kramer would not allow his name to be used on the show unless he was allowed to play Kramer. Eventually Kenny Kramer's list of demands were met, and the name Kramer was used.
  
  
• Phil Morris planned to star in a spin-off as Jackie Chiles but the project was stalled.
  
  
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus was pregnant while shooting part of this series. Her pregnancy was disguised with her carrying props to hide her changing body. This was parodied on "The Nanny" (1993) when the very-pregnant Lauren Lane mentioned them hiding Elaine "behind all these huge props" while standing in front of a poster with "Baby" on it.
  
  
• Ranked #11 on Empire magazine's 50 Greatest TV Shows Of All Time (2008).
  
  
• The show introduced a character, 'Crazy' Joe Davola, the name of an ABC Executive Producer.
  
  
• Director Steven Spielberg once commented that while filming Schindler's List (1993), he got so depressed that he would watch tapes of Seinfeld episodes to cheer himself up.
  
  
• In early versions of the pilot script, George was originally written as a fellow stand-up comedian named "Bennett".
  
  
• An episode titled "The Bet" in which Elaine buys a gun from Kramer's friend was written for season 2. It was not filmed because the content was deemed unacceptable and was hastily replaced by the episode "The Phone Message".
  
  
• Although Jerry's cousin Jeffrey is mentioned several times throughout the series (always by Uncle Leo), he never actually appears on the show.
  
  
• Jerry's girlfriend's infamous "man hands" were actually those of one of the show's producers.
  
  
• Since her appearance on the show, the actress who played Jerry's pea-picking girlfriend (The one who insisted on eating her peas one at a time) is on record as saying that she now eats her peas with a spoon.
  
  
• In his autobiography Paul Shaffer claimed to have turned down the role of George. He was offered the part due to his resemblance to Larry David, upon whom the character is based.
  
  

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