Seinfeld: Difference between revisions

Revolutionary for its time, as the idea of characters spending whole episodes doing and resolving basically nothing, with all humor based on the minutiae of everyday life, was unheard of in 1989 in America<ref>(anAn earlier British precedent would be [[Hancock's Half Hour]].)</ref> Seinfeld was [[Genre Busting|so revolutionary]] in America, in fact, that it was [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|mercilessly copied]]. It remains very difficult to describe to the younger generation just how ''huge'' the show was in the '90s, and how memetic its plots and sayings became. To use an analogy, ''Seinfeld'' is to TV shows what ''[[The Godfather]]'' is to movies. Part of what contributed to the authenticity of the "about nothing" theme was the fact that a great deal of the plots were based on personal stories from the lives of [[Larry David]], Jerry Seinfeld, and various members of the writing team.

Jerry Seinfeld plays a fictionalized, [[Jerkass]] version of himself as the ostensible main (though in practice [[Straight Man|arguably least interesting]]) character, who works mostly as a foil for his eccentric neighbourneighbor Cosmo Kramer, his [[Heterosexual Life Partners|best friend]] George Costanza, a man who can make your regular [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]] look like a ''winner'', and his sassy ex-girlfriend Elaine Benes, who [[Brutal Honesty|couldn't spell "tact" if her life depended on it.]] Jerry was the technical [[Only Sane Man]] between these colorful personalities, but a highly ineffective one because, like his friends, he is supremely indifferent towards others, opting instead for the role of [[Deadpan Snarker]] extraordinaire. This quality of Jerry's, flavored with co-creator Larry David's gift for irony, coupled with the characters' propensity for [[Snowball Lie|Snowball Lies]] and [[Fawlty Towers Plot|Fawlty Towers Plots]] is what fueled most of the elaborate yet utterly mundane plots of the episodes.

Although none of the characters worked together, lived together, or were related by blood, and even though -- or perhaps even because -- no emotional or deliberately touching moments of friendship were ever shown between them, the four remained close friends throughout the show's run, spending a great deal of their waking hours in each otherothers's company and seemingly going by an unspoken rule to always brush off their friends' minor offenses and to never inflict any gross offenses against one another in order to preserve real-life [[Status Quo Is God]] -- one of the only social rules they bothered themselves to follow.

*** Elaine was introduced in the [[Second Episode Introduction|second episode]] [[Executive Meddling|after NBC requested a female character be added]] and was also absent from the two part [[Vacation Episode]] that started seasonSeason 4.

*** Kramer is absent in both "The Pen" and "The Chinese Restaurant".

'''Kramer:''' They ''are'' shut. }}

'''Jerry:''' (smirking) ''No I didn't.'' }}

* [[Affair Hair]]: Parodied in "The Barber";: unsatisfied by a haircut given by long-time barber Enzo, Jerry gets his haircut by Enzo's nephew, Gino, in secret so as not to hurt Enzo's feelings. But Enzo eventually puts the pieces together by matching hairs (with help from Newman) and threatens to kill Jerry and Gino for betraying him.

The two men sip their coffee triumphantly while Elaine sits there looking shocked. }}

** In ''"The Contest''", the guys make Elaine pay double to enter the titular contest, reasoning that women don't have to masturbate every day, whereas for men it's "part of their lifestyle".

* [[Annoying Laugh]]: Naomi from "The Wallet", "The Watch", and "The Bubble Boy". Her laugh is described as "Elmer Fudd sitting on a juicer"."

'''George''': But she didn't know he doesn't recycle. }}

* [[Ass Shove]]: In "The Fusilli Jerry,", Kramer discusses this trope... and Frank demonstrates it.

* [[Back to Front]]: "The Betrayal.".

* [[Beyond the Impossible]]: Parodied as part of Jerry's ridicule of Kramer's claim that Keith Herandez spat on him. He traces the imaginary path of the spittle which involves changing directions and pausing in mid air. "''thatThat'' is one magic lugee." The point being to illustrate how impossible it was for the event to happen in real life.

* [[Bizarro Universe]]: Elaine's new friend, Kevin. His friends include the charitable and well-dressed Gene; quiet and considerate next-door neighbor, Feldman; and a FedEx employee known only as "Fargus,", whom Kevin is very jovial with. His apartment is a mirror-opposite of Jerry's, complete with a unicycle hanging on the wall.

* [[Blah Blah Blah]]: "The Yada Yada.".

* [[Bluff the Eavesdropper]]: While in the diner waiting for a reporter who's going to do a story on Jerry, he and George notice a young woman eavesdropping on their conversation, so to mess with her they pretend to be gay for each other. It turns out that she's the reporter Jerry was waiting for, who then outs them in her school newspaper as gay. They try desparatelydesperately to convince her that they're not gay -- [[Not That There's Anything Wrong with That]].

* [[Boomerang Bigot]]: In one episode, George's mother rejects the advice of Jerry's girlfriend Donna Chang because she finds out (having previously talked to the woman only on the phone) that Donna is not Chinese. "I don't want to take the advice of some girl from Long Island!" she shouts.

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: Towards the beginning of "The Understudy,", as Jerry is leaving his apartment with George, the two are talking about how hard it is to tell bad actors that they stink. Jerry then directly talks to the camera: "Just once I would like to tell someone they stink. You know what? I didn't like the show. I didn't like you. It just really stunk. The whole thing, real bad. Stinkaroo. Thanks for the tickets though."

** Jerry winks at the camera at the end of "The Race,", in homage to George Reeves as Superman.

* [[Breakout Character]]: Cosmo Kramer.

** One episode had Jerry forget his [[Girl of the Week|girlfriend's]] name. Through a failed [[Batman Gambit]], he finds out that it rhymes with a part of the female anatomy. His best guess is "Mulva,", and the episode ends with "Mulva's" name ending up as a mystery. Some span of time later, we learn that her name was indeed his final guess {{spoiler|Dolores}}.

** In "The Puffy Shirt,", George mentions that he won "a contest" to see who can go the longest without [[A Date with Rosie Palms]]. In "The Finale", it's revealed that he cheated.

** Halfway through seasonSeason fourFour, Jerry's father finds his wallet missing after going to a doctor, and accuses him of stealing it, which is left unresolved. In the season finale, Jerry discovers it simply fell out of his pocket and between the couch cushions.

* [[Brief Accent Imitation]]:

'''Jerry''': That's the worst Cockney accent I've ever heard in my life. }}

* [[Call Back]]: During the seasonSeason 7 premiere, "The Engagement", George goes to the beach pier to re-evaluate his life. He starts thinking of Susan and how he'd like to give her another shot. He starts running and a flock of pigeons disperses as he runs towards them. This type of scene is used two more times, only with Jerry in George's place (the seasonSeason 7 finale, "The Invitations", has Jerry contemplating whether he should marry Jeannie, while seasonSeason 9's "The Voice" has Jerry contemplating whether he wants to keep seeing his latest girlfriend or dump her so he can do a silly voice).

'''Elaine''': Yeah, that's what this is. A caper. }}

** "That's gold, Jerry, gold!", "Evidently...", "We're trying to live in a society here!", "NO SOUP FOR YOU", etc. There's a lot.

* [[Caught with Your Pants Down]]: "The Contest.".

* [[Character Development]]: Completely averted, by design. "No hugging, no learning"."

** In seasonSeason 3,'s "The Subway", Kramer meets a blind guy on the subway. Later, he gets a hot tip on a horse race, bets on it, and wins a large sum of [[Unusual Euphemism|seanotes]] which a thug hunts him down for. It turns out {{spoiler|the blind beggar from earlier was an undercover cop, who Kramer gave money to, and arrests the thug.}}.

** The other example, lampshaded by some source, is in S5Season 5's "The Marine Biologist". George makes a high school friend believe he is a marine biologist. Kramer goes to the beach and hits golf balls into the ocean, never brought up again. Until the end, when {{spoiler|George must rescue a whale from dying, and he finds an obstruction in its blowhole. It turns out to be one of the golf balls from earlier, and Kramer recognizes it when George regales the whale of a tale [[Rhymes on a Dime|(sorry)]] to his friends}}.

'''Phone guy''': Look, I work for the phone company. I've had a lot of experience with semantics, so don't try to lure me into some maze of circular logic. }}

* [[Clip Show]]: Two of them: One in seasonSeason 6, the other in seasonSeason 9.

** And the finale... sort of.

* [[Closer to Earth]]: Subverted in the case of Elaine: she really only ''thinks'' she's closer to earth, when in reality, she is as bad as the other three. Exemplified best in "The Bizarro Jerry,", where she dumps Jerry, George, and Kramer for well-adjusted, sophisticated doppelgangers, only to be dumped by the doppelgängersdoppelgangers for being too <s> eccentric</s> violent.

'''Kramer''': Jerry, Cuban cigars are ''illegal'' in this country! }}

* [[Crack! Oh, My Back!]]: The [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis|hyper-competitive]] Izzy Mandelbaum throws out his back in "The English Patient" trying to show up Morty Seinfeld in the exercise room. Later, he tries to jump out of bed ... and he does it again. [[Generation Xerox|And so does his son. And his father.]]

* [[Crazy Cultural Comparison]]: "Festivus,", George's dad's alternative to Christmas.

** When Jerry and Kramer switched apartments, one of the things that disturbed him to most was a ventriloquist dummy Kramer referred to as "Mr. Marbles.".

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: In "The Soup Nazi,", the titular character refuses to serve Elaine because she annoys him. In the course of the episode, she ends up finding the Soup Nazi's recipes. What does she do? She uses the recipes to ''drive him out of business and force him to move to Argentina''.

* [[Distaff Counterpart]]: In one episode, Jerry falls in love with a woman ([[Janeane Garofalo]]) who is exactly like him in every way. He even considers proposing to her, before realizing that he can't marry someone exactly like him ... because he hates himself.

'''Kramer:''' Now, where's that tool shed of yours? }}

'''Kramer:''' [[Comically Missing the Point|Jerry, these are]] ''[[Comically Missing the Point|load-bearing]]'' [[Comically Missing the Point|walls!]] They're not gonna come down! }}

'''Kramer:''' Right! }}

* [[Drives Like Crazy]]: Elaine, as seen in "The Wait Out.".

* [[Dying Declaration of Love]]: It's debatable that Elaine almost told Jerry she loved him in "The Finale (Part 1)" because she thought their plane would crash. But the plane straightens out before she can finish her sentence. Also debatable that Russel Dalrymple did this in "The Pilot (Part 2)" when he is seen drifting away and a fellow Greenpeace member is shouting "I'll remember her name! Elaine Benes! I'll write to her. I'll tell her all about you and what you did out here!"

* [[Embarrassing First Name]]: Cosmo Kramer, but he eventually embraces it... especially when he gets his new license plates mixed up with a proctologist...

* [[Episode on a Plane]]: "The Airport.".

{{quote|''He's an anti-Semite!'' }}

'''Kramer''': Aaahhh!!! }}

'''Jerry''': No, it offends me as a comedian! }}

'''Jerry:''' No, there's less. I've looked into his eyes. He's pure evil. }}

* [[Fawlty Towers Plot]]: Many examples, the best being "The Wizard,", where George drives to the far eastern tip of Long Island before "blinking" first.

* [[Finger-Licking Poison]]: Susan drops dead from licking toxic envelopes in "The Invitations.".

'''Jerry''': ...Be that long. }}

* [[First Name Ultimatum]]: "Newman.". [[No Name Given|Probably his last name]], but still.

*** They deliberately had to flanderize George's idiocy; because he wore glasses, people insisted on seeing him as [[The Smart Guy]], to the point where the writers had to have him openly proclaim himself "Lord of the Idiots.".

**** In another episode, George calls out these people by mentioning that a lot of people think he is smart when he really isn't.

* [[Friends Rent Control]]: Despite being able to live in a decent one-bedroom Manhattan apartment, Kramer holds down nothing resembling a steady job. He gets by by mooching most of his food off of Jerry and playing with various odd jobs (department store Santa, film extra, babysitter, illness actor for medical interns, the list goes on) and money-making schemes. Some of these are actually quite successful, like when he wins $18,000 dollars at the horse track in an early episode, and later gets his coffee table book about coffee tables published and eventually optioned as a movie (allegedly making him enough money to "retire" to Florida briefly). Subverted in that it's never handwavedhand-waved as being rent control, but also vaguely plausible at times.

** Averted with George moving in with his parents in seasonSeason 5.

** The seasonSeason 5 premiere, "The Mango", features a [[Call Back]] to this premise after Jerry discovers Elaine faked orgasms with him when they were dating, which put him in a foul mood.

'''Jerry''': Sex... to ''save'' the friendship? }}

'''Man''': [[Dude, Not Funny|His wife is in a coma.]] }}

'''Kramer''': They want to know why they never see you. }}

'''Jerry''': It's just that when two women are pawing at each other, there's a chance they might somehow... ''kiss''. }}

'''Kramer''': ''Mañana''? I'm doing ''nada''. }}

* [[The Hedonist]]: Dr. Tim Whatley (Bryan Cranston).

Fank: "You don't need glasses, you're just weak! You're weak!!" }}

'''Jerry''': ''TRACTOR''! }}

* [[Homoerotic Subtext]] : Jerry and George, which was lampshaded in "The Outing.". Between Jerry and Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez in "The Boyfriend.".

** Pfft, those are nothing compared to Kramer/Jerry. Case in point: "The Kiss Hello.". After a rant about how Jerry hates kissing, ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-iV2q-W9BE Kramer passionately kissed him.]''

'''Jerry''': [[Sarcasm Mode|Never.]] }}

'''Kramer:''' Yeah, Orthodox. ''Old-school.'' }}

'''George''': There's porn. }}

'''Elaine''': It's ''chestnut'' with auburn ''highlights''. }}

"You're ''damn'' right it is." }}

* [[Karmic Protection]]: Almost the entire series, but averted ''hard'' in the"The Finale".

* [[Kavorka Man]]: [[Trope Namer]]. Used to describe Kramer, but applies equally to George. When asked how George kept dating gorgeous women, the best answer his actor could give was, "He's very... persistent...?"

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Done in seasonSeason 7's "The Checks": Jerry and George discuss pitching their failed pilot "Jerry" to Japanese executives who would air the show in Japan. George argues that the reason it would do better in Japan than over here is because it has more novelty, whereas when you turn on the TV in America, "all you see is four morons sitting 'round an apartment, whining about their dates."

** Also, in seasonSeason 9's "The Cartoon", Newman remarks to Sally Weaver that he loves her one-woman show and that it's refreshing to see a show that's actually about something and looks snidely at Jerry in the process. Obviously, this is a play on the whole "Show About Nothing" tagline when talking about the series.

** In seasonSeason 4's "The Wallet", there is a standup bit from Jerry about cliffhanger episodes shortly before the episode ends in one.

* [[Large Ham]]: Quite a few: Michael Richards as Kramer, George, Newman, Peterman, and Steinbrenner. Also the oneshot character Mr. Bookman in "The Library,", an [[Inspector Javert]]... [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?|for library fines]].

* [[Last-Episode New Character]]: J. Peterman made his debut in "The Understudy", the seasonSeason 6 finale.

'''Jerry''': The bad date, the bad sport, the bad citizen... (George leaves) The bad tipper! }}

** Thoroughly explored in the backwards episode "The Betrayal" - Kramer's plotline "begins" with FDR wishing he would drop dead, and is spent with the two of them counterwishingcounter-wishing and re-wishing that using most of the methods on the trope page. At one point, he finds a shooting star and shouts "I wish I don't drop dead!" only to have an annoyed man downstairs [[Words of Power|telling him to drop dead]], continuing the chain.

* [[Milkman Conspiracy]]: The U.S. Postal Service is portrayed as a powerful and sinister organisationorganization, one which Newman feels no guilt about exploiting to his benefit.

'''Kramer''': Are you ''[[Digging Yourself Deeper|sure]]'' you're not pregnant?? }}

** Though, at the end of the episode, a black waiter actually mistakes the man for Sugar Ray.

** Kramer himself when he drinks one too many caffècafè lattes.

* [[Nobody Ever Complained Before]]: Elaine's dancing is truly horrible, but no one can ever bring themselves to tell her ... until Kramer sees her dance, that is.

** Averted with the back of the Late George Steinbrenner, the torso and donutdoughnut of Joe DiMaggio, and JFK Jr.

* [[Obfuscating Disability]]: In a two-parter, George does this at his new job to receive special treatment. In another episode, Kramer does it by accident and ends up the guest of honourhonor at a charity dinner for the mentally challenged.

* [[On Second Thought]]: In "The Finale (Part 1)", George rejects the new NBC president's suggestion that they incorporate more "relationship humor" into the show ''Jerry''. The president then suggests they not do the show at all, to which George says, "...Or we could get them together!"

'''Jerry:''' You're not qualified to ''work'' at the catalogue! }}

** Kruger is even worse. See [[Incompetence, Inc.]] above.

* [[Poor Man's Porn]]: George Costanza was caught with a copy of GlamourGlamor, which led to the infamous "contest".

* [[Prima Donna Director]]: In "The Little Kicks", after one of Kramer's associates threatened him into bootlegging a movie, Jerry discovers a hidden talent for cinmeatographycinematography. When he's "hired" to bootleg another film, he first sees the new film to know what to expect, and won't work unless he was additional camera operators throughout the theatretheater and walkie-talkies to keep in contact with them.

* [[Race Fetish]]: In "The Chinese Woman.", Jerry dials a wrong number and gets a woman named Donna Chang. He apologizes and hangs up.

'''Jerry''': If I like their race, how can that be racist? }}

* [[Rewind, Replay, Repeat]]: "Magic Loogie" parodies ''[[JFK]]'''s use of this trope.

* [[A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside An Enigma]]: In one episode, when Elaine and Jerry get into a discussion about the nature of Newman.

'''Jerry:''' He's a mystery wrapped in a ''Twinkie.'' }}

** Discussed in "The Bris.". Jerry tells a skeptical George that there certainly are women who would find a [[Pig Man]] attractive.

** During seasonSeason 6: "Hi, Mr. Pitt! Is Elaine there?"

** The missing lyrics to a certain song from ''[[Les Miserables]]''.

'''Jerry''': [[Sarcasm Mode|Oh, that makes a lot of sense!]] }}

* [[Shiksa Goddess]]: Elaine's "Shiksappeal.". Extremely odd, given that she was originally written as Jewish and that Julia Louis-Dreyfus is also Jewish.

* [[Slipping a Mickey]]: One of the plots of seasonSeason 2's "The Revenge", when George slips a mickey in his boss's drink. Also present in season 9's "The Betrayal".

'''George''': My father's gay! }}

** "The Chicken Roaster" had Jerry and Elaine on the phone before Jerry was put on hold so Elaine could talk to the company accountant, at which point it cuts to three screens. However, Elaine forgot about Jerry after being made nervous by the accountant and left Jerry hanging on the other end. "Hello?.......... Anybody?"

* [[The Spook]]: The Doorman.

* [[The State RoomStateroom Sketch]]: Elaine moves into a janitor's closet so she can order food, and Jerry and the gang drop by.

* [[Suddenly Sexuality]]: Susan. Dated George for several episodes, but then became a lesbian at the drop of a hat. Went back to men because her lesbianism "didn't take.".

* [[Supreme Chef]]: The Soup Nazi - which is why everyone (except for Elaine) put up with his behaviourbehavior.

* [[Survival Mantra]] ''"Serenity Now! ... [[Madness Mantra|Insanity later!]]"''

** The movie in question: ''"The Blimp''", [[Too Soon|a film about The Hindenburg]].

* [[The "The" Title]]: Nearly every episode has a title that begins with "The.".

** George later tries it to get her to break up with him when he discovers the velvet furniture he adored (and was the entire motivation for moving in with her) actually belonged to her other (male) roommate. {{spoiler|She gleefully exclaims to the male roommate "he's into it!" [[Fade to Black]].}}.

* [[Token Good Teammate]]: Kramer is the ''only'' member of the cast who is consistently shown to be kind-heartedkindhearted and caring, who goes out of his way to help people. It should be noted that his efforts to help others rarely succeed, though.

** In "The Face Painter", Jerry tells George that if his girlfriend doesn't give an "I love you" in return for his, "that's a pretty big matzo ball hanging out there"."

'''Jerry''': I don't ask those kind of questions anymore. }}

* [[Vomit Discretion Shot]]: In "The Pitch.". More specifically, a Vomit Discretion Cut, when Kramer, having drunk the expired milk, vomits all over Susan the NBC executive's vest.

** An example of this was created in "The Fatigues". Originally in the scene parodying ''[[Platoon]]'', they were going to have the soldiers spit fake vomit at the camera, but the director decided that showing the vomit wouldn't be funny, so what we end up seeing is a bunch of food poisoned soliderssoldiers vomiting into their hats.

* [[Wacky Guy]]: Kramer.

{{quote|'''Elaine''': Together we can put Putamayo out of business, and make Cinco de Mayo ''[[Gratuitous Spanish|numero uno]]''! }}

** He is seen safe at home in the seasonSeason 4 finale "The Pilot", where he sees Jerry on TV and exclaims, "That's the idiot who took all my records!"

{{quote|'''Jerry:''' You know George, just because you had a terrible childhood doesn't mean you have to ruin someone elses. }}