NBC via Getty Images
By Bill Bradley
Not to name names, but Hulu
is officially regifting the entire “Seinfeld” series to its subscribers
starting June 24, and now the people behind the show are revealing some
insider secrets to enhance your binge-watching.
At this point, fans are pretty familiar with the episodes. But some may not know that many of the stories actually happened in real life. HuffPost Entertainment spoke with former “Seinfeld” writers — Spike Feresten, who you can now see hosting “Car Matchmaker“ on Esquire, Jeff Schaffer, co-creator of “The League,” and Andy Robin, now a medical doctor — to learn some of the true stories behind your favorite episodes. And in many cases, the real-life tales are even more ridiculous than what was shown on TV.
Without further ado, here are 10 stories from “Seinfeld” that happened in real life:
1. Like Kramer, a law firm actually hung a sign that said “bad food” over a Kenny Rogers Roasters because the smell was going into their offices.
Schaffer, who wrote the episode “The Chicken Roaster,” explained that the idea of Kramer having a problem with a Kenny Rogers Roasters came when he walked past one of the restaurants in New York. “It was below a law firm, and I guess the chicken waft from the chicken factory was venting into this law office. So they did what any rational person would do, just hang a giant sign that said ‘bad food,’” said Schaffer.
The writer adds that the glowing red light in the episode was actually inspired by a giant red sign that lit up his brother’s New York apartment.
2. A woman did get kicked out of the Soup Nazi’s restaurant for calling him Al Pacino.
Feresten was a customer of the real Soup Nazi and said that the moment when Elaine gets kicked out of the restaurant was inspired by a real-life event. He said, “This is months in of me going there, being one of his soldiers and knowing what to do. The woman in front of me goes, ‘You know, you kind of look like Al Pacino.’ He just screamed at her and said, ‘Get out!’ So that line that Julia does really happened.”
He continued, “What’s fun is when anybody got yelled at by the real Soup Nazi, everybody in line would turn away from them so they didn’t see it. They could not be connected to this failure. It was a real interesting dynamic down there.”
3. In “The Summer of George,” Jerry finds out his date actually lives with another man. This happened to one of the “Seinfeld” writers who found out an actress he took to the Oscars “had a dude.”
Schaffer said he and fellow writer Alec Berg had written for the Oscars, and that Berg asked a beautiful actress to go with him. Schaffer explained things didn’t go how Berg planned, however:
“We asked Alec the next day how the Oscars were, and he goes, ‘Ah, she had a dude,’ which is a funny way to say it. At first, he wasn’t sure it was her dude, but when he was there after Berg dropped her off at home, it was very clear that that was her dude.”
4. Jerry’s girlfriend, who wore the same dress over and over, was based on a real woman.
When asked why Jerry’s girlfriend kept wearing the same dress in “The Seven,” Schaffer told HuffPost, “That came from me seeing a woman wearing a white and black dress basically like the one that was there. I saw her at an event, and then I saw her later that week wearing the dress as a cashier at the market. Maybe she just always wears that dress?”
Schaffer said that, like in the show, he never did find out the true reason she always wore the dress.
5. When George and Jerry are casting for their show, George thinks one of the actors steals a box of raisins from the office. Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld thought this actually happened after a meeting with a writer.
Robin said his first meeting with Larry and Jerry was great, except they suspected he had stolen a box of raisins from their office. The good news is, they hired him anyway. “I didn’t give them any reason to think I was an especially shady guy, so that made it all the more puzzling,” said Robin. “They found the raisins, so I was vindicated, and I never knew about this until I went on staff the following season.”
6. The real-life Kramer also has a bus tour.
The character Cosmo Kramer is actually based off of Larry David’s real-life neighbor Kenny Kramer, but the two kept blending into each other. Feresten explained, “There’s a real-life Kramer, and then there’s a TV-version of Kramer. The real-life Kramer does a bus tour, and then the TV Kramer does his version of the real-life version’s bus tour.”
7. In “The Andrea Doria,” George is in jeopardy of losing an apartment to an Andrea Doria survivor. This was based on the rumor that you could only get Central Park tennis court access if you were a Holocaust survivor.
Feresten said, “I remember someone telling me that you couldn’t get tennis courts in Central Park because they were giving preferential treatment to Holocaust survivors. I took that rumor and thought about a tragedy that wasn’t really a tragedy. Well, the Andrea Doria. It’s not like we’re gonna have Andrea Doria survivors calling us because most people survived.”
8. George gets annoyed when Jerry and his girlfriend call each other “Schmoopie,” and Larry David also couldn’t take Jerry and his girlfriend’s “baby talk” in real life.
Feresten said he originally pitched the “Schmoopie” idea because his girlfriend would do “really embarrassing public displays of affection.” He told HuffPost, “She would do little baby talk. She never said ‘Schmoopie,’ but she would go, ‘Oh, my little baby waby,’ and it would make me crazy.”
He went on to say there was a very specific reason David liked the story pitch so much. “I was chatting with Larry, and he said, ‘You know, between you and me, Jerry has been doing a lot of this with his girlfriend, and it’s making me nuts.’”
9. The story about Jerry and Kramer running away from “street toughs” after confronting them about an armoire was based on a real event.
Though he did have to leave an armoire on the street one night in an unrelated story, Feresten said his confrontation with a “street tough” happened after he stood up to a guy who mugged a teenager in his neighborhood. Feresten said it happened after the kid pointed out the mugger one day.
“He was just a really nice kid, so I said ‘Let me handle it,’” explained Feresten, who confronted the mugger. “I said, ‘Hey, did you mug this kid? Look, I’m calling the cops.’” Feresten said the guy then took out a knife and chased him down the street until he was finally able to lock himself in a drug store.
Larry and Jerry thought the story was hilarious, so it wound up in an episode.
10. One of the writers did pretend his girlfriend’s stomach made the “Hellooo” voice, and she was not happy when she found out.
Much like Jerry pretends his girlfriend’s stomach would talk to him in “The Voice,” Schaffer said, “Spike [Feresten] would do this joke about how his girlfriend’s stomach would talk in a very sort of ‘Hellooo’ voice, and we were joking about it in the office and doing the voice. Then he decided to tell his girlfriend that we were all doing a voice for her stomach, and she lost her shit.”
On that note, time to say “Hellooo” to your “Seinfeld” binge.
At this point, fans are pretty familiar with the episodes. But some may not know that many of the stories actually happened in real life. HuffPost Entertainment spoke with former “Seinfeld” writers — Spike Feresten, who you can now see hosting “Car Matchmaker“ on Esquire, Jeff Schaffer, co-creator of “The League,” and Andy Robin, now a medical doctor — to learn some of the true stories behind your favorite episodes. And in many cases, the real-life tales are even more ridiculous than what was shown on TV.
Without further ado, here are 10 stories from “Seinfeld” that happened in real life:
1. Like Kramer, a law firm actually hung a sign that said “bad food” over a Kenny Rogers Roasters because the smell was going into their offices.
Schaffer, who wrote the episode “The Chicken Roaster,” explained that the idea of Kramer having a problem with a Kenny Rogers Roasters came when he walked past one of the restaurants in New York. “It was below a law firm, and I guess the chicken waft from the chicken factory was venting into this law office. So they did what any rational person would do, just hang a giant sign that said ‘bad food,’” said Schaffer.
The writer adds that the glowing red light in the episode was actually inspired by a giant red sign that lit up his brother’s New York apartment.
2. A woman did get kicked out of the Soup Nazi’s restaurant for calling him Al Pacino.
Feresten was a customer of the real Soup Nazi and said that the moment when Elaine gets kicked out of the restaurant was inspired by a real-life event. He said, “This is months in of me going there, being one of his soldiers and knowing what to do. The woman in front of me goes, ‘You know, you kind of look like Al Pacino.’ He just screamed at her and said, ‘Get out!’ So that line that Julia does really happened.”
He continued, “What’s fun is when anybody got yelled at by the real Soup Nazi, everybody in line would turn away from them so they didn’t see it. They could not be connected to this failure. It was a real interesting dynamic down there.”
3. In “The Summer of George,” Jerry finds out his date actually lives with another man. This happened to one of the “Seinfeld” writers who found out an actress he took to the Oscars “had a dude.”
Schaffer said he and fellow writer Alec Berg had written for the Oscars, and that Berg asked a beautiful actress to go with him. Schaffer explained things didn’t go how Berg planned, however:
“We asked Alec the next day how the Oscars were, and he goes, ‘Ah, she had a dude,’ which is a funny way to say it. At first, he wasn’t sure it was her dude, but when he was there after Berg dropped her off at home, it was very clear that that was her dude.”
4. Jerry’s girlfriend, who wore the same dress over and over, was based on a real woman.
When asked why Jerry’s girlfriend kept wearing the same dress in “The Seven,” Schaffer told HuffPost, “That came from me seeing a woman wearing a white and black dress basically like the one that was there. I saw her at an event, and then I saw her later that week wearing the dress as a cashier at the market. Maybe she just always wears that dress?”
Schaffer said that, like in the show, he never did find out the true reason she always wore the dress.
5. When George and Jerry are casting for their show, George thinks one of the actors steals a box of raisins from the office. Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld thought this actually happened after a meeting with a writer.
Robin said his first meeting with Larry and Jerry was great, except they suspected he had stolen a box of raisins from their office. The good news is, they hired him anyway. “I didn’t give them any reason to think I was an especially shady guy, so that made it all the more puzzling,” said Robin. “They found the raisins, so I was vindicated, and I never knew about this until I went on staff the following season.”
6. The real-life Kramer also has a bus tour.
The character Cosmo Kramer is actually based off of Larry David’s real-life neighbor Kenny Kramer, but the two kept blending into each other. Feresten explained, “There’s a real-life Kramer, and then there’s a TV-version of Kramer. The real-life Kramer does a bus tour, and then the TV Kramer does his version of the real-life version’s bus tour.”
7. In “The Andrea Doria,” George is in jeopardy of losing an apartment to an Andrea Doria survivor. This was based on the rumor that you could only get Central Park tennis court access if you were a Holocaust survivor.
Feresten said, “I remember someone telling me that you couldn’t get tennis courts in Central Park because they were giving preferential treatment to Holocaust survivors. I took that rumor and thought about a tragedy that wasn’t really a tragedy. Well, the Andrea Doria. It’s not like we’re gonna have Andrea Doria survivors calling us because most people survived.”
8. George gets annoyed when Jerry and his girlfriend call each other “Schmoopie,” and Larry David also couldn’t take Jerry and his girlfriend’s “baby talk” in real life.
Feresten said he originally pitched the “Schmoopie” idea because his girlfriend would do “really embarrassing public displays of affection.” He told HuffPost, “She would do little baby talk. She never said ‘Schmoopie,’ but she would go, ‘Oh, my little baby waby,’ and it would make me crazy.”
He went on to say there was a very specific reason David liked the story pitch so much. “I was chatting with Larry, and he said, ‘You know, between you and me, Jerry has been doing a lot of this with his girlfriend, and it’s making me nuts.’”
9. The story about Jerry and Kramer running away from “street toughs” after confronting them about an armoire was based on a real event.
Though he did have to leave an armoire on the street one night in an unrelated story, Feresten said his confrontation with a “street tough” happened after he stood up to a guy who mugged a teenager in his neighborhood. Feresten said it happened after the kid pointed out the mugger one day.
“He was just a really nice kid, so I said ‘Let me handle it,’” explained Feresten, who confronted the mugger. “I said, ‘Hey, did you mug this kid? Look, I’m calling the cops.’” Feresten said the guy then took out a knife and chased him down the street until he was finally able to lock himself in a drug store.
Larry and Jerry thought the story was hilarious, so it wound up in an episode.
10. One of the writers did pretend his girlfriend’s stomach made the “Hellooo” voice, and she was not happy when she found out.
Much like Jerry pretends his girlfriend’s stomach would talk to him in “The Voice,” Schaffer said, “Spike [Feresten] would do this joke about how his girlfriend’s stomach would talk in a very sort of ‘Hellooo’ voice, and we were joking about it in the office and doing the voice. Then he decided to tell his girlfriend that we were all doing a voice for her stomach, and she lost her shit.”
On that note, time to say “Hellooo” to your “Seinfeld” binge.
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