Seinfeld, the show about nothing, revolutionized comedy by incorporating real life “challenges” as a type of comedy. This brand of humor hit home to most viewers, with Seinfeld being one of the most popular shows of all time. Seinfeld’s cast, and creative writing helped bring the show to where it is today.
The four main characters, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer, are widely considered to be some of the best characters in television history, all having historical comedic moments throughout Seinfeld that will never be forgotten. These are 30 of the top moments in Seinfeld’s glorious history.
The Puffy Shirt (The Puffy Shirt, Season 5, Episode 2)
Inadvertently agreeing to wear this puffy shirt on The Today Show to promote Goodwill charity, Jerry winds up getting mocked for his outfit by show host Bryant Gumbel. This leads to Jerry losing his patience, and putting the shirt on blast.
As usual with Seinfeld, this one action affects the whole episode, with Kramer’s girlfriend taking her anger out on Jerry, and ending George’s hand-modelling career by burning his hands on an iron.
Pez Dispenser (Season 3, Episode 14)
The humor in this may be a little more childish than many of Seinfeld’s other running jokes, but this is still one to remember. In this episode, Jerry gets addicted to Pez, and makes Elaine laugh using its dispenser, but during Noel’s (George’s girlfriend) piano recital.
This once again creates a chain reaction of events in which Noel finally discovers that it was Elaine who laughed during her recital, and ends up breaking up with poor George.
Soup Nazi (Season 7, Episode 6)
The “Soup Nazi” is one of the most unforgettable characters in television history. He was only in the show for one episode (not including the brutal finale), but he made a lasting impression.
The peak of this episode is when Elaine goes into his store thinking that she will get soup with no problem, not believing in what Kramer, Jerry and George have told her. This leads to Elaine getting tossed from the shop with the famous line “no soup for you,” which he also uses on George earlier in the episode when he asks for bread.
The Contest (Season 4, Episode 11)
In this episode, the gang makes a bet as to who can go the longest without pleasing themselves. When Jerry, George, and Kramer all see a naked women through the window across the street, things begin to get more difficult… at least for one of them.
Following this discovery, Kramer returns a few minutes later, slapping his money on the table and declaring “I’m out.”
The Parking Space (Season 3, Episode 22)
The premise of this episode centers around a fight for a parking space in front of Jerry’s building. As George is backing into his spot, Mike (one of Kramer’s friends) tries pulling into the spot, which leads to a childish, and very funny debate over who deserves the spot.
This moment only improves when the debate moves from George and Mike’s perspectives to random citizens of New York who begin to argue who deserves the space.
These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty (The Alternate Side, Season 3, Episode 11)
In this episode, Kramer somehow receives a line in a Woody Allen movie. Although the line doesn’t seem like it will have any major impact on the movie, the crew takes it very seriously and tries to help Kramer out with how he should say his line.
They all give their pitch as to how the line should sound, all sounding differently but George’s interpretation of “these pretzels are making me thirsty,” while freaking out about his alternate-side parking job is the most memorable moment from this episode.
The Limo (Season 3, Episode 19)
When arriving back in New York from Chicago, Jerry sees a Limo driver waiting for someone named O’Brien. Jerry realizes that O’Brien didn’t make the flight in Chicago to New York and offers up the idea to George that they take this limo home as O’Brien.
It turns out that O’Brien is the leader of the Aryan movement, and is very much hated. When the limo picks up two people, George pretends to sleep, covering his face so that neither of them are able to see him. Little does he know that they don’t even know what O’Brien looks like, which gets them into a whole lot of trouble.
The Chinese Restaurant (Season 2, Episode 11)
This episode was actual monumental in that it is the first episode to completely take place in one setting, that being a Chinese restaurant. In this episode the gang has trouble getting a table at the restaurant, while George has a difficult time contacting his date.
The peak of this episode is when George asks the host to inform him if he gets a call from his date. We hear in the background someone yell “Cartwright,” shortly after with George looking around very confused. It turns out that his date called, and the host called out for Cartwright instead of Costanza. Due to the fact that he didn’t answer the call, Tatiana ends things with George.
The Yada Yada (Season 8, Episode 19)
George’s new girlfriend Macy likes to skip through her stories by using the saying “yada yada yada” to avoid telling certain parts of the story. George begins to get worried when Macy tells him that her ex boyfriend visited her last night, continuing by saying “yada yada yada, i’m really tired today.”
George talks to Elaine, asking if he thinks it’s possible that Macy would “yada yada” over sex, to which Elaine responds, “I’ve yada yada’d sex,” confirming in George’s head what he had feared the most.
The Merv Griffin Show (Season 9, Episode 6)
Kramer stumbles upon the set of the Merv Griffin Show in a dumpster, and obviously brings it into his apartment to make use of. Kramer goes through different stages of what he talks about on the show, with the last one taking the cake.
Kramer brings in Jerry’s girlfriend Celia, and Jerry admits to drugging her to be able to play with her toys in the format Kramer calls “scandals and animals.”
George’s Photo Shoot (The Package, Season 8, Episode 5)
In this episode, George discovers a photo store clerk named Sheila who he believes is looking at his pictures. George later thinks that Sheila put a revealing photo of herself along with George’s pictures on purpose.
This leads to Kramer’s proposal that George should send some seductive pictures back in return, which is how we get this unforgettable scene, and amazing picture.
Festivus (The Strike, Season 9, Episode 10)
Festivus is a holiday created by Frank Costanza as an alternative to Christmas, or a “Festivus for the rest of us.” The episode concludes with the Festivus dinner.
The Festivus dinner includes the “Airing of Grievances” and “Feats of Strength,” both of which combine for a memorable ending to this episode.
“Anti-Dentite” (The Yada Yada, Season 8, Episode 19)
When Jerry visits his dentist Tim Whatley, he suspects that Tim is using his recent conversion to Judaism as a means to make jokes about all religions, which Jerry finds unfair as a comedian (not as a Jew though).
When word gets back to Tim Whatley about Jerry’s suspicions, he labels Jerry an “anti-dentite,” one of the most famous quotes in Seinfeld history.
The Tape (Season 3, Episode 8)
When Elaine leaves an erotic message on Jerry’s recorder without hi knowing, Jerry, George, and Kramer don’t recognize her voice and need to find this magical women.
As they all find out that it was Elaine who left the message on the recorder, they each slowly start falling for Elaine, with the episode ending with them all staring, and standing over her.
The Devils (The Face Painter, Season 6, Episode 22)
David Puddy is one of the more under appreciated characters on Seinfeld, but this moment is one of his best. Apparently Puddy is a big New Jersey Devils fan, and decides to go to one of their Stanley Cup playoff games against the Rangers.
He is apparently a little too passionate of a fan, screaming “the Devil’s!” at a priest with his face painted. Puddy scares the priest, making him think that he has really seen the devil.
Jerry Burns a Telemarketer (The Pitch, Season 4, Episode 3
This scene has no further affect on the plot of the episode, but this is one of the most well thought out parts of any Seinfeld episode.
As you can read above, this real life disturbance that we can all relate to is completely shut down by Jerry. This response should almost guarantee you won’t get a call from the same telemarketer ever again.
The Loogie (The Boyfriend, Season 3, Episode 17)
Kramer and Newman believe that Met’s great Keith Hernandez spit a loogie on them after a game in the past, which leads to some investigating by Jerry.
This re-enactment of JFK’s assassination may have been too soon, but it was spot on in terms of comedy. Jerry finds out based on angles that there must have been another spitter, which means Keith was innocent, and Kramer and Newman have reason to hate him.
Vandelay Industries (The Boyfriend, Season 3, Episode 34)
I’m not sure anyone needs more than just this picture to see the humor of this scene. Here George is trying to convince someone he works for a made up company called Vandelay Industries, before Kramer single-handedly ruins his whole plan when the phone rings and George is in the bathroom.
George comes running out of the bathroom with his pants at his ankles as Kramer is ruining his lie, making a last ditch effort to save himself, but winding up in the same position that he usually finds himself in.
The Marine Biologist (Season 5, Episode 14)
While George is off trying to convince his college crush Diane that he’s a marine biologist, Kramer decides to hit golf balls that he stole into the ocean.
When George and Diane visit the beach, they see a whale washed up on the shore, which means that it’s Dr. Costanza’s job to solve. In this last scene George explains his bravery in that moment, only to have saved the whale by simply taking one of Kramer’s golf balls out of it’s blowhole.
Junior Mint (Season 4, Episode 20)
When visiting Elaine’s ex-boyfriend Roy in the hospital to view his splenectomy procedure, Kramer and Jerry combine to accidentally drop a Junior Mint into Roy’s body.
Following his procedure, Roy is told that he received an infection during surgery, making Jerry and Kramer believe that this was their fault. Roy turns out okay though, and George winds up losing a lot of the money that he decided to invest in Roy’s art due to the fact that he thought Roy would die, and his art would appreciate in value.
The ASSMAN (The Fusilli Jerry, Season 6, Episode 20)
When Kramer goes to the DMV to pick up a new license plate, he is surprised to see that the plate reads “ASSMAN.” Kramer uses this to his advantage throughout the episode.
From parking in Doctor’s spaces, tricking officers into believing that he is a Proctologist, to people referring to Kramer as “the assman,” this license plate produces many laughs.
George and Bras (The Sniffing Accountant, Season 5, Episode 4)
George’s father gets George an interview with Sid Farkus to be a bra salesman. George kills the interview, talking about the first time he saw a bra, and how we knew he’d always want to be around bras.
It doesn’t take George long to screw up his situation, after receiving the job and leaving Farkus’ office, George decides to feel a women’s shirt when waiting for the elevator, little does he know that this is Farkus’ boss, and winds up getting fired immediately.
Sniffing Accountant (The Sniffing Accountant, Season 5, Episode 4)
Jerry, Kramer, and Newman all have the same accountant, Barry Prophet, who is sniffing uncontrollably when Jerry sees him at lunch. He informs Kramer of his concerns that Barry is a drug addict.
The three wind up spying on Barry, and Kramer meets him inside a bar, questioning him about drugs while slugging a full beer and smoking a cigarette at the same time. Turns out it was only the sweatshirt that Kramer was wearing above that made Barry sniffle. It’s too bad they didn’t learn this before Kramer barged on him in a stall in the bathroom.
Male Masseuse (The Note, Season 3, Episode 1)
When getting free physical therapy massages, George winds up having a man do his massage, which he feels very uncomfortable about, fearing the worst of what he could learn about himself.
Following his massage he informs Jerry that he felt something move down there, fearing that he indeed may be homosexual due to this.
The Car Reservation (The Alternate Side, Season 3, Episode 11)
After his car gets stolen, Jerry makes a reservation to rent a mid-size car, but the agency was apparently able to take the reservation but not reserve him the car.
At this point, Jerry begins to go off on this employee. From calling her out for her fake conversation with her boss, to waving his arms around saying anyone can take a reservation, this makes out to be one of Seinfeld’s best scenes.
The Cheever Letters (Season 4, Episode 8)
After Kramer accidentally burns down Susan’s father’s cabin in the episode before, Susan’s father is devastated. We learn the reason for this is not due to the value of the cabin at the conclusion of The Cheever Letters episode.
At the episodes conclusion, a doorman delivers a metal box which survived the fire, and inside the box are letters describing an affair between Susan’s father, and novelist John Cheever. As Susan’s father professes his love for Cheever, the whole family begins yelling at him as George and Jerry slip out of this uncomfortable situation.
The Moops (The Bubble Boy, Season 4, Episode 7)
Jerry and George decide to visit a fan of Jerry’s when traveling up to Susan’s father’s cabin, the only problem is he lives in a germ-free bubble.
Upon George arriving before Jerry, he begins to play Trivial Pursuit with Donald, the bubble boy, which winds up in them infuriating each other and George getting strangled by Donald. The episode ends in Jerry arriving to a crowd running after George, the man that dared to attack the bubble boy.
The Cleaning Lady (The Red Dot, Season 3, Episode 12)
George becomes attracted to the cleaning lady at his new job, Evie. He stays late at work one night when it is just them two in the office, which follows in them drinking scotch.
This leads to the two of them having sex, which you can see the foreshadowing through that picture. This ultimately leads to George’s downfall and almost immediate firing from the job that Elaine got him.
Kramer Impersonation (The Chicken Roaster, Season 8, Episode 8)
In this episode, a Kenny Rogers chicken place opens up across from Jerry’s building, and the light from the neon chicken on its rooftop goes right into Kramer’s apartment. This affects Kramer’s sleeping schedule, so he asks Jerry if he’d be willing to switch apartments.
They wind up switching apartments, and the outcome is great. Jerry comes barging into his own apartment as Kramer would, with his hair sticking up, and acting very much like Kramer. We can now assume that Kramer’s apartment is what makes Kramer, Kramer.
The Opposite (Season 5, Episode 22)
In this episode Jerry convinces George that every instinct he has is wrong, and should start doing the opposite of his instinct. He begins by ordering the opposite of his normal lunch, and then goes to introduce himself to a beautiful women.
He introduces himself by saying “My name is George. I’m unemployed and I live with my parents.” She for some reason likes George’s honesty and agrees to go on a date with him. This is a tremendous breakthrough for George, who begins to follow Jerry’s advice of doing the opposite of his intuition.