Jason Alexander on his favourite moment from ‘Seinfeld’
There are plenty of classic moments from Seinfeld: whether you celebrate a Festivus for the rest of us or try your best to imitate the Soup Nazi with a potent “no soup for you!”, the lines that were crafted in Jerry Seinfeld’s titular sitcom have gone on to become touchstones of pop culture. Even two decades after the show aired its final episode, fans are still relaying their favourite lines and quotes to each other.
Of course, the cast members themselves have their own favourites as well. Jason Alexander, who played the Larry David surrogate George Costanza, secured plenty of iconic lines in the show. From being the master of his own domain to proclaiming himself ‘Lord of the Idiots’, George got to bust out some of the show’s most iconic catchphrases.
When asked for his favourite Seinfeld line during an interview with Emmy TV Legends, Alexander pointed to one of the most beloved episodes of the entire series. “I think if you ask us about a favourite episode – I don’t think any of us have, necessarily, a favourite episode – we will all tell you ‘The Contest’, to a certain degree, because it’s the one that really changed the fortunes of the show.”
‘The Contest’ was a radical concept for the early 1990s. During a time when censorship was still very much a concern for network television in the United States, four friends were about to embark on a competition to see who could last the longest without masturbating. None of the characters could make a direct reference to self-pleasure, so a series of wild euphemisms were trotted out instead.
“We had been starting to do well that season, but when that show aired, we became what is now called a ‘water cooler show,’” Alexander explained. “We were on news programmes. We were talked about on The Tonight Show. I mean, it became the thing to talk about, and it cemented the future of the show. We knew from that point on that we could do that show as long as we wanted to do it. I’m sure all four of us hold that as a very unique episode.”
When asked to hone in on his favourite quote, Alexander pointed to the season three episode ‘The Red Dot’, where Costanza engages in a sexual relationship with the cleaning lady at his office. “He gets called into the boss’ office, played by Richard Fancy, and Richard did a great job with the tee-up where he’s really not quite looking at me, and he goes, ‘Geroge, it’s come to my attention that you’ve been having sex on the desk of your office with the cleaning woman.’”
“Now, of all the things that George could have said, all the potential lies – you know, you’re dealing with Larry David, so the things that he could have come up with were innumerous – but what they wrote for me was, ‘Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? Because, I gotta tell you, I’ve worked in a lot of offices, and that kind of thing goes on all the time. If anyone had said to me when I started here that that was frowned upon…’”
“That, to me, told me so much about who this guy is,” Alexander elaborated. “It was so perfect. No lie was going to get you out, so you go with, ‘I didn’t know that that wasn’t fine.’ Only George Costanza would think like that.”
Check out Alexander discussing his favourite Seinfeld line down below.
