Seinfeld
(NBC, 1989-1998)
Comedy
“Life is a comedy to those who think, a
tragedy to those who feel.”—Horace Walpoole
(18th Century)
Comedy as a tale that ends happily.
Comedy as a means for producing laughter.
The ambiguous nature of comedy (comedy as
enantiodromia).
Theories of comedy.
Comedy as a weapon.
The Sitcom
A comedic television genre
(originating in radio), ordinarily 30
minutes in length, in which a
group of characters, related by
family, a workplace, or as friends,
exhibiting little or no development
as individuals, encounters and
seeks to resolve on a weekly basis
a situation (or situations) in which
they find themselves embroiled.
Sitcoms on American television are
often accompanied by laugh
tracks.
Seinfeld and the Sitcom
•Originally rejected by NBC chief
Brandon Tartikoff as “too New
York, too Jewish”
•A show about nothing
•Sought to always override
normal sitcom conventions
•Governed by the motto: “no
hugging, no learning”
“Seinfeld was not really about how
evil humanity is, though it's about
that to some extent. The show is
really about the joy of charting, in
exquisite, unrelenting, almost
celebratory detail, the infinitely
variegated human interactions that,
closely watched, will ultimately tell
the story of the disintegration of our
species.”
--Bill Wyman, Salon.com
“What relief to encounter comedy which
does not mistake itself for anything else.
Its characters are free to start from zero
each time, free to indulge the marvelous
shallowness which is the privilege of the
creatures of farce. Nothing counts here,
nothing has consequences: as one of the
show’s writers (Larry Charles in
Entertainment Weekly) has observed, the
crucial guideline is that the characters do
not learn from experience and never
move beyond what they intrinsically and
eternally are.”
--Geoffrey O’Brien, “The Republic of
Seinfeld”
The Creators: Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld
xxxxxxxxxx
Kramer, Elaine, George, Jerry
Kramer, George, Elaine, and Jerry
George, Jerry, Kramer, Elaine
Jerry Seinfeld
George Costanza
Elaine Benes
Cosmo Kramer
(“Hipster Doofus”)
Unforgettable Minor Characters
The Soup Nazi
Unforgettable Minor Characters
•Kenny Bania
•Babu Bhatt
•Lt. Bookman
•The Bubble Boy
•Jackie Chiles
•Estelle Costanza
•Frank Costanza
•Crazy Joe Davola
•Jack Klompus
•The Maestro
•Sue Ellen Mischke
•Newman
•J. Peterman
•Mr. Pitt
•Poppi
•David Putty
•The Soup Nazi
•Stan the Caddy
•Uncle Leo
•Dr. Tim Whatley
Some Seinfeldisms
•Anti-Dentite
•Baldist
•Bizarro
•BBO
•Bombable
•Break-up by Association
•Bro
•Bump Into
•Call Waiting Face-Off
•Cell-Phone Walk and Talk
•Changing Teams
•Close Talker
•Consolation Guy
•Dating Decathlon
•Degifting
•Double Dipper
Some Seinfeldisms
•Excuse Rolodex
•Festivus
•Hand
•High Talker
•Home Bed Advantage
•“Hoochie Mama:”
•I love you Return
•“It’s Not You, It’s Me”
•Kiss Hello
•Long Talker
•Low Talker
•Make-Up Sex
•Mansierre
•Master of My Domain
•Mimbo
Some Seinfeldisms
•Nonvite
•Pop-In
•Regifting
•Sentence Finisher
•“Serenity Now”
•Schmoopy
•Shiksappeal
•Shrinkage Factor
•Shusher/Shushee
•Spongeworthy
•Spare a Square
•Tap, The
•Undateable
•Unshushables
•Unvitation
•Yada, Yada, Yada
•“You’re so Good Looking”
A Seinfeldism (by Betty Lee, from
Seinfeld, Master of Its Domain)
B.O.: abbr., Body Odor. As a compound word,
B.O. refers to the unpleasant odor emitted by a
human body. The components can be referred
to as separate entities, however - as the Body
and the Odor, thus allowing for examination of
the odor outside of its bodily context, for
example: “when somebody has B.O., the "O"
usually stays with the "B". Once the "B" leaves,
the "O" goes with it.” (The Smelly Car)
A Seinfeldism (by Betty Lee, from
Seinfeld, Master of Its Domain)
Break-up by Association: the assumed
dissociation of mutual friends brought forth by
the end of a romantic relationship. Thus, if lover
A initiates a break-up with lover B, the friends of
lover A are automatically subject to a break-up
of their friendship with lover B. (The Deal)
A Seinfeldism (by Betty Lee, from
Seinfeld, Master of Its Domain)
Bro: An undergarment designed to support the
weight of adipose tissue in the male breast, a
symptom of obesity or gerontological processes.
Also known as Mansierre. (The Doorman)
A Seinfeldism (by Betty Lee, from
Seinfeld, Master of Its Domain)
Double Dipper: An inconsiderate slob. An
incogitant unsanitarian. One who contaminates
a shared supply of chip-dip, via the following
process: (1) the chip is dipped into the chip-dip.
(2) the dipped portion of the chip is consumed;
(3) the remaining portion is, possibly, polluted by
the saliva and other oral slimes of the chipdipper; (4) The now-contaminated portion of the
chip is then redipped, causing a transference of
contaminants into the chip-dip. (The Implant)
A Seinfeldism (by Betty Lee, from
Seinfeld, Master of Its Domain)
“It’s Not You, It’s Me” Routine: A generic script
for ending a romantic relationship, which is
intended to be as minimally offensive as
possible. (The Lip Reader)
A Seinfeldism (by Betty Lee, from
Seinfeld, Master of Its Domain)
Shrinkage Factor: The phenomenon by which
the size of the male genitalia decreases upon
prolonged exposure to cold water. An inaccurate
appraisal of the affected organ results, when the
observer is a female who is unaware of the
shrinkage factor. (The Hamptons)
A Seinfeldism (by Betty Lee, from
Seinfeld, Master of Its Domain)
Spongeworthy: A male of a sexual caliber that
merits the use of a contraceptive device
(sponge), that is of a rare and limited supply.
(The Sponge)
A Seinfeldism (by Betty Lee, from
Seinfeld, Master of Its Domain)
Yada, Yada, Yada: equivalent to, “and so on,”
“etc., etc.,” “blah, blah, blah,” but used in a
molested context, in which the abbreviated
meaning cannot be clearly implied. For
example: “I apologize for being late. I was in an
accident, almost died, yada, yada, yada.” The
listener is left, usually, with a sense of confusion,
curiosity, and dissatisfaction. (The Yada Yada)
“No Exit: The
Seinfeld Finale
David Lavery and Sara Lewis Dunne (Middle Tennessee State
University), Preface. "Part of Popular Culture": The Legacy of
Seinfeld [1]
“Giddy-Up!”: Introductory
Albert Auster (Fordham University): Much Ado About Nothing: Some
Final Thoughts on Seinfeld [13]
David Marc (Syracuse University): Seinfeld: A Show (Almost) About
Nothing [23]
Reflections on Seinfeld [28]
Bill Wyman: Seinfeld [36]
II. “Maybe the dingoes ate your baby”: Genre, Humor,
Intertextuality
Michael Dunne (Middle Tennessee State University): Seinfeld as
Intertextual Comedy [49]
Barbara Ching (University of Memphis): They Laughed Unhappily
Ever After: Seinfeld, Situation Comedy, and the Encounter with
Nothingness [58]
Dennis Hall (University of Louisville): Jane Austen, Meet Jerry
Seinfeld [70]
Amy McWilliams (Texas A & M): Genre Expectation and Narrative
Innovation in Seinfeld [77]
III. "If I like their race, how can that be racist?”: Gender,
Generations, and Ethnicity
Joanna L. Di Mattia (Monash University): Male Anxiety and the
Buddy System in Seinfeld [89]
Matthew Bond: “Are they having babies just so people will visit
them?”: Parents and Children on Seinfeld [108]
Jon Stratton (Curtin University of Technology): Seinfeld is a Jewish
Sitcom, Isn’t It: Ethnicity and Assimilation on 1990s American
Television [117]
IV. “It is so sad, all your knowledge of high culture comes from
Bugs Bunny cartoons”: Cultural, Pop Cultural, and Media
Matters
Geoffrey O’Brien: The Republic of Seinfeld [139]
Sara Lewis Dunne (Middle Tennessee State University): Seinfood:
Purity, Danger, and Food Codes on Seinfeld [148]
Eleanor Hersey (Fresno Pacific University): "It’ll Always Be Burma to
Me": J. Peterman on Seinfeld [159]
Elke van Cassel (Radboud University Nijmegen): Getting the Joke:
Seinfeld from a European Perspective [169]
Michael Epstein (Southwestern University College of Law), Mark C.
Rogers (Walsh University), and Jimmie L. Reeves (Texas Tech
University): From Must See TV to Counter Programming: Seinfeld
and Syndication [186]
V. Afterword
David Lavery (Middle Tennessee State University) and Marc
Leverette (Colorado State University): Re-Reading Seinfeld after
Curb Your Enthusiasm [203]
VI. “Get Out!”: Back Pages
Betty Lee: Seinfeld Lexicon [223]
Seinfeld Episode (and Situation) Guide (by David Lavery) [231]
Seinfeld Intertexts and Allusions [255]
Seinfeld Afterlife
“But I don’t want to
be a pirate!”: The
Puffy Shirt
Seinfeld Afterlife
The Puffy Shirt in the Smithsonian
It was recently
announced that the
Fab Four would
reunite in Season
Seven of Curb Your
Enthusiasm.
Seinfeld Afterlife