1 00:00:05,914 --> 00:00:07,394 Seinfeld Explained. 2 00:00:07,934 --> 00:00:11,814 Michael Richards went in to audition for Al Bundy on Married...with Children in 1986, 3 00:00:12,514 --> 00:00:14,474 the network wanted someone very specific, 4 00:00:14,894 --> 00:00:16,174 and Ed O'Neill got the part. 5 00:00:16,874 --> 00:00:18,554 That show ran for over a decade. 6 00:00:19,134 --> 00:00:22,874 Which means Kramer almost became an iconic TV dad figure of the era. 7 00:00:23,734 --> 00:00:26,114 Completely different universes in tone and ambition, 8 00:00:26,554 --> 00:00:28,214 you can't picture Richards in that role, 9 00:00:28,494 --> 00:00:31,754 which tells you how close things can be to going another direction entirely. 10 00:00:32,294 --> 00:00:35,814 Before that audition, Richards had spent two years on ABC's Fridays, 11 00:00:36,374 --> 00:00:37,554 the late-night sketch show, 12 00:00:38,034 --> 00:00:41,794 essentially ABC's answer to SNL, ran 1980 to 1982. 13 00:00:42,594 --> 00:00:44,854 He was in the middle of the Andy Kaufman incident: 14 00:00:45,374 --> 00:00:48,654 Kaufman refused to deliver his scripted lines during a live sketch, 15 00:00:49,334 --> 00:00:51,334 Richards brought the cue cards on stage to him, 16 00:00:51,694 --> 00:00:53,614 Kaufman threw his drink in Richards' face, 17 00:00:53,914 --> 00:00:56,214 and it nearly turned into a riot in the studio. 18 00:00:56,794 --> 00:00:59,414 Richards later claimed he was in on the joke the whole time. 19 00:00:59,754 --> 00:01:02,754 But that instinct, physical escalation in a live moment, 20 00:01:02,754 --> 00:01:05,194 committed to whatever extreme the scene demands, 21 00:01:05,614 --> 00:01:07,994 is exactly what he brought to Kramer for nine seasons. 22 00:01:08,614 --> 00:01:12,374 The character is built on that same willingness to go wherever the impulse takes you. 23 00:01:12,874 --> 00:01:18,374 His first national television exposure was in Billy Crystal's first cable special back in 1979, 24 00:01:19,434 --> 00:01:21,094 Crystal brought him in as a featured performer. 25 00:01:21,794 --> 00:01:24,194 From there, guest spots on Cheers, Miami Vice, 26 00:01:24,194 --> 00:01:28,274 St. Elsewhere. In 1989, the same year the pilot filmed, 27 00:01:28,694 --> 00:01:32,074 he had a part in UHF, Weird Al Yankovic's film, 28 00:01:32,074 --> 00:01:35,394 playing a janitor named Stanley Spadowski. 29 00:01:35,394 --> 00:01:38,054 Larry David was also a cast member and writer on Fridays, 30 00:01:38,614 --> 00:01:40,454 he and Richards were colleagues on that show. 31 00:01:40,954 --> 00:01:43,474 That's roughly nine years before Seinfeld. 32 00:01:43,734 --> 00:01:46,334 David then went to SNL as a writer in 1984–85, 33 00:01:46,634 --> 00:01:51,054 one year only, and reportedly got exactly one sketch on the air, 34 00:01:51,054 --> 00:01:53,014 which aired at 12:50 in the morning. 35 00:01:53,754 --> 00:01:57,754 That SNL year is where it connects to Julia Louis-Dreyfus. 36 00:01:57,754 --> 00:01:59,414 She was a cast member at the same time, 37 00:01:59,414 --> 00:02:01,894 joined the show in 1982 at 21, 38 00:02:02,334 --> 00:02:05,754 which made her the youngest female cast member in the show's history at that point. 39 00:02:06,514 --> 00:02:08,354 She came up through Second City in Chicago, 40 00:02:08,714 --> 00:02:10,174 then the Practical Theatre Company. 41 00:02:10,854 --> 00:02:18,194 It was a performance at the Practical Theatre Company's Golden 50th Anniversary Jubilee that caught the attention of the SNL producers. 42 00:02:18,914 --> 00:02:20,654 So when Seinfeld was being put together, 43 00:02:21,154 --> 00:02:27,514 David already had prior professional relationships with both Richards and Louis-Dreyfus from completely separate contexts, 44 00:02:27,734 --> 00:02:31,174 years apart. And she wasn't in the original pilot at all. 45 00:02:31,574 --> 00:02:34,994 NBC screened it and said the show was too male-centric. 46 00:02:34,994 --> 00:02:39,574 Adding a female lead was the explicit condition NBC placed on commissioning the full series. 47 00:02:40,314 --> 00:02:42,334 She landed the role over Patricia Heaton, 48 00:02:42,754 --> 00:02:45,134 who later anchored Everybody Loves Raymond for nine seasons, 49 00:02:45,574 --> 00:02:48,594 and Megan Mullally, who later anchored Will and Grace. 50 00:02:49,394 --> 00:02:52,954 That one audition room had three future series leads in it. 51 00:02:52,954 --> 00:02:59,874 Louis-Dreyfus came in from the second episode onward as Elaine and appeared in all but three of the 180 episodes. 52 00:03:00,494 --> 00:03:04,054 After the show: The New Adventures of Old Christine on CBS, 53 00:03:04,634 --> 00:03:07,094 five seasons, and then Veep on HBO. 54 00:03:07,834 --> 00:03:10,534 The kind of career that looks like a straight line in retrospect. 55 00:03:11,194 --> 00:03:14,374 Jason Alexander's background makes almost no sense for a sitcom. 56 00:03:15,034 --> 00:03:17,254 He spent the entire 1980s on Broadway. 57 00:03:17,914 --> 00:03:21,054 Merrily We Roll Along in 1981, that's Sondheim. 58 00:03:21,494 --> 00:03:24,294 The Rink in 1984, Kander and Ebb. 59 00:03:24,294 --> 00:03:27,274 Broadway Bound in 1986, Neil Simon. 60 00:03:27,834 --> 00:03:30,214 These are serious, demanding stage productions. 61 00:03:30,854 --> 00:03:32,474 Nothing casual about any of them. 62 00:03:32,894 --> 00:03:36,974 Then Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989 was the peak of that run, 63 00:03:37,594 --> 00:03:41,214 a revue that pulled together scenes from Jerome Robbins's landmark productions. 64 00:03:42,054 --> 00:03:43,154 Alexander was the lead. 65 00:03:43,714 --> 00:03:45,854 That ran on Broadway for well over a year. 66 00:03:46,334 --> 00:03:48,614 He walked out of it almost directly into Seinfeld. 67 00:03:49,194 --> 00:03:50,674 His film debut, for the record, 68 00:03:50,674 --> 00:03:52,974 was The Burning in 1981, 69 00:03:53,374 --> 00:03:55,554 a slasher film set at a summer camp. 70 00:03:56,074 --> 00:03:58,954 From slasher film to Sondheim to playing George Costanza, 71 00:03:59,574 --> 00:04:01,694 not a path anyone would have designed in advance. 72 00:04:02,334 --> 00:04:05,874 All through the 1980s he was also running major commercial campaigns: 73 00:04:06,514 --> 00:04:14,454 McDonald's, Miller Lite, Levi's. Working theater actor with a strong commercial presence and essentially no television footprint at all. 74 00:04:15,014 --> 00:04:17,794 In 1990, while Seinfeld's first season was still running, 75 00:04:18,134 --> 00:04:19,414 he was also in Pretty Woman, 76 00:04:19,934 --> 00:04:22,274 playing Philip Stuckey, the antagonist, 77 00:04:22,274 --> 00:04:25,754 the cold corporate lawyer who drives the film's central conflict. 78 00:04:26,474 --> 00:04:28,354 Working in a completely different register, 79 00:04:28,854 --> 00:04:30,274 doing both at the same time. 80 00:04:30,834 --> 00:04:34,994 Jerry Seinfeld's pre-show career has one detour that tends to get lost in the story. 81 00:04:35,554 --> 00:04:38,974 He had a recurring part on the NBC sitcom Benson in 1980, 82 00:04:39,374 --> 00:04:43,934 playing Frankie, a mail-delivery boy whose comedy material nobody on the show wanted to hear. 83 00:04:44,434 --> 00:04:46,554 He was fired mid-season. 84 00:04:46,554 --> 00:04:50,034 Arrived for a scheduled read-through and discovered there was no script for him. 85 00:04:50,494 --> 00:04:52,014 That was how he found out. 86 00:04:52,534 --> 00:04:53,354 Went back to the clubs, 87 00:04:53,734 --> 00:04:55,694 which is where the real work was happening anyway. 88 00:04:56,654 --> 00:04:59,294 He'd started doing open-mic nights while at Queens College, 89 00:04:59,814 --> 00:05:03,814 after graduating, clubs like Catch a Rising Star became his stages. 90 00:05:04,534 --> 00:05:07,354 May 1981, the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, 91 00:05:08,014 --> 00:05:10,954 Carson responded visibly on air, not just politely, 92 00:05:11,294 --> 00:05:14,114 and that opened regular spots on Carson and then Letterman. 93 00:05:14,934 --> 00:05:22,214 He spent about fifteen years building observational material out of everyday life before sitting down with Larry David to develop what became the show. 94 00:05:22,794 --> 00:05:27,234 The show he co-creates is one where he plays a version of himself as a working stand-up comedian. 95 00:05:27,934 --> 00:05:29,714 There's a direct line from where he started: 96 00:05:30,114 --> 00:05:32,094 gets fired from the one sitcom he'd tried, 97 00:05:32,454 --> 00:05:34,354 returns to the clubs for fifteen years, 98 00:05:34,674 --> 00:05:37,014 then builds a show from exactly that experience. 99 00:05:37,474 --> 00:05:38,974 The setup was already lived. 100 00:05:39,734 --> 00:05:42,474 George Costanza is based directly on Larry David, 101 00:05:42,954 --> 00:05:45,254 David has said so explicitly and repeatedly. 102 00:05:45,894 --> 00:05:47,794 He co-created the show with Seinfeld, 103 00:05:47,794 --> 00:05:50,854 ran it as the primary showrunner through Season 7, 104 00:05:50,854 --> 00:05:52,634 wrote 62 episodes in total. 105 00:05:53,374 --> 00:06:00,374 He voiced George Steinbrenner throughout the entire run and returned specifically to write the series finale in 1998. 106 00:06:01,074 --> 00:06:03,994 The Kramer character came directly out of David's actual life. 107 00:06:04,434 --> 00:06:06,794 His real neighbor across the hall in Manhattan Plaza, 108 00:06:07,174 --> 00:06:10,134 the subsidized housing complex in Hell's Kitchen where David lived, 109 00:06:10,554 --> 00:06:11,674 was named Kenny Kramer. 110 00:06:12,334 --> 00:06:14,474 Genuine person, genuine inspiration. 111 00:06:15,154 --> 00:06:19,134 Kenny Kramer has since built a career running Seinfeld-themed tours of New York. 112 00:06:19,654 --> 00:06:24,074 Tom Cherones directed 81 of the 86 episodes across the first five seasons, 113 00:06:24,734 --> 00:06:28,214 essentially the entire formative run of the show under one person's eye. 114 00:06:28,814 --> 00:06:31,414 His visual approach is the baseline Seinfeld look: 115 00:06:32,014 --> 00:06:37,714 unhurried pacing, flat style that holds on actors and lets the scene work without editorial intervention. 116 00:06:38,574 --> 00:06:41,674 Applied consistently across nearly 90 consecutive episodes, 117 00:06:42,114 --> 00:06:43,914 it becomes the show's sensibility. 118 00:06:44,534 --> 00:06:46,474 Liz Sheridan, who plays Helen Seinfeld, 119 00:06:46,474 --> 00:06:51,594 came in with the second episode in 1990 and stayed through all nine seasons to the finale. 120 00:06:52,374 --> 00:06:55,754 Before Seinfeld: four years playing the nosy neighbor on ALF. 121 00:06:56,114 --> 00:06:58,354 Before television: she was doing Broadway, 122 00:06:58,774 --> 00:07:04,914 a 1977 production called Happy End that put her on stage alongside Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd. 123 00:07:05,514 --> 00:07:08,474 Barney Martin, who plays Morty from Season 2, 124 00:07:08,474 --> 00:07:11,014 had a background unlike almost anyone else in the cast. 125 00:07:11,634 --> 00:07:15,394 He was a working New York City police detective before he became an actor, 126 00:07:15,394 --> 00:07:17,354 a genuine career change. 127 00:07:17,954 --> 00:07:19,974 Then originated the role of Amos Hart, 128 00:07:20,394 --> 00:07:22,114 the husband who gets shot in the opening scene, 129 00:07:22,114 --> 00:07:25,634 in the original 1975 Broadway production of Chicago, 130 00:07:26,074 --> 00:07:27,234 directed by Bob Fosse. 131 00:07:28,014 --> 00:07:30,474 The first Morty in Season 1 was Philip Bruns, 132 00:07:30,954 --> 00:07:33,894 who was known from Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. 133 00:07:34,354 --> 00:07:39,034 What keeps surfacing in this cast is how non-accidental all the central connections are. 134 00:07:39,534 --> 00:07:41,534 David and Richards worked together on Fridays. 135 00:07:42,014 --> 00:07:44,594 David and Louis-Dreyfus crossed paths at SNL. 136 00:07:44,594 --> 00:07:47,434 The Kramer character came from David's real neighbor. 137 00:07:47,994 --> 00:07:51,314 There's a web of prior history running underneath almost all of it. 138 00:07:51,594 --> 00:07:54,694 The pilot nearly ended everything before any of that could develop. 139 00:07:55,434 --> 00:07:57,734 It tested terribly with NBC focus groups. 140 00:07:58,294 --> 00:07:59,254 One line from the report: 141 00:07:59,814 --> 00:08:02,594 you can't get too excited about two guys going to the laundromat. 142 00:08:03,414 --> 00:08:06,214 The network ordered exactly four more episodes, 143 00:08:06,774 --> 00:08:09,534 reportedly the smallest sitcom order in television history. 144 00:08:10,474 --> 00:08:13,174 Castle Rock tried to sell it to other networks and found no takers. 145 00:08:13,694 --> 00:08:18,974 David and Seinfeld eventually got their hands on the NBC research memo and hung it in a bathroom on the set. 146 00:08:19,594 --> 00:08:25,694 That detail, hanging the worst possible institutional verdict on your work and putting it in the bathroom, 147 00:08:26,354 --> 00:08:31,074 is about as good a summary of the founding sensibility of this show as anything you're going to find. 148 00:08:31,754 --> 00:08:33,054 Nine seasons came out of it.