Behind the Scenes Stories from ‘Seinfeld’

Seinfeld was the show “about nothing,” which is basically what made it relatable and hilarious. On paper, it shouldn’t have worked, but the writers and ensemble cast captured life’s banalities so well. Many of the story lines just seemed like things that could have actually happened, and many of them really did. Here are some behind the scenes stories about Seinfeld that you might not have heard before.

1. The Pitch Meetings Could Be a Little Confusing

Two of the show writers, Spike Feresten and Andy Robin, have both admitted that they were a bit lost after their first pitch meetings with Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. Spike said that he was basically telling the two about some “weird soup guy” he went to and they just said: “That’s your first episode. You’re doing the Soup Nazi. Then they told me to get out. I was so confused.”

2. Speaking of that soup Nazi…

The actual guy he was based on wasn’t thrilled by the episode about him. After it aired Jerry went to get some soup from him in real life and (as if it could have gone any other way) he got denied. Later Jerry sent his girlfriend back to get some soup from him, which worked out fine.

3. About George’s Answering Machine Song

The Seinfeld episode where George sings on his answering machine was inspired by a real woman’s. Writer Jeff Schaffer knew a girl who had the “Greatest American Hero” song on her answering machine and they brought it up at the brainstorming meeting enough that it got written in. “For two weeks, that’s how we started every kind of brainstorming session — listening to this girl’s message. Then somebody said, ‘We’ve got to do this as a story. We’ve gotta give it to George.’” Then they called the girl and told her to watch the show.