Despite being off the air for over 25 years, we still can't get enough of the “show about nothing.” Of course, real Seinfeld fans know the show was about something: the characters, death, love, taboos, social issues, being amusingly bad people; the list goes on. These are our favorite episodes.
1. S8E19: “The Yada Yada”
Brevity may be the soul of wit, but George grows annoyed and concerned over the increasing brevity of his girlfriend's stories when she replaces essential details with “yada yada.” Meanwhile, Jerry's dentist (Bryan Cranston) seems a little too comfortable making Jewish jokes, leading Jerry to believe that may be the sole reason he converted to Judaism. It's a hilarious episode with exceptionally witty dialogue, yada yada yada.
2. S2E11: “The Chinese Restaurant”
Seinfeld is best known for being a comedy about nothing, and in no episode does this lack-of-concept concept shine brighter than in “The Chinese Restaurant.” The plot revolves around the gang's inability to get a table at a Chinese restaurant without a reservation, a pressing matter, as they have tickets for a movie soon after.
3. S5E22: “The Opposite”
George is known as a down-on-his-luck type of guy throughout the series, so in a desperate bid to produce different outcomes, he changes his actions by going with the opposite of what his instincts would usually tell him to do, and it works! He suddenly has luck with women and even lands a prestigious job with the NY Yankees. Elaine, on the other hand, seems to have inherited George's bad karmic juju. Jerry, selfishly observing this Freaky Friday switch of life dispositions between his friends, chalks it up to “breaking even.”
4. S7E6: “The Soup Nazi”
“The Soup Nazi” is rightfully the second highest-rated episode of the series and is about a passionate, obsessive chef who produces the best soup in the area. His authoritarian approach to his customers gets him branded as the “soup nazi,” leaving everyone scared to step out of line for fear of the much-dreaded punishment “NO SOUP FOR YOU.”
All except Elaine, who pushes her luck and gets banned from purchasing soup from the shop for a year. She finally outplays him by accessing his precious soup recipes, threatening to copy his soups and steal his business for herself.
5. S5E14: “The Marine Biologist”
After Jerry runs into an old friend from college who was George's crush who chalks him up to a goof-off who probably never got anywhere, Jerry rescues his reputation with a white lie about George's success as a marine biologist. Kramer decides to go golf on the beach, and later, George runs into his college crush and has to keep up the marine biology charade. As luck would have it, a beached whale with a golf ball lodged in its throat washes up on shore, and George is pressured to come to its rescue in a hilarious convergence of coincidences.
6. S3E7: “The Cafe”
Jerry smugly convinces an immigrant who opened a new restaurant across the street to make significant changes to his restaurant. It's an expensive, time-consuming plan that fails to reach new customers. Still, Jerry hilariously views himself as a benevolent, generous, good guy going out of his way to dine at his establishment and help him out, even though it puts him out of business.
7. S8E22: “The Summer of George”
After being given three months of severance pay from The Yankees, George channels his inner Parisian. First, intending to make it a memorable summer and dubbing it “The Summer of George,” he ends up lying around doing nothing. There are three notable guest stars in this episode, with Amanda Peet playing Jerry's needy girlfriend. Meanwhile, Kramer is a seat filler for a nominee at the Tonys and, bizarrely, wins one.
8. S8E9: “The Abstinence”
In an irreverently hilarious commentary on the male preoccupation with adult activities, George is given a hiatus from intimacy with his girlfriend for six weeks because she has mono. Through this period of abstinence, he frees up brain space that had previously been wasted thinking about adult fun and gets exponentially smarter the longer he abstains.
9. S8E3: “The Bizarro Jerry”
After she friend-zones an ex, Elaine realizes he's like Jerry's exact opposite because he's reliable and considerate. Jerry likens him to Bizarro Superman (the imperfect clone of Superman who does everything opposite), branding Kevin as a “Bizarro Jerry.” At first, she finds relief with this more considerate, reliable Jerry and his pack of genuine friends, productive members of society. Still, she becomes disillusioned when they don't accept her boorish nature.
10. S5E20: “The Fire”
In true George fashion, he is the most cowardly person at his young son's birthday party. After whining about birthday parties suddenly being a big deal compared to when he was a kid and beefing with the party clown, a fire breaks out in the kitchen. Instead of putting it out or safely leading the children out, he screams, “FIRE! Get out of the way!” and starts bolting for the door, knocking down little kids and grannies in his way.
11. S4E11: “The Contest”
Hilariously disgusting, “The Contest” is an uncomfortable exploration of taboos. George gets caught giving himself pleasure by his mother, causing her to faint. The hilariously outlandish story triggers a contest between George, Elaine, and Jerry to see who can abstain from self-pleasure the longest, but temptations prove challenging to resist.
12. S4E17: “The Outing”
Rated 9.4, “The Outing” is a hilarious but socially progressive take on being outed as gay in the 90s, when Don't Ask, Don't Tell was still military policy. Elaine realizes the woman sitting behind them at the diner is eavesdropping, so she plays a prank by talking loudly about Jerry and George being homosexuals. Little did she know that woman was a reporter who would run with the prank as a story in the newspaper, leaving Jerry and George to deal with the social fallout of people thinking they're gay.
13. S9E6: “The Merv Griffin Show”
This episode is one of the few departures from the typical “observations of daily minutiae” formula Seinfeld typically follows, but it's also one of its best experiments with surrealist comedy. Kramer finds old set pieces from The Merv Griffin Show in a dumpster and takes them home, suddenly believing himself to be the show's host.
14. S9E7: “The Slicer”
On a mission to make better sandwiches than he gets from the deli, Kramer gets a meat slicer, which comes in handy for Elaine, who needs to feed her neighbor's cat after the automatic feeder stops working. Jerry dates a dermatologist who constantly belittles his occupation. Wanting to get back at her, he makes fun of her for claiming to be a dermatologist who “saves people's lives,” misunderstanding that she specializes in treating skin cancer.
15. S5E21: “The Hamptons”
The gang visits a friend's newborn and unbelievably ugly baby in The Hamptons. George gets embarrassed when Jerry's girlfriend walks in on him naked and spends the rest of the episode defending and spreading awareness about swimming shrinkage. He tries to get back at her by catching her changing but never finds the right moment. She does, however, catch sight of his shrinkage once again.
16. S9E10: “The Strike”
“The Strike” is one of the most iconic Larry David-less Seinfeld episodes, which has spurred recognizable slogans like “a Festivus for the rest of us.” Jerry goes on a date with a shapeshifting woman, who is beautiful one day but then becomes ugly the next. A twelve-year strike at H&H Bagels has ended, and Kramer is the only former employee who hasn't moved on with his life.
17. S7E24: “The Invitations”
Starkly departing from the show's usual light-hearted banter about silly situations and complaining about trivial matters, “The Invitations” ventures into dark territory. George is apprehensive about marrying Susan. George forces Susan to settle for the cheapest wedding invitations with poor strength adhesive as they plan their wedding. George convinces her to get them, insisting they can just use Elmer's glue.
After licking the envelopes of 200 invitations, Susan dies from exposure to toxic, inexpensive adhesive, suggesting George was too cheap even to get Elmer's glue.
18. S3E13: “The Subway”
All four gang members head their separate ways on the Subway, each having a unique experience. This episode is so clever in utilizing its NYC setting as a character in its own right. The gang navigates ubiquitous symbols of NY, like the subway, and encounters familiar archetypes like exhibitionists, street artists, and robbers. It's like a comical ode to NYC's melting pot in all its lovely and horrible glory, highlighting the good, the bad, and, most importantly, the peculiar.
19. S7E10: “The Gum”
After Lloyd Braun is released from the psychiatric hospital, Kramer takes him under his wing, hoping to use his connections with the Mayor's office to get his run-down theater landmark success. Kramer goes out of his way to ensure no one thinks Lloyd is crazy (because his theater's success relies upon it). While Lloyd is blatantly unobservant and unquestioning to strange things in his surroundings, like purchasing ancient hot dogs for consumption or becoming Jerry's hookup for Chinese gum, Kramer ventures into absurdly patronizing territory.
20. S5E4: “The Sniffing Accountant”
Jerry's accountant has a precarious sniffing problem, leading Jerry and his friends to believe he has a drug problem. Scared that a potential drug user has access to his money, Jerry sends Kramer to investigate, posing as a dealer who runs into him at a bar. However, Kramer's strange Kramerisms weird him out, from chugging a beer while smoking a cigarette at the same time and making strange comments like “here's to feeling good all the time” to breaking down the bathroom stall to take a photo of him. This episode is peak absurd Kramer, and it lands beautifully thanks to Michael Richards' eccentric physical comedy.
21. S8E4: “The Little Kicks”
What has become an iconic meme dance known as “The Elaine Dance” is the epicenter of this episode. Elaine attends an office party, but her horrible, enthusiastic dancing makes her a social pariah at work. Unaware of her lack of dancing skills, she's under the illusion that George's attendance is why they laugh at her. When she talks to the rest of the gang about it, flashbacks of her frantic dancing haunting Jerry come to light, and Kramer doesn't mince words, telling her that her dance moves suck.
22. S3E19: “The Limo”
George convinces Jerry that they should impersonate the man who reserved a limo to pick him up from his flight after Jerry tells him he didn't make it on the plane. What's the worst that could happen? No one has to know. As it turns out, the worst that could happen is pretty bad. You can find yourself in a situation where you have to impersonate antiemetics on their way to give an impassioned speech (hilariously played by two Jewish actors).
23. S3E6: “The Parking Garage”
Kramer loses his car in a parking garage, stranding the four for the afternoon. When Jerry's bladder reaches its limit, he takes terrible advice from Kramer to just relieve himself in the parking garage. A cop catches him and arrests him, necessitating that he come up with more elaborate excuses for the incident.
24. S4E23/24: “The Pilot Part 1 and II”
Jerry casts and films a sitcom based on his life in a meta Seinfeld within Seinfeld episode. They host auditions to decide who will play each of them, and George hilariously thinks the charming guy should play him rather than the one who accurately represents him as a character. The guy playing Kramer is just as strange as the “real” Kramer, stealing raisins during his audition. Real Kramer ludicrously auditions to play fake Kramer but needs to run out to use the bathroom, though he can't find a place to let him in, so he darts around the city in a digestive crisis.
