JERRY SEINFELD (CHARACTER)

'Jerome "Jerry" Seinfeld' is a semi-fictional character on the United States television sitcom ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998) who was named after, based on, and played by the comedian of the same name.
The series revolves around Jerry's misadventures with his best friend George Louis Costanza, wacky neighbor Cosmo Kramer, and ex-girlfriend Elaine Marie Benes. He is usually the voice of reason amidst his friends' antics and the focal point of the foursome's relationship. An eternal optimist, he rarely runs into major personal problems. Jerry is the only main character on the show to maintain the same career (a stand-up comedian, like the real Jerry) throughout the series and to appear in every episode. He is the most observational character, sarcastically commenting on his friends' quirky habits.
Much of the show's action takes place in Jerry's apartment located at 129 West
81st Street, apartment 5A, as stated in the episode "The Alternate Side". He and his friends also frequently appear in "Monk's", a fictional cafe.

Contents

Character summary

Background

Family

Relationships

Elaine

Long term relationships

Engagements

Breakups

Jerry's famous guest star girlfriends

Favorite Sayings

Career and finances

Cleanliness

Newman

References

Character summary

Jerry is the most passive, grounded character in the show, a figure who is "able to observe the chaos around him but not always be a part of it."^[1] Plot lines involving Jerry often concern his various relationships — Jerry often finds "stupid reasons to break up" with women^[2] which, according to Elaine, occurs "every week."
Jerry is generally completely indifferent to what goes on in his friends' lives, seeing their misery as merely an entertaining distraction, as well as an opportunity for joke material. He often plays along with their hare-brained schemes, though this is often just so that he can see them fail. On one occasion when Jerry lets out his emotions and cries, he is perplexed by the experience, asking, "What is this salty discharge?"^[3] Elaine points out that he has "never felt remorse," to which Jerry replies, "Yeah, I feel kinda bad about that."^[4] He will often nonchalantly state, "That's a shame" when something sad happens (often due to his or his friends actions).
Despite his usual indifference to his friends and their actions, Jerry apparently is quite satisfied with his life, to the point that he actually feels worried about anything that may threaten the group lifestyle. In the episode, "The Invitations," for example, Jerry admits that he feels depressed about George getting married, seeing as George will eventually leave the group and Jerry will never see him again. Once Elaine told him that she was "Getting out" of the group, Jerry became so worried about a near future of just him and Kramer that he almost unknowingly walked into the street with a car approaching while thinking about a horrible future life with just Kramer. In the episode, "The Bizarro Jerry," Jerry also grows panicky about losing the group dynamic when Kramer becomes too busy with his fake job and Elaine temporarily leaves to join the bizarro group, claiming that "The whole system's breaking down!"
Jerry rarely runs into major personal problems, unlike George and Elaine. In "The Opposite," this tendency is explicitly pointed out, as Jerry goes through a number of experiences after which he constantly "breaks even", even as his friends are going through intense periods of success or failure. In "The Rye," during a particularly trying time for Elaine, she angrily tells Jerry, "You know, one of these days, something terrible is going to happen to you. It ''has'' to!" Jerry simply replies, "No, I'll be fine." Many of the problems he does run into are the result of the actions of his archnemesis Newman, a disgruntled postal worker.
As in real life, Jerry is an avid comic book fan; particularly of Superman, who is his hero. As far as sports, Jerry is a fan of the New York Mets, New York Knicks, New York Giants and New York Rangers. In early episodes, a Yankees hat sat on the counter near his computer. Later on, by the middle of season 3, it was replaced with a Mets cap, possibly to better reflect Jerry's real-life support of the Queens side. Jerry is also portrayed as a hygiene freak in numerous episodes.

Background

Jerry grew up in New York with George, who, according to "The Outing," were friends ever since an encounter in gym class in their school days, although Jerry once beat George up in the fourth grade. Flashbacks in episodes such as "The Library" portray Jerry and George in highschool. A pizza place which they frequented is portrayed in "The Frogger." Jerry and George attended school together at Edward R. Murrow Middle School, John F. Kennedy High School and college at Queens College.^[5] After college, Jerry briefly worked as an umbrella salesman and reportedly invented the "twirl" to make the umbrella look more attractive. He eventually quit the job and went into stand-up comedy.

Family

Jerry's parents are Morty and Helen Seinfeld, a retired Jewish couple living in Florida. Although born and raised Jewish, Jerry apparently doesn't practice and generally doesn't "observe" many traditions, like the real Seinfeld. As shown in The Soup Nazi, he does not keep kosher, as he is seen eating crab bisque. He also has a sister (mentioned in "The Chinese Restaurant"), although she is never named, and never appears on screen. Jerry in real life has a sister named Carol.
Jerry has an uncle, Leo, an eccentric minor character who appears in 15 episodes. Uncle Leo has a son, Cousin Jeffrey, about whom he constantly talks, but who never appears. In "The Stakeout," Jerry speaks to an "Uncle Mac," as well as a cousin "Artie Levine." In "The Truth", Jerry mentions a cousin named "Douglass" who has an obsession with Pepsi. In "The Pony Remark," Helen, Morty, Jerry, Elaine, and Leo attend a 50th-anniversary party for Manya and Issac, an elderly couple whose relationship to Jerry is never explicitly defined. Manya is described as a Polish immigrant. In the same episode, Jerry references having an "Aunt Rose," and Helen mentions a family member "Claire" who is getting married. In "The Soup" episode, Jerry mentions an "Aunt Silvia", who he compares to Elaine in terms of conversation.
The mother of Helen and Leo (the grandmother of Jerry), Nana, is an elderly woman living alone in the city and suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Nana makes appearances in "The Pledge Drive," "The Kiss Hello," and "The Doodle."

Relationships

Jerry is notorious for his detached approach towards relationships and for breaking up with women for the slightest of flaws or for the most minor of reasons.

Elaine

Jerry and Elaine had once dated, and usually mention that things didn't work out. There are subtle references to the fact that it was Jerry who ended it. However, they slept together at least twice after breaking up: In "The Deal", they create a set of rules whereby they can sleep together but remain only friends. Their theory is ruined, however, when they start squabbling too much (Elaine is furious when Jerry gives her $182 cash as a birthday gift). Then, in "The Mango", Jerry is so upset at learning that Elaine had faked her orgasms while they were together, that she agrees to give him another chance "to save the friendship".
There are several other hints throughout the series that suggest that Jerry and Elaine still have feelings for each other:

★ In "The Tape" when Jerry listens to an erotic message on his tape recorder that Elaine made as a joke, and he becomes attracted to her again.

★ In "The Cadillac Parts 1 and 2," after Jerry buys his parents a Cadillac and Elaine realizes how much money he has, she becomes very flirty towards him.

★ In "The Abstinence" when Elaine is denying her current boyfriend sex in the hope that it will help him pass his medical licensing exam, she practically begs Jerry to do it with her, but he steadfastly turns her down.

★ Finally in "The Finale", when they think their plane is about to crash, Elaine says "Jerry, I gotta tell you something...I've always loved y..." When, after the plane rights itself, Jerry asks Elaine what she was trying to say, she makes the claim that she was trying to say "I've always loved United Airlines."

Long term relationships

Other than Elaine, Jerry has only dated a couple of other women for more than one episode:

★ He starts dating Vanessa in "The Stake Out" and breaks up with her in "The Stock Tip". Although she is only seen in these two episodes, Jerry dated her throughout the course of four episodes (three in production order). They break up because of an uncomfortable weekend trip to Vermont.

★ Rachel is the only other woman that Jerry dated over multiple episodes. He dated her over the course four episodes, and appears in all these episodes: "The Raincoats" (a two-part episode), "The Hamptons" , and "The Opposite". Rachel ends the relationship, but Jerry, who was "even steven" at the time, didn't become upset, and was confident that he would find another girlfriend (which he did in the deleted scenes for that episode).

★ He dates Marla, a woman in the closet business and a virgin, in The Virgin and The Contest and Tia, a model, in The Airport and The Pick. These relationships are strange in that both women break up with Jerry for reasons of disgust, rather than it being the other way around.

★ He dates Dolores (a.k.a. Mulva) in The Junior Mint and The Foundation. (Season 4 then Season 8). This was the only time he dated a woman for 2 episodes that weren't in a row.

Engagements

Only twice in the entire series has Jerry considered marriage.

★ The first time was with his "perfect" girlfriend, Jeannie in the Season 7 finale, The Invitations, but he soon learned that he didn't want to have someone exactly like himself. In the first Season 8 episode, The Foundation, Jerry tells Elaine that he had a perfectly mutual break-up with Jeannie over the summer.

★ Jerry almost got engaged a second time, to Elaine. In the Season 9 episode "The Serenity Now", after Jerry undergoes a personality change and becomes deeply sensitive and emotional, he proposes to a shocked Elaine. She leaves the apartment, but returns later to accept his proposal. By that point, however, he had gone back to his old self and he turns ''her'' down.

Breakups

Jerry has broken up with women (or provoked them into breaking up with him) for some of the most trivial of reasons. They include:

★ For refusing to taste his pie at the coffee shop ("The Pie").

★ For wearing the same dress on every date (she dumped him for snooping around her closet.) ("The Seven").

★ For eating her peas one at a time ("The Engagement").

★ Because she had "man hands" ("The Bizarro Jerry").

★ Because he realizes he doesn't want to be with someone ''exactly'' like himself ("The Invitations").

★ Because she had once dated Newman, who had ended the relationship ("The Big Salad").

★ Because she wouldn't give him a massage ("The Masseuse").

★ Because he wouldn't get off the soup line at the Soup Nazi's restaurant, after the Soup Nazi envoked his rules about the line on her.( This was not technically a break-up, but Jerry probably saw it coming after he chose the soup over her). ("The Soup Nazi")

★ Because he played with her old toy collection (She dumped him after finding out)."The Merv Griffin Show"

Jerry's famous guest star girlfriends

★ Teri Hatcher in "The Implant" and in "The Finale".

★ Marcia Cross in "The Slicer".

★ Courteney Cox in "The Wife".

★ Jami Gertz in "The Stall".

★ Jane Leeves in "The Virgin" and "The Contest".

★ Jennifer Coolidge in "The Masseuse".

★ Janeane Garofalo in "The Invitations".

★ Kristin Davis in "The Pothole" and "The Butter Shave".

★ Amanda Peet in "The Summer of George".

★ Marlee Matlin in "The Lip Reader".

★ Catherine Keener in "The Letter".

★ Debra Messing in "The Wait Out" and in "The Yada Yada".

★ Christine Taylor in "The Van Buren Boys".

★ Lauren Graham in "The Millennium".

★ Lori Loughlin in "The Serenity Now".

★ Melinda Clarke in "The Muffin Tops".

★ Mariska Hargitay in "The Pilot".

Favorite Sayings

Throughout the series, Jerry uses a number of catchphrases, including:

★ "Hello, ''Newman''."

★ "That's a shame" (picked up from George in "The Chaperone")

★ "But I don't wanna be..." (Often said when Kramer compares him to something. Jerry has not wanted to be a pirate ("The Puffy Shirt"), a cowboy ("The Mom & Pop Store"), Switzerland ("The Label Maker"), and a size 32 waistband ("The Sponge").)

★ "All right!" (said several times with some variation, usually frustratedly used after he has just been persuaded by another character)

★ "Who is this?" (said jokingly and sarcastically when receiving a frantic phone call from either Elaine or George). A variant of this is the same situation except Jerry responding with "Uncle Leo?"

Career and finances

Jerry is also very financially successful and occupationally stable in comparison with his friends (and perhaps with other standup comedians in general) and never seems to be at a loss for money, in comparison to George and Elaine who go through various phases of being extremely successful (more than Jerry's ever been) and extremely unsuccessful (also more than Jerry's ever been). Throughout the entire series, Jerry has been involved in numerous financial and material losses; however, he is almost always unfazed by these losses, equal to his lack of emotions when breaking up with women, indicating that he apparently has more than enough money to do with what he wants. Generally, his losses are due to his friend's actions, especially Kramer's.

★ For example, Jerry buys his father a Cadillac Deville^[6] and buys it ''back'' after his parents sell it, spending over $20,000. Jerry himself seems to only drive luxury European makes, such as BMW (The Smelly Car) and SAAB. In "The Apartment," it is revealed that Jerry could easily lend Elaine $5,000 for an apartment. Also, Jerry is regularly called upon to pay the check for the group at Monk's and allows Kramer to depend on him for food. Despite his apparent financial security, his parents seem to think he needs money, offering to pay for everything when they visit him (even if they have no money, as seen in The Watch) and occasionally urging him to find a new job.

★ In "The Checks", Jerry is revealed to be famous in Japan where he appears in the opening montage of Japanese TV's "Super Terrific Happy Hour" and he even continues to earn royalties from each appearance (although each royalty check is only for twelve cents).

★ Jerry spends most of the series making a living from stand-up comedy, except for the periods when he and George co-write their own sitcom. Jerry also acts in the pilot episode of their show "Jerry", playing himself.

★ Twice, Jerry is encouraged to switch to a career at Bloomingdales in their Executive Training Program. First his parents suggest it after he bounces a check; then in another episode, George and Kramer suggest it after he starts dating a "loser".

Cleanliness

★ Jerry has an obsessive insistence on cleanliness and neatness. A girlfriend of his (played by Teri Hatcher) comments that "he would have made a great Nazi" because "everything has to be just ''so''."^[7]

★ In "The Pothole," Jerry inadvertently knocks his girlfriend's toothbrush into the toilet bowl, and after she uses it, he is unable to bring himself to kiss her. As revenge, she proceeds to put one item of his in the toilet without telling him what it was; a distraught Jerry, thinking it could be anything, ends up throwing away virtually every item in his apartment in panic. Upon learning it was the toilet brush, he reassures himself that it can be replaced (his girlfriend is later bombarded with toilet water following a plumbing accident in her bathroom, causing him to break up with her).

★ In "The Voice", he throws out a belt because it touched the edge of a urinal.

★ In "The Butter Shave", he throws out a shoelace because it touched the floor of a men's room.

★ "The Statue" is the only show in season two when cleanliness is discussed (between Jerry and Elaine).

Newman

Jerry has a long-running hatred of Newman, describing him as his "sworn enemy" in "The Andrea Doria" and showing general contempt for him at their every meeting, a reaction Newman sometimes reciprocates, although at other times he seems quite pleased by Jerry's hostility, as if it is a testimony to his effectiveness at irritating him. Seinfeld has also commented in interviews that Newman is his "Lex Luthor". The origin of their feud is never explained.
Jerry's snide and sarcastic greeting for him ("Hello, ''Newman''") became a trademark of their relationship. Even Jerry's mother Helen uttered the greeting, with as much displeasure as Jerry in "The Raincoats, Part 2". Jerry wanted rid of Newman so badly that he once even helped him on his postal route so that he could get a prized transfer to Hawaii ("The Andrea Doria").
Despite their antagonistic relationship, Jerry and Newman have ended up working in unison on rare occasions. In "The Sniffing Accountant", Jerry worked with Kramer and Newman to find out if their accountant was on drugs. In "The Soul Mate", Jerry and Newman help each other with their romance problems. Newman told Jerry about Kramer's crush on his then-girlfriend, Pam, while Jerry helps Newman get a chance to date Elaine.
Certain instances would even define their relationship as one of friendship or at least mutual tolerance built around their shared friend, Kramer. In "The Pick," he casually walks over to Newman's apartment and brings him back to his own to examine Elaine's Christmas card. Newman apparently puts up little fight and doesn't make an sarcastic remarks, then walks out without a confrontation. In "The Old Man," Jerry says "my friends" in reference to Kramer and Newman and in The Bottle Deposit he has no qualms about leaving Kramer and Newman alone in his apartment, trusting they'll "keep an eye on one another." In The Soup Nazi, a panicked Newman and Jerry have an exchange that can be seen from an outside view as one between friends at the end of the episode. Finally, in The Barber Jerry allows Newman to use his bathroom and even sit down and watch Edward Scissorhands with him, a move which comes back to haunt him later.

References

1. BBC Comedy Guide: Seinfeld
2. "The Engagement"
3. "The Serenity Now"
4. "The Foundation"
5. "The Marine Biologist"
6. "The Cadillac, Part 1" and "Part 2"
7. "The Implant"