Why Seinfeld Felt Different

This video essay analyzes the formula to the famous sitcom Seinfeld (created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David and starring Jason Alexander and Julia-Louis Dreyfus). Every sitcom has a style of comedy that it displays and a tone of joke that is writes. This video helps you understand the rhythm of NBC's Seinfeld.

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Timestamps:
0:00 The Tone
3:15 The Formula
8:20 The Rhythm

Music used:
Snack Time by The Green Orbs (YouTube Audio Library)
Here Comes the Raindrops by Reed Mathis (YouTube Audio Library)
Select by Patrick Patrikios (YouTube Audio Library)
Clean Living by Everet Almond (YouTube Audio Library)
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#seinfeld #larrydavid #julialouisdreyfus

[perfecto]

"The sea was angry that day my friends" - one of the best plotlines and story narratives in comedy history

[tempestcapital]

Perfect summary of art imitating life. Our house has Seinfeld for hours while we cook or do chores. Their voices are our comfort blankets that we immerse in and then do quotes while we are out in the real world. Sometimes you come across another fan who is familiar with the dialogue and says the next line or just a random one from the same episode.

[AndrzejJeczen]

And that's why Seinfeld is THE BEST sitcom in history. Even after 30 years it's still highly relatable.

[Boco_Corwin]

I fell in love with the Elaine character when she refused to accept that "The English Patient" was in amy way a good movie. I wish more people stood for their beliefs that passionatetly

[ianbzrd]

What makes it the greatest sitcom ever is that it is the most relatable sitcom ever. So much of the episodes are about the minutiae of life we all experience. It’s why it will still be on tv in 50 years

[NevetsM]

You just verbalized why I love this show. You have given me a reason to explain why I love it

[t]

Dude your content gets better and better every week. Seinfeld the show is so unique in its social satire it has to be analyzed.

[joshmciver]

My favorite comedy show of all time. Even the very last scene of the series summed it up. They went to jail for being bad people, and they didn't even really care. Just talked about what to do next.

[killiandunne]

Your ability to analyse, breakdown and communicate a legendary show like Seinfeld is just extraordinary. Would be great to see a Curb follow up!

[maxducoudray]

I think this video does miss one key point: Seinfeld is always comedy. Most sit-coms lapse into more serious emotions: heartfelt episodes, "important" moments, must-see events. They mix in these supposedly deep emotional moments that Seinfeld assiduously avoids. Seinfeld is always about making you laugh, full stop.

[masterzombie]

I actually came up with a perfect George moment. Here’s the scene

(George is in line at burger stand and he sees a girl and decides to talk to her)

George: Hi

Girl: Hello.

(Scene ends and he immediately goes to Jerry)

George: so she says Hello! Can you believe that?

Jerry: so you are offended by this how?

George: I said hi and she says hello, that’s two extra letters to greet someone. I bet now she thinks i’m cheap.

Jerry: cheap on words?

George: ON WORDS!!

Jerry: well have you thought of maybe following up with your hi with “hi how are you?”

George: what are you crazy? Hi and Hello are the greeting lines, you got to cement yourself with just one word.

Jerry: so you’re upset that she had more words than you, so why not just use a longer word so they can’t top you?

George:….hey that’s a good idea, instead of making them seem I’m cheap, they’ll think I’m Rich with my words…but what word should I use?

Jerry: how about salutations?

George:……Nah too long.

[zacharywalker]

"hell is other people" Thank you for summing it up so well Seinfeld always makes me laugh but I think I just realized why I like the show so much because that is something I truly relate to

[kdaltex]

What's the deal with first comments? Does anybody like them?

[prsona]

As much as I don’t like Seinfeld as a person, I will never get tired of this show because of all the people that made it so great.

[jeff__w]

Brilliant analysis.

“Seinfeld has a very cynical view of social interactions where there are conceivably two layers to our behavior: the public face we put on to seem polite, affable, and likable…and then the private face that only our closest friends see where we unload our true feelings about the people in our lives.
…
“What are the unspoken rules of society that we need to obey to avoid being criticized?
…
“The Seinfeld writers really specialize in zooming in on one tiny preference that may have crossed the viewers’ minds and then blowing it out of proportion to the point characters are willing to fight over it.”

That’s really the perfect distillation of Seinfeld humor, along with the plotlines that converged at the end.

I still recall one episode where a co-worker, Peggy, somehow has the idea that Elaine is someone named “Susie.” Elaine comes across Peggy reading some memo and is about to tell her who she is:

*PEGGY:* Did you get this memo from Elaine Benes?

*ELAINE:* Yeah. See that--

*PEGGY* [preoccupied]: You know, it's amazing Peterman hasn't fired that _dolt._ She practically ran the company into the ground.

It stops Elaine cold in her tracks. Comedy writing doesn’t get any better than that.

People somehow got the idea that these characters were selfish, self-centered jerks but I never thought they were—the show was more like a neurotic comedy of manners. That was why I thought the final episode didn’t work—the four laugh at a guy being car-jacked at gunpoint, instead of obsessively trying to figure out to what extent they have to help him—in other words, even the writers were under the misapprehension that these people were selfish, self-centered jerks. In short, they betrayed the characters and the audience’s relationship with them.

[DomQuartuccio]

I reckon I watch Seinfeld at least 4 times a week in syndication, this analysis is so spot on. The episodes where all 4 plot lines converge at the end are almost always the classic's everyone comes to think of when recommending the show.

[cherryjello]

Even as a child I could feel how special this show was and recognize how the open and/or closing stand-up sections acted as bookends for the tone and themes of the episodes.

[jenlindley]

My God, this video is amazing, I will watch all of your videos from now on!!!

[vitoanania]

However, watching Seinfeld after other later sitcoms I noticed how much they took from it comedy-wise

[Kryxx]

I was 8 when the show started, and loved it, so it was around all of my formidable teenage years. Thinking about it now, I'm sure it shaped my personality and sense of humor in a way. For some reason I've never watched the show since then. This video is making me think it's time for a revisit.