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Seinfeld: 10 Underrated Moments That Aren’t Talked About Enough

As one of the most iconic sitcoms ever made, Seinfeld has no shortage of beloved moments; but these underrated scenes deserve a lot more hype!

Among a plethora of iconic moments in Seinfeld, some remain underappreciated. Because of the show’s brand of observational comedy, Jerry, being a stand-up comedian, puts a spin on several aspects of everyday life, take, say, standing in a line at the supermarket or staying up late in the night.

The characters on Seinfeld are always up to something, and admittingly it’s hard to keep pace with the various groundbreaking events on the show. Seinfeld is packed with memorable scenes, only some are appreciated more than others – but these moments deserve just as much hype as some of the most talked-about ones.

10The Debate Of The Second Button

Right off the bat, Jerry and George in the pilot, “Good News, Bad News” argue about the placement of buttons on George’s purple shirt. According to Jerry, the second button either makes or breaks a shirt. When Jerry asks if George had tried on the shirt before he bought it, an annoyed George answers, “Yes, it was purple, I liked it. I don’t actually recall considering the button.”

Being the stand-up comedian that he is, Jerry immediately picks up the word recall, which in political jargon is a procedure involving the removal of an official deemed unfit for office. As George pretends to talk over a microphone, Jerry goes, “Well, senator, I just like to know, what you knew and when you knew it.”

9The Beginnings Of A Great Friendship

Had it not been for Season 1’s “The Stake Out,” believing two exes, Jerry and Elaine could remain such great friends would have been difficult, if not impossible for the fans. At the beginning of the episode, the duo is in a video store, and Elaine’s trying to get Jerry to attend a friend’s birthday, to which he agrees but only if she tags along with him to a family wedding.

They agree to the deal, and Jerry makes Elaine uncomfortable at the party by flirting with another woman right in front of her eyes. They are broken up fairly recently, and she’s never seen him flirt with anyone before. At the end of the episode, Elaine and Jerry worked their boundaries and laid the foundation of a formidable friendship.

8Newman’s Courtroom Drama

When Newman contests a speeding ticket in season 4’s “The Ticket,” the episode unfolds like an over-the-top performance that literally knocks the judge off his seat. It all begins when the master of physical comedy, Kramer who’s been smacked on the head by Joe Davola agrees to be Newman’s alibi. Besides, Newman being Newman spins a ludicrous story as an alibi.

Newman tries to get out of paying his fine by claiming his friend (and alibi) Kramer was about to take a drastic step because his dreams of becoming a banker were unfulfilled. Unfortunately, Kramer blanks out on the stand and starts blurting out “Yo-Yo Ma.” In the end, Newman fails to establish Kramer’s fragile emotional state, and the ticket costs him $75.

7Gorging On A Sundae

George becomes fodder for tennis commentators in “The Lip Reader” when he gorges on a hot fudge sundae at the Flushing Meadows tennis court. Nothing like a sundae on a real scorcher, right? If only George had used a napkin and wiped the ice cream off his face.

Apparently not spotting any cameras at the tennis center backdrop was a good reason for George not to wipe the face, hands, and clothes while eating. He thinks he’s escaped the camera eyes when in reality he gets 8 seconds of airtime.

6George’s Gore-Tex Coat

In “The Dinner Party,”  as extremely cold weather grips New York, George shows up in a big Gore-Tex coat. Good move, except the jacket, barely allows him to turn around. His overbearing friends’ reign blows on him just to check how sturdy the Gore-Tex material really is.

As it turns out, George gets the last laugh because he’s the only one who can sit in the car without getting cold. Unfortunately, in the end, he had to part with the comfy coat as payment for spilling Chardonnay all over a liquor store.

5Big Jug Of Pepsi

Keeping up the cheapskate behavior, George, in the same episode, seriously proposed they take Ring Dings and Pepsi to a dinner party. He didn’t stop there but demanded to know why he was obligated to bring something for the party host. When Elaine’s attempt to reason with him failed, Jerry stepped in to remind him the fabric of society was very complex.

And once again, Jerry stole the show with his spontaneous but underrated joke, “I don’t think we want to walk in there and put a big plastic jug of Pepsi on the table.”

4George & The Holistic Healer

George is interested in an alternative to surgery to cure his tonsillitis, so Kramer takes him to a holistic healer named, Tor Eckman. Right off the bat, this quack tells George he should have been born in August not April, and then directs him to stop using hot water in the shower.

Among a host of other things, Tor removes George’s glasses, blows a raspberry in his face, and tells him his body is in disharmony. Things take a turn for the worse and George has to be rushed to the hospital after drinking a bizarre concoction of cramp bark, cleavers, and some couch grass.

3Kramer Puts Concrete In A Washing Machine

When Jerry wrongly suspects Vic, the Laundromat owner of stealing $1500 from his bag of laundry, he seeks his own brand of revenge with the help of his friend, Cosmo Kramer.

The plan was to put a little cement in the washing tub which will create a block at at end of the washing cycle and destroy the machine. Nothing unbelievable about that, it’s 2 out of Seinfeld‘s ragtag 4 at work, after all. However, what Kramer calls “putting a little concrete in the washing machine” is a scene packed with hijinks and hilarity. Kramer gets the white cement dust all over his face, knocks himself against objects, and in doing so, establishes himself as the unbeatable king of slapstick comedy.

2Eat Some Trash

When George is invited over to his girlfriend’s mother’s house for lunch, he takes out a partially eaten chocolate éclair out of the garbage can and eats it with relish. Call it self-inflicted agony or infinite bad luck, or both, the host, Mrs. Enright stands behind him while he devours the trash out of the can.

Later at Monk’s, George tries to get out of it on a technicality saying, the éclair was not down in, it was sort of on top and above the rim of the receptacle. Jerry speaks for everyone when he reminds his friend something taken out of the trash is always trash.

1One Winsome Tulip

In “The Soul Mate,” Kramer’s confession of love set Newman off talking about his feelings. Kramer, at the time, was besotted with Jerry’s girlfriend, Pam. But before he could finish the rest of his ordeal, Newman cut him in the middle, saying, “And therein lies the tragedy. For I believe, sadly for you, that there is but one woman meant for each of us. One perfect angel for whom we are put on this earth.” At first, Kramer found it endearing, but it got a little too intense, with his friend adding, “One winsome tulip we ceaselessly yearn for throughout our dreary, workaday lives! And you, my friend, have found your angel. I can tell. For my heart has also been captured by a breathless beauty – whom I fear I will never possess.”

Newman hushed only when Kramer interjected, “I thought we were talking about me.” Throughout the series, Newman had the tendency to ramble on, for instance,  when asked about his job, he went on and on about the unstoppable nature of the mail, he pleaded with Jerry to take him to Paris in the finale. Wayne Knight’s brilliant portrayal of the character is a major reason why fans can’t stop watching Seinfeld. 

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