Author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong says the cast of the hit comedy were nothing like the characters they played.
A new book about Seinfeld is revealing some information that even die hard fans of the groundbreaking sitcom may not know.
Author Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, the author of Seinfeldia: How A Show About Nothing Changed Everything, spoke to Inside Edition about some of the secrets of the show.
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A favorite lunch stop for the Seinfeld writers was to the infamous “Soup Nazi,” who's based on an actual Manhattan soup-slinger, Al Yeganeh.
"The soup Nazi is based on a real guy in New York City. Makes amazing soup. Has rules. They knew about this guy and thought, 'let’s use this.' It's such a funny, perfect Seinfeld thing,” she said.
Armstrong also revealed the inspiration for Elaine’s awful dancing in "The Little Kicks" episode came from writer Spike Feresten, and the inspiration behind the now-infamous dance was none other than Saturday Night Live showrunner Lorne Michaels.
In the book, he told Armstrong that when he worked as a doorman for the SNL after parties, he saw Michaels “dancing as if he’d never seen another human being dance before. The man heaved and gyrated to a rhythm only he could feel.”
Michael Richards was brilliant as Jerry's quirky next door neighbor Kramer — maybe a little too funny, as his castmates couldn't keep from laughing at his crazy antics, much to Richards' chagrin.
“It's a comedy but he's extremely serious about it. He would wear Kramer’s shoes even for rehearsal to get into the character and really would not like it when his co-stars would break in his scene and start cracking up,” Armstrong told Inside Edition.
Seinfeld was also a career launcher for unknown actors just starting out in the business. Before Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston played the recurring role of dentist Tim Whatley.
Jerry's gallery of girlfriends also made budding actresses like Debra Messing, Kristin Davis and Teri Hatcher household names before Will & Grace, Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives, respectively.
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“There are a lot of famous people who were on Seinfeld and it’s fun to watch reruns because it's a parade of future famous people. Jerry's girlfriends alone [are] just an endless ply of gorgeous women who are about to be famous,” Armstrong said.
Since the show ended in 1998, it lives on in syndication.
“It continues to be kind of a huge hit in its own way and people continue to talk about it like it's on the air because they love it so much,” Armstrong said.
Click Here to Download a PDF and Read an Excerpt From Seinfeldia by Jennifer Armstrong. Copyright © 2016 by Jennifer Armstrong. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.
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