Seinfeld/Characters

List of major, recurring and minor characters from Seinfeld.

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The Group

Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld)

• As Himself
• Author Avatar
• The Casanova: Had relationships with around 75 women over the course of the series.
• Catch Phrase: "OH MY GOD!" and "That's a shame."
• Control Freak
• Deadpan Snarker
• Informed Judaism
• Jews Love to Argue
• Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: A Running Gag with him is finding some minor flaw with his Girl of the Week that causes him to break up with her, including one woman whose flaw was being simply too perfect.
• Mistaken for Gay: With George in "The Outing".
• Neat Freak: Taken to near-pathological levels when his girlfriend put something of his in the toilet and wouldn't tell him what it was. It was the toilet brush.
• One-Hour Work Week: Rarely seen performing standup (which is supposed to be his livelihood) and even more rarely seen writing new material, something which is often lampshaded by other characters.
• One of the Kids
• Only Sane Man: Most of the time.
• Really Gets Around: All of the main characters do to a certain extent, but he had more girlfriends than any of them.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist

George Costanza (Jason Alexander)

• And Starring: "And Jason Alexander as George"
• Anti-Hero: Type 1
• Author Avatar: Basically a more evil version of co-creator Larry David.
• Blind Without'Em
• Breakout Character
• Brilliant but Lazy: George comes up with surprisingly brilliant schemes, but for the purposes of completely pointless things.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: One can only wonder how successful he'd be if he put the effort into work that he puts into avoiding work.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Dirty Coward
• Disability as an Excuse For Jerkassery: Once faked a disability in order to get a number of perks at his job. This went as far as having a secretary carry him to his office.
• Dismotivation
• Evil Is Petty: Evil may be stretching it, but he is easily the pettiest of the friends, often dissecting mundane situations and concocting schemes for completely imagined slights.
• Go-To Alias: Art Vandelay
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood
• Hollywood Dateless
• It's All About Me: Upon hearing of Susan's Death, his reaction is to get a cup of coffee with his friends.
• Jerkass
• Kick the Dog: His reaction to Susan's death.
• Lack of Empathy
• The Lancer: To Jerry.
• Mistaken for Gay: With Jerry in "The Outing".
• Schemer
• The Scrooge: Even when he is making money, he's still incredibly tightfisted. This has included searching for money under vending machines and even taking tips back from waiters.
• The Slacker
• Small Name, Big Ego: Early in season 4 when they agree to write the pilot for NBC and he thinks he not getting enough money. Specifically, he seems to think he deserves as much money as Ted Danson.
• This Loser Is You
• Too Dumb to Live: Self-proclaimed 'Lord of the Idiots'. He's really not exaggerating.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Chocolate syrup, specifically Bosco, as Kramer deduces.
• The Unfavorite: Somehow manages to be this despite being an only child. His parents (or at least his mother) clearly favour Lloyd Braun over him.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Easily the worst of the four main characters.
• You Have Boobs, I Must Obey!: "Every woman on the face of the Earth has complete control over my life... and yet, I want them all. Is that irony?"

Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)

• Aborted Declaration of Love: 'I've always loved you...nited airlines.'
• Butt Monkey
• Bunny Ears Lawyer Somehow held a regular job at Pedant Publishing for years, an accomplishment none of the other characters can boast of. Her boss was J. Peterman, however.
• Break the Haughty: Often happens to her.
• Catch Phrase: "Get OUT!"
• Closer to Earth: Elaine likes to think she's this. In reality, she's just as much of a petty, vindictive schemer as the others.
• Deadpan Snarker
• Hair-Trigger Temper
• It's All About Me
• Jerkass
• Large Ham
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Whenever she is given even a hint of authority.
• Schemer
• The Smurfette Principle
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist

Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards)

• Big Eater: Usually of Jerry's food, since he's apparently too lazy to shop for himself.
• Breakout Character
• Brutal Honesty
• The Casanova: Claims to be this several times but Kramer actually had the fewest onscreen girlfriends of all the main characters.
  • Made up for the fact that he tends to get much better (and harder to get) girlfriends than Jerry and George. Hell, the man got Uma Thurman's phone number, just like that. After all, "he's Kramer.
• Catch Phrase: "Giddyup!"
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Conspiracy Theorist: Has espoused a variety of crazy ideas, such as that the government is secretly experimenting on pig men and withholding a CureForCancer. On occasion, he turns out to be right.
• Drop-In Character
• Dynamic Entry: One of his trademarks.
• Early Installment Weirdness: Is depicted as a shut-in named "Kessler" who hasn't left the apartment building in years in the pilot.
• Embarrassing First Name: Cosmo, though he eventually embraces it.
• One-Hour Work Week: Try no-hour work week.
• Friends Rent Control: Good grief, yes. He's probably a better example than the Trope Namer. Out of the show's nine year run, Kramer has held a legitimate job for all of four episodes. And in one case, he wasn't even an employee of the company he was working at.
  • Lampshaded by George when Kramer goes to a baseball fantasy camp.

"Why does Kramer need to go to a fantasy camp? His whole life is a fantasy camp. People should plunk down $2000 to live like him for a week. Do nothing, fall ass-backwards into money, mooch food off your neighbours, and have sex without dating. Now that's a fantasy camp!"

• The Ghost: None of his oft-mentioned friends (Bob Sacamano, Jay Remenschneider and Lomez) have appeared on screen.
• Go-To Alias: H.E. Pennypacker and Dr. Van Nostrand.
• Hipster: According to Elaine.
• Idiot Houdini: Much to his friends' chagrin, as they all avert this trope.
• Jewish Mother: Briefly takes on the characteristics of one while trying to cook a lot of Jewish food for Jewish Singles Night.

Kramer: (to Jerry) "Eat! Eat! You're nothing but skin and bones!"

• Kavorka Man: The Trope Namer
• The Klutz
• Large Ham: Easily outstrips any other Large Ham on the show.
• Last-Name Basis: Even after his name is discovered.
• Loony Fan: Is nicer to celebrities than he is to his own friends. His slavish devotion to Bette Middler in "The Understudy" stands out particularly.
• Messy Hair
• No Name Given: Until The Reveal that his first name is Cosmo.
• One of the Kids
• The Slacker: Is he ever. This trope could be renamed The Kramer.
• Small Name, Big Ego: As 'The Real J. Peterman.'
• Team Dad: He's often quick to lecture his friends on their actions even if he is no better.
• Token Good Teammate: Pretty much the only member of the group with a conscience.
• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: But still the best human being out of the four.
• Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?
• Write Who You Know: Based off of Larry David's real-life neighbor Kenny Kramer who quickly took advantage of the popularity of Seinfeld's Kramer by creating a "Kramer Reality Bus Tour" which was in turn parodied on the show.
• Zany Scheme: Usually masterminded by him, with Newman's help.

Recurring Characters

Newman (Wayne Knight)

• Affably Evil: When he's not antagonistic, he seems to get along fairly well with the cast.
• Catch Phrase: Hellooooo....Jerry.
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Creator Cameo: In his first appearance.
• Driven to Suicide: Spends the duration of introductory episode as an offscreen character threatening to jump off the roof of the apartment building.
• Fat Bastard
• Fat Best Friend
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Kramer seems to be the only one who can stand him.
• Large Ham
• The Other Darrin: Was an offscreen character voiced by Larry David in his first appearance but Larry David had Knight record the lines for the syndication version so as to keep continuity intact.
• Phrase Catcher: "Hello... Newman."
• Psycho for Hire: He is a mailman.
• Psycho Sidekick: To Kramer.
• Sitcom Arch Nemesis: To Jerry.
• Smug Snake: Would really like to be a Magnificent Bastard, but Newman is just as pathetic as the rest of the cast.
• Villains Out Shopping
• What Could Have Been: Was originally envisioned by Larry David as an African-American friend of Kramer's and actors Tim Russ and William Thomas Jr. both auditioned for the part. However, between the first and the second draft, the plot was significantly reduced; the scene in which the character appeared was cut, and Newman's role in the episode was cut down to a brief dialogue between Kramer and an off-screen Newman who was voiced by Larry David.

Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller)

• Abusive Parents: Even for a sitcom, Frank is still kind of an asshole.
• Ax Crazy
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Evil Is Petty: It's very easy to see where George gets it.
• Evil Patriarch
• Freudian Excuse: Provides one for George.
• Jerkass
• Large Ham
• The Other Darrin: Was played by actor John Randolph in his first appearance. After Stiller was hired in season 5 Randolph's scenes were re-shot with Stiller for the syndication version of the episode.

Estelle Costanza (Estelle Harris)

• The Danza
• Jewish Mother: Her ethnicity is not revealed in the show, but she's portrayed by a Jewish actress and acts like a stereotypical Jewish mother.
• No Accounting for Taste: Her and Frank can't seem to speak to one another without shouting.

Susan Ross (Heidi Swedberg)

• Bi the Way
• Dark Comedy: Her death and the gang's reaction to it are the best examples of this in the entire series.
• Killed Off for Real

Crazy Joe Davola (Peter Crombie)

• Ax Crazy
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He soundly kicks the asses of several thugs who try to mug him.
• Faux Affably Evil
• Karma Houdini
• Monster Clown: Dresses up as one in 'The Opera'
• Mugging the Monster: Never mess with a clown.
• The Sociopath
• Stalker with a Crush: To Elaine, complete with Stalker Shrine.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out his eventual fate after trying to stab Jerry in 'The Pilot'.

J. Peterman (John O'Hurley)

• Badass: it's debatable how many of his stories are true, but damn.
• Based on a Great Big Lie: His biography, the majority of his stories being bought from Kramer.
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Idiot Houdini
• Incompetence, Inc.: The Peterman Catalogue.
• Large Ham
• Miles Gloriosus
• Pointy-Haired Boss

George Steinbrenner (Larry David (voice), Lee Bear)

• Bad Boss
• Cloudcuckoolander
• Creator Cameo: Voiced by co-creator Larry David.
• Idiot Houdini
• Incompetence, Inc.: The New York Yankees.
• Pointy-Haired Boss

David Puddy (Patrick Warburton)

• The Ditz
• No Accounting for Taste: Not married to Elaine, but her steadiest boyfriend, despite neither being very fond of the other.
• One Head Taller

Minor Characters