Comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David struck gold when they teamed up to create the sitcomSeinfeld,a hilarious “show about nothing”. This series dominated television ratings throughout the 1990s. Since then,Seinfeldhas been hailed not just as the greatest sitcom of all time, but as one ofthe greatest TV showsever made. But as a ’90s sitcom,Seinfeldwas very much a product of its time.
While the show still holds up and continues to attract new viewers, there are some jokes inSeinfeldthat younger audiences might not understand. Some of these punchlines may be deemed inappropriate or offensive by today’s standards. In other cases, the situational humor may come across as dated and go over the heads of younger viewers. “What’s so funny about that?” They might wonder whenSeinfeldplays its laughing track. Here are 10 jokes fromSeinfeldthat had ’90s audiences laughing but would have today’s kids scratching their heads in confusion.
10Kramer’s Mary Hart Seizures
Season 3, Episode 20 - “The Good Samaritan”
In the episode “The Good Samaritan”, Kramer (Michael Richards) has a seizure when he hears the voice of TV personality Mary Hart, who hosted the gossip and entertainment programEntertainment Tonightfrom 1982 to 2011.As one of the funniest, quirkiest characters onSeinfeld,Kramer is still likely to draw laughs from younger viewers with this scene.
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What these fans may not realize is that Kramer’s seizures reference a real-life case. In 1991, a neurologist determined that Hart’s voice would trigger seizures in one of his patients, an epileptic woman. This unusual case study was parodied in many shows at the time,Seinfeldbeing one of them.
9The Bubble Boy
Season 4, Episode 7 - “The Bubble Boy”
There’s one episode ofSeinfeldcalled “The Bubble Boy”, where Jerry and the gang visit a child with a severe immunodeficiency. This episode pokes fun at the real-life bubble boy, David Vetter, from the ’70s and ’80s. Millennials might think ofthe 2001 film with Jake Gyllenhaalwhen they hear the term Bubble Boy. But there’s a good chance that younger viewers wouldn’t catch onto either of these references.
In addition to Bubble Boy, there’s a scene in this episode where Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) is following George (Jason Alexander) on the highway, loses sight of him, and gets lost. It’s doubtful that this joke would humor today’s kids, who can use their cell phone and pull up directions on GPS whenever they get lost driving.
8Faxing, Answering Machines, and Restaurant Menus
Season 9, Episode 19 - “The Maid”
There’s a lot to unpack with this one. In the episode “The Maid,“Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)continuously receives faxes on her answering machine. Much to her chagrin, Kramer had every restaurant in New York City fax Elaine – not Kramer, but Elaine – their menus, so he could have them for his own perusal. There’s so much about this joke that younger generations would never get.
Faxes? Answering machines? What the heck are those? And the idea of not being able to Google a restaurant and view its menu at any point is now a foreign concept.
7"Please Change Your Name to O.J.”
Season 5, Episode 9 - “The Masseuse”
Kids today, as well as most adults, think of O.J. Simpson negatively. But before 1994, during theSeinfeldepisode “The Masseuse”, O.J. was viewed as a football legend, a lovable media superstar, and an American hero. In “The Masseuse”, Elaine finds herself dating a man named Joel Rifkin, which also happens to be the name of a notorious New York City serial killer.
Turned off by his name, Elaine not-so-subtly suggests that Joel change his name to something cooler…like O.J., a clear reference to O.J. Simpson. “Oh, please, please, please, change your name to O.J., that would be so great!” she tells him.The ultimate irony here is that O.J. would later become a murder suspectfor killing his ex-wife and her friend, resulting in his infamous trial during the 1990s. At this point, kids today are more likely to identify O.J. Simpson with murder than serial killer Joel Rifkin.
6Moviefone
Season 7, Episode 8 - “The Pool Guy”
This might be hard for kids today to understand, but back in the ’90s, people would have to make a phone call to get movie times. There was no internet or app that could quickly check this information. This phone service was called Moviefone, and the automatic voice that provided the movie times was known as Mr. Moviefone. In theSeinfeldepisode “The Pool Guy,” Kramer gets a new phone number that closely resembles the Moviefone number.
After consistently getting misdials from people trying to contact Moviefone, Kramer does what he does best: he hatches one of his quirky schemes.He poses as Mr. Moviefone, changes his voice, and provides movie times for his unseen customers. Naturally, Mr. Moviefone catches wind of this and calls Kramer, threatening him in his robotic voice.
5"Maybe the Dingo Ate Your Baby.”
Season 3, Episode 10 - “The Stranded”
In the episode “The Stranded”, Elaine finds herself talking to a newly engaged woman, who insufferably drops the word “fiancé” at any chance she gets, almost pronouncing it with a posh British accent. “I have lost my fiancé, the poor baby,” she says, laughing. Clearly aggravated by the woman, Elaine drops one of her most famous lines in an Australian accent: “Maybe the dingo ate your baby.” This is a reference that younger generations would never understand.
There was a famous case during the 1980s where a nine-week-old Australian baby girl went missing, prompting her Australian mother Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton to cry out, “A dingo ate my baby!” This line and the subsequent investigation became a media sensation. Lindy was convicted of murdering her child and sentenced to life imprisonment, while her husband was convicted as an accessory after the fact and given a suspended sentence. But there’s a twist: the infant’s jacket was found years later in an area with numerous dingo lairs, which got Lindy released from prison after falsely serving three years. As it turns out, a dingo really did eat her baby.
4George Steinbrenner
Multiple Episodes
Unless they’re big New York Yankees or sports fans, kids today wouldn’t know who George Steinbrenner was or understand his cultural impact during the 1990s. George Steinbrenner was the owner of the New York Yankees, a legendary baseball franchise that his family still partially owns. Steinbrenner was a force in the world of baseball and is partially credited for the Yankees' tremendous success during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Steinbrenner made multiple appearances as George’s boss inSeinfeld.Kind of. It was never actually Steinbrenner in those episodes.The Steinbrenner caricaturewas played by a stand-in actor, who we only ever see from behind. As for his voice – that was provided bySeinfeldco-creator Larry David, who kids today probably know from HBO’s hit comedy,Curb Your Enthusiasm.Steinbrenner was meant to appear in theSeinfeldseason 7 finale “The Invitations” and even filmed three scenes for it. But his scenes were tragically cut when the episode ran too long.
3The Parody of Oliver Stone’s JFK
Season 3, Episodes 17 & 18 - “The Boyfriend”
“The Boyfriend” is one of the most famous episodes ofSeinfeld. It features the iconic “spitting incident”, where Kramer and Jerry’s nemesis Newman (Wayne Knight) recount a 1987 altercation with New York Mets player Keith Hernandez. Shot to parody the famous Zapruder footage of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the flashback shows Hernandez spitting on Kramer and Newman after Newman makes a snide remark about the Mets losing a baseball game. Jerry then steps in to discount the pair’s “single-loogie theory”, claiming that the spit couldn’t possibly hit them both, and proposes his theory of a second spitter.
This hilarious scene parodies Oliver Stone’s filmJFK,where district attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) tries to disprove the “single-bullet theory” and pushes the conspiracy theory that a second shooter was involved in JFK’s assassination. Fun fact: Wayne Knight, who plays Newman inSeinfeld,also appears inJFK.Younger audiences may not be familiar with this movie, butJFKwas a big deal back in the early ’90s.
2The Parking Garage Dilemma
Season 3, Episode 6 - “The Parking Garage”
“The Parking Garage” is another iconic episode ofSeinfeld.The gang is on their way out of the mall when they realize that they have no idea where they parked their car. They spend the entire episode trying to find it, and when they finally do, they realize that Kramer is not even with them. They then have to wait for Kramer to findthem, so they can finally leave the parking garage.
This is a ’90s problem that today’s kids would never be able to grasp. Oh, you can’t find Kramer? Just pick up your cell phone and call him. Most smartphones these days can also tell you where you parked your car.
1The Chinese Restaurant Dilemma
Season 2, Episode 11 - “The Chinese Restaurant”
“The Chinese Restaurant” is yet another classic episode ofSeinfeld.Here, the gang spends most of the episode waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant – without a reservation, which would really upset Patrick Bateman fromAmerican Psycho– before a special one-night showing ofPlan 9 from Outer Space. The gang’s endless waiting and anxiety over missing their movie is what makes this episode so funny. But younger fans probably wouldn’t appreciate the humor. The gang can find another restaurant in the area, and likely book a reservation there, within seconds on apps like OpenTable.
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Elaine also dismisses Jerry’s idea of ordering takeout and eating at the movie theater, as there’s nowhere for them to eat the food. Kids today, if they even do go to the movies, would be confused by this, since movie theaters now sell legitimate meals that can be eaten on trays attached to the seats – a luxury that didn’t exist in the ’90s. Also, in this episode, George continuously fails to access a payphone so he can get in touch with his girlfriend, another ’90s problem that would be resolved immediately with today’s technology.
