Nothing is Everything: What the "Seinfeld"sitcom from the 1990's can teach us about life.
I don't have to explain Seinfeld, that TV show from the 1990’s to you right? I’m sure you at least know of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer. Jerry is a comedian living in New York, has some whacky friends, dates a lot, and that’s about all there is to it. Maybe you even know that it’s co-written by Larry David the Curb Your Enthusiasm guy. If you know that much, then you know the show is famously about nothing right?
“Jerry” by Mike Olguin
“Nothing” to writers of this show are the little mundane social moments that can make or break your day, your week, your month, or even yourrr yeeaarrrr. Wait… that’s another show about friends...
Anyways, so Seinfield makes fun of life’s little nothing moments. What do I mean?
Let’s say you run into an old school chum and you forget their name. It’s awkward and
they seem a little miffed about it. You do your best to smooth it over, but you still feel bad.
Friends trying to console you of this little embarrassment will say: “Don’t worry, it’s totally nothing.” However, as you were searching your mind desperately trying to connect a name to the face while studdering and stammering; it wasn’t nothing. It was EVERYTHING! Why?Because the look of disappointment that washed over your old friend’s face as they realized they weren’t as important to you as they thought they were; made you cringe in the moment and for hours afterwards.
The cringe is real my friends… and it’s funny as long it’s not happening to you.
“George” by Mike Olguin
Now imagine, you forget your girlfriend’s name. You’ve been calling her pet names, but you’re terrified she’ll find out and you’ve been trying to think up situations to get her to reveal it. Well, that’s the actual plot of an episode where Jerry forgot his girlfriend’s name! Great, right? Technology would make it harder for that to happen these days, but it’s not impossible and still a really funny idea.
The writing of the show still holds up and doesn’t feel as dated as other shows of the era that relied on a lot on style and pop-culture references. The characters are shockingly relatable as well. You may think, “How the hell does a comedian and his insane friends living in New York in the 1990s who get into crazy situations seem relatable to you Mike?”
It’s not so much that the characters are relatable themselves, it’s how they react to crazy situations that’s what’s funny and relatable.
Like when George Costanza (played by Jason Alexander) leaves an embarrassing message on the answering machine of a girl he’s dating. He panics and wants to quickly erase the message from her answering machine before she hears it. How? By getting into her apartment and removing the cassette tape that old school answering machines used to have. Sure answering machines are kind of old fashioned, but who hasn’t left a super embarrassing voicemail or drunk text?
“Kramer’s feeling good all the time” by Mike Olgiun
Botching a name on a business call, butt-dialing at a bad time, a sexy message sent to the wrong person, one of those blank-out, tongue-tied moments that make you sound like a crazy person... These messaging misfortunes can happen to anyone! George absolutely freaking out at the thought of her “listening to the idiot” (himself) really embodies the dread and panic one feels in these situations and is sooo funny!
Today, technology prevents us from convincing our best friend to go with us to our date’s house to distract them while we pop a cassette out of the machine to prevent her from hearing an embarrassing message. Voicemail lives in the cloud somewhere, is accessible directly from the smartphone in our pocket, and is not in a little box with a flashy red light and tiny tape on the kitchen counter like in the 1990s.
However, in the panic following an embarrassing message, if there was a physical answering machine for you to take the tape out of, you might relate to George and at least consider how you would get at that embarrassing message. Or, maybe you wouldn’t react like that all... but you know someone who would!
There’s the beauty of this show. There’s something relatable in all of it even though the situations are sometimes really out there.
You find yourself thinking “Wow, I would have reacted just like Jerry.” Or “OMG, George just did the weird thing my dumb coworker does!”
Some people swear their weirdo-relative is just like Kramer or they’re thinking (or dancing) just like Elaine. I see a little of myself in Jerry, George, and Kramer. If you really wanna get psychological; George is how I fear the world sees me. Jerry is how I want the world to see me, but I’m actually kind of unusual like Kramer.
I think a show like this helps us laugh at these little moments that apply to all of us, like forgetting a name or leaving an embarrassing message. They may seem like nothing, but they are the things we talk about, relate to, and remember, and that makes them kind of... everything! So watch Seinfeld and be reminded of all the little social moments that we miss right now, but we’ll be tired of in like half a second after this quarantine ends. -Mike Olguin
Crystal here, and I was oblivious to the Seinfeld phenomenon back in the day (the 1990s). I remember watching the LAST episode because everyone was making a big deal out of it, but I have been known to do that as a trend and have only seen the last episode of Sex and the City, and Game of Thrones too, so ya - don’t be furiously mad at me. It’s kinda like reading the last chapter of a book to see if you like how it will turn out or not. Okay, maybe that’s just me… So anyway, I only began watching Seinfeld on Hulu about a year ago, and I was blown away by the common/relatable situations, made out to be so funny and ridiculous when put through this cringeable comedic lens. As a fan of The Office, Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm I guess this was the perfect fit, I just didn’t know it at the time.
We started on Episode 1, Season 1, and quickly binged and got through into the “popular” episodes like The Soup Nazi, Elaine’s Dancing, and The Chinese Restaurant - all magic! But we’ve hoovered on Season 7 so far and I admit that I don’t want it to end!
“Elaine” by Mike Olguin
The 4 main characters are relatable, yet completely unrelatable at the same time, which makes them so curious, fascinating, and hilarious!
Elaine is the intelligent, yet assertive (often shoving) serial dater who’s just one of the boys. George is the neurotic overthinker, that we all may be a little sometimes in our own heads, but never show it on the outside. Jerry is the guy that seems to have it all together, but cannot keep a girlfriend, gets sick of his parents’ frustrating tendencies and loves to point out the obvious foibles of the everyday. And then there’s Kramer… the strange, outlandish, slapstick weirdo that lives next door and always invites himself in without any self-awareness or personal filter.
To me, I absolutely love Elaine’s relatable frustration-thoughts that ring out in every woman’s ears when they are in a crowded train or elevator and are surrounded by idiots! She’s one of those girls who is one of the guys, and although she clearly has sex appeal she can also participate in The Contest (a competition to see who can go without masturbating for the longest.)
Episodes are sometimes nutty, and unpractical but Jerry Seinfield likes to base his comedy in the everyday and mundane so that a normal dinner party where you need to bring something or just pitching in for a “good” engagement present can go totally sideways with a trip to the mall or a commute in a car. (Maybe I’m just talking nonsense if you’ve never seen Seinfeld before, but then why would you be reading this far down - so I assume you are remembering these situations too and laughing along with me!)
I love that they created totally fictional movies or musicals like “Rochelle, Rochelle” just to help route you out of that particular time era and what was currently heavy in pop culture at the time! They were never in line at the movies to see “The Last of the Mohicans” or “Titanic” they were waiting to see “Prognosis Negative”! (Can someone seriously make a movie with that title today???) Holding up and standing the test of time - this show has it all! I give Seinfeld 5 stars and a must-see COVID-TV.
Seinfeld 1990’s sitcom is available on Hulu.
“Comedians in Cars” is hosted by Jerry Seinfeld and Jerry Seinfeld also has a new comedy special “23 Hours to Kill” on Netflix.
