The Best Multi-Season Running Gags on ‘Seinfeld’

George: Art Vandelay

Of course Seinfeld’s longest-running gag was born in George Costanza’s brain. In Episode Two, “The Stake Out,” Jerry and George hang out in the lobby of a woman’s building so Jerry can pretend to bump into her. George offers Jerry a cover story for why they’re there, encouraging him to say they’re meeting with an importer/exporter friend of theirs. After trying out a few other names for this fictional friend, George arrives at “Art Vandelay,” the pseudonym he will use again and again throughout the series.

The final payoff of the gag arrives in the series finale when the gang discovers the man overseeing their trial is Judge Art Vandelay. The Seinfeld finale has a lot wrong with it, but this joke was both hilarious and rewarding to longtime viewers.

Kramer: Bob Sacamano Stories

According to Dobin and Pacecca, Kramer’s many unseen friends take the cake for the best of his character’s running gags. Consider, for instance, the wild stories of the never-seen Bob Sacamano, who is first mentioned in Season Two’s “The Heart Attack.” But these never-seen friends crop up well before then, too. In Season One’s “The Stock Tip,” Kramer mentions that a bunch of friends he met at a rock concert are coming over, and he asks if they can sleep in Jerry’s bed. Then, in Season Two’s “The Jacket,” he mentions a magician friend. 

While these aren’t quite the same as his stories about Bob Sacamano getting a job at a condom factory or receiving electroshock therapy, the earlier examples are like the primordial ooze of Kramer’s “friends” running gag.

Jerry: ‘Hello, Newman’

In Season Three’s “The Suicide,” we finally meet one of Kramer’s friends in person: Newman, played by Wayne Knight. Although the delivery is rather understated in comparison to later seasons, when Jerry and Newman first spot each other, Newman says, “Hello, Jerry,” and Jerry responds with a “Hello, Newman.” From there, as Knight makes more and more appearances on the show, the formal greeting is repeated, each time with more loathing on both sides. “Hello, Newman” is the closest thing Jerry ever had to a catchphrase, and it just might be the show’s most memorable line — which says a lot for a series that’s had such a heavy impact on our lexicon.

Elaine: ‘Get Out!’

The genius of “Hello, Newman” is how hilariously one-note it is, but Elaine’s best running gag line is adjusted each time to suit the occasion. In Season Two’s “The Apartment,” Jerry tells Elaine that he found her an apartment in his building with rent for only $400 a month. Elaine excitedly responds by saying, “Get out!” as she shoves Jerry with both hands. After that, Elaine would say “Get out!” many times throughout the series, usually with a shove but sometimes not. She would even occasionally shove someone without saying it. Looking at the above supercut of all of them only serves to underline what a fantastic actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus is, being that she could find so much range and nuance in two simple words accompanied by one simple action.

Honorable Mention: ‘Who Is This?’

Like “It’s go time!,” the phrase “Who is this?” only spanned the final two seasons of Seinfeld, but it’s so perfectly executed that it’s worthy of inclusion here. In “The Bizarro Jerry,” a panicked George calls Jerry hoping for another picture of “Man Hands” so that he can still get into the forbidden city of beautiful women. After George explains himself in a panic, Jerry pauses, grins and slowly asks, “Who is this?”

The joke works so well that Jerry does it to George twice more in Season Eight and Elaine even pulls the “Who is this?” line on Jerry in Season Nine. While it only occurs a few times, Jason Alexander’s rapid-fire, explosive delivery paired with Seinfeld’s best line reading of the series made this running gag feel like one that had lasted all nine seasons.