8 Minor Seinfeld Characters You May Not Remember
Are you a huge Seinfeld nut? Do catchphrases like “No soup for you!” and “These pretzels are making me thirsty!” make you laugh regardless of any situation you are in? If so, you probably remember every character and minor character in the series. Or do you? You may think that you know all that there is to know about Seinfeld but do you remember these eight minor characters?
1. Naked Fat Guy – In the episode where the gang splits up and goes their separate ways on the subway for the day, Jerry is sitting across from a guy reading a paper in a suit. Jerry falls asleep for a few minutes and when he wakes up and looks at the guy sitting across from him, the man is wearing nothing but black socks and a strategically placed newspaper. After his initial response of disgust and bewilderment, he becomes friends with Naked Fat Guy and they both end up having a fun day at Coney Island together.
2. Crazy Army Guy – Soon after Elaine takes over the production of the Peterman catalog, she promotes Crazy Army Guy to the position of copywriter. But when his copy scares everybody in the room, she has to get rid of him. Her solution? Promote him again to another department. He also shows up at Kramer’s Jewish Singles get together where the sight of him and other guests choking on the food in the scene set off George’s dad who made all of the food for the event. Frank (George’s dad) then turns over the food table in a rage, thus ruining the entire party.
3. Over-the-top Homosexual Couple – Do you remember the line, “Who? Who refuses to wear the AIDS ribbon?” If so, you know about Bob and Cedric, the homosexual couple that appeared in two episodes of Seinfeld. Their over-the-top portrayal of homosexuals and their mannerisms probably wouldn’t be allowed on primetime TV today, but this wasn’t the only politically incorrect aspect of this Seinfeld episode. Making a slight mockery of the AIDS ribbon and the AIDS walk probably wouldn’t receive a warm welcome today either. Luckily, those irreverent yet funny scenes are forever immortalized on the Seinfeld DVDs.
4. Joe Friday-Like Library Inspector – Lieutenant Bookman is probably one of the funniest characters that appeared on an episode of Seinfeld. His straight man to Jerry’s funny man had such a comedic effect, in fact, that you can see Jerry trying to hold back his laughter as he is getting lectured by the good lieutenant. Phillip Baker Hall played Lieutenant Bookman and he did a great job at it. The sudden 180 degree turns may have been rehearsed, but they had such great comedic timing that simply cannot be rehearsed. It’s just something ingrained in an actor. He also lectures the librarian for not being “prudish” enough after she is caught bringing Kramer into the library after hours.
5. Mickey – Who can forget about Mickey? Kramer’s shorter-than-average friend really stole nearly every scene that he was a part of. And the chemistry that those two had together is simply unmatched. Mickey was always tackling Kramer or fighting with him which is one of the most comical things to see and it never got old.
6. The Restaurant Owner – Baboo Batt was a hilarious character on Seinfeld. His character started when he opened a restaurant across the street from Jerry’s apartment building. After watching him through binoculars for a couple weeks and never seeing anybody go in, Jerry decided to pay him a visit. As a result of Batt’s excitement, he took Jerry’s advice about turning the restaurant into a Pakistani restaurant instead of the general fare restaurant that it was. After weeks of renovations, Batt reopened and had even fewer people come in. He was a failure and it was all Jerry’s fault. Batt had other episodes with storylines centered around him, including the one where he got deported. His accent helped make the character funny, but his “Jerry is a very bad man” catch phrase was even funnier because Jerry was rarely made to look like the bad guy on the show.
7. The Close-Talker – Judge Reinhold was fantastic as one of Elaine’s boyfriends who took more of an interest in Jerry’s parents than he did in Elaine. As soon as he met them, he ended up taking them to the museum and he made plans with them to go out for a romantic dinner and a play. When Jerry’s parents left to go back to Florida, he pondered selling his watch just to get enough money to allow them to stay longer so he could take them out to dinner again. Usually a minor Seinfeld character has one major quirk, but Judge Reinhold was talented enough to pull off two of them.
8. The Grumpy Old Man – For viewers who saw the 1993 episode where Jerry and the crew volunteer to spend time with shut-ins, the character Sid Fields (played by the late Bill Erwin), was unforgettable. Fields was convinced that everybody was out to get him, including the CIA. He offered to let the guys take his records but then went back on the deal by biting into Kramer’s arm with his false teeth, which went flying into the garbage disposal when Kramer suddenly pulled his arm away. Despite Erwin’s appearance in big screen hits like “Somewhere in Time,” “The Cry Baby Killer” and others, most people probably remember him from this popular Seinfeld episode.
Seinfeld is full of characters that you don’t think about until someone brings them up. Then fans of the show know exactly who they are talking about and it inevitably brings a smile to their face. These are just some of the minor characters that we don’t think about very often, but when we do, they are sure to bring a grin, a chuckle or even a guffaw when we think about their craziness. So, did you remember them?
