George Costanza
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George Louis Costanza (born April 1959) is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), played by Jason Alexander.
George is Jerry Seinfeld's neurotic best friend. He sometimes lives with his parents, Estelle and Frank Costanza, a bitter couple who are as neurotic as their son. George mentions he has a brother ("The Parking Space"), although his name is never mentioned, and he never appears on screen. As a teenager, he was tormented by his gym teacher, who intentionally mispronounced George's last name as "Can't Stand Ya" ("The Library"). George and Jerry attended Kennedy High together, setting the dynamic for their later relationship. George claims that he and Jerry met in gym class when George, climbing rope, fell on Jerry ("The Outing").
George has numerous psychological problems, including: narcissism, habitual lying, low self-esteem, sudden fits of anger, impulsive acts of ill-considered generosity, cheapness, selfishness, and sometimes living in a fantasy world. Like Kramer, he would often concoct elaborate plots to weasel out of relational, financial, or legal obligations, always with unexpected and negative consequences. George's lying, however, is often seen as a gift in the eyes of himself and his friends. It is noted in some episodes that he can even beat a lie-detector test and quotes to Jerry, "It's not a lie, if you believe it" ("The Beard").
The character of George is based on the alter ego of the show's co-creator, Larry David. In the first couple of seasons, George was restrained by the standards of his later actions. But as the series went on, his schemes and personality became more outlandish. Alexander related in an interview that, early in the creation of the show, he once expressed having problems acting out a scene in the script, because he felt no one would ever behave in "such a way". David replied to him that the exact situation had actually happened to him, and he had reacted in exactly "that way". Alexander said that this was a breakthrough for him in portraying the character, giving him valuable insight into both David and George.
- 1 Family
- 2 Life
- 3 Pseudonyms
- 4 Independent George
- 5 Characteristics
- 5.1 General Eccentricity
- 5.2 Cheapness
- 5.3 Cheating
- 5.4
- 5.5 Lack of respect for the privacy of others
- 5.6 Habitual lying
- 5.7 Insecurity
- 5.8 Insincerity
- 5.9 Lack of morals
- 5.10 Misplaced optimism
- 5.11 Possible Mental Instability
- 5.12 Unusual interests
- 5.13 Misplaced nostalgia
- 5.14 Lack of empathy
- 5.15 Lack of common sense
- 5.16 Overindulgence
- 5.17 Sexual Incompetence
- 5.18 Misplaced sense of justice
- 6 Jobs held by George Costanza
- 7 Jobs George Costanza falsely claimed to hold
- 8 Pop culture
- 9 External links
Family
George is the son of Frank and Estelle Costanza, described as "psychopath[s]" by Jerry ("The Puffy Shirt"), "loud" and "always fighting" by Helen Seinfeld ("The Raincoats, Part 1") and "sick" by the father of Susan Ross ("The Rye"). The constant bickering and bizarre behavior of his parents is often cited as a reason for George's adult neurosis and eccentricity: Jerry comments that George "could have been normal" had the Costanzas divorced thirty years earlier ("The Chinese Woman"), and George describes himself as "the result of my parents having stayed together" ("The Shoes").In "The Suicide," George makes reference to a brother that "once impregnated a woman named Pauline," and in "The Parking Space," but the brother is never referenced elsewhere, nor does he make an appearance in the series. George's cousin, Rhisa, appears in "The Junk Mail," referred to by George as Frank's "brother's daughter," although this uncle does not appear, either; however, it is mentioned at another time that George has an uncle Moe, who "died a young man" ("The Money"). George also had an aunt, "Aunt Baby," who died at the age of 7 of internal problems ("The Money").
In "The Doll," it is revealed that Frank Costanza has a cousin, Carlo, who lives in Tuscany.
Life
In "The Strike", it is revealed that George's father Frank invented the December holiday Festivus to counter the commercialism of Christmas. When George was a child, he was forced to celebrate the holiday, and as a result George hates Festivus. George shows his feelings for the holiday when he refuses to take down Frank in the Feats of Strength (but Frank provokes him into doing it anyway).George attended Queens College, along with Jerry ("The Marine Biologist").
George becomes engaged to Susan Biddle Ross, a wealthy executive at NBC who approved Jerry and George's show-within-the-show sitcom pilot. George and Susan date for a year, during which time the commitment-phobic George is constantly trying to find ways to end their relationship without actually having to initiate the breakup with her. In "The Engagement," he proposes to her in a short-lived bout of midlife crisis, after he and Jerry had made a "pact" to move forward with their lives. When Jerry breaks up with his girlfriend and declares the deal over, George panics and again tries repeatedly to weasel out of his engagement. He gets his wish days before the wedding in "The Invitations", when he inadvertently causes her death by selecting the cheapest envelopes for their wedding invitations, not knowing they contained toxic glue. Susan's parents, never knowing the specifics behind her poisoning but suspecting George was somehow involved, never forgive him for this, and they appoint him to the Board of Directors of the Susan Biddle Ross Foundation to keep him trapped under their influence and to ensure that he would never get any of it.
Professional life
George's professional life is unstable. He is unable to remain in any job for any great length of time before making an embarrassing blunder and getting fired. Over the course of the series, he works for a real estate transaction services firm (Rick Bahr Properties), Elaine's company (Pendant Publishing), the New York Yankees (his longest running job), a playground equipment company (Play Now), an industrial smoothing company (Kruger Industrial Smoothing), and other places. He is fired from his job at Pendant Publishing for having sex with the cleaning woman on his desk in "The Red Dot" (he professes he's always been attracted to cleaning women). His original job when the series starts is as a real estate agent; he ends up quitting, only to slip his boss a mickey in "The Revenge". His dream job is to be an architect, a job he would often pretend to have; he claims in "The Race" that he had designed "the new addition to the Guggenheim." In "The Van Buren Boys," he denies his young protégé a scholarship from the Susan Ross Foundation when the young man decides he no longer wants to be an architect, and wants to become a city planner instead. In "The Marine Biologist," Jerry tells a girl George wanted to impress that George is a marine biologist. The plan backfires when George is called upon to save a beached whale, with a golf ball in its blowhole; he saves the whale, but the woman tells him off when he confesses that he is not, in fact, a marine biologist.During the fourth season of the series, George gains experience as a sitcom writer as he helps Jerry to write the pilot for the fictitious show Jerry. While pitching the concept of a "show about nothing" to NBC executives, George claims to have written an off-off-Broadway play entitled La Cocina, about a Mexican chef named Pepe. George claims Pepe mimed the preparation of tamales, and it was the mime aspect that made the play so funny.
Pseudonyms
- Art Vandelay, George's alter ego, first appears in the episode "The Stakeout", in which George and Jerry need an excuse to give to a woman as to why they are waiting in the lobby of the office building where she worked. Their excuse is that they were meeting Art Vandelay, an importer/exporter, for lunch. The name originates as Art Corr, before an indecisive George morphs it first into Art Corvalay, and finally, Art Vandelay. In one instance ("The Boyfriend, Part 1"), George tells the unemployment office he is close to getting a job at "Vandelay Industries." The name is also used as a fake boyfriend of Elaine. Here, Art is also an importer/exporter, and used as a cover story so that Susan does not think that George and Elaine are having an affair. George also uses the pseudonym when interviewing for a job with Elaine's boss. When asked which authors he reads the answer is "Art Vandelay" from New York. In "The Serenity Now", George calls up fake customers, one of which is "Mr. Vandelay", pretending to get computer orders. Finally, in "The Puerto Rican Day", George pretends to be Vandelay (along with Jerry as Varnsen and Kramer as Pennypacker) to try and sneak into an open house to view a Mets game. In the series finale "The Trial", the name of the presiding judge was actually Arthur Vandelay, much to the amazement of George.
- At one point ("The Maid"), George wants to be known as T-Bone, but his co-workers at Kruger Industrial Smoothing nickname him Koko because of the way he had flailed his arms when demanding the nickname "T-Bone" back from a coworker. George deliberately hires a woman named Coco to work there, only to be nicknamed Gammy instead.
- George reveals that if he were to be a porn star, his name would be Buck Naked. ("The Outing")
- During a period of unemployment for George, Jerry calls George Biff, referring to the Biff Loman character in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. George is also called Biff Loman by the daughter of Lorene Sokol, the woman in charge of George's unemployment benefits.
- George once assumes the identity of a man named Donald O'Brien in order to take his limousine ("The Limo"), only to later discover this man was the leader of a white supremacist group and was on his way to make his first public appearance, at Madison Square Garden.
- In "The Wink," Kramer opens his door after George knocked on it, and calls him Mr. Weatherbee.
- In "The Watch", a doorman mistakenly tells Mr. Dalrymple that a "George Bonanza" has arrived to see him.
- In "The Chinese Restaurant", the host calls for a "Cartwright" to answer a call from George's girlfriend.
- George's attempt to streak at Yankee Stadium while wearing a body suit earned him the name Body Suit Man. ("The Millennium")
Independent George
George views himself as being made up of two distinct psyches: "Independent George" and "Relationship George." The latter is the tedious personality he felt compelled to adopt within the context of his personal relationship with Susan Biddle Ross in order to maintain that relationship. George does not care for the dull persona of Relationship George, viewing it as a sort of prison. In contrast, Independent George is a reflection of George's true nature and the George he could be within the sanctuary of his life away from Susan. Independent George is made up of several important subpersonas: Movie George, Coffee Shop George, Liar George, and Bawdy George. The persona of Independent George is the George Jerry knew and grew up with.Independent George is nearly killed in the episode, "The Pool Guy." Elaine seeks a female friend to accompany her to a historical clothing exhibit, only to realize she doesn't have any. Jerry unwittingly suggests that she ask Susan, who is happy to oblige. Kramer immediately realizes the disastrous implications of Jerry's suggestion and informs him of the "worlds theory": George has two separate worlds--his world with Susan and his world with Jerry and the gang, which is his sanctuary--and it is necessary for George to keep them apart. If Relationship George is allowed to come into contact with Independent George, George's sanctuary will blow up. While Susan and Elaine fast become friends, George flips out and offers a greater explication of the "worlds theory" for Jerry: A George divided against itself cannot stand; if Relationship George is allowed to infiltrate George's sanctuary, he will kill Independent George. With Elaine integrating Susan into the group's activities, George is forced to take evasive measures and is relegated to eating at Reggie's Diner while the rest of his friends, along with Susan, lunch at Monk's. The crisis reaches its crescendo when George comes home to find a message informing him that Susan, Elaine, and Jerry all went to the movies to see Chunnel and that he should meet them at the theater. George, knowing that they probably went to the Lowes Paragon, shows up at the theater, and makes a big ruckus in front of the screen when he is unable to locate the trio in the audience. George is forcibly removed from the theater by two ushers as he loudly accuses Susan, Elaine, and Jerry of sitting up in the audience, out of his view, "laughing and lying" as they conspire to kill Independent George. Unbeknownst to George, the movie is showing on two screens and his friends are at the other showing. Ultimately, the crisis is abated when Susan "breaks up" with Elaine because she finds the trivialness of the group's interactions unappealing.
Characteristics
George possesses many negative character traits, most of which usually do him harm, as illustrated by the following events initiated by him, and the manner in which they backfire.General Eccentricity
- When either threatened or pleased, tends to refer to himself in the third person, a la "George is getting upset!" or "George likes his chicken spicy!". It should be noted that George steals this way of speaking from his basketball playing friend Jimmy. ("The Jimmy")
- Displays an almost impetuous over-eagerness to invest in risky, unstable, or generally unsound business ventures (importing special shoes designed to increase one's vertical leap ("The Jimmy"), investment in unstable stocks ("The Stock Tip"), dates an unpleasant and unattractive woman, the daughter of an employee of the unemployment office, to maintain his benefits ("The Boyfriend, Part 1 and Part 2").
- Is seemingly unable to partake in a mutually satisfying, pleasant, genial conversation with anyone except his immediate circle of friends (almost instantly offends a woman who offers him a ride through a parking garage by referring negatively to Scientology, for example). ("The Parking Garage")
- Celebrates his freedom from his (dead) fiancee by lounging mostly nude in his apartment and consuming an enormous portion of cheddar cheese. To Jerry's chagrin, this was what George liked to refer to as a "bachelor's paradise." ("The Foundation")
- Upset that he couldn't think of a comeback to a colleague's insult (that George was eating too much shrimp - "the ocean called, they're running out of shrimp"), George spends significant time thinking of a comeback. He then attempts to recreate the original scenario, but finds out that the colleague has left and is now working in Ohio. George leaves the next day, follows the colleague to his new company, brings a large bowl of boiled shrimp with him, and attempts to see how many shrimp he can fit into his mouth during a meeting. When the colleague insults him again, George uses his come back "well, the Jerk Store called, they're running out of you!" only to have his colleague retort with "what does it matter? you're their all-time bestseller!" George's final attempt at a comeback was Kramer's suggestion of "I had sex with your wife!" where it is then revealed that the man's wife is in a coma and George, at the episode ending, comes up with "The life-support machine called..." and turns back his car to where he came from. The full comeback that he came up with, as well as the outcome of him using it, was never revealed. ("The Comeback")
- He removes his shirt when going to the toilet. This is first noticed when he came out of Jerry's toilet buttoning-up his shirt, and Jerry questioned him about it. Later, he is at a party and goes to the toilet, but walks out into the party room without his shirt, having forgotten to put it back on. ("The Gymnast")
Cheapness
- Scrounges for change under a vending machine ("The Dealership")
- Is rarely seen paying for anything, at least not without a display of outrage at the cost of the goods or services purchased
- While having what he believes to be a heart attack at Monk's, notices the check and insists that the waitress overcharged him. ("The Heart Attack")
- Is appalled at the notion of having to purchase gifts for friends ("The Handicap Spot"), and only buys a cashmere sweater as a gift for Elaine because it is at a low price because it is tainted by a red dot. ("The Red Dot")
- Inadvertently causes the death of his fiancée by insisting on purchasing inexpensive wedding invitations featuring toxic glue on the envelope seal. ("The Invitations")
- On more than one occasion, leaves a tip at the coffee shop only to later return and take back a dollar--once directly out of the waitress' hand. ("The Stock Tip")
- George buys a used wheelchair for Kramer's girlfriend, and the brakes later fail her on a hill. ("The Handicap Spot")
- When finding his girlfriend's father's cabin to be burning, his first remark is "I just remembered you never gave me back the change from the tolls." (The Bubble Boy)
- Will search endlessly for a parking space rather than parking in a garage; equates paying for parking with going to a prostitute: "Why should I pay, when if I apply myself, maybe I could get it for free" ("The Parking Space")
Cheating
- Passes an incomplete IQ test through an open window to Elaine in order to cheat to impress his one-time girlfriend on the other side of the door. Ironically, Elaine achieves a worse score than George would have due to distractions while at Babu's restaurant. ("The Cafe")
- Claims to have won "the Contest," though in the finale, he admits to Jerry that he cheated.
- Invents a phony charity called the "Human Fund" ("The Strike"), as a way of giving Christmas presents to Kruger employees. (The cards, according to Jerry, read "A donation has been made in your name to the Human Fund. The Human Fund - Money for People.")
- Purchases a large number of computers from himself in order to win a sales contest against childhood rival Lloyd Braun. ("The Serenity Now")
- Wrote notes on his hand to help him pass a test required for conversion to the Latvian Orthodox church. ("The Conversion")
- Writes notes on his hand to help him have better sex with his girlfriend. ("The Fusilli Jerry")
- Takes delight when hearing that longtime rival Lloyd Braun spent time in a mental institution. ("The Gum")
- Betrays feelings of "restrained jubilation" to the doctor who gives him the news that his fiancee had died. (occurred in "The Invitations", as described as such in "The Finale")
Lack of respect for the privacy of others
- Peeks at the information on a video store's computer screen to find out who had checked out the video for Breakfast at Tiffany's in order to show up at that family's apartment and finagle his way in, all to avoid reading for his book club. The effort backfires when he spills grape juice on the sofa and is ejected before finishing the movie. ("The Couch")
- Walks in on Jerry's girlfriend while in the Hamptons after Elaine had told him not to go into the room because she was changing. This is George's attempt at retaliation because everyone had seen his girlfriend topless while he was out getting Hampton tomatoes. ("The Hamptons")
Habitual lying
George comments on one occasion that "my whole life is a sham." Some of the incidents below would support his claim. His lies rarely turn situations to his advantage, however.
- Invents a fictitious company named "Vandelay Industries" and lies about having a job interview with them, in order to qualify for further unemployment benefits. The fake company is run by the fictitious Art Vandelay and is, according to George, a latex manufacturing company. In order to add verisimilitude, George gives the company's phone number out (which is actually Jerry's home phone number) and requests that Jerry answer the phone using the false company's name. ("The Boyfriend, Part 1" and "Part 2")
- In other episodes, Art Vandelay is described as an importer/exporter. Art Vandelay is also used as the name of Elaine's fictitious boyfriend, whom George invoked when telling Susan that he was meeting Elaine to discuss problems with "Art" when he actually was meeting Marisa Tomei. George and Elaine fail to fully develop the alibi, and Susan suspects that George is having an affair with Elaine. ("The Cadillac, Part 1" and "Part 2")
- When Elaine's boss, Mr. Lippman, conducts an impromptu job interview with George, asking him what authors he liked. Pressed for specifics, George mentioned that he likes the fictional Art Vandelay. According to George, Vandelay is an obscure beatnik writer who wrote Venetian Blinds. ("The Red Dot")
(After using the name Art Vandelay until the show's final episode, a judge by that name presides over the trial of the "New York Four," in which the defendants are charged with breaking the Good Samaritan Law in the fictional town of Latham, Massachusetts. Jerry and George take it as a sign that they will be acquitted, but after a swarm of previous guest characters (from Marla the Virgin to the parents of Susan Ross) testify against the four friends, Judge Vandelay sentences George, Jerry, Kramer, and Elaine to a year removed from society. ("The Finale"))
- Wears Kramer's father's wedding band to get women to flirt with him (the conjecture being that women are more attracted to married men). The theory works perfectly, but none of the women believed him when he told them it was a sociological experiment. ("The Apartment")
- Lies about publishing an off-Broadway play when pitching the idea for "Jerry" to NBC executives. ("The Pitch")
- Takes up smoking and claims it is something he had always done so that Susan would call off the wedding, but the cigarettes caused him to cough and vomit, and the wedding was not called off. ("The Invitations")
- Left his car parked at Yankee Stadium so that George Steinbrenner would think he was there working even when he wasn't. He extended this facade by turning the space underneath his desk into an area suitable for napping, pretending to be stressed in order to avoid work, and masqueraded as a Communist in order to date a woman whose personal ad appeared in the Daily Worker newspaper. ("The Race")
- Pretended to be disabled and even acquired his own electric mobility cart while working for Play Now, in order to have access to his own private, extra-large bathroom. ("The Butter Shave")
- Took a book into a bookstore bathroom and tried to put it back on the shelf before leaving. However, he was forced to pay for it, and because the book was "flagged" at all the area bookstores he could not return it to get his money back. ("The Bookstore")
- Allegedly once told a woman that he coined the phrase "Pardon my French" to impress her. ("The Soul Mate")
- Pretended to have poor eyesight so that he could get a certain textbook on tape, his reasoning being that whenever he read a book he heard his own voice reading the words. The plan backfired when he realized the narrator on the tape sounded like him. ("The Fatigues")
- Converted to Latvian Orthodoxy in order to keep a girlfriend. George tells the priest that the reason for his conversion was the nice hats worn by the clergy. The plan backfired when his girlfriend travelled to Latvia for a year. ("The Conversion")
- Told beautiful women that a picture of Jerry's ex-girlfriend was Susan, his dead fiancée, in order to hang out with them at a secret club. After accidentally singeing the picture with his blow-dryer, George clipped a picture from a magazine and used that as his Susan photo, until he made the claim to the model pictured. ("The Bizarro Jerry")
- Asked one of his girlfriend's relatives for a death certificate at a funeral so that he could get a "bereavement discount" on an airplane ticket. He had travelled to the funeral solely to console the girl and attempt to get closer to her. The plan went awry after George ended up in a fight with Timmy, his girlfriend's brother, who caught George double-dipping a potato chip into the dip at the wake. ("The Implant")
Insecurity
- Made Jerry act "unfunny" while having dinner with a lawyer he was dating and Elaine. George was worried that since the lawyer found him funny, Jerry would seem funnier on his own and George would compare unfavourably in her eyes. Jerry acted morose and serious - in effect, lying for George - but this too backfired when the woman found Jerry attractive, calling him "dark and disturbed". ("The Visa")
Insincerity
- Tried to become friends with a black man solely to prove to his (black) boss that he was not racist. ("The Diplomat's Club")
- Performed a series of stunts at Yankee Stadium, such as ruining Babe Ruth's jersey, streaking across the field in a body suit (he instead gained popularity with the fans as "Body Suit Man,") and wrecked the team's 1996 World Series trophy with his car, all in an attempt to make George Steinbrenner fire him so he can take a job offer from the New York Mets. In the end, George's boss, Mr. Wilhelm comes in and claims he made George do those things. Wilhelm is thus fired instead, and he is the one hired by the Mets. ("The Millennium")
Lack of morals
- Called Marisa Tomei on the eve of Susan's funeral to arrange a date: "I got the funeral tomorrow but... my weekend is pretty wide open." She was no longer interested. ("The Invitations")
- During a fire that had been started accidentally at a child's birthday party, George ran across the house, pushing and knocking everyone and everything in his path (including an elderly woman with her walker, a clown, and several children), screaming "Fire!" as he ran to the door. When asked by a firefighter how he could live with himself, George responded "It's not easy." He later swore to the homeowner, whom he was trying to date, that he had changed, but when a prop comic pulled out a water gun at the lounge she worked at, he repeated the panicked performance. ("The Fire")
Misplaced optimism
- Bought a car solely on the belief that it was once owned by Jon Voight but found later it was actually owned by the periodontist "John Voight". ("The Mom & Pop Store")
Possible Mental Instability
- George is suspected to be mentally unstable by former high school friend Deena after she repeatedly catches him acting abormally. In "The Gum" a series of misunderstandings causes Deena to notice similarities between George's behaviour and that of her mentally unstable father. In "The Doll", she catches him in Monk's yelling at a doll that resembles his mother. Finally, in "The Bottle Deposit" Deena runs into George at the local mental asylum where she is visiting her father and George was mistakenly sent to by Mr. Steinbrenner.
Unusual interests
- Discusses a hidden positive message in the word manure (he says that the second half of the word sounds similar to "newer", and then there is the "ma" part) ("The Soup", "The Cadillac, Part 2")
- Suggests that toilet paper has never changed (until proven wrong by Jerry and Elaine) ("The Face Painter")
- An unusual affinity for velvet. He was dating a woman who had velvet-covered furniture and he described being at her apartment as being "ensconced in velvet" ("The Label Maker"). In "The Label Maker" and "The Doodle", George stated that if it were socially acceptable he would "drape [himself] in velvet." In the latter episode, he dated a woman who had absolutely no interest in physical appearances, so he started wearing a velvet jogging suit. This may be an affinity of Larry David's. (See an [interview with Larry David] on 60 Minutes II.)
Misplaced nostalgia
- Tried to get the Frogger game to his house from Mario's Pizzeria, where he and Jerry frequented when they were younger. The game is running on batteries, because George wants to preserve his all-time high score on the console (the high scores would be erased were the machine to lose power). Unfortunately, while George tried in vain to get the console to the other side of the street after performing a series of maneuvers resembling the game itself, a truck destroyed the machine, after which Jerry remarked, "Game over." ("The Frogger")
- When Elaine asked him if he ever said "I love you" to a non-family member, his humorous response was, "Once, to a dog. He licked himself and left the room". To which Jerry replies: "So it wasn't a total loss." ("The Face Painter")
Lack of empathy
- Competed for an apartment with an SS Andrea Doria survivor by telling the board about his horrifying life and comparing his misfortunes to the disaster survivor. He loses the apartment to an ex-boyfriend of Elaine's who bribes the building superintendent with $50. ("The Andrea Doria")
- Agreed to play Trivial Pursuit with Donald the Bubble Boy in upstate New York and got into a petty argument when George insisted the answer to a question was "Moops" but Donald said it was "Moors" (the game card had a misprint). Susan ended up deflating the Bubble Boy's protective bubble inadvertently, and George was accused of trying to kill Donald. ("The Bubble Boy")
Lack of common sense
- Pitched story ideas for two other NBC shows while backstage at The Tonight Show. First, George pitched his idea for "the perfect episode of L.A. Law" to Corbin Bernsen, then made a suggestion to George Wendt that the setting of Cheers be changed because it's "enough with the bar already." Bernsen and Wendt sensibly thought little of the ideas, and ridiculed them publicly as guests on the talk show while George was in the audience. ("The Trip, Part 1")
- When greeting NBC executives at the start of a meeting to finalize their deal for the sitcom, George absent-mindedly kissed Susan on the mouth. Susan was fired the same day because of the incident due to the conflict of interest made evident by the kiss. ("The Virgin")
- Refuses to carry writing utensils in his pockets because he has an irrational fear that by doing so, said utensil would stab his scrotum.
Overindulgence
- Coverage of a televised tennis tournament showed him sloppily eating a sundae. ("The Lip Reader")
- Pulled a partially eaten eclair out of a trash can and was caught eating it by his girlfriend's mother. ("The Gymnast")
- Scarfs finger foods and double-dips a chip at the wake of a girlfriend's relative. ("The Implant")
- Makes a modest attempt at the "trifecta", consisting of eating a pastrami sandwich, watching television, and having sex all at the same time. He fails and exclaims he "flew too close to the sun on the wings of pastrami". ("The Blood")
Sexual Incompetence
- After failing to please his girlfriend numerous times in bed George asks Jerry to teach him "the move." Jerry gives long, elaborate details all relevant to George's desire to never be alone again. The first time George attempts the move he fails, giving his girlfriend the sensation that aliens are poking at her body. The second time George thinks ahead and writes "crib notes" on his hand to get it right. He succeeds but is caught when his girlfriend notices the black writing, is disgusted and leaves him. ("The Fusilli Jerry")
- When Elaine's boyfriend David Puddy decides to stop doing Jerry's move and invent his own, Elaine is less than pleased and describes the bad experience with George and Jerry. George is intrigued and asks if Puddy's move involved "a knuckle." Elaine isn't surprised when George thinks it's his move that Puddy is using on Elaine. ("The Fusilli Jerry")
Misplaced sense of justice
- Crashed a baby shower hosted by Elaine to confront an ex-girlfriend who threw Bosco on his red shirt during a performance. Not only did he not get the apology he wanted, but he ruined the party for Elaine and had his red shirt soiled again by the ex-girlfriend. George meekly acquiesced in carrying her presents down to her car anyway. ("The Baby Shower")
- Purchased a Twix bar from the candy machine from a car dealership, only to see the candy get stuck, and then lost it to a mechanic who bought another Twix, getting two packages. George then heads to the complaint department demanding an apology, a refund, and for "that man to be fired." ("The Dealership")
- Demanded that an area hospital pay for his damaged car after a man committed suicide by jumping off the hospital roof and landing on George's car. ("The Bris")
Jobs held by George Costanza
The dates of each job indicate the air date of the episodes in which George worked those particular jobs.
- Dairy Queen employee for one summer, from which he was fired for putting his feet in the soft serve (mentioned in "The Millennium")
- Waiter for children at a fat camp (dates unknown; mentioned ("The Busboy"))
- Real estate agent (from the first episode, "The Seinfeld Chronicles", until "The Revenge")
- Parking cars ("The Alternate Side")
- Reader at Pendant Publishing ("The Red Dot")
- Writer for a sitcom pilot called Jerry for NBC (Season 4, from "The Pitch" to "The Pilot, Part 2")
- Hand model (until he burned his hands on an iron). ("The Puffy Shirt")
- Bra salesmen for Sid Farkus, a friend of his father Frank Costanza. Moments after his interview, George reached out and felt the fabric of a woman's jacket. The woman, an executive, had him fired immediately. ("The Sniffing Accountant")
- Sales rep at a rest stop supplies company with the Penske file ("The Barber")
- Assistant to the Traveling Secretary for the New York Yankees ("The Opposite" through "The Millennium") (Despite this seemingly low-level position, George gets a spacious office overlooking Yankee Stadium and a personal secretary, attends high-echelon board meetings, and fraternizes with George Steinbrenner and Yankees team members.) This was his longest-lasting job during the course of the series.
- Play Now, a playground equipment company ("The Butter Shave" and "The Voice")
- Computer salesman for for his father's computer selling scheme, "Costanza and Son" ("The Serenity Now")
- Krueger Industrial Smoothing ("The Slicer" through "The Maid")
Jobs George Costanza falsely claimed to hold
- Marine biologist ("The Marine Biologist")
- Architect, as "Art Vandelay" (said George, "I always wanted to pretend to be an architect.") ("The Stakeout")
- Playwright author of La Cocina ("The Pitch")
- Stock trader of some kind (he only says that he is "in the big market") to impress a woman on the subway ("The Subway").
- Latex Salesman ("The Boyfriend, Part 1")
- Hen supervisor at Tyler Chicken
Pop culture
- 'Art Vandelay' is a burrito on the menu at Moe's Southwest Grill, a chain of fast casual restaurants (Moe's spells it 'Art Vandalay').
- A rock band in Toronto goes by the name "Penske File"
External links
- [George on Seinfeldonline.com]- Learn something about George.
- [Seinfeld Chronicles]- Site which includes all 180 Seinfeld scripts, along with various quotes, trivia, and merchandise.
- [Jerryhello -] "Jerry... Hello!" -Uncle Leo
| Seinfeld |
|---|
| Characters |
| Main Characters: Jerry Seinfeld (character)>Jerry Seinfeld | George Costanza | Elaine Benes | Cosmo Kramer |
| Related to Jerry: Helen Seinfeld > Morty Seinfeld | Uncle Leo | Kenny Bania | Sally Weaver | Dr. Tim Whatley |
| Related to George: Estelle Costanza > Frank Costanza | Susan Ross | Mr. Wilhelm | Mr. Kruger | Lloyd Braun |
| Related to Elaine: Jacopo Peterman>J. Peterman | David Puddy | Mr. Lippman | Justin Pitt | Sue Ellen Mischke |
| Related to Kramer: Newman (Seinfeld)>Newman | Mickey Abbott | Jackie Chiles | Bob Sacamano | Babs Kramer | Lomez |
| Other: Soup Nazi > "Crazy" Joe Davola | Minor characters in Seinfeld |
| Culture of the Seinfeld Universe |
| Festivus > Master of Your Domain | Regifting List of fictional films in Seinfeld | Coffee Table Book About Coffee Tables |
| Episodes |
| List of Seinfeld episodes > The Seinfeld Chronicles |
| Other |
| List of Seinfeld references to actual people > Running gags in Seinfeld |
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