It’s been said that being the star of a long-running show can be both wonderful and terrible. On the one hand, being a part of anything successful is a good thing, but there is a threat for a performer that audiences will only ever think of them for a single role. In the late 1990s, it was suggested that this idea particularly applied to the cast of Seinfeld, and it was actually referred to as a “curse” – but nobody has done more to prove that superstition wrong than Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who spoke about the fake hex in an interview earlier this year.
Since Seinfeld came to an end in 1998, Louis-Dreyfus has been the star of two successful television shows (The New Adventures Of Old Christine and Veep), has had roles in multiple acclaimed films (including Enough Said and the recently released You Hurt My Feelings), and she has even joined one of the biggest blockbuster franchises in the world with her recurring role as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She certainly seems far from cursed, and in an interview with Rolling Stone this past spring, she let her blunt thoughts on the topic be known:
It was invented by the media. They thought it was clever. You don’t need me to prove it wrong, it was ridiculous! It made no sense. I was amazed that it had legs, because it was so moronic. I don’t know how else to say it! [Laughs]
To be fair, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Jerry Seinfeld have all had different levels of success compared to what Julia Louis-Dreyfus has done as an actor in her post-Seinfeld career (with Richards notably the subject of controversy in 2006). But they’ve all done standout work – including the special Seinfeld reunion that was orchestrated in the seventh season of the on-going HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Asked to further reflect on her Seinfeld past in the Rolling Stone interview, Julia Louis-Dreyfus noted that there isn’t an episode of the beloved NBC sitcom that she favors more than others, but she does have a special way of reflecting back on her time making the show. Specifically, she enjoys watching the clips of her and her co-stars screwing up scenes:
I do not [have a favorite episode]. But on occasion, if I come across one of those gag reels, I just get a massive kick out of that — only because it brings me back to the wonderful joy we had in making that fucking show.
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Anyone who has ever watched a gag reel from Seinfeld will understand why Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a particular fondness for them. The clips suggest that she had a propensity to “break” more often than her co-stars, breaking into fits of hysterical laughter in reaction to well-delivered lines. One of the best examples of this is from the making of the episode “The Little Kicks” from Season 8. One of the last scenes features Louis-Dreyfus’ Elaine Benes getting into an argument/fight with Jerry Stiller’s Frank Costanza at a police station, and the former repeatedly struggles to keep her composure. Watching it, you can perfectly recognize just how much fun she is having:
That’s just one of many amazing gag reel moments, however. If you want to enjoy hours and hours of that kind of hilarity mixed with wonderful stories and interviews, I couldn’t more highly recommend buying the Seinfeld DVD box set.
For those of you who are content just watching the show, the entire series is available to stream with a Netflix subscription, and you can see where your personal favorite episode fits into our ranking of Seinfeld best.