An Ordinary Grocery Store Visit Gave Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld the Idea For ‘Seinfeld’ TV Show
- Larry David recalled a conversation from a grocery store visit that led to Seinfeld.
- David explains his view of the sitcom having an impact on the culture.
- Seinfeld remains one of the best sitcoms ever.
Created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the television sitcom Seinfeld aired on NBC from 1989 to 1998 with a total of nine seasons. It stars Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, and Jason Alexander, which follows Seinfeld in a semi-fictionalized version of himself and focuses on his life with his three friends. The sitcom is set in an apartment in Manhattan’s Upper West Side of NYC.
Regarded as one of the best sitcoms of all time, it is often described as a show about nothing as it focuses on the minutiae of daily life. The popularity of the show can be found in the sitcoms and TV shows that followed, as a lot of quotes from the episode became catchphrases in pop culture. The creators take the audience back to the day when they arrived at the idea of creating Seinfeld.
Seinfeld co-creator Larry David recalls the beginning of the sitcom
In a cover story interview with Rolling Stone back in 2014, co-creator Larry David recalled how he and Jerry Seinfeld concluded to work on Seinfeld. He shared that at the time he started watching the show with his daughter and realized how funny they were.
David was asked if he remembered the conversation that he had with his co-creator who also starred on the show as a semi-fictionalized version of him, when he was coming up with the sensibility of the show. He shared,
Yes. We were in a grocery store and talking about the different products on the shelves. And we were making each other laugh. Then we both realized that this is the kind of dialogue we never really heard on television, or even in movies, for that matter. So that was sort of the basis—that was just the way we communicated and the things that we talked about.
David also shared during the conversation with Rolling Stone that the pilot of the sitcom only had three friends and the woman played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus was going to be a waitress. He added that then the series got picked, and thus, they changed the waitress to Elaine.
He also mentioned that the premise of the show was going to be ‘how a comedian gets his material.’
David explained that with that concept, the story would follow Jerry Seinfeld throughout his day or week in the episode, and he would do a stand-up routine about it in the end.
Co-creator Larry David on the success of Seinfeld
The co-creator, Larry David, was asked about the moment he had realized that the show was having an impact on the audience as well as the culture. He noted that he knew that the audience liked the show from the beginning.
However, he added that he was shocked when he went into one of the comedy clubs after the pilot episode had aired and one of the comedians told him that they really liked the show.
Larry David mentioned that he never thought that it was going to be a hit show until it started ranking as number 3 or 4, and then it went to being number one. David also touched upon his view on whether any other show has ever been able to match the show’s consistency and impact, to which he said,
Those questions about its impact on the culture and all that—I was in a bit of a bubble because I was working. I was just going to the office all the time. During the hiatus, Jerry would go out and do stand-up, and he’d do, ‘You can’t believe what’s going out there.’
Larry David mentioned during the conversation that he did not get the impact the show was making at the time. He also mentioned that there are always great shows that come along, but the sitcom has for sure left its mark. The co-creator shared that a lot of people thank him for the show, and he simply replies by saying, ‘You’re welcome.’
He added that he does not think about the show impacting the viewers’ lives, but if someone comes up to him and tells him something, he feels nice to know. David noted at the time that it’s hard to imagine that a show can have such an effect on people, but it does.
To date, the sitcom is regarded as one of the best sitcoms, and fans of the show have always gone back to watching the show, especially the ones craving the simpler times.
Seinfeld is available to watch on Netflix.
