Seinfeld: 15 Larry David IRL Moments In The Show

15 I think he stole my box of raisins.

George thinks one of the actors auditioning for the show steals a box of raisins from the office, and Larry and Jerry thought this actually happened after a meeting with a writer.

Andy Robin said that his first meeting with Larry and Jerry was great, except they suspected he had stolen a box of raisins from their office. He said, “They found the raisins, so I was vindicated, and I never knew about this until I went on staff the following season.”

Whether they suspected him or not, they hired him anyway.

14 The real-life Kramer also has a bus tour.

Cosmo Kramer is based off of Larry David's real-life neighbor Kenny Kramer. At the height of the show’s popularity, Kenny ran a bus tour, “Seinfeld Reality Tour.”

The show’s writer, Spike Feresten said, “The real-life Kramer does a bus tour, and then the TV Kramer did his version of the real-life version's bus tour."

13 Larry won “The Contest” in real life.

Apparently, he just needed a break.

In a 1999 interview with Conan O'Brien, Larry David, who wrote "The Contest," revealed that he actually took part in a similar contest with some friends in real life — and was the master of his domain.

"Yeah, I won the contest," Larry admitted. "But I was weakening in the last couple of days."

12 I had a pony!

Know your audience, Jerry!

Jerry’s comments about hating people who own ponies ends up insulting an elderly woman who passes shortly after. Jerry feels guilty and tries to apologize to her loved ones at the funeral.

According to the episode commentary, Larry David almost made the same comments to an elderly woman who had a pony.

11 The Cadillac.

After Larry David started seeing some financial success from Seinfeld, he purchased his father (who inspired the character of Morty Seinfeld) a Lexus.

Larry's father was the head of the condo board, and Larry heard that every one was commenting on his new car. The story of Morty Seinfeld's neighbors accusing him of taking money from the condo board was fictitious, but you can see how Larry thought they might be thinking that.

10 He really did quit his job and played it off as a joke.

It wasn’t just any job. He was a writer on SNL.

In the season four episode "The Revenge”, after George quits, he immediately regrets it, so he just shows up on Monday and acts like it was a joke.

Larry David said he did the same thing when he was as a writer for SNL.

Larry said, “Dick Ebersol had the headset on in the back near the monitor. I walked up to him and I went, this fucking show stinks! It’s a piece of shit! I’m done! I quit! F*ck you! And that was it, and then I left.”

On the walk home he realized what a mistake it was, and his neighbor Kenny Kramer told him to just go back on Monday as if nothing happened. He did, and they actually kept him on the rest of the season.

9 Elaine’s scary father.

In “The Jacket”, Elaine asks Jerry and George to join her for a drink and dinner with her father, the cranky old writer. They try to make small talk, but he’s unimpressed. 

In real life, Larry dated Monica Yates, daughter of Revolutionary Road writer, Richard Yates. Monica asked Larry to meet her and her very intimidating father.

Monica was late, and Larry told a story about pretending to be suicidal to get out of serving in Vietnam, which did not go well since Yates was a veteran of World War II.

8 Larry & Jerry waited at a Chinese restaurant.

The episode is a classic, but we can see how “waiting at a restaurant” would be a tough sell.

In an interview, Jerry Seinfeld recalls the exact restaurant they were waiting at when he and Larry David came up with the idea.

7 Larry tried for “friends with benefits” way before it was a term.

The this and the that without that affecting this. Got it.

In "The Deal” Jerry and Elaine try a purely physical relationship without getting all “relationshippy”. It clearly doesn’t work, even after setting all those ground rules.

Larry (the writer of the episode) said that he tried to make similar deals in the past.

6 Larry’s friend had to take off his hat.

In "The Letter" Eliane is forced to take off a Baltimore Orioles hat while at a Yankees game. This happened to Larry and his friend while sitting in Gene Autry's box.

His friend was wearing a Yankee cap at an L.A game and was forced to take it off. Larry said that he, "had to put it in an episode”.

5 Shmoopie.

Cute to the couple doing it, enraging to everyone else.

George gets annoyed when Jerry and his girlfriend call each other "Schmoopie," and Larry David also couldn't take Jerry and his girlfriend's "baby talk" in real life.

Spike Feresten originally pitched the "Schmoopie" idea because his girlfriend would do really embarrassing public displays of affection. He said, “I was chatting with Larry, and he said, 'You know, between you and me, Jerry has been doing a lot of this with his girlfriend, and it’s making me nuts.’”

4 Larry wants credit for the big salad.

How dare you!

Larry had the exact reaction that George had when his girlfriend presented Eliane with a big salad and took credit for purchasing it.

In reality, Larry bought his Seinfeld editor Janet Ashikaga the big salad, but Jerry's assistant was the one who brought it to her and took credit for purchasing it.

3 The Pitch.

A show about nothing on a show about nothing.

George and Jerry discuss ideas for their show, like how funny the word “salsa” sounds, then George is struck with an idea. The premise for their TV show is “about nothing.”

When Seinfeld and David were discussing developing a sitcom together in 1988, they visited a Korean supermarket, bouncing funny ideas off each other. At some point, David said, “this is the show.”

2 The Jacket.

The episode that keeps on giving.

After George and Jerry’s torturous chat with Elaine’s dad, Jerry’s wearing his very expensive suede jacket, and they have to head out into the rain.

On Larry’s date from hell with author Richard Yates, he had to turn his new suede jacket  inside out to avoid the snow ruining it. Just like in the episode, the inside lining of the jacket was nowhere near as nice, and it caused further embarrassment.

Larry said, “I decided to eat the jacket. It was never the same.”

1 “The Stalk Out”.

It’s not stalking. It’s not stalking.

In season 1, episode 2, Jerry and Elaine have just broken up, but she invites him out to dinner. He quickly becomes more interested in someone else there, but he can't flirt with her in front of Elaine.

He decides to show up at her work and just pretend to bump into her. Larry’s not proud to admit this, but it’s something he actually did.

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Top Image: West/Shapiro Productions & Castle Rock Entertainment