A Bizarre Deleted ‘Seinfeld’ Storyline Found Kramer Going Full Santa Claus

Seinfeld isn’t typically known for its seasonal episodes, with the notable exception of “The Strike,” which first introduced America to the concept of Festivus, Frank Costanza’s made-up (but now kind of real) holiday. 

In retrospect, Seinfeld did feature a number of holiday-adjacent episodes prior to the Festivus storyline, including “The Pick,” the one where Elaine inadvertently exposes her nipple in a Christmas card photo that gets sent out to all of her friends and family. Sure, it wasn't exactly It's a Wonderful Life, but the holidays were at least mentioned.

But perhaps the most Christmassy Seinfeld episode of all was Season Six’s “The Race” in which Kramer gets a job as a department store Santa, with Mickey working as his elf sidekick (Kramer’s failed Miracle on 34th Street-esque attempt to communicate with a girl who doesn’t speak English was particularly memorable).

Later, after a chat with Elaine’s communist boyfriend Ned about workers’ rights, Kramer — er, “Santa” — decides to start lecturing kids about the store’s capitalist fat cats who have been inflating the price of toys to make a profit. And he somehow gets in trouble, despite the fact that the real Santa Claus just might be a communist.  

In the episode that aired, Kramer ultimately got fired for being a “pinko” and that was the end of the whole Santa Claus arc. But originally, the show took Kramer’s Santa role even further (not as far as Tim Allen, though).

In the same episode, the Yankees decide to send George to Cuba in order to recruit young talent (owing to Steinbrenner’s mistaken belief that George is a communist). In a deleted sequence, George starts stressing out about  how he’s going to get a travel visa. Then George remembers that Kramer has friends at the Cuban embassy, from his past attempts to score cigars. So George forces Cosmo (who’s still in costume as Santa) to escort him to the embassy.

When they arrive, the doors are locked, but Kramer recalls that his golfing buddies told him about a secret entrance that was used during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Of course, this entrance turns out to be a chimney, leading to a scene in which Kramer emerges from a fireplace in his Santa getup, surprising the room full of Cuban dignitaries, before exclaiming “Feliz Navidad!”

The scene does put a button on the “communist Santa” storyline, but it’s still a pretty broad, borderline surreal gag that doesn’t totally work. We don’t really need an explanation for how George suddenly shows up in Cuba at the end of the episode, which is presumably why Kramer’s Night Before Christmas routine ended up on the cutting room floor.