Conceived by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David to be a half-hour comedy that showed how a standup comic generated his material, Seinfeld started out humbly with the lowest first-season order in TV history and struggled in a bad timeslot for a couple of years. It eventually became a cultural landmark that dominated the ratings for almost a decade and is still enjoyed by fans to this day.
Episodes like “The Chinese Restaurant” and “The Contest” marked watershed moments in sitcom history. There are a ton of great Seinfeld episodes – and only a couple of bad entries – but the top Seinfeld episodes have stood the test of time and remain as witty today as they were more than 20 years ago.
Updated November 7, 2022 by Antony Morris: A powerhouse of the airwaves in the pre-streaming 90s, Seinfeld’s inclusion into the Netflix archives has proven a success sparking fresh interest in a sitcom classic. As such, it is hardly a surprise there has been renewed rumors of reunions and renewed denials from the creators themselves.
While fans are highly unlikely to get an official comeback show, there is one way to experience a reunion of sorts. Curb Your Enthusiasm season 9, featuring Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, has a running thread where he successfully gets the 90s cast back together. The season culminates in a finale where viewers finally get a slice of a Seinfeld reunion. So, with the probability of new shows near nil, rewatching old Seinfeld is the best fans got. As such, here is a list of episodes GameRant would suggest starting with.
20 The Yada Yada
- Episode 19 of Season 8
Jerry’s dentist, Tim, has recently converted to Judaism and Seinfeld believes they have only done it to appropriate the humor. He confides this to a mutual friend, who is unimpressed with Jerry’s dentist-related joke and relates it back to Tim. So begins Seinfeld’s ‘anti-dentile’ woes.
When his date keeps explaining away the finer details of her day by saying ‘yada yada’, George unsurprisingly takes exception. And, while George invokes the same conversational trait to excuse himself from attending a funeral, it comes to ahead with his girlfriend when she describes an experience with her ex as ‘yada yada’.
19 The Hamptons
- Episode 21 of Season 5
A road trip episode where our main troupe all travel to the Hamptons to visit a friend’s newborn. With both Jerry’s and George’s girlfriends, Jane and Rachel, joining them, and Elaine ‘reading signals’ that are not there, the episode is primed for shenanigans.
George, who’s expecting to progress his relationship with Jane, is outraged when everybody but him sees her topless. A series of inappropriate decisions culminate in Rachel seeing George naked and mocking his manhood.
18 The Race
- Episode 10 of Season 6
In a twist of fate many readers may well empathize with, Jerry is confronted with a demon from the past that he must face. Having beaten school rival, Duncan, in a race years prior in controversial circumstances, this ghost from the past returns to challenge Jerry once again and to save face with his new girlfriend, Lois, Seinfeld accepts.
Elaine is blacklisted from a Chinese takeaway and Kramer gets fired from a job as Santa Claus after being accused of spreading communist ideology to kids. At the same time, rumors spread about George’s work that he has communist sympathies. And, while he tries to refute these claims, his boss sees it as an opportunity.
17 The Puffy Shirt
- Episode 2 of Season 5
One of the most iconic episodes, The Puffy Shirt from season 5 see season favorite Kramer dating ‘low talking’ fashion designer, Leslie, looking to make her mark. With Seinfeld due to appear on The Today Show to discuss his stand-up comedy, what better chance to showcase some fashion?
As Jerry is preparing to wear the now-infamous puffy shirt that is currently on display at National Museum of American History, George is gearing up for a new job opportunity hand modeling. As the episode precedes, Georges tries his utmost to protect his new prize assets, only to fall short by burning his hands and ruining his new career.
16 The Little Kicks
- Episode 4 of Season 8
The advice to ‘dance like nobody is watching’ unfortunately, doesn’t apply to everyone. Attending a work party, Elaine decides to bust some moves on the dance floor, entirely unaware of her colleague’s mocking stares. Tagging along, George hits on one of Elaine’s work friends who is initially not interested, until she begins to believe that he is a bit of a bad boy. Elaine blames George for the scorn she’s feeling from colleagues and has to work to regain her reputation.
Meanwhile, Jerry is attending a sneak preview of a new film with Kramer and Kramer’s dodgy friend, Brody. During the showing, Brody and Kramer pull out a camcorder and begin taping the film. Mid-film, Brody falls ill and has to leave. Before doing so, he tells Seinfeld at gunpoint to finish the recording. The stakes are high for Jerry, and fearing arrest he isn’t sure what to do.
15 The Susie
- Episode 15 of Season 8
The season 8 episode "The Susie" has two main narratives going on. In one, Elaine finds herself misnamed Susie by a coworker and has to figure out a way to make "Susie" disappear (of course, it's a lot easier said than done). At the same time, Kramer puts a bet on a basketball game in Jerry's name against returning character Mike.
Through a series of unfortunate events, Mike ends up thinking he's being shaken down for money he can't pay to Jerry as a result of the bet and ends up accusing Jerry of killing Susie. It sounds like a lot, but it's amazingly written and one of those episodes that is tied up neatly by the end of its short runtime.
14 The Switch
- Episode 11 of Season 6
The season 6 episode "The Switch" is so named because Jerry wants to "switch" his girlfriend with her roommate. He does this because his girlfriend never laughs at him (or even cracks a smile) but her roommate laughs at almost everything he says.
It's also the episode where fans finally learn what Kramer's first name is. While it's an old show, fans won't find spoilers here – it's worth watching this episode just for that reveal.
13 The Calzone
- Episode 19 of Season 7
"The Calzone" is something of a comedy of errors. The season 7 episode begins with George getting his boss addicted to specialty calzones from one of his favorite restaurants, but in a twist, George ends up getting banned from that very restaurant when he is accused of stealing. To keep the calzones flowing, he enlists Kramer to help.
Kramer, of course, ends up getting banned too because he tried to pay with pennies, leading George to take one last resort – Newman. It's an episode that perfectly highlights George's character and has lots and lots of unforgettable moments, especially when Kramer and Newman get involved.
12 The Frogger
- Episode 18 of Season 9
In one of the most famous scenes of Seinfeld, George is seen trying to wheel an arcade cabinet across a busy road. It's not just any arcade cabinet, though – it's a Frogger cabinet with his high score on it.
In an effort to preserve the arcade cabinet, and to stop anyone from taking his high score away from him, George buys the cabinet. He finds it much more difficult to move than he thought, considering it can't lose power or his high score would be erased, making for a tense and hilarious conclusion to the episode.
11 The Nap
- Episode 18 of Season 8
In the season 8 episode "The Nap" George takes a nap under his desk while his boss waits in the room to talk to him, Kramer chooses to swim in New York's East River instead of a crowded swimming pool, and Elaine and Jerry have different issues with people causing problems in their apartments.
It's an episode that truly doesn't come to any kind of meaningful conclusion, bringing a new definition to the "show about nothing". While each character hardly interacts with the others, it's a tightly written episode that explores what the characters do when away from each other.
10 The Limo
- Episode 19 of Season 3
One of Seinfeld’s darker episodes, season 3’s “The Limo” revolves around Jerry and George taking the identity of a waylaid passenger at the airport and scoring a ride in his limousine. Later, they find out that the man whose identity they’ve stolen is a white supremacist leader and the limo is taking them to Madison Square Garden to deliver a speech to his hateful followers.
Along the way, Elaine and Kramer join them, George falls in love with a Nazi, and the limo gets ambushed by angry protestors. “The Limo” was one of the great Larry Charles’ sharpest Seinfeld scripts.
9 The Chicken Roaster
- Episode 8 of Season 8
Jerry and Kramer switch apartments in “The Chicken Roaster,” as a Kenny Rogers restaurant opens up across the street and the bright lights frazzle Kramer’s brain. Jerry wants to keep the restaurant open so his friend can keep his job, so he moves into Kramer’s apartment and Kramer moves into his.
Living in Kramer’s apartment turns Jerry into Kramer, while Kramer takes on Jerry’s usual role as the wry voice of reason. Watching Michael Richards play Jerry Seinfeld and the latter play Cosmo Kramer is a delight.
8 The Abstinence
- Episode 8 of Season 9
When George’s girlfriend contracts mono and he’s forced to abstain from sex, he’s suddenly more focused and becomes an intelligent sophisticate.
Elaine, on the other hand, who is also in a sexless relationship (because her boyfriend is studying for medical school and she wants to marry a doctor), follows the opposite trajectory, gradually getting stupider and more juvenile.
7 The Merv Griffin Show
- Episode 6 of Season 9
This season 9 episode has drawn some controversy in recent years, as the B-plot of Jerry drugging his girlfriend, so he can play with her vintage toy collection has come to be viewed as an ominous allegory.
But surprisingly, it’s still one of the top-rated episodes of the show on IMDb, even if the premise of Kramer and Newman digging TV sets out of a dumpster and pretending to host a talk show feels like it was scraped out of the bottom of the barrel.
6 The Marine Biologist
- Episode 14 of Season 5
George is perfectly comfortable when he’s living one of his own lies, like his architect persona Art Vandelay. However, Jerry throws him a curve ball in “The Marine Biologist” when he tells George’s old crush that he’s since become a marine biologist.
This episode has one of Seinfeld’s greatest endings, dovetailing Kramer’s beach golf with George’s marine biology gambit. After telling the story of how he heroically saved a beached whale, George reveals the obstruction: a golf ball. (Specifically, a Titleist.)
5 The Bizarro Jerry
- Episode 3 of Season 8
After Larry David left Seinfeld (leaving behind a live grenade on his way out with Susan Ross’ death in the season 7 finale), Jerry Seinfeld took over as the sole head writer. With full creative control, Seinfeld introduced some meta elements into the eighth and ninth seasons.
“The Bizarro Jerry,” in particular, which uses a Superman reference to look at the characters through a self-aware lens, stands out as an idea that probably might not have come to pass if David had remained on the show.
4 The Soup Nazi
- Episode 6 of Season 7
Larry Thomas gave arguably the most memorable guest performance in Seinfeld’s history when he played the titular character in season 7’s “The Soup Nazi.” He became an icon with four words: “No soup for you!”
Elaine’s rivalry with the Soup Nazi gives the episode a great narrative backbone to explore the character, who was based on a real soup vendor that the writers encountered in New York.
3 The Outing
- Episode 17 of Season 4
There are a lot of episodes from ‘90s sitcoms about "gay panic" that have aged like milk. Seinfeld’s “The Outing” has aged surprisingly well, and it’s all thanks to one phrase: “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
That phrase made the episode about the fear of being politically incorrect, a topic that is more relevant today than back in the '90s.
2 The Opposite
- Episode 22 of Season 5
In the season 5 finale “The Opposite,” George discerns that his natural instinct has constantly let him down; consequently, he decides to do the opposite of what he would usually do. Within days, George has a new girlfriend, a dream job with the Yankees, and is moving out of his parents’ house.
As George’s life improves, Elaine’s life falls apart as she “becomes” George. This ties in nicely with Jerry’s realization that things always work out for him – whenever a door is closed in Jerry’s life, a window is opened.
1 The Contest
- Episode 11 of Season 4
It should come as no surprise to Seinfeld fans that season 4’s “The Contest” is the highest-rated Seinfeld episode (technically, it's tied with "The Opposite", but this episode is better remembered by most). It is the go-to candidate for one of the best Seinfeld episodes and even ranked in the top spot in TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time.
What really makes this episode special is Larry David’s Emmy-winning script, which flagrantly discusses masturbation at length for 22 minutes with nothing but network censor-friendly euphemisms, such as the infamous "Master of my Domain" line.