George Costanza

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
This article does not adequately cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. (help, get involved!)
Any unsourced material that has been or is likely to be challenged may be removed at any time.
This article has been tagged since March 2007.
George Louis Costanza
First appearance The Seinfeld Chronicles
Last appearance The Finale, Part II
Cause/Reason Incarcerated
Information
Aliases Art Vandelay
Gender Male
Age 39 (by end of series)
Occupation various jobs
Family Frank (father)
Estelle (mother)
Brother
Portrayed by Jason Alexander
Created by Larry David.
Considerably based on Larry.

George Louis Costanza (born April 1959) is a fictional character on the United States-based television sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), played by Jason Alexander. He has variously been described as a "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man" (by Elaine Benes), "Lord of the Idiots" (by Costanza himself), and as "the greatest sitcom character of all time". [1] [2]

George is neurotic, self-loathing, and dominated by his parents, Frank and Estelle. He has been best friends with Jerry Seinfeld since their middle school years.

George exhibits a number of negative character traits, among them stinginess, dishonesty, insecurity, and neurosis. Many of these traits form the basis for his involvement in various plots, schemes, and awkward social encounters. Episode plots frequently feature George manufacturing elaborate deceptions at work or in his relationships in order to gain or maintain some small or imagined advantage. George appears in every single episode except for "The Pen" in the third season.

His relationships with women are always unsuccessful. His most disastrous relationship, an engagement to Susan Ross, is one of the few that ends "well" for George; he fears marriage and Susan's unexpected death saves him from the commitment. However, even this comes back to "bite him in the butt"—her parents create a foundation in her honor and endow it with the land, mansions, and money that George might have inherited.

Although often referred to as being dumb by his friends (notably Elaine), a contention George does not really argue with, there is every reason to believe George is a fairly intelligent man. He's considered an expert liar, and is often able to talk his way out of extraordinary situations. His skeptical, almost paranoid, nature also makes it extremely difficult for someone to put one over on him.

George is based primarily upon co-creator Larry David (see 5th Season DVD Special Feature "Jason + Larry = George"), and named after Jerry Seinfeld's college classmate Michael Costanza (who appeared in the 3rd Season episode "The Parking Space"). Many of George's predicaments were based on past real-life experiences of David. In "The Revenge", for example, when George quits his job in a fury only to realize his actions were a mistake, he goes back the next day as if nothing happened, mirroring David's actions while working as a writer for Saturday Night Live, when he quit and then returned to his job in the same manner.

Alexander, from his first audition for the part, based the character George on Woody Allen. As the show progressed, Alexander discovered that the character was based on David. As Alexander explains in an interview for the Seinfeld DVD, during an early conversation with David, Alexander questioned a script, saying, "This could never happen to anyone, and even if it did, no human being would react like this." David replied, "What do you mean? This happened to me once, and this is exactly how I reacted!"

Contents

[edit] Family and background

George is half Italian and half Jewish [3], the son of Frank and Estelle Costanza, who are described as "psychopath[s]" by Jerry ("The Puffy Shirt"); "loud" and "always fighting" by Helen Seinfeld ("The Raincoats, Part 1"); and "sick" by the father of Susan Ross ("The Rye"). The constant bickering and bizarre behavior of his parents is often cited as a reason for George's adult neurosis and eccentricity: Jerry comments that George "could have been normal" had the Costanzas divorced thirty years earlier ("The Chinese Woman"), and George describes himself as "the result of my parents having stayed together" ("The Shoes"). In "The Suicide," George makes reference to a brother that "once impregnated a woman named Pauline." The brother is referenced again in "The Parking Space" but the brother is never referenced elsewhere, nor does he make an appearance in the series.

George has two known cousins. One of them is Shelly, who appeared in "The Contest" and his other cousin is Rhisa, appears in "The Junk Mail," referred to by George as Frank's "brother's daughter," although this uncle does not appear, either; however, it is mentioned at another time that George has an uncle Moe, who "died a young man" ("The Money"). George also had an aunt, "Aunt Baby," who died at the age of 7 of internal problems ("The Money"). When asked by his wife how old Aunt Baby would be today if she had lived, Frank Costanza replied, "she'd never make it". In "The Doll," it is revealed that Frank Sinatra Costanza has a cousin, Carlo.

  • George gets out of relationships by telling the girl, "It's not you, it's me." In "The Lip Reader", a girl tries to use it on him, and he tells her that he invented it.

[edit] Susan

George becomes engaged to Susan Biddle Ross, a wealthy executive at NBC who approved Jerry and George's show-within-the-show sitcom pilot. George and Susan date for a year, during which time the commitment-phobic George is constantly trying to find ways to end their relationship without actually having to initiate the breakup with her. In "The Engagement," he proposes to her in a short-lived bout of midlife crisis, after he and Jerry had made a "pact" to move forward with their lives. When Jerry breaks up with his girlfriend and declares the deal over, George panics and again tries repeatedly to weasel out of his engagement. He gets his wish days before the wedding in "The Invitations", when he inadvertently causes her death by selecting cheap envelopes for their wedding invitations, not knowing they contained toxic glue. When notified of her death at the hospital, George displays a combination of shock, apathy and relief. Susan's parents, never knowing the specifics behind her poisoning but suspecting George was somehow involved, never forgive him for this, and they appoint him to the Board of Directors of the Susan Biddle Ross Foundation to keep him trapped under their influence and to ensure that he would never get any of Susan's inheritance.

[edit] Religion

Unlike Jerry, George is never specifically identified as Jewish - or any other religion. But according to some hints given in the show, it is most likely that he is Catholic.

  • In the episode "The Fatigues," it is learned that Frank, George's father, is a member of the Knights of Columbus, an all-Catholic fraternal organization.
  • It is revealed Frank has relatives in Italy, and lived in Italy for part of his early childhood
  • In "The Understudy" Jerry tells Elaine that Frank Costanza sold religious articles like statues of Jesus and the holy virgin Mary, which are obviously symbols of the Catholic relgion.
  • George sometimes refers to "Mother of God", using it as an expression of being stunned (e.g. in "The Rye").

However his depiction in the series suggests at times that he might be Jewish:

  • In two separate episodes, George whistles or wordlessly sings "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof, a musical about Jewish life.
  • In "The Serenity Now," George provides Elaine with sage advice on why her former boss Mr. Lippman and his son are so attracted to her. George says "Well...They're Jewish, and you're a shiksa...You've got 'shiksappeal'. Jewish men love the idea of meeting a woman that's not like their mother."
  • When Estelle Harris, who plays George's mother joined the cast, and asked Larry David if her character was Jewish, David would only respond with a noncommittal "Why do you care?"[4]

Other allusions to the question of religion:

  • In "The Conversion," George converts to Latvian Orthodox so that he can date his girlfriend who will only date within her faith. When George's parents discover his plan to convert, they are furious (Frank thinks that it's the group that "goes around mutilating squirrels").
  • In "The Strike", it is revealed that George's father Frank invented the December holiday Festivus to counter the commercialism of Christmas. When George was a child, he was forced to celebrate the holiday, and as a result George hates Festivus. George shows his feelings for the holiday when he refuses to take down Frank in the Feats of Strength (but Frank provokes him into doing it anyway).
  • In "The Pilot, Part 1," it is revealed that George doesn't believe in God except for the "bad things" in life.

[edit] Professional life

George's professional life is unstable. He is unable to remain in any job for any great length of time before making an embarrassing blunder and getting fired. Very often the blunder is lying and trying to cover it up only to have it all fall apart.

Over the course of the series, he works for a real estate transaction services firm (Rick Bahr Properties), Elaine's company (Pendant Publishing), the New York Yankees (his longest running job), a playground equipment company (Play Now), an industrial smoothing company (Kruger Industrial Smoothing), and other places. He is fired from his job at Pendant Publishing for having sex with the cleaning woman on his desk in "The Red Dot" (he professes he's always been attracted to cleaning women).

His original job when the series starts is as a real estate agent; he ends up quitting, only to slip his boss a mickey in "The Revenge". It remains to be seen why George would be able to collect unemployment when he quit his job without any good reason. His dream job is to be an architect, a job he would often pretend to have; he first deigns to be one in "The Stakeout", and he claims in "The Race" that he had designed "the new addition to the Guggenheim." In "The Van Buren Boys," he denies his young protégé a scholarship from the Susan Ross Foundation when the young man decides he no longer wants to be an architect, and wants to become a city planner instead. In "The Marine Biologist," Jerry tells a girl George wanted to impress that George is a marine biologist. The plan backfires when George is called upon to save a beached whale with a golf ball in its blowhole; he saves the whale, but the woman tells him off when he confesses that he is not, in fact, a marine biologist.

During the fourth season of the series, George gains experience as a sitcom writer as he helps Jerry to write the pilot for the fictitious show Jerry. While pitching the concept of a "show about nothing" to NBC executives, George claims to have written an off-off-Broadway play entitled La Cocina, about a Mexican chef named Pepe. George claims Pepe mimed the preparation of tamales, and it was the mime aspect that made the play so funny.

[edit] Jobs held/places of employment

[edit] Jobs he falsely claimed to hold

[edit] Pseudonyms

  • Art Vandelay (taken from the name prefixes van, de, and lé) first appears in the episode "The Stakeout", in which George and Jerry need an excuse to give to a woman as to why they are waiting in the lobby of the office building where she worked. Their excuse is that they were meeting Art Vandelay, an importer/exporter, for lunch. The name originates as Art Core, before an indecisive George morphs it first into Art Corevelay, and finally, Art Vandelay. In one instance ("The Boyfriend, Part 1"), George tells the unemployment office he is close to getting a job at "Vandelay Industries." The name is also used as a fake boyfriend of Elaine. Here, Art is also an importer/exporter, and used as a cover story for when George is going on a date with Marisa Tomei, claiming that George and Elaine are meeting to discuss a problem with her boyfriend so that Susan does not think that George is having an affair. George also uses the pseudonym when interviewing for a job with Elaine's boss in "The Red Dot". When asked which authors he reads the answer is "Art Vandelay" from New York. In "The Serenity Now", George calls up fake customers, one of which is "Mr. Vandelay", pretending to get computer orders. In "The Bizarro Jerry" George goes to an office and asks for Mr. Vandelay, as part of a setup to approach an attractive secretary. Finally, in "The Puerto Rican Day", George pretends to be Vandelay (along with Jerry as Varnson and Kramer as Pennypacker) to try and sneak into an open house to watch a Mets game, that they had left because they were getting blown out. In the episode "The Finale," the name of the presiding judge is actually Arthur Vandelay, much to the amazement of George. George says he thinks it is "good luck" that that is the judge's name.
  • At one point ("The Maid"), George wants to be known as T-Bone, but his co-workers at Kruger Industrial Smoothing nickname him Koko because of the way he had flailed his arms when demanding the nickname "T-Bone" back from a coworker. George deliberately hires a woman named Coco to work there, only to be nicknamed Gammy instead.
  • George reveals that if he were to be a porn star, his name would be Buck Naked. ("The Outing")
  • During a very long period of unemployment for George, Jerry calls George Biff, referring to the Biff Loman character in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. George is also compared to Biff Loman by the daughter of Lorene Sokol, the woman in charge of George's unemployment benefits.
  • George once assumes the identity of a man named O'Brien in order to take his limousine ("The Limo"), only to later discover this man was the leader of a white supremacist neo-nazi group and was on his way to make his first public appearance, at Madison Square Garden.
  • In "The Watch", a doorman mistakenly tells Mr. Dalrymple that a "George Bonanza" has arrived to see him.
  • In "The Chinese Restaurant", the host calls for a "Cartwright" to answer a call from George's girlfriend.
  • George's attempt to streak at Yankee Stadium while wearing a body suit earned him the name Body Suit Man. ("The Millennium")
  • In "The Library", George is reunited with his former old high school teacher who always called him "Cantstandya".

[edit] Independent George

George views himself as being made up of two distinct psyches: "Independent George" and "Relationship George." The latter is the tedious personality he feels compelled to adopt within the context of his personal relationship with women (Susan Biddle Ross being the woman in question) in order to maintain that relationship. George does not care for the dull persona of Relationship George, viewing it as a sort of prison. In contrast, Independent George is a reflection of George's true nature and the George he could be within the sanctuary of his life away from Susan. Independent George is made up of several important subpersonas: Movie George, Coffee Shop George, Liar George, and Bawdy George. The persona of Independent George is the George Jerry knew and grew up with.

Independent George is nearly killed in the episode, "The Pool Guy." When Elaine begins hanging out with Susan, George panics because he feels his "worlds are colliding" (George says that "if Relationship George walks through this door, he will kill Independent George! A George divided against itself cannot stand!"). Ultimately, the crisis is abated when Susan "breaks up" with Elaine because she finds the triviality of the group's interactions unappealing, saying that "all you ever do" is sit around at the coffee shop talking and sit around Jerry's apartment talking.

[edit] Characteristics

George possesses many negative character traits, most of which usually do him harm, as illustrated by the following events initiated by him, and the manner in which they backfire.

[edit] Cheapness

  • Scrounges for change under a vending machine ("The Dealership")
  • He wears the same pair of Nike shoes in every single episode. (There is at least one notable exception to this: George wears Timberland boots when he meets Jerry's friend Nina, and subsequently complains that he must now always wear them in her presence, since they make him two inches taller. ("The Betrayal"))
  • Is rarely seen paying for anything, at least not without a display of outrage at the cost of the goods or services purchased.
  • While having what he believes to be a heart attack at Monk's, notices the check and insists that the waitress overcharged him. ("The Heart Attack")
  • Invents a phony charity called "The Human Fund" ("The Strike"), as a way of avoiding giving Christmas presents to colleagues. (The cards, according to Jerry, read "a donation has been made in your name to the Human Fund. The Human Fund - Money for People.")
  • Is appalled at the notion of having to purchase gifts for friends ("The Handicap Spot"), and only buys a cashmere sweater as a gift for Elaine because it is at a low price due to its being tainted by a "red dot." ("The Red Dot")
  • Inadvertently causes the death of his fiancée by insisting on purchasing inexpensive wedding invitations featuring toxic glue on the envelope seal. ("The Invitations")
  • On more than one occasion, leaves a tip at the coffee shop only to later return and take back a dollar--once directly out of the waitress' hand. ("The Stock Tip")
  • George buys a used wheelchair for Kramer's girlfriend, and the brakes later fail her on a hill. ("The Handicap Spot")
  • When finding his girlfriend's father's cabin to be burning, his first remark is "I just remembered you never gave me back the change from the tolls." (The Bubble Boy)
  • Will search endlessly for a parking space rather than parking in a garage; equates paying for parking with going to a prostitute: "Why should I pay, when if I apply myself, maybe I could get it for free." ("The Parking Space")
  • When he left tip at Paesanos and the worker didn't see him leave it he later said to Jerry Seinfeld that it was a waste of money. The second time, he attempted to time the delivery of the tip with a moment in which the worker would see him, which ended up looking like he was removing money from the tip jar, which got him banned from the restaurant. ("The Calzone")
  • Seeks (at Kramer's suggestion) a "bereavement discount" for an airline ticket after his girlfriend's aunt dies. ("The Implant")
  • Spends an entire episode trying to get back at a woman at Monks because she owed him ten dollars. ("The Gum")
  • Prefers his club soda without ice because he feels he gets more without ice in it. ("The Jacket")

[edit] Cheating

  • Passes an incomplete IQ test through an open window to Elaine in order to cheat to impress his one-time girlfriend on the other side of the door. Ironically, Elaine achieves a worse score than George would have due to distractions while at Babu's restaurant. ("The Cafe")
  • Claims to have won "The Contest," though in the finale, he admits to Jerry that he cheated.
  • Purchases a large number of computers from himself in order to win a sales contest against childhood rival Lloyd Braun. ("The Serenity Now")
  • Writes notes on his hand to help him pass a test required for conversion to the Latvian Orthodox church. ("The Conversion")
  • Writes notes on his hand to help him have better sex with his girlfriend. ("The Fusilli Jerry")
  • Attempts to earn frequent flier miles through his credit card company on a refunded airline ticket. ("The Airport")
  • Goes behind his fiance's back in order to see if he can hit it off with Marisa Tomei. ("The Cadillac, Part 1 and 2")
  • Actually is complicit in adultery with a married woman. ("The Good Samaritan")

[edit] General eccentricity

  • When either threatened or pleased, tends to refer to himself in the third person, a la "George is getting upset!" or "George likes his chicken spicy." He may have accidentally acquired this way of speaking from his basketball playing friend Jimmy. ("The Jimmy") It is also possible that it came when he worked for the Yankees under George Steinbrenner.
  • Displays an almost impetuous over-eagerness to invest in risky, unstable, or generally unsound business ventures (importing special shoes designed to increase one's vertical leap ("The Jimmy"), investment in unstable stocks ("The Stock Tip"), bought art on two occasions with the hope they would increase in value ("The Junior Mint"), dates an unpleasant and unattractive woman, the daughter of an employee of the unemployment office, to maintain his benefits ("The Boyfriend, Part 1 and Part 2").
  • Is seemingly unable to partake in a mutually satisfying, pleasant, genial conversation with anyone except his immediate circle of friends (almost instantly offends a woman who offers him a ride through a parking garage by referring negatively to Scientology, for example). ("The Parking Garage")
  • Celebrates his freedom from his (dead) fiancee by lounging mostly nude in his apartment and consuming a block of cheese "the size of a car battery". To Jerry's chagrin, this was what George liked to refer to as a "bachelor's paradise." ("The Foundation")
  • In "The Comeback", George is upset that he couldn't think of a comeback to a colleague's insult that George was eating too much shrimp - "the ocean called, they're running out of shrimp" - George spends significant time thinking of a comeback. He thinks he has the ideal response with "well, the Jerk Store called, they're running out of you!" but he panics when his colleague then quickly thinks up another response to that, "What's the difference? You're their all-time best seller!". George comes back with, "oh yeah, well I had sex with your wife," only to be told by an associate that the man's wife is in a coma.
  • He removes his shirt when going to the toilet. This is first noticed when he came out of Jerry's toilet buttoning-up his shirt, and Jerry questioned him about it. Later, he is at a party and goes to the toilet, but walks out into the party room without his shirt, having forgotten to put it back on. ("The Gymnast").
  • In this same episode George is discovered eating out of the garbage. He attempts to consume a half-eaten eclair that he extracted out of his girlfriend's trash can. Jerry informs George that he has crossed the line that separates man from bum.
  • In the episode "The Kiss Hello", George is shown to have exceptional hearing. He demonstrates this when he leaves the doctor's office while Elaine and the doctor talk, and returns to the office in a rage after hearing (presumably from some distance away) that his appointment from the day before was cancelled because the doctor went skiing with Elaine. This is the only episode where this particular ability of George's comes into play and it is strangely absent in the episode "The Lip Reader" where he needs the lip reader to tell him what a woman is saying from across the room, when in fact, he should be able to hear it perfectly.

[edit] Habitual lying

George comments on one occasion that "my whole life is a sham." Some of the incidents below would support his claim. His lies rarely turn situations to his advantage, however.

  • Invents a fictitious company named "Vandelay Industries" and lies about having a job interview with them, in order to qualify for further unemployment benefits. The fake company is run by the fictitious Art Vandelay and is, according to George, a latex manufacturing company. In order to add verisimilitude, George gives the company's phone number out (which is actually Jerry's home phone number) and requests that Jerry answer the phone using the false company's name. ("The Boyfriend, Part 1" and "Part 2")
  • In other episodes, Art Vandelay is described as an importer/exporter. Art Vandelay is also used as the name of Elaine's fictitious boyfriend, whom George invoked when telling Susan that he was meeting Elaine to discuss problems with "Art" when he actually was meeting Marisa Tomei. George and Elaine fail to fully develop the alibi, and Susan suspects that George is having an affair with Elaine. ("The Cadillac, Part 1" and "Part 2")
  • When Elaine's boss, Mr. Lippman, conducts an impromptu job interview with George, asking him what authors he liked. Pressed for specifics, George mentioned that he likes the fictional Art Vandelay. According to George, Vandelay is an obscure beatnik writer who wrote Venetian Blinds. ("The Red Dot")

(After using the name Art Vandelay until the show's final episode, a judge by that name presides over the trial of the "New York Four," in which the defendants are charged with breaking the Good Samaritan Law in the fictional town of Latham, Massachusetts. Jerry and George take it as a sign that they will be acquitted, but after a swarm of previous guest characters (from Marla the Virgin to the parents of Susan Ross) testify against the four friends, Judge Vandelay sentences George, Jerry, Kramer, and Elaine to a year removed from society. ("The Finale")

  • Wears Kramer's father's wedding band to get women to flirt with him (the conjecture being that women are more attracted to married men). Ironically, when the women ask if he is really married (and he says yes) the women announce that they would have gone out with him otherwise ("The Apartment")
  • Lies about publishing an off-Broadway play when pitching the idea for "Jerry" to NBC executives. ("The Pitch")
  • Takes up smoking and claims it is something he had always done so that Susan would call off the wedding, but the cigarettes caused him to cough and vomit, and the wedding was not called off. ("The Invitations")
  • Left his car parked at Yankee Stadium so that George Steinbrenner would think he was there working even when he wasn't. He extended this facade by turning the space underneath his desk into an area suitable for napping, pretending to be stressed in order to avoid work, and masqueraded as a Communist in order to date a woman whose personal ad appeared in the Daily Worker newspaper. ("The Race")
  • Pretended to be disabled and even acquired his own Rascal electric scooter while working for Play Now, in order to have access to his own private, extra-large bathroom. ("The Butter Shave")
  • Took a book into a bookstore bathroom and tried to put it back on the shelf before leaving. However, he was forced to pay for it, and because the book was "flagged" at all the area bookstores he could not return it to get his money back. ("The Bookstore")
  • Allegedly once told a woman that he coined the phrase "Pardon my French" to impress her. ("The Soul Mate")
  • Pretended to have poor eyesight so that he could get a certain textbook on tape, his reasoning being that whenever he read a book he heard his own voice reading the words. The plan backfired when he realized the narrator on the tape sounded like him. ("The Fatigues")
  • Converted to Latvian Orthodoxy in order to keep a girlfriend. George tells the priest that the reason for his conversion was "I think the hats. The hat conveys that solemn, religious look you want in a faith. Very pious." The plan backfired when his girlfriend travelled to Latvia for a year. ("The Conversion")
  • Told beautiful women that a picture of Jerry's ex-girlfriend was Susan, his dead fiancée, in order to hang out with them at a secret club. After accidentally singeing the picture with his blow-dryer, George clipped a picture from a magazine and used that as his Susan photo, until he made the claim to the model pictured. ("The Bizarro Jerry")
  • Asked one of his girlfriend's relatives for a death certificate at a funeral so that he could get a "bereavement discount" on an airplane ticket. He had travelled to the funeral solely to console the girl and attempt to get closer to her. The plan went awry after George ended up in a fight with Timmy, his girlfriend's brother, who caught George double dipping a potato chip into the dip at the wake. ("The Implant")

[edit] Hypochondria

  • Believes he is having a heart attack after watching a documentary on the subject ("The Heart Attack").
  • Convinced that he has cancer due to a belief that "God won't let me be successful. He'll kill me first!"
  • Shows panic on several occasions as to the thought of having lupus.

[edit] Insecurity

  • While at dinner with Jerry, Elaine and a lawyer he was dating, George made Jerry act "unfunny". George was worried that since the lawyer found him funny, Jerry would seem funnier on his own and George would compare unfavorably in her eyes. Jerry acted morose and serious - in effect, lying for George - but this too backfired when the woman found Jerry attractive, calling him "dark and disturbed". ("The Visa")
  • Following a job interview, George is not sure whether he got the job or not - and because his would-be boss tells George that he understands things immediately, George is afraid to ask. He then shows up at work, and spends a week supposedly working on the Penske file, but in reality does nothing. ("The Barber"). This episode spawned the catchphrase "You're not Penske material."
  • Afraid of getting booted from Steinbrenner's good graces over the calzones, in desperation he asks Newman and Kramer to get the calzones for him, both to no avail. ("The Calzone")

[edit] Insincerity

  • Tried to become friends with an African-American man solely to prove to his boss (who is also African-American) that he was not racist. ("The Diplomat's Club")
  • Performed a series of stunts at Yankee Stadium, such as ruining Babe Ruth's jersey, streaking across the field in a body suit (he instead gained popularity with the fans as "Body Suit Man") and wrecked the team's 1996 World Series trophy with his car, all in an attempt to make George Steinbrenner fire him so he can take a job offer from the New York Mets. In the end, George's boss, Mr. Wilhelm, comes in and claims he made George do those things. Wilhelm is thus fired instead, and he is the one hired by the Mets. ("The Millennium")
  • Conned a blind man into taking the Gloria Vanderbilt frames he bought for his eyeglasses in exchange for his frames that pinched the bridge of his nose. ("The Glasses")

[edit] Lack of common sense

  • Pitched story ideas for two other NBC shows while backstage at The Tonight Show. First, George pitched his idea for "the perfect episode of L.A. Law" to Corbin Bernsen, then made a suggestion to George Wendt that the setting of Cheers be changed because it's "enough with the bar already." Bernsen and Wendt sensibly thought little of the ideas, and ridiculed them publicly as guests on the talk show while George was in the audience. ("The Trip, Part 1")
  • When greeting NBC executives at the start of a meeting to finalize their deal for the sitcom, George absent-mindedly kissed Susan on the mouth. Susan was fired the same day because of the incident due to the conflict of interest made evident by the kiss. ("The Virgin")
  • Refuses to carry writing utensils in his pockets because he has an irrational fear that by doing so, said utensil would puncture his scrotum.

[edit] Lack of empathy

  • Competed for an apartment with an SS Andrea Doria survivor by telling the board about his horrifying life and comparing his misfortunes to the disaster survivor, claiming "That's no tragedy! How many people do you lose on a normal cruise? 30? 40?!" He loses the apartment to an ex-boyfriend of Elaine's who bribes the building superintendent with $50. ("The Andrea Doria")
  • Agreed to play Trivial Pursuit with Donald Sanger, the Bubble Boy, in upstate New York and got into a petty argument when George insisted the answer to a question was "Moops" but Donald said it was "Moors" (the game card had a misprint). Susan ended up deflating the Bubble Boy's protective bubble inadvertently, and George was accused of trying to kill Donald. ("The Bubble Boy")
  • Refused to allow Susan's cousin, who is about to give birth, to use the name "Seven," which he picked out for his own child. ("The Seven")

[edit] Lack of morals

  • Called Marisa Tomei on the eve of Susan's funeral to arrange a date: "I got the funeral tomorrow but... my weekend is pretty wide open." She was no longer interested. ("The Invitations")
  • Went to see Elaine's friend who is heavily sedated in the hospital to obtain Marisa Tomei's phone number. ("The Cadillac, Part 1")
  • During a fire that had been started accidentally at a child's birthday party, George ran across the house, pushing and knocking everyone and everything in his path (including an elderly woman with her walker, a clown, and several children), screaming "Fire!" as he ran to the door. When asked by a firefighter how he could live with himself, George responded "It's not easy." He later swore to the homeowner, whom he was trying to date, that he had changed, but when a prop comic pulled out a water gun at the lounge she worked at, he repeated the panicked performance. ("The Fire")
  • Having recently bought some artwork of a dying man, George feels disappointment upon learning the patient is not going to die. His disappointment stems from the fact that George only bought the artwork expecting him to die and for the value of the artwork to therefore increase. ("The Junior Mint")

[edit] Lack of respect for the privacy of others

  • Peeks at the information on a video store's computer screen to find out who had checked out the video for Breakfast at Tiffany's in order to show up at that family's apartment and finagle his way in, all to avoid reading for his book club. The effort backfires when he spills grape juice on the sofa and is ejected before finishing the movie. ("The Couch")
  • Walks in on Jerry's girlfriend while in the Hamptons after Elaine had told him not to go into the room because she was changing. George does this because Jerry's girlfriend had walk in on him while he was changing the night before and had seen the effects of "significant shrinkage". ("The Hamptons")

[edit] Mental instability

  • George is suspected to be mentally unstable by former high school friend Deena after she repeatedly catches him acting abnormally. In "The Gum", Deena first suspects George may be unstable after noticing striking similarities between his behaviour and that of her mentally unstable father. She feels George has the traits of someone who is mentally unfit, including "nervousness", "irritability", "paranoia" and "pleasure in the misfortune of others". Then, in "The Doll", she catches him in Monk's yelling at a doll that resembles his mother. Finally, in "The Bottle Deposit" Deena meets George at the mental asylum where she is visiting her father. George, who was mistakenly sent there by George Steinbrenner, asks for her help in getting him out, but she leaves him there, happy that he is "finally getting the treatment he needs".

[edit] Misplaced nostalgia

  • Tried to get the Frogger game to his house from Mario's Pizzeria, where he and Jerry frequented when they were younger. The game is running on batteries, because George wants to preserve his all-time high score on the console (the high scores would be erased were the machine to lose power). Unfortunately, while George tried in vain to get the console to the other side of the street after performing a series of maneuvers resembling the game itself, a truck destroyed the machine, after which Jerry remarked, "Game over." ("The Frogger")
  • When Elaine asked him if he ever said "I love you" to a non-family member, his humorous response was, "Once, to a dog. He licked himself and left the room". To which Jerry replies: "So it wasn't a total loss." ("The Face Painter")
  • He gets upset when a clown at a child's party doesn't know who Bozo was. ("The Fire")

[edit] Misplaced sense of justice

  • Crashed a baby shower hosted by Elaine to confront an ex-girlfriend who threw chocolate syrup on his red shirt during a performance. Not only did he not get the apology he wanted, but he ruined the party for Elaine and had his red shirt soiled again by the ex-girlfriend. George meekly acquiesced in carrying her presents down to her car anyway. ("The Baby Shower")
  • Purchased a Twix bar from the candy machine from a car dealership, only to see the candy get stuck, and then lost it to a mechanic who bought another Twix, getting two packages. George then heads to the complaint department demanding an apology, a refund, and for "that man to be fired." ("The Dealership")
  • Demanded that an area hospital pay for his damaged car after a man committed suicide by jumping off the hospital roof and landing on George's car. ("The Bris")
  • Accuses his girlfriend of taking credit for his purchase of Elaine's 'Big Salad'. ("The Big Salad")
  • States that if he were running for office he would ask for the death penalty for double-parkers. (Ironic, considering he suggested Kramer double-park). ("The Dinner Party")

[edit] Obsessiveness

  • Became obsessed with Marisa Tomei after hearing that Elaine's friend was going to set him up with her. He began watching the movies My Cousin Vinny and Only You repetitively which made Susan suspicious of his obsession. ("The Cadillac, Part 1 and 2")
  • After learning that Dr. John Voight was the owner of the 1986 Chrysler LeBaron convertible, he continues to think as well as tell people that the car was owned by Jon Voight.
  • Obsesses over people using the It's not you, it's me routine, claiming he invented it.
  • Obsesses over a loaf of marble rye bread that his parents took back from the Rosses, asks Jerry and Kramer to help him create a diversion so he can get the loaf in time before Susan's parents arrive home, a plan which ultimately backfires. ("The Rye")
  • Obsessed with getting revenge against an ex-girlfriend who spilt chocolate syrup on a red shirt. ("The Baby Shower")
  • Frequently obsesses over trying to be better then childhood rival Lloyd Braun.
  • Obsesses over the fact he thought his boss, Mr. Morgan looked like boxer Sugar Ray Leonard. ("The Diplomat's Club")
  • Obsesses over Jerry's girlfriend Jodi by talking about her constantly to his girlfriend Karen. ("The Masseuse")
  • Obsesses over why the actor playing Kramer in the pilot of "Jerry" would steal a box of raisins. ("The Pilot, Part 1 and 2")
  • Obsesses over Elaine after she leaves an erotic message on Jerry's answering machine. ("The Tape")

[edit] Overindulgence

  • Coverage of a televised tennis tournament showed him sloppily eating a sundae. His girlfriend, Gwen, broke up with him after seeing it on television coverage of the tournament. ("The Lip Reader")
  • Pulled a partially eaten eclair out of a trash can and was caught eating it by his girlfriend's mother. ("The Gymnast")
  • Scarfs finger foods and double dips a chip at the wake of a girlfriend's relative. ("The Implant")
  • Makes a modest attempt at the "trifecta", consisting of eating a pastrami sandwich, watching television, and having sex all at the same time. He fails and exclaims he "flew too close to the sun on the wings of pastrami." ("The Blood")
  • Eats far more than his share of shrimp cocktail during a business meeting.("The Comeback")
  • Asks a server at Elaine's business party where she comes out of the kitchen so that he may get a jump on the next batch of finger foods.("The Little Kicks")
  • Fantasizes about eating large amounts of cheese.("The Foundation")

[edit] Pessimism

  • Claims to believe in God only for the bad things. ("The Pilot, Part I")

[edit] Schadenfreude

  • Takes delight when hearing that longtime rival Lloyd Braun spent time in a mental institution ("The Gum"). Also takes delight upon learning that Braun was fired from his post as an advisor to the former mayor of New York City, David Dinkins. ("The Non-Fat Yogurt")
  • Displays feelings of "restrained jubilation" to the doctor who gives him the news that his fiancee had died. (occurred in "The Invitations", as described as such in "The Finale")
  • When confronted about the joy he takes in the misfortune of others he replies "all my friends do that."

[edit] Sexual incompetence

  • After failing to please his girlfriend numerous times in bed George asks Jerry to teach him "the move." Jerry gives long, elaborate details all relevant to George's desire to never be alone again. The first time George attempts the move he fails, giving his girlfriend the sensation that aliens are poking at her body. The second time George thinks ahead and writes "crib notes" on his hand to get it right. He succeeds but is caught when his girlfriend notices the black writing, is disgusted and leaves him. ("The Fusilli Jerry")
  • When Elaine's boyfriend David Puddy decides to stop doing Jerry's move and invent his own, Elaine is less than pleased and describes the bad experience with George and Jerry. George is intrigued and asks if Puddy's move involved "a knuckle." Elaine isn't surprised when George thinks it's his move that Puddy is using on Elaine. ("The Fusilli Jerry")
  • Dislikes the use of condoms because he "can never get them open in time" and true to form, when the time came to use it, he failed to open the package, despite expressing his knowledge of the subject saying "you gotta open it like a bag of chips." ("The Sponge")
  • Mistakenly believes he has impregnated his girlfriend after using a defective condom. ("The Fix-Up")
  • Fantasizes about becoming a porn star named "Buck Naked". ("The Outing")

[edit] Unusual interests

  • Discusses a hidden positive message in the word manure (he says that the second half of the word sounds similar to "newer", and then there is the "ma" part) ("The Soup", "The Cadillac, Part 2")
  • Toilet Paper. Suggests that toilet paper has never changed (until proven wrong by Jerry and Elaine) ("The Face Painter"). In "The Pitch" he mentions how he wondered how toilet paper was used in the American Civil War.
  • An unusual affinity for velvet. He was dating a woman who had velvet-covered furniture and he described being at her apartment as being "ensconced in velvet" ("The Label Maker"). In "The Label Maker" and "The Doodle", George stated that if it were socially acceptable he would "drape [himself] in velvet." In the latter episode, he dated a woman who had absolutely no interest in physical appearances, so he started wearing a velvet jogging suit. This may be an affinity of Larry David's. (See an interview with Larry David on 60 Minutes II.)
  • George wanted to be a ventriloquist. ("The Cafe")

[edit] Vanity

[edit] Quotes

A few notable Costanza quotes:

  • "It's not a lie, if you believe it"
  • "Do you ever just get down on your knees and thank God that you know me and have access to my dementia?"
  • "A George divided against itself cannot stand!"
  • "Simple joke from a simple man"
  • "I can sense the slightest human suffering"

[edit] Pop culture

  • George's famed alias Art Vandelay is the name of a burrito on the menu at Moe's Southwest Grill, a chain of fast casual restaurants (Moe's spells it "Art Vandalay").[5]
  • When George took the job with the Yankees the real Yankees marketing department came up with a Yankee tee shirt that on the back read Costanza and under the name was the 00 (probably referring to Koko).[citation needed]

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  Seinfeld
view • talk • edit
Characters
Main Characters: Jerry Seinfeld • George Costanza • Elaine Benes • Cosmo Kramer
Associated with Jerry: Helen Seinfeld • Morty Seinfeld • Uncle Leo • Kenny Bania • Sally Weaver • Dr. Tim Whatley
Associated with George: Estelle Costanza • Frank Costanza • Susan Ross • Mr. Wilhelm • Mr. Kruger • Lloyd Braun • George Steinbrenner
Associated with Elaine: J. Peterman • David Puddy • Mr. Lippman • Justin Pitt • Sue Ellen Mischke
Associated with Kramer: Newman • Mickey Abbott • Jackie Chiles • Bob Sacamano • Babs Kramer • Lomez
Other: The Soup Nazi • "Crazy" Joe Davola • Minor characters in Seinfeld
Culture of the Seinfeld Universe
Festivus • Master of your domain • Regifting • Shrinkage • Close talker • Fictional films in Seinfeld • Coffee Table Book
Other
Episodes • Running gags • DVD releases
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../g/e/o/George_Costanza_a481.html"
In other languages