Dark Jokes in Seinfeld You May Have Missed
Seinfeld has always had a pretty dark sense of humor. Whether it be George's restrained jubilation in response to his fiance's passing or Jerry making out during Schindler's List, the show frequently turned tragic topics into comedy. This was a core part of the show's philosophy. The show's mantra was even "no hugging, no learning."
Another defining quality of Seinfeld is its unusually dense dialogue, that comes packed with references to all matter of pop cultural and historical matters. Jokes casually make references to John Cheever, Looney Tunes, or regional celery-flavored sodas. Sometimes catching the jokes in Seinfeld feels like watching Jeopardy. It therefore shouldn't be too surprising that there are a handful of jokes in the series that I think stand out for being A) shockingly dark (even for Seinfeld) and B) subtle enough that they likely went over viewers' heads. I am willing to bet that even many Seinfeld superfans missed some of these. Below is a list of a few standout moments, along with some cultural context.
I typically post this stuff on my Instagram: @ChampagneVideoStore. However, some of the subject matter is likely to get flagged by Instagram's content moderation. Rather than invoke Zuckerberg's wrath, I decided to just turn this into a standalone blog post here. While you're here, feel free to check out my VHS replicas of Rochelle Rochelle or Sack Lunch!
Wilding
In “The Non Fat Yogurt,” Jerry ridicules a proposal that everyone in New York start wearing nametags. “Oh, I see. So you can go, ‘Hey, you know who I saw wilding today? Herb!’”“Wilding” was a term associated with the 1989 Central Park jogger rape case. Police insisted that "wilding" was slang in urban culture for a supposed pastime of going out in public and committing senseless violence on strangers for sport. This claim was repeated by the many in the media and contributed to a moral panic about crime in New York City. In reality, “wilding” had never been used as a slang term prior to this case. Authorities most likely misheard the suspects quoting the song “Wild Thing” by Tone Loc and jumped to some extreme conclusions about what that meant. The term has since become symbolic of racism in media and the justice system.
You can still get the gist of Jerry's joke without knowledge of NYC crime hysteria from the 90's. But when you are familar with the history and implicaitons of the word "wilding," it can be a bit jarring to here tossed off so casually.
George warns against drinking bleach.
In “The Pothole,” Jerry becomes obsessed with sterilizing his girlfriend’s mouth after she uses a toothbrush that fell in the toilet. At one point, he asks George if it is safe to consume bleach if you dilute it first. George immediately responds, “No. Stings the throat." He then promptly moves along and changes the subject. This may just sound like George being George, but it hints at something a little darker.The implication is that George is speaking from experience and that he had actually tried drinking bleach in a failed suicide attempt. He learned the hard way the at it stings the throat. It may sound like I'm reading way too much into this, but there is actually some solid proof that was exactly what's being implied. The season 8 DVD of Seinfeld includes a commentary track with Jerry Seinfeld on this episode. Jerry chuckles and verifies that is exactly what George is alluding to here. The clip below includes the commentary.
George has always been depressed and neurotic. Suicidal kinda seems like a whole other level for him. However, this technically isn't the only time that George touches on this subject matter. When he finds out his parents are getting divorced in The Chinese Woman, George opens the oven in Jerry's apartment and sticks his head inside. When he wants to get a nickname ("I think I've done all I can with George Costanza"), Jerry matter-of-factly asks, "Is this the nickname talk or the suicide talk?" There's even a blooper for scene where Jason Alexander improvised a bit that involved him hanging a neuce from the ceiling in his Yankees office. The subject matter has come up elsewhere in the show too. Hell, there's a whole episode called "The Suicide." Something about this line really stands out to me though.
"Serbs are fanatic about their showers."
In The Showerhead, Newman says he tracked down black market showerheads made in the former Yugoslavia, excitedly noting “Serbs are fanatic about their showers.” Jerry quips “Not from the footage I’ve seen.” The line sounds like Jerry just being dismissive of Newman, but it does stand out a little bit in its specificity.After the collapse of the Soviet Union, parts of Eastern Europe were ravaged by the Yugoslav Wars in the 90’s. Much of the contemporary news coverage would show Serbian refugees fleeing their homes. The footage below, for example, was broadcast just six months before the Seinfeld episode aired. As you can imagine, these refugees were often disheveled and destitute. In other words: they were in need of a good shower. Jerry’s comment seems to be alluding to this.
Mr. Ross purchasing gun in The Finale.
In the series finale of Seinfeld, a ton of old characters return to watch the trial. This includes Mr. and Mrs. Ross, the parents of George’s deceased fiance. It's pretty clear that the Ross's blame George for Susan's death. In a serious moment during the trial, the Ross's actually interrupt the proceedings to shout at George and call him a murderer.A brief moment later in the episode hints at Mr. Ross’s grim intentions. There is a montage of various characters killing time in the small town while they await the verdict. Most of it is pretty light and funny: we see Keith Hernandez and Mickey playing pool, the Soup Nazi getting mad at Poppy's food critiques, and so on. At the end of this montage, there is a brief moment where Mr. Ross is purchasing a gun. You then see him stare at it intently. This clip is only 3 seconds at the end of a montage, so it's very easy to miss or just not think about. However, it is clearly hinting that if George wasn’t found guilty in the trial, then Mr. Ross would take justice into his own hands and kill George shortly afterwards.
"What took you so long?"
In "The Engagement," Kramer, Elaine, and Newman kidnap a noisy dog, but are eventually caught by the cops. When police knock on Newman’s door, he answers with a very nonchalant “What took you so long?”This greeting is a direct reference to David Berkowitz, the “Son of Sam” serial killer. After a 13-month spree, police finally tracked down Berkowitz. An oft-repeated anecdote is that when police approach him for his arrest, Berkowitz greeted them with “Well, you got me. How come it took you so much time?”
The Seinfeld writers must have really got a kick out of Son of Sam, because he gets mentioned a couple other times in the show. Newman (again) says he used to share a mail route with Berkowitz and even has his old mailbag in "The Diplomat's Club." In "The Junk Mail," George mishears Fragile Frankie Merman yelling "Seinefld's van" as "Son of Sam" and panics.
Soup Nazi going to Argentina
In a famous episode of Seinfeld, a chef is nicknamed "The Soup Nazi" because of how fascistic he is when it comes to serving soup. There is one particular line that takes it a step further and likely went over the head over a lot of the audience. At the end of the episode, Newman says that the Soup Nazi has closed his kitchen and is moving to Argentina. This also comes up again in The Finale. When the Soup Nazi takes the stand, he mentions he had to move to Argentina after closing his store.Argentina wasn't chosen at random. After World War II ended, many Nazis tried to escape Europe and avoid prosecution by fleeing to South American countries via covert "ratline" routes. The most popular destination seemed to be Argentina. Yev Kassem, the Soup Nazi, was also fleeing for Argentina after defeat, just like the real Nazis.
The writers had even mused an additional scene to play over the credits that would take this idea to the next step. Writer David Mandel once told Entertainment Weekly that the writers jokingly considered a scene wher "the Soup Nazi would return to the other Nazis — the actual former Nazi war criminals — with his soup recipes.” The idea would evidently be a parody of The Boys from Brazil, a 1978 film about Nazis that fled to South America. Mandel described the vision: "Going down a river and seeing lots of young boys with blue eyes from experimentation with the soups — it was a full coming together of soup and Nazi."
Well, that's all for this post. Any other dark, subtle jokes I missed? Let me know on Instagram.
While you're here, why don't you check out the rental selection? We have plenty of Gene picks. VHS replicas of Rochelle Rochelle and Sack Lunch are available today and they make the perfect gift of a Seinfeld fan.
