Jason Alexander Reveals Unsung Heroes Of ‘Seinfeld’

Actor Jason Alexander is lending his platform and talents to the Not Today Flu campaign, encouraging everyone to go get a flu shot.

“Well, it’s important to me in a general sense because there is absolutely no good use of celebrity other than to stand next to things that are truly important and try and shine a little light on them,” Alexander said during a Zoom video interview last week. “But this was just really beautifully fortuitous. I’m an advocate.

“I have been getting the flu vaccine religiously for well over 20 years. It’s been very effective in my life, and I remember the days when I didn’t get it and how it was costing at times. So Sanofi and the American Nurses Association came to me with a campaign that was actually kind of fun.

“Sometimes these campaigns can be a little cold, a little harsh. This one was kind of fun, had a sense of humor, had a nice twist to it, and so I was just happy to get aboard. I’ve known too many people who have been derailed by flu, and I also have spoken to so many people who are really looking forward to this holiday season, because after two years of COVID, they’re getting back with family and friends, they’re traveling, they’re doing things.

“And the experts are saying this particular flu season could be a rather severe one because we’re all back. We don’t have masks. … Just getting the vaccine takes a second. It’s a fantastic vaccine. And you’re probably not going to get the flu (after receiving the vaccine). If you do, it’s not going to be a devastating flu. It keeps you out of the hospital.”

The celebrity status that enables Alexander to spread the word about the flu shot campaign no doubt came from arguably one of the best sitcom performances of all time, when he played “George Costanza” on NBC’s Seinfeld (1989-1998).

A current project the theater actor turned sitcom star is excited about diving into is The Electric State, a film based on the book with the same name, currently in pre-production and set to be directed by the Russo Brothers (Anthony and Joe), who helmed several of Marvel Studios’ most lucrative and well-received movies.

IMDB.com lists the plot as “an orphaned teenager traverses the American West with a sweet but mysterious robot and an eccentric drifter in search of her younger brother.”

In addition to Jason, the cast of The Electric State also includes Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Stanley Tucci, and Brian Cox.

“Listen, for me, I don’t do a ton of films, and the ones that I generally do are not this kind of film… The Russo Brothers are very exciting. So to have been invited by those guys to do something like this was really astonishing and fun,” Alexander said. “So I’m just looking forward to having a good time.

“They make wonderful movies. Everybody tells me that their sets are some of the most fun, easiest going, just a wonderful place to work, and that is the kind of arena I like to play in. So it should be great fun. But I do hope I bump into all those people (in the cast). I’m not working with all those people, at least not on the page.”

Despite keeping a busy schedule since Seinfeld, Jason mentioned on the You Made It Weird podcast with Pete Holmes that the industry is still trying to type cast him as George over two decades after the show concluded.

“I look at it as neither a blessing nor a— well, I do look at it as a blessing, but not the association with George. George has been an amazing thing in my life,” Alexander told me, regarding the character. “I think for some people, they have seen so much of me doing that character that the assumption could be, if they haven’t seen other work that I’ve done that that’s who I am, and only to that extent would a type casting thing happen.

“What happens sometimes is people like what I did as George and they’re producing something that has a George-like character and they’ll invite me to do that. And my answer turns out to be no, not because I’m offended by the association, but I don’t have a ton of George’s in me and I don’t want to just repeat something I’ve already done.

“So that’s the only impact of the typecasting that isn’t so great. But the blessing of George is and I don’t want to be too sappy about it, but I’ve always felt the acting profession was kind of a selfish profession. And you do it because you seem to be okay at it and you can make a living at it, and people go, ‘Oh, yeah, yeah, thank you. That’s great.’ But I never thought it was a terribly important thing to be doing.

“And my mom, who was a nurse, would have been very happy with my association with this flu campaign, always was telling me, you want to try and live a life that’s in service to other people. What has happened with the Seinfeld show is it has become, over the years, more than just a comedy.

“It is a show where I meet or hear from people seemingly every week who tell me about things they were going through that were very hard, very dark, and they run the gamut from people dying in their lives to just being out of work or being ill themselves. And that show brought them their laughter. That show brought them their happiness.

“And they actually come up to me to thank me for being that in their lives. Well, I cannot tell you how gratifying that is to be of service in that way with something that I never thought could be. Therefore, I can never be frustrated when people want to talk about it or want to say they’ve seen it or they make a mistake and they call me George.

“It is an homage to some connection that we formed from me doing it and then watching it. That has served us both very well. And connection is what it’s all about when you do what I do for a living, so God bless them.”

Alexander hit his stride as George a few seasons into Seinfeld when he realized George was based on co-creator, writer, and producer Larry David. Jason started portraying David and stopped channeling Woody Allen, who he initially used to piece together his performance.

Jason’s brilliant performance as George, AKA Larry, and the layers he gave the character were on display when Alexander had to coach David on set for the Seinfeld reunion depicted in Season 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm (2009).

“It was such a surreal day because … the storyline was that Jason had left the Seinfeld reunion and Larry was going to play George, and the joke was Larry was going to play George. They were shooting Seinfeld scenes with Larry,” Alexander said.

“And I wasn’t supposed to be on the set that day. And I got a call from Larry that morning that said, ‘You have to come down and I don’t know how to do you.’ And I reminded him that I was doing him and all he had to do is do himself. And that was not a good enough answer.

“So I went down. As you saw, I was standing off camera and he basically had me do each line as George, which is him, so that he could do George, which is him. I mean, it was very meta. The whole thing was very surreal. And I thought he did a fine job. I thought he probably very well could have played George, by God.”

Jason agreed that beyond the acting and writing that made Seinfeld a colossal hit, the unsung heroes of the show were the casting directors who nailed not only the cast, but secondary characters and a plethora of special guests who became household names.

“It was a tag team of Meg Liberman and Marc Hirschfeld, I believe, were the two casting directors. … They deserve so much credit,” Alexander said. “They had this encyclopedic memory and Rolodex of wonderful comedians and actors, and every week they would find these offbeat, extraordinary people.

“Sometimes they had a large part and they might be ongoing characters. Sometimes they came in and did one line, but they’d come in and nail these things and elevate the show in this extraordinary way.

“That was one of the great joys I had of working on the show, was showing up every week after having read the script, to go, who did they find? Who’s going to do this? … There were so many people who came and did an episode or two or three of our show, and then the next thing you know, they had gigantic careers and if our show helped launch, then great, but I think they would have gotten there anyway. But it gave them a showcase that was so undeniable that usually very quickly after that, their careers just exploded.”

One such Seinfeld guest star whose career exploded after Seinfeld was Bryan Cranston. Following several episodes where Cranston played Jerry Seinfeld’s questionable dentist “Dr. Tim Whatley”, Bryan went on to star in the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle (2000-2006), Breaking Bad (2008-2013), and films like 2012’s Oscar winner for best picture, Argo.

“He’s become a friend over the years. I had lots of experience with Bryan, I don’t think I actually did a scene with him on Seinfeld,” Alexander said of Cranston. “He was not my dentist, but I directed Bryan in a play early on in his career while he was doing Malcolm in the Middle. I also did a Malcolm in the Middle (episode), so I was very familiar with Bryan and the full range of his talents.

“It is a surprise to no one that Bryan Cranston has become Bryan Cranston. I mean, the talent was extraordinary and obvious.”