12 Most Rewatchable Episodes Of Seinfeld

"Seinfeld" dominated primetime throughout the 1990s, elevating all of its players to new heights of superstardom. That's largely due to the brilliant staff of writers who helped Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), George (Jason Alexander), Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Kramer (Michael Richards) deliver one hilarious line after another. The series influenced popular culture when it was on the air, and it continues to do so today. That's thanks to its most memorable episodes, of which there are many.

Even if you've never seen the show, odds are you're aware of a special holiday called Festivus. That and many other injections into pop culture have kept "Seinfeld" in the collective conversation long after it finished its 180-episode run in 1998. Even after NBC offered Jerry Seinfeld an absurd amount of money to keep the series going, the cast walked away, bringing "Seinfeld" to an end after nine seasons with a two-part episode that revisited everything it possibly could from the show.

The so-called "show about nothing" may be long over, but thanks to syndication and streaming, the laughs never stopped. One reason why the series worked so well was that it's filled with rewatchable episodes. We've found the ones that have the most impact on the zeitgeist, creating terms or phrases that permeated our culture, remaining hilarious decades after they aired. Each of these 12 episodes of "Seinfeld" is a high point, and they're presented in no particular order.

Elaine doesn't usually suffer the same types of setbacks as the others, but things do go awry for her in an office party. In "The Little Kicks," her dancing supplies the title after George witnesses Elaine's absurd movements on the dance floor while attempting to motivate her staff to jump in and join her. Instead, they all look on with horror as George exclaims, "Sweet fancy Moses!"

That alone is worth a rewatch or two, but the other stories that run through the episode are equal parts ridiculous and hilarious. Jerry inadvertently becomes the best movie bootlegger in the world after Kramer's friend forces a camera on him at gunpoint (loads of candy is also involved). Jerry becomes an auteur, of sorts, making ludicrous demands about how he wants to proceed with his next bootleg, which later results in a video of Elaine's dancing making it onto the street.

Meanwhile, George attempts to seduce one of Elaine's co-workers, which Elaine steadfastly opposes, turning George into the "bad boy," while she takes on a parental role on behalf of her crew. Eventually, it all comes to a head when George is arrested for bootlegging in an effort to impress her. The episode ends with George's father, Frank (Jerry Stiller), and Elaine getting into a fistfight, freeze-frame style like in "Rocky III."

One of the greatest strengths of "Seinfeld" is how a single line of dialogue, or even a word, can become a common phrase in the real world. This is the case in "The Hamptons," which sees the gang head out to their friend's beach house for the weekend because "Ya gotta see the baby!" 

George is excited because he sees the trip as proof he's going to finally sleep with his new girlfriend, but that doesn't happen. Instead, she flashes everyone else and leaves in the middle of the night, following a little problem George has after getting out of the pool. "Shrinkage" entered the lexicon via "The Hamptons," thanks to Jerry's girlfriend walking in on George as he's changing out of his swimsuit to see that his ... goods aren't all they're cracked up to be. This results in her laughingly apologizing as George frantically screams, "I was in the pool!"

After his girlfriend abruptly leaves following word of his situation, George feeds lobster to Jerry's kosher girlfriend, creating fresh problems for the group. All of that is certainly hilarious, but Elaine's story is equally funny. She attempts to woo a pediatrician who visits what Jerry later describes as the ugliest baby in the world. After he calls Elaine "breathtaking," he uses the same word to describe the baby, which doesn't sit well with Elaine.

There are many words people use to describe George, but brave isn't one of them. This is made perfectly clear in "The Fire," when George is at his girlfriend's son's birthday party, where he meets a disappointing clown (played by future director Jon Favreau), and flees from a fire. George doesn't just run out of the building — he throws women, children, and elderly people out of the way as he screams in panic. 

After the small fire is extinguished, George's attempts at damage control fall on deaf ears. While all of that is happening, Jerry performs a set to impress an important critic that's disrupted by one of Elaine's co-workers. Her heckles throw him off, ruining his jokes, so he confronts her and vows revenge. In doing so, Jerry fulfills the dream of every comic who's ever been heckled: he goes to her place of work and heckles her right back. 

Of course, this doesn't go according to plan, and after storming into the street to escape Jerry, a street sweeper severs her pinky toe. One of the series' funniest moments comes when Kramer recounts the story of how he saved the toe and got it reattached. He beats a mugger and starts driving a bus, fighting him off while driving as he continues to make stops because "Well, people kept ringing the bell!"

Bottle episodes are set in a single location, and they can be risky, depending on how things play out. "Seinfeld" had two bottle episodes, and both are on this list. "The Chinese Restaurant" was the first, and, as you can guess, it's set in a Chinese restaurant. The episode features several quotable lines as it covers a frustration we've all felt: waiting for a table at a crowded restaurant with promises of a five-to-ten-minute wait.

The gang is in the restaurant to grab some food before seeing "Plan 9 From Outer Space," and Elaine is starving. Meanwhile, George is desperate to call his girlfriend from the payphone, but someone is using it, resulting in George losing his patience, decrying the man at the top of his lungs. As Elaine's hunger grows, Jerry dares her to walk up to a table and eat off someone's plate, offering $50 as incentive, but she fails.

All of this is going on as Jerry attempts to sway the maître d', played by the inimitable James Hong, to no avail. When he calls out "Cartwright," which they ignore, he's relaying a message from George's girlfriend, pushing him to leave the group. Everything falls apart as the movie and dinner are ruined. As they're leaving, the maître d' calls out, letting them know their table is ready.

"The Parking Garage" is the show's second bottle episode, and you can guess at its setting. The series touted as being "about nothing" never was, and when you watch "The Parking Garage," you can't help but understand its deliberate unimportance. The episode plays out in real time as the gang attempts to find their car in a mall's parking garage.

Nobody can remember where it is, and all of the levels look the same. This is pretty relatable, as most folks have gone through something similar. Still, "Seinfeld" tackles the mundane through a lens of humor that makes it more than relatable — it's funny. Everyone has their own reasons for wanting to find the car beyond simply leaving. Elaine bought a goldfish and is worried about its longevity in a plastic bag, while George needs to meet up with his parents to chaperone their wedding anniversary.

Meanwhile, Jerry has to pee, and ultimately does, getting caught in the process by mall security. Kramer is just being Kramer throughout the ordeal, even while it's his car they're looking for. It's all rather simple and plays out in a rather prosaic, if funny, manner. Attempts to get rides from people to help them find their car fail. Finally, they find the car, pile in, and of course, it doesn't start.

Another big moment came in "The Puffy Shirt," which is now an iconic prop and historical artifact beloved for how ridiculous it is in the modern age. The titular article of clothing is the result of Kramer's girlfriend being a so-called "low-talker" that nobody can hear, and a dinner date where Jerry unwittingly agrees to wear the shirt in his upcoming appearance on "The Today Show," while promoting a benefit to clothe the disadvantaged.

Not only does Jerry not want to wear the shirt, but doing so flies in the face of the benefit's purpose, putting him in an awkward position. Not wearing it would cause problems for Kramer and his girlfriend, so Jerry ultimately agrees. Granted, he derides it the second he's on the air, resulting in a much more audible reaction from Kramer's girlfriend.

If that wasn't silly enough, "The Puffy Shirt" is also the episode where George becomes a hand model, which he takes way too seriously. Backstage, while attempting to keep his hands protected, George ends up slamming them down onto a hot clothes iron, upending his new prospects in one fell swoop. Still, the funniest line in the whole episode is Jerry proclaiming, "Well, I don't wanna be a pirate!"

If there's one thing that's consistent about George, it's that he lies. A lot. Much of the time, he lies about his job, but in "The Marine Biologist," it's Jerry who does the lying. He tells one of their old classmates that George is a marine biologist, locking on to the fib because he once said he wanted to be one. This puts George into an awkward situation, seeing as he knows absolutely nothing about the job, but like usual, he bluffs his way through.

While walking on the beach, George and the ex-classmate cross paths with a nearly-beached whale, so he rolls up his sleeves and does what he thinks a marine biologist would do. He later recounts the story at the diner, misidentifying the whale as a fish as he taps into his inner Herman Melville with every flourish possible. He then tells his enraptured audience that he could tell the whale wasn't able to breathe, so he reached into the blowhole and pulled out the obstruction.

In what has to be one of the funniest "Seinfeld" moments, George holds up a golf ball he confirms is a Titleist, eliciting Kramer to say, "Well, a hole in one, huh?" This all comes about because Kramer has taken to using the ocean as his personal driving range, and sure enough, he's responsible for nearly killing the "great fish."

"Seinfeld" took several risks with its examination of the minutiae of modern life in the 1990s, and "The Outing" is easily one of its touchiest episodes. It aired in 1993, when gay rights were hot topics of conversation in Washington, D.C., leading to the U.S. military's horrible "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. "Seinfeld" approached the concept as overtly as possible, repeatedly declaring, "Not that there's anything wrong with that" after every innuendo.

Jerry agrees to meet a student journalist from New York University who wants to interview him, but they don't connect. Instead, they unknowingly sit in adjacent booths, leading Elaine to have a little fun. She loudly suggests that Jerry and George come out of the closet, which the student overhears. Later, she meets with Jerry and misconstrues George's presence in the apartment, leading to several hijinks where the two try everything to convince her they're not gay (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Ultimately, they fail, and the article goes live, resulting in all kinds of issues. At one point, a Marine approaches Jerry, thanking him and saying he's going to follow his lead and come out, roping in the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. The episode handled the difficult subject matter as humorously as possible, and it's one of the show's most rewatchable episodes as a result.

If there's one thing that "Seinfeld" did well, it was showing the utter dysfunction of the Costanza family. George and his father's relationship has always been strained for various reasons, and in "The Strike," it's made clear why. Frank isn't enamored with all of the hubbub surrounding Christmas, so he decides to create his own holiday: "A Festivus for the rest of us!" Kramer is instantly interested while George pushes back as much as possible, but to no avail.

Festivus is the episode's primary story, pulling in every character for the final scene, where Jerry's girlfriend is two-faced, George's boss attends to confront him about a fake Christmas gift, and Elaine fights to get a free submarine sandwich. It's also the episode where Kramer ends his 12-year-long strike and returns to H&H Bagels, surprising everyone. The highlight of the episode comes during the Festivus celebration, when Frank airs his grievances at everyone gathered.

While it isn't depicted, the Feat of Strength is one of the key holiday moments, where Frank continuously beats his son in some sort of physical combat. The episode is endlessly hilarious, and it also created a real secular holiday that's celebrated by "Seinfeld" fans every year on December 23. While many TV shows have created religions, they don't often seep into the real world. "Seinfeld" managed it.

Of all the controversial topics that "Seinfeld" covered, the one in "The Contest" may have been the boldest. The title refers to a wager between Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer, all of whom agree to abstain from masturbation to see who can hold out the longest. The best part of this contest is that the word isn't uttered a single time, yet it's clear what they're referring to from the jump. As each person wrestles with the challenge, they're tempted in numerous, improbable ways.

Elaine meets and begins a flirtation with John F. Kennedy Jr., while Jerry struggles with his relationship, as he's dating a virgin who's reluctant to sleep with him. Meanwhile, George is tempted by a female patient in the hospital while he's visiting his mother (whose accident is the result of catching him in that solo act). Finally, Kramer is tempted by a woman who doesn't bother wearing clothes while she's in her apartment, which is easily viewable from the building.

It all plays out as comedically as possible, with Kramer dropping out first. He's soon followed by Elaine, who couldn't resist Kennedy's charm, while Kramer ends up hooking up with the nudist. Nobody wins, and in a later episode, George admits he cheated. Incidentally, "The Contest" is Jason Alexander's favorite episode, and one that he credits for making "Seinfeld" a hit.

There's no denying that George doesn't have the best luck when it comes to his employment, women, his family, and just about everything else. After a period of unemployment and multiple relationship strike-outs, George decides that he's going to try doing the opposite of whatever his natural instincts tell him to do. This plays out in the aptly-titled "The Opposite," but George isn't the only focus.

Jerry learns that everything in his life evens out, so when he loses money, he finds the same amount soon after. Meanwhile, Elaine destroys her relationship over a pack of Jujyfruit, which she grabs at a theater after learning that her boyfriend has been in an accident. For George, as soon as he chooses to do the opposite, he meets a beautiful woman in the diner, and she introduces him to her uncle, who gets him a job interview at the New York Yankees.

While at the interview, George says the opposite of every natural instinct, even going so far as to insult Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to his face, and gets the job. While George's story takes center stage in "The Opposite," Kramer's is another rewatchable confluence of hilarious errors. While promoting his coffee table book (about coffee tables) on "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee," he does a spit-take with a mouthful of coffee, ruining his tour.

Of all the quotable lines from the 180 "Seinfeld" episodes, the one that's had the biggest impact on popular culture is, arguably, "No soup for you!" The line comes from "The Soup Nazi," about a man who opens a soup restaurant with the best soup in the world. For anyone wanting to get a bowl of his product, there's a strict process, and the Soup Nazi (Larry Thomas) isn't shy about kicking people out of his restaurant, which he does to Elaine after she suggests that the man looks like Al Pacino.

Customers stand by in terror, awaiting their turn as orders go awry, resulting in George failing to get soup because he asks for bread. One of the reasons that the episode landed so well was that it was based on a real person. A writer encountered him in the wild and pitched it. While it made Thomas a star for playing the role, the real Soup Nazi turned his ire against Seinfeld when they first met.

Years after the episode aired in 1995, you can still find people who know the reference, and there's plenty of merch out there featuring the phrase, "No soup for you!" The episode features stories for all of the characters, but it's all centered around the Soup Nazi. In the end, his shop is ruined after Elaine gets hold of his recipes, ending with Newman and Jerry running to get as much soup as possible before it closes.