The Famous Seinfeld Line An Audience Member Made Up
"Seinfeld" is known for its iconic one-liners, many of which are still uttered today by those in and out of the fandom — think "yada, yada, yada" and "serenity now!" Many of these are the brainchild of the very talented team of "Seinfeld" writers, but not everything we heard on the sitcom came in the episode script's first draft. For instance, George's (Jason Alexander) incredible speech at Monk's at the end of "The Marine Biologist" (Season 5, Episode 14) was written the day of filming after the episode's original ending fell flat with the audience.
While the audience played a hand in the re-writing of "The Marine Biologist," they had nothing to do with how it was changed. That is not the case for yet another famous "Seinfeld" episode, where one audience member is credited as being solely responsible for one of the funniest one-word lines of the series — and it just so happens to also come at the episode's close.
Seinfeld's Junior Mint episode got a little help from the peanut gallery
"The Junior Mint" (Season 4, Episode 20) has the titular candy at the center of its story, and it's one of the more intertwined "Seinfeld" episodes there is. Jerry's (Jerry Seinfeld) subplot is the most detached from the main story, which revolves around him dating a woman whose name he doesn't know. Naturally, George is no help in the quest to determine the mystery woman's name, but she does reveal at one point that it rhymes with a part of the female body. George suggests Mulva, Aretha, Bovary, Celeste, and Hest as possible names for Jerry's girlfriend, all of which are incorrect.
Once Mulva (which the character is lovingly known by the "Seinfeld" fandom as) finds out Jerry has no idea what her name is, she bolts out of his apartment in justified anger. Just a few moments after she leaves, Jerry has an epiphany and realizes what her name is. He shouts "Dolores!" out of his apartment window — but it's too late to keep her around. It turns out this last-minute yell from Jerry wasn't in the original script. "Seinfeld" writer Andy Robin chatted with HuffPost Entertainment and explained how the now-infamous moment came to be.
This audience member deserves a Seinfeld writing credit
Andy Robin revealed that Jerry's girlfriend's name was never going to be spoken aloud, with him and the audience still in the dark at the episode's conclusion. In other words, the name "Dolores" isn't in the script.
At some point during filming, an audience member yelled out "Dolores," which got tons of support from the crowd. "When the audience member shouted it out, and the audience laughed, it was like this is a great exclamation to put on the end," Robin revealed. Jerry delivered the tag out the window during a take, and the response was so positive, that they decided to keep it in. The exclamation remains one of the most memorable moments from the episode, and perhaps from the series itself, so it's a good thing the "Seinfeld" team was open to crowdsourcing.
Kudos to that astute and clever audience member who put the writers to shame that day.
The Junior Mint episode also had a major script change
Despite the last-minute script change regarding the reveal of Mulva's actual name, "The Junior Mint" also had another switch-up to the story. Andy Robin revealed that the initial idea for the episode was to have Kramer bring some popcorn along to the operation as if he were watching a movie. Robin ran the popcorn idea to his brother, who suggested he switch it to a Junior Mint because the candy is funnier. "Junior Mints are one of those things you just kind of only see in movie theaters," Robin added.
Junior Mints were also being sold from Warner-Lambert to Tootsie Roll at the time of the "Seinfeld" episode, and some issues were raised about the negative connotations that might arise from the story. To be fair, the candy does almost kill a man. A few additional lines were thrown in to show admiration for Junior Mints, with Kramer praising them. "Who's gonna turn down a Junior Mint? It's chocolate, it's peppermint, it's delicious," he says to Jerry while also noting that they are refreshing.
It's hard to believe there was almost a world where we never knew Mulva's real name and Roy (Sherman Howard) was going to be (almost) taken out by a piece of popcorn.