by Andrew Katz ’26 on October 2, 2025
Arts & Entertainment
The question of who is the greatest sitcom character of all time has often been a debate between sitcom enthusiasts, but one character who is always mentioned is George Costanza from Seinfeld (1989-1998). If you have never seen Seinfeld, George is Jerry Seinfeld’s lifelong childhood friend, whose main characteristics are selfishness, laziness, cheapness, and outward overreaction at the slightest inconveniences he faces in life. From the outside looking in, you might be confused by how this character, who is just straight up a jerk, could be so beloved by the audience. Yet, Seinfeld viewers know that when George enters the screen, they will be entertained. This is due to two things about how George’s character is written. The first is that he is extremely insecure with everything about him, which the audience can relate to in their own lives. The second is that whatever selfish plan he comes up with always backfires on himself. Larry David, the co-creator and writer for the show, uses similar recipes when writing George’s plot for each episode. His plot is usually something like this: George comes up with a plan based on his insecurities, the plan is always a selfish one to benefit himself and hurt others, and the plan always backfires.
With that level of thought being put into the character, the actor who plays George must play him to perfection. That is where Jason Alexander, the actor cast as George, knocks it out of the park. Alexander plays the role of George to perfection, as he is overly charismatic when he talks about his insecurities or when he is freaking out when his plan fails. Alexander truly makes you feel as if he has been George for his entire life. The over-the-top outbursts that George shows when he fails his selfish plans is what drives the comedic effect even more than the audience just seeing the plan backfire.
But George has another quality that makes him so beloved. It is that he is slightly relatable. George’s problems mainly consist of his over-the-top parents and the ridiculous, random scenarios where someone is a jerk to him. The audience can relate to these two problem starters occurring daily. When audience members face these situations, they get over it, though they may wish that they could make a big deal about it. George, however, cannot get over it quickly. George instead makes it his mission to deal with the inconveniences as the only way he knows how—by stooping to the other person’s level. The audience also gets to feel superior to George, which is what makes his character so beloved, even when he is doing selfish acts. If George was cool with no insecurities, he would be an annoyance for the audience. But George isn’t cool. George just wants to get by in life by doing whatever benefits him, but he fails every time. That is what makes him so entertaining and the greatest sitcom character of all time.