Much Ado About Nothing Trivia Quiz

Answer: How a comedian obtains his material

In 2014 on a web blog, fans were discussing what "Seinfeld" was actually about, Jerry Seinfeld joined in the conversation and said "I will give you an answer" and stated "The pitch for the show, the real pitch, when Larry and I went to NBC in 1988, was we want to show how a comedian gets his material. The show about nothing was just a joke in an episode many years later, and Larry and I to this day are surprised that it caught on as a way that people describe the show, because to us it's the opposite of that".

The show is based on the real life experiences of Mr Seinfeld and Larry David (the character George Costanza is based on Larry David). For the first seven seasons the 23 minute show is book-ended by Jerry Seinfeld doing his own stand up routine where the content is pertinent to the same episode.

The reference to a particular episode in the quote is where Jerry and George pitch a show based on their own lives at NBC (the TV network which actually picked up "Seinfeld"). They describe it as a "show about nothing" (Seinfeld was very self-referential. It had a lead playing a character of the same name pitching a sit-com to TV executives in the same way "Seinfeld was pitched towards NBC).

So while the meta-fiction "Jerry" was a show about nothing, the 'real' show Seinfeld was about the wry observations made by a comedian on everyday life.

Answer: "No hugging, no learning"

It was Larry David who came up with this mantra when he and Jerry Seinfeld pitched the show at NBC. It informs all character development (or more correctly lack of) for the length of the show. When NBC assess a network note (ie gives an instruction) that there had to be a girl as a fourth character, she was made an ex-girlfriend of Jerry. As such there was no room for any chance of Elaine and Jerry getting back together and their relationship stayed the same throughout the length of the show.

In 1998, David Zurawik from the "Baltimore Sun" wrote a piece titled: "The world according to 'Seinfeld' No hugging, no learning. No aging, commitment or obligation. We've laughed at such postmodern sentiments for nine years. Is there anything wrong with that?" This title accurately depicts the arc of the four principal characters: There was nil growth and development of the characters throughout the series. Jerry and Elaine are ex-boyfriend and girlfriend yet the relationship does not change one little bit - They do not get back together at the end. The four friends never share a hug. Jerry lets his Mom kiss him when she meets him but he grimaces. The Bubble Boy, a boy with immunological defects requiring he spend his life in a plastic bubble would evoke sympathy in any other show. In "Seinfeld", the Bubble Boy character is made obnoxious. When George's fiancee dies (bizarrely from licking toxic glue on the envelopes of her wedding invitations), there is no sympathy expressed, just a mere shrugging of the shoulders by the four leads. Before Elaine will have a romantic relationship, she must determine if he is sponge-worthy (evaluated by exhaustive surveying of desirable qualities required by Elaine) using one of her limited number of contraceptives before investing in the relationship.

More than 20 years later fans continue the mantra. There is a website called "No Hugging, No Learning" which serves to analyse the intricate Seinfeld plots for the first-time viewer. In 2017 Jerry Seinfeld was in the middle of a street interview when a young lady asked for a hug which was refused. The video clip was tweeted as "No hugging, no learning".

Answer: Four, one for each lead

"Seinfeld" broke the mould by having at least four plots in each show, one for each lead character. whilst this structure has been copied by subsequent sit-coms, few if any could match how the four story threads could be interwoven. The "Seinfeld" writers were masters at this, sometimes it was very subtle but still very effective - examples include key phrases would appear in disparate story lines - eg "sleeping arrangements" (a euphemism for something else) would crop up in two of the parallel threads; a minor character would appear in one thread in a certain role but the same character would appear in another thread in a different context. One of the best examples of this is season five, Episode 14, "The Marine Biologist": Jerry was worried about his favourite t-shirt, "Golden Boy"; Elaine was having problems with her electronic organiser; Kramer hit golf balls into the ocean and George dated and old school friend who now (thanks to Jerry, thinks he is a marine biologist. How these four threads are interwoven and are played out need to be seen to be believed. Suffice to say, anyone who has seen the episode can probably finish George's monologue which starts with, "The sea was angry that day my friends, like an old man trying to send soup back in a deli".

Answer: Barbara "Babs" Kramer - Kramer's mom

Liz Sheridan and Phil Bruns/Barney Martin play Jerry's eccentric but lovable parents. Jerry allows his mom to kiss him breaking the "No hugging/no learning rule" but Jerry screws up his face each time. They live in Florida but are a continual presence in Jerry's life. (24 appearances)

George's parents are played by Estelle Harris and John Randolph/Jerry Stiller. their continual fighting and obnoxiousness allows us to understand why George is the way he is. (29 Appearances)

Kramer's mother Babs, played by Sheree North, was only in two episodes but it is she who reveals Kramer's first name as Cosmo. She was first mentioned in in "The Nose Job," her first on-screen appearance was in "The Switch". She was also seen in "The Finale" where she was comforted by Uncle Leo (!) after Kramer was convicted.

The prize for the most appearances goes to the Monk's cashier Ruthie Gordon who made 101 appearances from 180 episodes. She was unnamed at first but her character was eventually named after the actress' real name - Ruth Cohen.

Answer: Sidra Holland (played byTeri Hatcher) - Jerry's date

All the guest stars listed had entire shows built around them and arguably were amongst the funniest episodes of all. In "The Implant", Jerry broke up with his girlfriend Sidra, based on Elaine's assessment that she had had breast augmentation surgery.

When Elaine literally stumbled into Sidra, she revised her opinion so Jerry started dating her again. When Sidra connected Elaine and Jerry she was upset, breaking it off with Jerry, with the now infamous parting shot. She also appeared in "The Pilot " and "The Finale" where she slept with Jackie Chiles, Jerry's lawyer.

Answer: Bob Sacamano

George's brother is mentioned twice in the series in "The Suicide" and "The Parking Space." Jerry also has a sister who is mentioned in "The Chinese Restaurant". Both characters are never mentioned again and never by name.

Buck Naked was going to be George's stage name if he ever got to act in pornographic movies and Art Vandelay was his alter ego who would have been an architect (not a marine biologist). In the final episode the court judge was called Arthur Vandelay. It was never explained if his name was ever shortened to Art.
Cousin Jeffrey was Uncle Leo's son who works for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Uncle Leo seems to delight in telling Jerry how much better his son is over Jerry.

Bob Sacamano was Kramer's friend who whilst never seen, managed a few rare achievements. These were nearly always described with the preceding phrase, "My Friend Bob Sacamano. According to Kramer, Bob Sacamano lived in New Jersey, worked in a condom factory, contracted rabies (he must have survived because he is mentioned in future episodes), has a high pitched voice from a failed hernia operation, stayed a "year and a half" with Kramer and sold Russian hats in Battery Park for forty bucks a hat. He also invented the toy where a ball is connected to a bat by a rubber band. Alo Bob's father sold dodgy electronic 'tip calculators' called "Williards" not the more reputable "Wizards".

Answer: No-talker

A re-gifter was a person who passed an unwanted gift onto a third party as a gift from them. The 'rules' regarding re-gifting were extensively discussed in the "The Label Maker" episode. While the practice was known before the "Seinfeld" episode, it was given its name on the show. The show also discussed 'de-gifting': When you should demand your gift back.
"Double-dipping' refers to scooping up dip with your chip/cracker, eating the dip of the chip or cracker but then using the remainder to dive back into the dip again. George was caught out doing this in Season 4, Episode 19 - "The Implant"
"Yada, Yada, Yada" had a whole episode in season eight devoted to this topic which means something like the etcetera when telling a story: "Start telling the story... insert "Yada, yada, yada" to skip over details... get to the point of the story".
"Seinfeld" also popularised the "Low-talker", "High-Talker" and the "Close-talker". In "The "Puffy Shirt" episode, Leslie (Wendel Meldrum), Kramer's date, speaks so softly, no-one but Kramer can hear her. "The Pledge Drive" (Season 6), we meet the high talker who sounded like a woman and was mistaken for having a crush on Jerry as he was the boyfriend of Elaine's friend, Noreen. In the season five double episode, "The Raincoats", Aaron (Judge Reinhold) is a close-talker - a prosper who invades your personal space to talk to you.

Answer: It is never revealed

"Seinfeld", whilst naming commercial products as key plot points never accepted fees for such placements. (Jerry drank Pepsi AND Coke) When products were used, NBC lawyers would get clearance from manufacturers before releasing the show containing the product. In a 1997 "EW" interview by Kristen Baldwin, Glenn Padnick, president of Castle Rock Television, the show's studio stated, "Seinfeld's writers ... prefer real products because, in comedy, specificity is funny... Virtually every [company with a] product that is mentioned on our show, even if it was semi-unflattering, has loved it." Apparently one did not: In episode 115 where had Kramer feeding Beefaroni to a horse - resulting in excessive horse flatulence, the name was changed to Beef-A-Reeno.

Jerry who was very proud of his sneakers but he never mentioned the brand. In real-life, Nike give free shoes to Jerry Seinfeld. To disclose the brand would constitute "product placement" meaning the show would need to credit Nike at the end of each episode. However Jerry does wear a Nike sweatshirt in episodes 92 and 137.

Answer: Marble rye bread

Of 180 "Seinfeld episodes, at least 25 feature food as a major plot device, some are the major plot for the whole show. (eg "No soup for you" in "The Soup Nazi" (Season 7, Episode 6), Babu Bhatt and The Dream Cafe in "The Cafe" (Season 3, Episode 7).)
However, "The Rye" is a morality tale (Some would liken it to a Shakespearean Comedy of Manners) about dinner party etiquette and the fate of a single loaf of bread is given as a gift at a dinner party, taken back when not served at dinner, stolen by Jerry from a little old lady in a bakery and secreted into an apartment using a fishing rod. Classic stuff.

All of the other answer options have individual episodes where the particular food is featured).

Answer: The four leads were imprisoned for not helping a robbery victim by doing nothing

The finale certainly polarised audiences. The premise was the four leads were on a plane together which was about to crash but didn't. However it did need repairs. While waiting for the plane to be repaired the four witnessed a robbery but did nothing to assist the victim. They were all arrested for doing nothing under the town's good Samaritan laws. (Much ado about nothing, perhaps?).
From the episode transcript, the scene was played out as:
"Officer: You're under arrest.

Jerry: Under arrest? What for?

Officer: Article 223-7 of the Latham County Penal Code.

Elaine: What? No, no - we didn't do anything.

Officer: That's exactly right. The law requires you to help or assist anyone in danger as long as it's reasonable todo so.George: I never heard of that.

Officer: It's new. It's called the Good Samaritan Law. Let's go."

At the trial many of the people they had offended over nine seasons were called as witnesses and they were all heard.
There were polarising opinions on several fronts. Whilst some viewers were delighted that the 'victims' were paraded through the 75 minute finale (60 minutes for syndication), other were not impressed. In some ways the four leads, by being imprisoned, had to 'pay for their sins" when in a post-modern world they would have been expected to get away with it. Also by the 'victims' having their say, this provides a pay-off for the morality tale which went against the grain for the previous 179 episodes. An alternative ending was produced but was not shown on television but was able to be seen by those who bought the DVD but it did not appease those who thought the finale was not in keeping with the themes of the previous nine seasons.