It’s time to drag that aluminum pole out of the crawl space and relive the classic Seinfeld Festivus episode.
For a show that was billed as not being about anything, Seinfeld’s popularity was white hot for a stretch in the mid-to-late-‘90s. During its later years, co-creator and executive producer Larry David left the series, leaving Jerry Seinfeld alone with the reigns.
The result was a faster-paced, zanier program that still managed to deliver some seriously iconic episodes. But there is one episode in particular, from Seinfeld’s final season, that holds special relevance to the Holidays.
Where To Watch Seinfeld’s Festivus Episode
On December 18, 1997, Seinfeld broadcast its Season 9 midseason finale.
Despite the fake holiday's growing popularity since the episode aired in 1997, many fans are surprised to find the Festivus episode is not actually called "Festivus". The episode where Festivus takes place is actually titled "The Strike", which is Season 9 episode 10 of Seinfeld.
"The Strike," among several other plot lines, saw Kramer taking a shine to Frank Costanza’s (the late, great Jerry Stiller) self-invented, Christmas-adjacent holiday called Festivus, which is celebrated on December 23.
Throughout the episode, George becomes increasingly irritated by Fesivus' resurgence until he realizes he can use it for his personal gain. The result is a mishmash of guests seated around the Costanza dinner table, as Frank airs his grievances before launching into the "Feats of Strength" and physically fighting his son.
All nine seasons of Seinfeld are currently streaming exclusively on Netflix, including "The Strike." The episode is also available as an individual, digital purchase through storefronts like Fandango at Home and Amazon Prime Video.
Fans have been staging their own Festivus festivities ever since "The Strike" aired. The staples of the holiday are the aluminum pole in place of a tree (Frank found tinsel distracting) and the aforementioned, ceremonial Airing of Grievances and Feats of Strength.
Many real-life versions of Festivus also incorporate foods that were referenced or seen on Seinfeld, such as Jujyfruits, marble ryes, and black-and-white cookies.
Dan O’Keefe, who co-wrote "The Strike" alongside Alec Berg (he’s got a good John Houseman name) and Jeff Schaffer, likely never intended for Festivus to blow up as much as it did, much less become an annual, real-world event.
O’Keefe based Festivus on a holiday created by his own father, though he added some creative license. The writer also published a book called The Real Festivus: The True Story Behind America's Favorite Made-up Holiday in 2005.
Seinfeld’s Enduring Appeal, Despite the Odds
The Costanzas' Festivus celebration might be over when George pins his father, but the popularity of Seinfeld seems to live on and on, well past its final episode in 1998.
But the series has often caused younger viewers to scratch their heads, or worse, recoil in disgust, as much of the show has not exactly aged well.
There’s "The Beard" where Elaine tries to convert a gay man to heterosexuality as she believes him to be the ideal boyfriend, "The Cigar Store Indian" which includes a fair deal of racist language, and perhaps worst of all, Jerry and George looking down a teenage girl's blouse in "The Shoes."
Other episodes contain Jerry repeatedly forcing his girlfriend into a food coma so that he can play with her vintage toy collection, and George exhibiting "restrained jubilation" over the death of his fiancée.
Still, there are a lot of laughs to be found with Seinfeld. The sitcom is equal parts slice of life and madcap hijinks, and clearly, there’s something about that combination that has kept it firmly in the zeitgeist for over 30 years.
It is important to remember that the main characters (with the arguable exception of Kramer) are not good people. Jerry, Elaine, and especially George, are selfish, callous, and on occasion, mean-spirited.
This is why, in the program’s controversial final episode, the gang winds up in prison for a year (which, in-turn, was parodied on Curb Your Enthusiasm’s finale), as countless people from the previous nine seasons who were personally wronged by Seinfeld’s core four, were brought into court to testify against them.
The real-life Jerry Seinfeld stated recently that he didn’t believe a boundary-pushing television comedy like Seinfeld could be made today (via Deadline). However, many were quick to point out that It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is essentially a spiritual successor to Seinfeld with the depravity dialed up to 11.
Whether people love it or hate it, it is hard to argue that Seinfeld hasn’t remained renowned and influential well into the 2020s. It’s even to the point where Marvel Studios frequently uses working titles for their MCU projects that take their names from installments of the ”show about nothing.”
So, this Holiday Season, remember to giddy up and partake in the holiday “for the rest of us!”
Seinfeld is streaming on Netflix and can be bought physically or digitally wherever television shows are sold.
