Remembering Jerry Stiller: Seinfeld's greatest character actor
Jerry Stiller was behind one of the famous bloopers on popular TV show Seinfeld and co-stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander couldn’t stop laughing about it.
Stiller, who passed away on Monday, played the rage-filled father of Alexander’s hapless character George.
“My George isn’t clever enough to hatch a scheme like this,” Stiller’s character, Frank Costanza, tells Elaine, who shoots back, “You got that right.”
Frank Costanza then shouts, “What the hell does that mean?!” — at which Louis-Dreyfus breaks out of character and dissolves in uncontrollable laughter before saying, “That means whatever the hell you want it to mean.”
This prompts Stiller to deliver the iconic line “You want a piece of me!?” which he repeats after Louis-Dreyfus erupts into laughter.
Louis-Dreyfus and Alexander reminisced about the moment during an online fundraiser last week before Stiller’s passing.
Louis-Dreyfus shared that Stiller would look to the sky while on camera as he had trouble remembering his lines due to nerves, but the gesture only added to the character’s hilarity.
Alexander said that Stiller used his frustration at having trouble with his lines to make his character seem angrier.
“That is where a lot of [Frank Costanza’s] internal rage would come from,” Alexander said, chuckling.