Seinfeld was a fabulous show.
One of the many reasons to love the show is its inclusion of relatively obscure literary references. You might remember I did a post awhile back about the episode in which George discover’s that his fiance, Susan, is the recipient of John Cheever’s famous love letters. Who saw that coming?
Book Riot even put together an awesome post with the top 8 literary references from Seinfeld. It’s great stuff.
Possibly one of the funniest episodes with a literary spin comes in “The Implant.” You know, the one where Jerry discovers that his girlfriend’s, well, breasts are real (“They’re real, and they’re spectacular.”). Also in that episode, Kramer claims to have seen Salman Rushdie, living with the pseudonym “Sal Bass,” at his health club–in the sauna, no less. Elaine with the zinger in response: “Yeah right, Salman Rushdie. Yeah well, I can see that — you got five millions Muslims after you, you wanna stay in pretty good shape.”
Rushdie never actually appeared in the episode, because it wasn’t really Rushdie at the gym. But it was just one of his many references in American sitcoms in the 90s. Cheers and Golden Girls even got in on the act. You’ve got to be really big time to make it on Golden Girls!
Anyway, for all you Seinfeld fan boys and girls, of which I am one, here’s a clip of Salman Rushdie talking about meeting Jerry Seinfeld. I couldn’t find the actual clip from the show, just the full episode. If you know where to find it online, let me know.
