‘Seinfeld’: Jason Alexander Almost Blew His Audition by Doing a Woody Allen Impression
Seinfeld character George Costanza was based on co-creator Larry David. Jason Alexander embodied him on Seinfeld and created an indelible character. When Alexander first read the pilot script for Seinfeld, he didn’t know David from Adam. So Alexander did a Woody Allen impression in his first audition. Fortunately, NBC gave him another chance.
Alexander was a guest on The Adam Carolla Show on Feb. 23 to discuss his podcast Really? No, Really. Carolla made sure to talk about Seinfeld though and Alexander revealed why he thought George sounded like Allen.
Jason Alexander’s first impression of ‘Seinfeld’ was Woody Allen
Considering Seinfeld became “a show about nothing” in George’s own words, it’s not too surprising Alexander’s first impression was Allen. Allen’s movies were usually about men, played by Allen himself, talking about their relationships in Annie Hall, Manhattan, etc. Of course, Allen would often use a high concept hook like The Purple Rose of Cairo or Sleeper.
“They’d only looked in Los Angeles,” Alexander said on The Adam Carolla Show. “I lived in New York. so somehow my name got on a list of about 30 character-y actors in New York. They said just put him on tape. So I had four pages of a script, no Larry [David], no Jerry [Seinfeld], nobody to ask a question. I was reading it at home and I said to my wife, ‘It reads like a Woody Allen script.’”
He took Woody Allen too far
Alexander’s reference wasn’t lost on NBC. When they saw his tape, they recognized what he was doing. Alexander hadn’t invested much hope in landing Seinfeld at that point. It was just a pilot for a standup comedian. But, fortunately David had the vision to see Alexander could be the definitive George.
“So I went in and did Woody Allen,” Alexander said. “And thought that’s ridiculous, that’ll never go anywhere. And then got a call from, I think, Larry a week later saying, ‘We really like what you did. We’re going to fly you out. You’ll meet Jerry, you’ll read for the network.’ When I met them, they said, ‘We love everything. Just back off the Woody a little bit.’”
Jason Alexander still had stiff competition for ‘Seinfeld’
Alexander was intimidated when he saw Larry Miller at the Los Angeles audition for Seinfeld. Alexander thought Miller was a shoe in, but fortunately for Alexander he wasn’t. He also heard rumblings of other big names in the running.
“I have heard stories that they had liked or made offers to people before they ever got to me, people like Chris Rock, Danny DeVito,” Alexander said. “Paul Schaffer they were very high on. I think at one time, I think this is true, even the idea of him having a female best friend and they were looking at Rosie O’Donnell.”
