My candidate: That "library investigator," "Bookman."
By the way, that actor (Philip Hall?) was on CHEERS also, playing the councilman Woody ran against (and defeated) in CHEERS's final episodes.
Who is your favorite minor character?
Jan 5, 1997139 posts by 118 posters
🙂 Liked it
139 posts
I agree. Every one of his lines is hilarious. "While you're thinking about that, think about this, joy boy!" Michael B.
I just saw that Seinfeld episode (again) a few days ago. It looked like Jerry was smirking a bit during some of his scenes with the "Bookman" too.
I'm not SURE, but I think this same actor appeared in this week's episode of "Third Rock from the Sun" as the the University's Principal/President who fired Dick.
-Shriker
In [email] (Johan Li (CAS)) writes:
he
No Question!!!!!
Kramer's lawyer Jackie.
A close second is the Pakistani resturaunt owner who got deported early in the series.
My favorite is George's father, although I don't know if he would be considered a "minor" character.
Trudy
He would probably have me shot for referring to him as minor, but I really enjoyed the George Steinbrenner bits on the show.
In article , [email] (Biff) writes:
Nah...he would just sell you or throw you back to the minors.
Now..back to the post i progress:
My favorite "minor charactor -not in age, but in screen time- is Uncle Leo! (gotta love the eyebrows!) you know somethings up..and he alwasy causes trouble...(finding the watch in the garbage can LOL).
It Shrinks...???
Just Me, Lisa.
[email] wrote:
<snip>
And don't forget Jerry hates Leo grabbing onto his arm when he's talking to Jerry, like he's afraid Jerry's going to run or away or something. We all know Jerry wants to run away, though:) Uncle Leo can never seem to stop talking about Jerry's cousin Jeffrey(sp), either.
This has probably already been done, but I personally thought Crazy Joe Divola is pretty funny.
"I like to keep the door open to encourage intruders."
and of course his little encounter with the muggers and his conversation with Kramer about clowns.
Dedicated Seinhead, Jim
My favorite minor character is of course Babu Batt. He RULES. Babu Batt is my hero, just to bad he got deported......
He only was on once, but the guy who plays The Commish was on an earlier episode. He got trashed with Kramer and got Jerry arrested because he had a hooker in the apartment. Would love to see him again.
Babu, "He's a very bad man".
[email] (Biff) wrote:
=======================================
Kenny Banyan
TR
Mine only appeared once but endeared me forever: The elderly man who Jerry tried to visit as a volunteer. He was GREAT! ...but then, I like old people. the hermit
Best minor character.... the guy who came to Jerry's apartment to collect long overdue library fines (name escapes me).
His character name was Bookman. His real name wasn't important enough for me to remember. My favorite supporting character was the doorman, Larry Miller. He is absolutely hilarious. Ever seen his stand up act? The man is a genius, and his doorman role was excellently done.
-DK
He really is. It's too bad we won't see him on stand-up very much due to his UNFUNNY sitcom he has on these days.
The actor representing Kramer in the TV sitcom pilot episode.
Mine's gotta be Frank Costanza. I just like the fact that hes loud and has a Yankee accent. He the perfect Old American Man.
A favorite secondary character is Jerry's cousin who works for the Parks Department. I think that he is Uncle Leo's son and that we met him at the funeral. (I cant really remember in detail). It always cracks me up when Uncle Leo compares Jerry unfavorably with his cousin. Jerry's discusted face is always funny.
[email] (Ross Mandell) wrote:
sorry about the spelling. Jerry's cousin from the parks department is Jeffery.
disgusted*
On Fri, 14 Feb 1997, Ross Mandell wrote:
joanne melinda geib wrote:
That one bald guy on the show last night (2/13) was pretty cool
Newman, without a doubt. I saw him recently in the film "To Die For." He's an underused talent.
don't forget that he had the best non-looney role in Space Jam! Without him and Bill Murray, those live action scenes with <<Michael Jordan>> would have been unbearable!
TSalloum wrote:
Wayne Knight also has a recurring role in Third Rock From The Sun where he is also quite funny.
I had forgotten about that...his role as Officer Don is simply brilliant...the sexual tension between him and Sally is just hillarious...a perfect character for him...
Uncle Leo without a doubt!!!!!!!!!!
I'd have to say J. Peterman myself, his stories are just hilarious. And when he was buying Kramer's stories a few weeks ago, I could have died laughing!!
On 15 Feb 1997 17:55:26 GMT, "Rick Donovan" wrote:
Newman is excellent, esp. past few seasons, in his Moderator of wisdom roles (Elaine's bike, the dog dispenser, the mail fraud accuser, e.g.) but he's been on for so long I don't consider him a minor character. As for the best minor characters, either the library investegator Mr. Bookman, or the Moyle (sp?).
[email] wrote:
No no no...if you don't count Newman...then I'd have to say Mr. Peterman...who has such hilarious lines, I kill myself everytime he makes up those stories...
Newman is awesome, and so is Peterman, but IMHO Frank Costanza (George's dad) is the funnyest. Every time he is on screen, I fall over laughing. Anyone agree?
-toby
Yes yes yes! I absolutely love George's dad! The way he'll randomly start yelling. And the way he always looks like he's about to burst out laughing at what he's saying. Remember the episode where he moves in with George and at the end when the credits are playing, they're in bed watching tv and his dad is eating Kasha and he offers George a bite and George just looks at him and his dad looks back at him and is about to laugh because the scene is so stupid. :)
+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +
You can't have everything, where would you put it? - Steven Wright
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~cshearer - take my lyrics quiz!
+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +On Thu, 20 Feb 1997, Tobias Brick wrote:
I have 3. Frank Costanza, Uncle Leo, and Jackie(Kramer's lawyer from the episode where he burns him self w/ coffee, and the marlboro man one).
Peterman is great. I think part of it is his deep voice. If he had a normal voice it would sound nearly as good.
Jim
If we're talking about characters who only appear in one or two episodes it's definatley got to be Bookman, the library investigator, with his Jack Webb impersonation.
Re: Who is your favorite minor character,
Yes, he is still my favorite, and someone in the thread noticed another episode in which it would have been logical for a Bookman recurrence. Now it appears we won't get this ever: The actor, Philip Baker Hall, is getting good reviews in a just-released movie, "Hard Eight" with Gwyneth Paltrow. Unfortunate.
NEWMAN!
I think his name is Banya? He's the guy who annoys Jerry.
"Soup's not a meal Jerry!" or "Do ya know what they call him Jerry, the Soup Nazi."
Anyone know who I'm talking about?
[email] (Mark Allen Kellner) wrote:
He's the best, Mark, the best.
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I know he's not too minor, but my favorite is Newman: "Hello Newman...Hello Jerry" Jerry's face rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Banya, "It's the best Jerry, the best"
I've always thought his name was BanyaN. I could be wrong, though, so please correct me if I am.
Ok, i'll correct you...it's Banya...Kenny Banya
It would have to be Uncle Leo....Hellooo
Was there a different actor playing Kramer in the pilot episode?
_____________________________________________ Alric Knebel [email]
No, I think it was the same actor who plays Kramer now (unless they re-shot the episode later).
================================================ alric~@datasync.com (Alric Knebel) wrote:
debbie wrote in article ...
I think the original poster was thinking about Tom Pepper! (?)
For me it's a 3-way tie between:
Mr. Bookman (the library guy) Frank Constanza Uncle Leo (w/ Elaine's penciled-on eyebrows)
BTW, does anyone have a screen capture of Uncle Leo with his penciled on eyebrows? I'd love to get my hands on a copy.
Dan
There are an abundance of great minor
characters...but THE BEST, hands down
is Frank "Why Can't You Put the Bananas
on the Side" Costanza!!!
Babu?? I loved Babu!! <G>
But I'd have to say all time favorite dynamic duo of Frank and Estelle Costanza. They are *exactly* like my grandparents. *frighteningly similar* :D
ps: hello, I'm new to the group and love Seinfeld. Glad to find you guys :)
Marilyn
It great to have you stop by amd post more often also vist my web page at http://members.tripod.com/~RiddlerUno/index.html <case sensitive> it has Seinfeld pics!
Favorite minor Character:
My all time favorite minor character is the Librarian cop from episode 22. Who else agrees with me that he was great!? I can't believe they didn't use him for more shows. My next choice would be the soup nazi. I was going to pick Newman, but I wasn't sure if he was minor enough. I laughed for quite some time when he was whispering sweet nothings to Kramer behind the bookshelf in a recent episode and went off subject about "No such thing as junk mail". This would have been a great time to use the Librarian cop! Jerry has used repeat performances in many past episode...I wonder why they don't dust off this classic character?
Jimmy. The guy who speaks in third person. "Jimmy's under the boards. Jimmy's gets the ball! Jimmy makes the shot!!"
I can't remember the name but he worked for the public libary and he kept on bugging Jerry because he didn't return a book back in the 70's and he wants the money for it.
Mr. Bookman
The 'high-talker' was pretty funny. I also liked Mr. Pitt, especially the one when he was giving that speech and had gotten ink on his face and ended up looking like Hitler; also when he was obsessed with that picture with the UFO.
[email] wrote:
I think you're referring to the Judge Reinhold character, the "close-talker." Yes, he was excellent, and I like Mr. Pitt too.
In fact, I began this thread a couple of weeks ago when trying out AT&T's "co-branded" MSIE 3.0 browser. (Hadn't yet changed my "default name" of "Preferred Customer." Have since gone back to Netscape 2.01., so I doubt I'm still preferred.) I still like Bookman (Library Investigator) the best, and he seems to have gotten the most "votes."
Someone I think mentioned the doorman (the episode where the couch is taken) & I'd put him my second favorite (that was also that great "bro" episode, I think). I also like Kenny ("Soup's not a meal!") Banya.
Anyway, I was wondering when someone might mention the close talker. Very good.
This show's in a class by itself.
No, there was a "high talker". He was dating one of Elaine's friend's and Elaine thought it was her friend when he would answer the phone. Elvis is King
Of course. Now I remember: the guy who sounded like a female (was he referred to as a "high talker"? must have been). Can't say he's one of my favorites tho': dubbing was too obvious.
I kind of like the black guy who is the manager/chef at Monk's.
"Uhh, we don't allow any outside condiments, syrups or jams
in the restaurant" The Dry-Cleaning Episode when Jerry
and his "wife" brought their own maple syrup. "Am I gonna have to ask you boys to leave?" The "Gay" episode
where Jerry & George were making a scene in the restaurant.
(not that there's anything wrong with that)DB
Mine is definitely Crazy Joe DeVola. He such a freak!
Let's see.
David Putty (the Face Painter)
No, wait, it's gotta be the Bubble Boy.
No.
Mr. Pitt. Definitely Mr. Pitt. (Did you see the one with the Moland Springs merger?)
Kramer's lawyer is a riot, and as a character is surely underused, but I really like Peterman too.
In article [email] (Christopher Baker) writes:
You couldn't remember Bookman?
In article , [email] says...
My favorite character is Cosmo Kramer !!
I gotta say...Kramers lawyer. Particularly the episode when Kramer went to see him about smoking causing ageing. The lawyer says: "I've been tryin to get a piece of those people for a long time." ..or somethin like that. I can't remember his name offhand though.
Brian
My favorite is the Soup Nazi. My wife was a restaurant manager for over 10 years (Friendlys and Kenny Rogers Roasters) and she told me she wishes she had a dime for every time she could have told an pain in the a customer "NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!".
Marc
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Torstein Jensen <[email] > wrote in article ...
"I went from a size 40 to 42, yeah I'm hugh" - Banya giving Jerry a suit ------=_NextPart_000_01BC69F8.67DBDF80 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
<html><head></head><BODY bgcolor=3D"#FFFFFF"><p><font size=3D2 = color=3D"#000000" face=3D"Arial"><br><br><br><br>Torstein Jensen = <<font color=3D"#0000FF"><u>[email]</u><font = color=3D"#000000"> > wrote in article <<font = color=3D"#0000FF"><u>[email]</u><font = color=3D"#000000">>...<br>> <font = color=3D"#0000FF"><u>[email]</u><font color=3D"#000000"> = wrote:<br>> : Hand down, the best minor character is Kenny Banya = ("It's GOLD, Jerry,<br>> : GOLD!")<br>> <br>> IMHO: = It is Babu.<br>> <br>> Torstein<br>> --<br>> "There's a = rustlers moon above me, I'm doing ninety heading south.<br>> = With an endless stream of cigarettes in the corner of my = mouth."<br>> = &= nbsp; &n= bsp; - Henning = Kvitnes, "Blue" = &= nbsp; <br>> <br>"I went from a size = 40 to 42, yeah I'm hugh" - Banya giving Jerry a suit</p> </font></font></font></font></font></font></font></body></html> ------=_NextPart_000_01BC69F8.67DBDF80--
"I went from a size 40 to 42, yeah I'm hugh" - Banya giving Jerry a suit
"What's the deal with Ovaltine?" "I don't know, he thinks anything that dissolves in milk is funny." -- Jerry to Banya's girlfriends protege' regarding his act
Brian wrote in article ...
Jackie Chiles
[email] (Friend ) wrote:
The Soup Nazi is way up there. But I guess for me, the two best minor characters are Jackie Chiles & Mr. Bookman.
When I catch a rerun where they're on, I can't help sitting down & giving their scenes my whole attention. Plus I still double up laughing!
I wish they'd bring back Mr. Bookman. His character was a GREAT takeoff of a film noir hard boiled investigator.
Jenny
Soup Nazi is definatly the best minor character ever on Seinfeld. In my opinion, that is the best episode also.
Mark
Mark Dwyer wrote:
The Soup nazi is definately funny.
But to me, there's no question -- the best minor character is JIMMY, the guy who refers to himself in the third person.
Can I have a show of hands, please?
Here is a vote for j. peterman. The character talks just like the Peterman catalog reads: kind of empty-headed, romantic, no intelligence. However the 2 gay characters who intimidated Kramer and stole the armoire that Elaine got from the Soup Nazi while he was guarding it on the sidewalk...they are a close second! Carl
In article , Carl Muench wrote:
I love all of these characters, but I would like to vote for Sid, the guy who parks cars on Jerry's block. I loved it when he "I know who I am, do you know who you are?" His attitude was great even though his part was small.
In , Carl Muench writes:
Yeah. The armoire thieves get my vote. I believe they were also the same two guys who intimidated Kramer for not wearing the red ribbon during the AIDS walk. "Why won'chu wear thee ree-bone!!" Very funny!
Bizzaro Jerry. Defenetly. Kevin, and the rest of the bizzaros, Gene and Feldman(have you noticed how his name is the last part of Seinfeld and Newman put together, of course I could be wrong). They show how off Jerry and the gang are. There the Jang of Seinfeld.
In article ,
Gary thinks Jimmy was the funniest...
Both hands and both feet!! -ciao.
Jimmy is my favorite minor character, too..
"Jimmy is sweet on you." "Check Jimmy out!" "Jimmy holds grudges!" "Jimmy is gonna get you!"
and of course, my favorite:
"Jimmy's down!!!"
Library detective wins, hands down goin' away!
Mr. Pitt rules!! "But I was hoping to have my new socks today!" and I know Jimmy's one dimensional but he talks in the third person like Bob Dole so I love him. (not Bob Dole but Jimmy) spencer
In article , [email] (Brad) writes:
but
John Lovitz adds a good comedic aspect to anything he is on.
Marc
What about the guy who gets "non-date" dates out of Elaine and Jerry's pretty ex by making lame-ass bets (Dustin Hoffman in Star Wars, Richard Moe Nixon), losing, and then having to buy them dinner? He was pretty funny. -A
I always thought that Babu Bat was a great character too.
"You are a very bad man.....very bad!"
Sam
well, that would be " The Meistro" - he is just a laugh and a half. I mean this guy takes himself so seriously.
AlkMal wrote:
Todd Gack - love that name "I think it's Danish" spencer
"That's gold, Jerry! Gold!"
[SNIP]
Terrifying but true.
PJPJ
That was Banya also. He had no space in his closet at home so he wanted to keep it at Jerry's. That was the one with the movies and they all got seperated and Kramer went to Papaya King cause he was hungry and they all ended up going to see Rochelle, Rochelle and George kept getting locked out of the cinema and had to keep giving the otehr tickets to get back in because the ticket collector boy didn't recognise him.
I'm afraid you're wrong. The comedian in that episode was not Bania, but was a completely different character. I don't remember the character's name or who played him, but I know Bania's first appearance was in "The Soup".
I second that emotion - one of the funniest episodes ever.... I have watched this on videotape many times.
HANDS OFF JIMMY! DO NOT TOUCH JIMMY!!
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Jimmy's one-dimensional...I gotta go with the library detective.
WHAT ABOUT THE CLOSE TALKER? I THOUGHT THAT WAS ONE OF THE FUNNIEST EPISODES EVER!!!
Abu, the Pakistani guy. Jerry couldn't have screwed over a nicer, unluckier guy.
It's Babu
Jackie Childs. The episode where Kramer sues the braless lady is one of the best ever!
That episode was good in two ways!
Jerry didn't screw over Abu!!! He was nice to him!
Mr. Bookman gets my vote. He didn't let that punk Seinfeld push him around!
Another Newman
The soup nazi and the others are certainly great characters but my favorite is Jerry's Uncle Leo who always holds Jerry by the elbow when he brags about Jerry's cousin who works for the parks department. Uncle Leo, like everyone else in Seinfeld can never ever leave well enough alone, and he always cracks me up.
I cant remember if we have actually met Jerry's cousin. But he is becoming a favorite of mine anyway.
The Top 5 Funniest Characters are: 5) Poppie, 4) Soup Nazi, 3) Mickey, 2) Bania, .........and the funniest bit player of all is 1) Uncle Leo(who would be nothing w/out his son who works for the Parks Dept! the funniest episode was when Leo's facial hair was singed off!!!
FROM THE DESK OF A BROTHER WHO IS YOUNG, GIFTED, AND BLACK!
[email] (Jennifer Palonus) wrote:
No question. Jimmy is the best minor character. Jimmy thinks so.
Jonathan wrote in article ...
he's
the
soup
My favorite minor character has to be "Crazy" Joe Davola. The episode in which he plays a clown during the opera really funny. Kenny Banya comes in a close second in my list of favorite minor characters.
Has anybody ever seen "Bob Sacamano" (Kramers friend). The K-man is always talking about his friend "Bob Sacamano"(sp) I was just wondering if he has actually been seen?
Often mentioned, never seen. I read somewhere (maybe here) that the writers toyed with the idea of bringing in some of the 'otfen mentioned' characters like Bob Sacamano, or Jerry's cousin Jeffrey (you know, he works for the parks department, created the 'edible foliage' tour?), but there's no way they could do justice to the descriptions, so it just won't happen.
My favorite is The Bubble Boy...I loved the scene where George plays Trivial Pursuit with him (the "Moops" sequence was definately a classic!)...
I also liked Bookman as well as the police guys in the Kramer goes to LA episodes that were recently re-aired ("'On her "person"' - what does that mean'?" (or something like that) and "Only the trees know , Johnny, only the trees").
Jim Hoebel Reston, Virginia [email], [email], [email], [email] Lurker of: ALT.FAN.DON-N-MIKE ALT.SPORTS.HOCKEY.NHL.WASH-CAPITALS ALT-TV.NYPD.BLUE ALT.TV.X-FILES ALT.VIDEO.LASERDISC REC.GAMES.VIDEO.ARCADE.COLLECTING
Banya has to be first. In my apartment (we are all Seinfield-heads), we've adopted his "it's the best, Jerry, the BEST!" into our own speech.
Other than those already mentioned, here's some others which we just like:
Tony: Elaine's boyfriend with the cute face; goes rock cimbing with George ("George, you have a non-sexual crush on him... you're in love with him").
Soup Nazi (of course)
Jerry's virgin girlfriend (we can't remember her name) who slept with JFK Jr.
My favorite minor character is Newman. He usually acts very funny
Newman, definitely. The close-talker close at second!
The Soup Nazi. Hands down. Michael
On 21 Jan 97 12:33:19 GMT, "Michael Neal" wrote:
The best minor character is the black lawyer that Kramer used to get the cafe-late (sp?) deal.... and the one that was used in the case aganist the women who wore the bra on the outside.
Uh, actually, the best minor character has to be the nude girl across the street!
Personnally, I think Uncle Leo is the best minor character. I love the way he talks! Poppy was a good minor character too!
[email] (John McKisson) wrote:
No, it's best character, not best LOOKING character. -Simon
"I be thinking that Ebonics be stupid."
-Spike Lee
All those mentioned of course rate real high, but I love Jon Luvitz the guy who faked cancer to get the free hair team for men's coupon. "That's right...Jack!"
Mine would have to be Newman, but I love J. Peterman too, he's so full of himself and oblivious of others that you have to laugh.
giddyup, Jen
It's the fridgeman in the episode where George falls for Elaine... Where they all fall for Elaine. When George gets baldstuff from China.
My favorite minor character is the face painter.
"Yea, that's right."
You should check out Dave's World. He plays the exact same character as a regular on that show.
Puttty, Dave Putty, I think. Did I miss an episode, or did he go from E's boyfriend to "the only honest mechanic in NY"?
On 8 Jan 1997 [email] wrote:
Two of the best minor characters (who were only on once) are Bookman, the library cop, and The Moyle (sp?).
That Librarian Inspector.
How about Bookman, the library cop?
"Well I've got a news-flash for you joy boy!"
Hey! That was Jackie Chiles right? I loved the way he talked! He's one of my favourite minor characters too!
And intentionally so...
My favorites are Jackie Chiles, Estelle Costanza and Newman. I never really liked Mr. Peterman, but Mr. Pitt was sometimes funny, like in that episode with the 3-D poster he couldn't see, and then Elaine accidentally got ink on him so he looked like Hitler. He had to go to a merger meeting right after for some water company with a dumb name, Mul-something.
My favorite character is Uncle Leo, especially in the episode where Elaine visits the doctors and they all write something in her chart. when Uncle Leo gets his eyebrows burned off and the doctor says that he's getting angry. That episode is freakin' hilarious!
On Tue, 4 Feb 1997, Jason wrote:
I agree! Didja see the episode where Uncle Leo was not sure of whether to break up with his girlfriend or not, and Jerry kept confusing him? *that* was funny too!!
Brendan
[email] (Michael C. H. Wong) wrote:
Kramer's lawyer jackie Chiles has issued a restraining order to keep Kramer away from him. He is a great character and a dead on parody of Johnny Chochran. Another favorite of mine is Mr. Peterman for whome Elaine works. He is so boring and self centered that he cracks me up, especially with Elains reactions to him. Does Newman count on this list?
Jimmy's got my vote as the best minor character. I still laugh when I hear him say: Jimmys down!!!!!!! Of course I'll have to give an honorable mention to Mr. Bookman, the library investigations cop.
Matt
It's the old man who moves the cars to avoid parking tickets.
"Parking those cars don't take more sense than putting on a pair of pants. My question to you is: who puts on your pants?"
"Never mind who I am. *I* know who I am. Do *you* know who you are?"
I like Elaine's co-worker who feel for Bad Boy George.
I need answers:
What is Kramer's occupation?
How does he support himself in NYC with his type of apartment?
--Indian Glory
He's a conman/inventor ! For support he attempts to sell, bottle's of "The Ocean," "Coffee Tables" ...... used "Al Jolson" records and gambles on Flight departure/arrival's while waiting on Jerry's flight.Vivek Bajpai wrote:
[email] (Jim Gansemer) wrote:
My favorite is that lawyer guy that Kramer keeps going to--He sorta reminds me of Johnnie Cochran.
[email] wrote:
by far Shaky the Moyle also even though we never really saw him, the Pig man!
I couldn't resist responding to your choice... The actor who played Shaky is Charles Levin , who has been in many Movies and TV shows. His biggest role was the policeman boyfriend of the character Vera on the tv show ALICE. I know alot about him because I was friends with him from age 13 until he moved to Los Angeles my junior year in high school.
Terry