The Only Seinfeld Episode To Not Feature George

"Seinfeld," the so-called "show about nothing," somehow found a way to be about everything over the course of its nine seasons on the air, with no subject too small for its core group of misanthropes to gripe about. It's a style of comedy the show's executive producer, Larry David, would go on to hone in his long-running HBO series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," but which he first perfected with the New York-based sitcom.

Of course, any sitcom worth its laugh track is all about the main cast, and "Seinfeld" had a top-tier assembly of talent, beginning with its title character, Jerry Seinfeld, and extending to Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine Benes, Jason Alexander as George Costanza, and Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer. Indeed, this "show about nothing" was only ever able to work because these actors could make "nothing" so darn funny. According to some people, some episodes of the series haven't aged well, but on the whole, the show is still highly regarded as a seminal moment in comedy.

However, it may surprise even the biggest fans of "Seinfeld" to learn that not every member of the main cast appeared in every episode. It was rare for episodes to not feature the entirety of the main quartet, but it happened occasionally. As it turns out, though, there's only one single episode that did not feature George.

Where could he be? Believe it or not, George was not home in "Seinfeld" Season 3, Episode 3 ("The Pen").

You may remember this entry in the series for Elaine's horrific rendition of Marlon Brando's famous "Stella!" quote from "A Streetcar Named Desire." However, this episode is even more notable for another reason: It does not include half of the regular cast. Indeed, "The Pen" is the only episode in the whole series that does not include a single scene featuring Jason Alexander as George Costanza. It's also only the second episode sans Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer.

Given such a dramatic reduction of active players involved, what is this episode about? "The Pen" finds Jerry and Elaine visiting Jerry's parents at their Florida retirement community. Morty (Barney Martin) and Helen Seinfeld (Liz Sheridan) are always a delight, bickering amongst each other and their fellow elders over restaurant tabs and Scotch tape. Of course, Jerry's visit to the community and his acquisition of an astronaut pen needlessly triggers additional bickering with Jack Klompus (Sandy Baron), Morty's archnemesis.

Notably, outside of her Brando-esque attempt at drama, Elaine also doesn't get much to do in the episode. Forced to sleep on Morty and Helen's spare pullout sofa, she injures her back and spends the last act drugged up on muscle relaxers. Perhaps the show's writers knew adding people as volatile as George and Kramer into the mix would simply prove one too many cooks in the kitchen.