anyone but the four main characters are eligible. i'm sure i'll miss some that i really like, but off the top:

kenny banya
frank costanza
newman
david putty

and the sleeper:

bob sakamano

yep, i can't come up with any others in the league of those five

check, one, two

David Putty was the man. Very little comes close to him.

Yeah, that's right. [/Putty voice]

Yeah, Putty was the first guy I thought of. Newman was virtually a regular, no?

Newman stole every scene he was in.

"Vile weed!!!"

You got a question? Talk to the 8-ball.

An aluminum pole. I find tinsel distracting.

newman, frank costanza, and david putty are untouchable in the pantheon of recurring "seinfeld" characters.

morty seinfeld or uncle leo were also sometimes great, though.

Jackie Chiles was another good one.



Agreed on Putty, Newman and Frank for sure.

Ha, this is actually a good pick, but I'd go with Frank Costanza.

Do you know what a balm does?



Yam yam - Shaghai Sally!

besides those already mentioned:

Lloyd Braun
The chick who plays "Elaine" (can't remember her name)
Mr. Kruger
Tim Watley
The eurotrash thugs (Maurice and someone?)

and my all-time favorite, Rebecca DeMornay

Who was Rebecca DeMornay?

Mr. Steinbrenner

High Five.

It's fun watching the Steinbrenner appearances after seeing David on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

angry black employee at a homeless shelter, appeared in two episodes--one in which George tries to sell her the art book he was forced to buy at Brentano's for taking it in the bathroom, and one in which Elaine tries to give her the leftover muffin stumps from her Top of the Muffin store.

Sample quote:

George: "So, do we have a deal?"
Rebecca: "Yeah, and here it is. You have five seconds to get your nasty-ass toilet book out of my face, before I jump over this counter and punch you in the brain."

Feels like an Arby's night.

kruger
rebecca (totally forgot about that one)
putty

all great choices.

i loved susan's father (the actor was on "twin peaks," too). the scene when george's parents come over to eat at their house and mr. ross has to explain to frank that "the chicken has sex with all of them" always makes me laugh.

other one-offs that i love:
-Jimmy ("don't touch jimmy!")
-the russian illegal cable guy (first season)
-the chinese tourists who kramer shows around town and then loses all their money.

He sure did hate the term "grease monkey."

Don't forget that Mickey guy (Kramer's dwarf friend). I need to watch lots of reruns of this show.

Hah, I was actually going to put Jimmy before I remembered he was a one-ep character. I even used the "Don't touch Jimmy" quote next to it.

Sue-Ellen Mischke.

yeah, i felt him necessary to mention because he's so good. that episode ("the jimmy," ep 99) also features my favorite kramer line. he's talking about going to dr. watley and why he likes tim's new 'no children' policy. his mouth is filled with novacane when he says:

"when they take that needle out, i let the explitives fly."



bra less wonder, right?

shit, how could I forget Izzy Mandlebaum?

You're all right, but add: Babu Bhatt, Bubble Boy, ESTELLE Costanza, did anyone mention crazy Joe Davola? Kenny "Mendys" Bania? "Sloppy" Poppie!

UNCLE LEO.

http://www.seinology.com/lists/list-recur.shtml

i think bubble boy was only in one episode.

little known fact: it's actually SUSAN who pops the bubble, not george. she's actually the one banging on the bubble, george is wresting with the arm and the trival pursuit card.

Yes indeed. Was also Sally on Sports Night and evidently narrates Desperate Housewives. (Which is a damn shame, because it might be worth watching if you had her and Felicity on it.)

gah, Crazy Joe Devola, shame on my for forgetting that one.

"Yeah, I got bad news for you buddy, Joe says you're next."
"Me? Why me???"
"...he doesn't like you."

i cannot believe that i left j peterman out. that character is so best. he gets in my top 5 just based on his stories, especially referring to heroin as chinaman's nightcap in one episode. haha.

How come dip isn't a meal? See, I don't get things like that.

The entire 4th season is like recurring character heaven, especially in "The Pilot" when everyone who was in the last 22 episodes shows up.

frank and estelle costanza, putty and Peterman. all comic gold.

elaine's other boss, Mr. Pitt, was pretty good.

who's the dwarf communist who hung around with Kramer from time to time?

was Franklin Delano Romanowski in more than one episode?

"Mr. Peterman, this innocent looking sweater has something that isn't innocent at all...touchability."

One offs and recurring characters are part of what made this show great.

Newman wins, though, hands down.
Bania for sheer annoyance.
The Jon Lovitz toupee episode is great.

anyone mention Tim Watley yet?

Was the Maestro in more than one episode?

And what's the name of the Seinfelds' neighbor in Del Boca Vista? "What, you think I never ridden in a cadillac before?"

I recently noticed that Watley also plays Hal in Malcom in the Middle. That guy is great

Jack Klompus (Morty's friend/nemesis in Florida) hasn't been mentioned

EDIT: tweed beat me to it. "Believe me, I've ridden in a Cadillac hundreds of times"

mickey is a definite add-on to my original list. and lloyd braun. brings my total to 7

sue ellen was fucking hot

someone earlier was referring to jack klompus

never much cared for peterman, probably partly 'cause he appeared in elaine sideplots

susan's parents were the parents on twin peaks, if i'm not mistaken

some great lines from recurring characters:

"keith hernandez?!"
"Bacterial meningitis... Jackpot!"
"two mendys"
"it's gold, jerry. gold!"
"Let me be perfectly blunt. I don't care for you, Costanza. You hang out on the west side of the building with Seinfeld all day laughing it up, wasting your lives."

"Rock paper scissors match."
"Alright! Rock beats paper!"
"I thought paper covered rock."
"Nah, rock flys right through paper."
"Well, what beats rock?"
"Nothing beats rock."
- Kramer and Mickey, playing games, in "The Stand-In"

She really isn't my favorite recurring character, buy my favorite seinfeld moment is when Jerry steals the rye from the old lady. Then she later remembers in another episode. Hilarity.

According to that website of characters, her name is Mabel Choate. Sweet!

Another good one is Jerry's agent, Katie, who tells him that the pilot is in the audience for his stand-up show. She was funny and annoying in a few episodes. Now she's the mom on that 70s show.

what about the 2 tough gay guys who stole Elaine's armoire from Kramer?

susan's parents were both on twin peaks, but they weren't married on the show.

susan's mom played laura palmers mom on twin peaks

susan's dad played donna's dad on the show

pretty weird. i didn't really realize all that until you said something about it.

Putty is an untoppable god of awesome.

Probably my all time favorite scene in Seinfeld was a shot of Putty in his apartment by himself just staring blankly straight ahead. Brilliant.

"Jerry Seinfeld looked, from reports, a little freaked out"



they also wail on Kramer for not wearing a ribbon in the AIDS walk

Was Kramer's mom in more than one episode?

Top Five:
Petermen
Putty
Mickey
Newman
Frank Costanza

why doesn't George's mom get more props?

and how about the Teri Hatcher character? "They're real and they're fabulous".

BTW, Seinfeld suffered from one typical sitcom conceit: every male heterosexual character dates a hot-looking woman. Jerry and Kramer can get away with that, Jerry's sort of a celeb in the show and Kramer has the Kevorka or whatever it's called, but George? Time and time again, they make it clear that he's physically unappealing AND a deeply disturbed, less than intelligent, cheap, petty man (which made Elaine's blind date pitch all the more hilarious)...and yet even as Jerry tells George, "You know how hard it is for me to tell people that I know you?," he's still dating hot women.

In the same vein. I always liked the recurring 'theme'.

One example would be:

Whenever anyone (Jerry and George both did this) needs to make a life decision, they invariably go the bench along the (Hudson River?) and ponder deep thoughts....Lionel Richie song plays....they stand up having come to a decision.....slowly start to jog....seagulls fly.....and full on running toward camera.

(Jerry's life decision was whether to keep the 'Helloooooooo' voice or keep the girl.

LOL

GOLD, JERRY GOLD!

ALL young actresses are hot; otherwise they can't get a job.

This gets more hilarious every time it happens.