In a surprising revelation, Jerry Seinfeld shared that one of the most iconic moments from Seinfeld almost didn’t happen. During an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, Seinfeld disclosed that the beloved golf ball reveal from the “Marine Biologist” episode was improvised just hours before filming, leaving actor Jason Alexander with mere minutes to memorize the script.
The scene, which occurs in Season 5, Episode 14, features Alexander’s character, George Costanza, delivering a lengthy monologue about trying to impress a woman. In a twist of fate, George eventually reveals that Kramer’s golf ball ended up stuck in a whale’s blowhole. The memorable speech begins with the now-famous line, “The sea was angry that day my friends.”
Seinfeld explained the last-minute brainstorming session that led to the creation of the scene. “It was the night before we shot the scene with Jason,” he recalled. “I said to [co-writer Larry David], ‘Hey, what if what puts the whale in distress is Kramer’s golf ball?’ We hadn’t made the connection before. We wrote that speech the night before, at two o’clock in the morning.”
Despite the rushed preparation, Seinfeld praised Alexander’s talent and professionalism. “We show up the next day. We hand Jason, who’s an effing genius, that speech,” Seinfeld remarked. “How long is that speech? It’s a page, two pages. This is TV, OK? This is why film sucks. You go to a TV actor like Jason and you hand him two and a half pages, and I go, ‘We’ve got to shoot this in a half hour. Memorize it.’ He goes, ‘No problem.’ That’s TV. No preciousness.”
Seinfeld also shared how Alexander’s flawless performance impacted the entire cast and crew. “When Jason is doing the speech, there’s one shot, there’s one cut to me with my eyes. My eyebrows — I’m watching him,” Seinfeld explained. “You think I’m reacting to the story, I’m reacting — I can’t believe he’s getting this speech, word perfect.”
In the end, Alexander’s remarkable achievement not only enhanced the scene but also exemplified the magic of television production.
