While George Costanza is remembered as one of the most outrageous characters on television, Seinfeld actually based much of the character on the life of showrunner Larry David. Considering Jerry Seinfeld’s character is a semi-fictionalized version of himself, it’s no surprise that each main character in Seinfeld is based on a real figure from the lives of co-creators Larry David and Jerry. While Kramer and Elaine are based on friends of Seinfeld, George Costanza is notably based on head writer and showrunner Larry David, but just how much of David inspired Jason Alexander’s character?
Unsurprising for a show about “nothing” and the outrageous happenings in everyday minutiae, many of Seinfeld’s greatest episodes are based on real occurrences from the writers’ lives, such as the true story of Frank Costanza’s Festivus holiday and the iconic season 7 "The Rye" episode. While some of the actors would balk at the ridiculousness of the premises for their characters in many episodes, their perspectives would change upon learning that such an event actually happened in real life. George Costanza, above all, was subject to some of the most awkward and absurd social situations, which makes it hard to believe that his character wasn’t entirely fictional.
When Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld had first pitched Seinfeld, they conceptualized George to be a comedian like Larry but felt having two comedians would interfere too much with the episodic performances of Jerry’s stand-up (which stopped after season 7). Instead, they decided to make George a non-professional comedic version of Larry that embodied the writer’s neurotic mannerisms and social insensitivities. Not only was the personality of Jason Alexander’s character based on Larry David, but numerous storylines for George also came from direct experiences in David’s life. Certain iconic Seinfeld episodes like “The Contest,” “The Big Salad,” “The Revenge,” and “The Cadillac” were all derived from David’s past.
In the Seinfeld special Jason Plus Larry is George, David revealed that he was often asked why he didn’t play the character on the show. David responded that he never had any intention to, partially because he was already busy as the head writer, and he felt NBC wouldn’t approve of him as an actor. While David had no interest in portraying the George version of himself onscreen (though Larry did appear in multiple Seinfeld episode cameos), he was always a bit defensive of the character considering he was essentially a semi-fictional Larry David. In an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry is speaking to Alexander, who tells him he can’t shake the George image, which he dislikes because George is such a “schmuck.” In Larry’s comedic response (and George’s, by proxy), he questions why George is a “schmuck” and explains that so many of the “ridiculous” events in Seinfeld really happened to him. Numerous other times in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry will declare that George is actually himself.
While George is essentially a clone of Larry David, the Seinfeld character does share some clear differences from the comedian. For starters, George is Italian, not Jewish, an aspect of David’s identity that he leans into much more in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Personality-wise, Jason Alexander's George Costanza is a much more pathetic version of David. While they both say things they shouldn’t and end up in awkward situations of their own doings, George is fairly whiny about his faults while David mostly jokes about or embraces them in a confident manner. Additionally, while Larry David and George both share the physical features of being bald with glasses, Jason Alexander improvised George’s glasses in his audition as inspired by Woody Allen, which is who he actually based George off of at the beginning of Seinfeld. Once Alexander discovered that George was based on Larry David, he decided to drop the Woody Allen influence and make the character an imitation of Seinfeld’s showrunner.