The Story Behind Jerry Stiller’s ‘Seinfeld’ Blooper Will Have You Breaking Too

On Monday, Ben Stiller announced the sad news that his father, comedy legend Jerry Stiller, died at 92 of natural causes. The actor was known for playing hilarious fathers on screen for both “King of Queens” and “Seinfeld,” but according to co-stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander, some of the funniest Stiller moments happened behind the scenes.

Just last week while “Seinfeld” alums Louis-Dreyfus and Alexander were fundraising for Direct Relief on Instagram Live, the pair took some time to reminisce about Stiller and one of the most famous “Seinfeld” bloopers.

“Somebody wants to know, can you talk about filming [the] ‘You want a piece of me’ scene with Jerry Stiller?” Louis-Dreyfus said to Alexander, causing them both to laugh.

The scene in question, which involves Stiller, Alexander and Louis-Dreyfus, has spawned a wildly popular “Seinfeld” blooper on YouTube, which to-date has racked up around 2 million views. In the scene, Alexander and Louis-Dreyfus just can’t keep it together with Stiller:

Alexander recalled that Stiller always knew his lines but didn’t have confidence that he knew his lines, which led to a lot of the “internal rage” of his character, Frank Costanza, as well as his hilarious line readings.

Louis-Dreyfus added that a funny gesture Stiller did where he would look up to the sky was actually him just trying to remember lines.

“He did that line in the first take of you saying, ‘You want a piece of me!’ and you did exactly what you’re doing now,” said Alexander as Louis-Dreyfus cracked up. “And I have to tell you, when you go, very few people have the stamina to not go with you.”

“From that first reading it just gave us the giggles,” Alexander said. “And you just … you couldn’t face off against him. I mean, there’s one take where you laugh I fall off the bench I was sitting on.” 

You can see the blooper above and watch the full Instagram exchange below at around the 32-minute mark. It may just give you serenity now: