Not only is Superman featured or referenced in many episodes of the “Seinfeld” TV series, but Jerry Siegel also teamed up with the Man of Steel for a series of American Express commercials and webisodes.
Jerry Seinfeld teamed up with Superman for an AMERICAN EXPRESS commercial which aired during the NFL Playoffs in January 1998. Seinfeld came up with the concept of the commercial, which blends live action and animation, and specifically asked the DC Comics superhero be drawn in the style of the late artist Curt Swan. There is a 30-second and 60-second version of the commercial, and it also co-stars an endangered Lois Lane. Jack Larson also appears in the commercial (when the comet is headed for earth, and the shadow falls on the Daily Planet building, look at the man reading a paper who looks up…it’s Larson).
In March 2004 Jerry Seinfeld and Superman joined forces once again with American Express to create a couple of action-packed, sidesplitting “webisodes” that chronicled the daily exploits and unique friendship between comedian and Kryptonian. The two four-minute webisodes, entitled “A Uniform Used to Mean Something” and “Hindsight” were co-written by Seinfeld and directed by acclaimed film director Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man). Noel Neill made a cameo appearance in the “Hindsight” webisode.
View these three commercials online via YouTube:
- Superman & Seinfeld American Express Commercial [1998]
- Superman & Seinfeld American Express Commercial “A Uniform Used to Mean Something…” [2004]
- Superman & Seinfeld American Express Commercial “Hindsight is 20/20” [2004]
Did you know? Superman was mentioned in many episodes of the TV series Seinfeld, either by name or in pictures which featured on Jerry’s fridge, or a statue that sits on his shelf (next to the door to his bedroom/bathroom).
Some of the numerous references to Superman and Superheros are listed in our “Seinfeld’s Pal, Superman!” article.
this is how you’ll spot all the old people on this site. I remember when this was a topic on the Superman Homepage back when the commercials were coming out. Steve has been doing this for a while!
Just as Christopher Reeve became the definitive live-action Superman for Generation Xers like me, the reference point for Boomers like Seinfeld was the George Reeves show. That’s obvious in the episode where Jerry dates a woman named Lois. Although the episode uses the Williams theme, the jokes about Superman were based mostly on the Reeves tropes.