The sitcom Seinfeld ran from 1989 to 1998, had 180 episodes, and made a gazillion dollars. Jerry Seinfeld and many of his fans are obsessed with numbers, so it only makes sense that an article about the show would be based on numbers, but underneath those statistics are some fascinating stories. For example, the way to become a Seinfeld character without being an actor is to just know the show's creators. Many of the personalities on the show came from people Larry David or Jerry Seinfeld knew.
Larry David asked former neighbor in real life, Kenny Kramer, if the sitcom could have permission to use his name for Jerry’s television neighbor. The real Kramer was paid the small sum of $1,000. But over the years, he profited from that arrangement. He created the Kramer Reality Tour, which takes tourists on a bus ride in New York City that focuses on all things Seinfeld. The tour promises a theatrical stage, bus and video tour of all the spots that the sitcom made famous. Kenny Kramer is the guide of this 3 hour extravaganza, which offers photo opportunities, online booking, group sales and private and corporate events.
That worked out amicably for Kramer, but maybe not so amicably for Costanza. Mike Costanza sued Seinfeld over the character George Costanza. Read that story and plenty of others about Seinfeld at Worthly.