TMC
07-10-2016, 03:37 AM
http://nypost.com/2016/07/10/the-backstage-bickering-that-almost-brought-down-seinfeld/
Ask any self-respecting “Seinfeld” fan who the worst dancer on the show — heck, in the world — is, and they’ll immediately think of Elaine Benes’ herky-jerk performance from Season 8’s “The Little Kicks.” Benes (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) boogied so awkwardly at a work function, it endangered her professional reputation.
But most people don’t know her dance was inspired by “Saturday Night Live” boss Lorne Michaels.
The story is told by “Seinfeld” writer Spike Feresten, who started out as an “SNL” receptionist, in the new book “Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed *Everything” (http://books.simonandschuster.com/Seinfeldia/Jennifer-Keishin-Armstrong/9781476756103) (Simon & Schuster) by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong.
Feresten’s job at “SNL” included manning the door at the show’s notorious after-parties. At one such gathering, he told Armstrong, he saw Michaels “dancing as if he’d never seen another *human being dance before. The man heaved and gyrated to a rhythm only he could feel.”
To his delight, Feresten “even got to give Louis-Dreyfus a little dance lesson during production, schooling her in the singular Michaels method.”
“Seinfeldia” tells the complete tale of this New York institution (actually filmed in LA), which finished either first or second in the ratings for five years straight, from 1994-98, and in 2002 was proclaimed by TV Guide as the greatest television show of all time.
Ask any self-respecting “Seinfeld” fan who the worst dancer on the show — heck, in the world — is, and they’ll immediately think of Elaine Benes’ herky-jerk performance from Season 8’s “The Little Kicks.” Benes (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) boogied so awkwardly at a work function, it endangered her professional reputation.
But most people don’t know her dance was inspired by “Saturday Night Live” boss Lorne Michaels.
The story is told by “Seinfeld” writer Spike Feresten, who started out as an “SNL” receptionist, in the new book “Seinfeldia: How a Show About Nothing Changed *Everything” (http://books.simonandschuster.com/Seinfeldia/Jennifer-Keishin-Armstrong/9781476756103) (Simon & Schuster) by Jennifer Keishin Armstrong.
Feresten’s job at “SNL” included manning the door at the show’s notorious after-parties. At one such gathering, he told Armstrong, he saw Michaels “dancing as if he’d never seen another *human being dance before. The man heaved and gyrated to a rhythm only he could feel.”
To his delight, Feresten “even got to give Louis-Dreyfus a little dance lesson during production, schooling her in the singular Michaels method.”
“Seinfeldia” tells the complete tale of this New York institution (actually filmed in LA), which finished either first or second in the ratings for five years straight, from 1994-98, and in 2002 was proclaimed by TV Guide as the greatest television show of all time.