The Seinfeld Role That Tony Shalhoub Auditioned For
"Seinfeld" is a stone cold classic of a sitcom that never had to rely on a laugh track to have its viewers in stitches. Still, like so many other long-running hit shows, it had its share of behind-the-scenes issues and "what could have been" scenarios. Some of "Seinfeld's worst episodes can seem outright tacky compared to the show's usually stellar quality. The now-classic episode "The Pen" nearly sunk the show after the exclusion of Jason Alexander's George Costanza and Michael Richards' Cosmo Kramer angered the former to the brink of a walkout. Oh, and speaking of George, there's another way the character could have changed the show's course in a significant way: As it turns out, none other than Tony Shalhoub once auditioned for that crucial "Seinfeld" role.
Whispers that "Monk" star Shalhoub auditioned for the character of Kramer are readily available online, but in a 2023 interview with Today, Shalhoub himself confirmed that those claims are false and said he was actually eyeing a different character instead.
"I auditioned for George, for the role of George. I wonder whatever happened — did I get that?" he joked. The actor went on to say that this was far from the only time he lost a role to Alexander. "I'll tell you what happened, Jason Alexander happened. I can't tell you how many roles I've lost to Jason Alexander. Let's not go down that road."
Even without Seinfeld, Shalhoub has done well for himself
Tony Shalhoub didn't sound very bitter about losing the "Seinfeld" role and was clearly having fun with the story in the Today interview. Of course, he doesn't particularly need to hold any grudges over lost opportunities, because his résumé reads like most actors' wildest dreams, with four Primetime Emmys to his name and a hefty amount of amazing film roles to boot.
Shalhoub's movie prowess has ranged from the amusing alien informant Jeebs in "Men in Black" and "Men in Black 2" to Ben Geisler in the Coen brothers' 1991 black comedy "Barton Fink" and attorney Freddy Riedenschneider in their 2001 neo-noir piece "The Man Who Wasn't There." Horror fans also remember him as Arthur Kriticos, the tragic protagonist in one of the best ghost movies of all time, 2001's "Thirteen Ghosts."
From his roles as taxi driver Antonio Scarpacci on the NBC airport sitcom "Wings" to his long-running starring stint as the titular germaphobe genius of "Monk," Shalhoub has also had plenty of small screen success. As it happens, he's even had the opportunity to act opposite his old audition "nemesis" Jason Alexander on the Amazon Prime Video comedy-drama "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," where the former plays Midge Maisel's (Rachel Brosnahan) father Abe Weissman, and the latter recurs as Abe's old writer friend Asher.