Buzz
The phrase ‘What’s the deal with...’ is so strongly associated with a particular style of '90s observational humor that I’m sure you just read it in Jerry Seinfeld’s voice. Ask someone to do a Seinfeld impersonation (though maybe don’t), and they’ll inevitably whine, ‘What’s the deal with...’ before either trailing off or complaining about some trivial issue. It’s funny because he was always saying it! Or was he?
After going through the scripts for every episode of Seinfeld, it turns out that the phrase ‘What’s the deal with...’ was never actually used in a sincere way (as in, part of authentic observational humor) throughout the entire series, even during Jerry's pre-intro stand-up bits.
The closest the show gets to it is in the season two episode ‘The Deal,’ though Jerry never even says it. At Monk’s, George asks Jerry, ‘What’s the deal with Aquaman? Could he go on land, or was he just restricted to water?’ before they switch topics and dive into a discussion about Jerry’s fling with Elaine.
The phrase didn’t resurface in the series for another five years, and after that, all instances of ‘What’s the deal with...’ became self-aware, mocking the phrase itself. In total, excluding ‘The Deal,’ it’s only mentioned in five out of Seinfeld’s 180 episodes:
1. ‘The Invitations,’ Season 7, Episode 24
Jerry concludes that his fiancée Jeannie (played by Janeane Garofalo) is too much like him when she uses the tired old joke structure twice:
Jerry: Well, it’s been quite a night. I could definitely go for some coffee. Jeannie: Hey! What’s the deal with decaf? How do they get the caffeine out of it, and where does it go? Jerry: I don’t know. ... Jerry: (to the waitress): I’ll just have a cup of coffee. Jeannie: A bowl of corn flakes. Jerry: More cereal? That’s your third bowl today, you had it for breakfast and lunch. Jeannie: Hey! So what’s the deal with brunch? If it’s a combo of breakfast and lunch, why isn’t there a ‘lupper’ or ‘linner’?
Put off by her, Jerry ends the engagement.
2. ‘The Abstinence,’ Season 8, Episode 9
Jerry flops at his old junior high school with the line, ‘Hey kids. What’s the deal with homework? You’re not working on your home!’
3. ‘The Summer of George,’ Season 8, Episode 22
George pitches a joke to Jerry for the Tony Awards: ‘What’s the deal with those guys down in the pit?’ which Jerry rejects, saying, ‘They’re musicians. That’s not a joke.’ Later, when debating whether to play frisbee golf or visit Jerry, George imagines Seinfeld delivering the worn-out line, ‘What’s the deal with airplane peanuts?’
4. ‘The Butter Shave,’ Season 9, Episode 1
Jerry sabotages his own performance to stop hack comedian Kenny Bania from riding on his success:
Jerry: What’s the deal with lampshades? I mean, if it’s a lamp, why would you want shade? And what’s the deal with people getting sick? ... Jerry: I mean, what’s the deal with cancer? Audience Member: I have cancer! Kramer: Oh, tough crowd.
5. ‘The Finale,’ Season 9, Episode 24
The series wraps up with Jerry doing a failed set in prison, where he and the gang are serving time:
‘So, what’s the deal with the yard? When I was a kid, my mom wanted me to play in the yard. But of course, she didn’t have to worry about my next-door neighbor Tommy sticking a shiv in my thigh. And what’s the deal with the lockdown? Why do we have to be locked in our cells? Are we so bad that we need to be locked up... in prison? You’d think the weightlifting and the sodomy would be enough. So, anyone from Cellblock D?’
Seinfeld regularly mocked tired sitcom clichés, so it’s no shock that they targeted his potential catchphrase. Yet, it seems that between 1991’s ‘The Deal’ and 1996’s ‘The Invitations,’ What’s the deal with... gained enough traction to be co-opted. According to Google, the phrase’s presence in books and magazines skyrocketed around the show’s debut before plateauing in the mid-2000s (the show ended in 1998).
Beyond combing through old episodes of Seinfeld, I couldn’t find evidence of Jerry using the phrase in televised stand-up either. However, one place where I did find it was in his 1993 quip-filled book, SeinLanguage. In that book, there is a single instance of ‘What’s the deal with...’:
Can someone explain what the deal is with B.O.? Why do we even have B.O.? Everything in nature serves a purpose, except B.O. It makes no sense. You do something good—hard work, exercise—and you stink. That’s how humans are designed. Move, and you stink.
So, aside from this example, before he started poking fun at it on his own show, Jerry Seinfeld’s body of work was almost entirely free from the phrase ‘What’s the Deal With...’. This begs the question: Who started saying it?
The answer is...Jerry Seinfeld (gasps fill the auditorium).
The source seems to be a 1992 Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Seinfeld himself. In a sketch titled ‘Stand-Up and Win,’ he plays the host of a game show where cheesy comedians respond to questions like, ‘What’s the deal with airplane food?’, ‘What’s the deal with the black box?’, ‘What’s the deal with Count Chocula?’, and so on and so forth.
Of course, he was in on the joke from the very start. Despite this, ‘What’s the deal with...’ is still being used by hack headline writers to this very day, including yours truly.
