Al Roker's Unexpected and Hilarious Seinfeld Guest Appearance Is 90s TV Gold
The TODAY weatherman joined the legion of Seinfeld guest stars who became smitten by Elaine.
As an applauded writer, journalist, and TODAY co-anchor, Al Roker has many career highlights, but who could forget his iconic 1993 cameo on Seinfeld?
Since Roker became a household name for his meteorological insights, he's appeared as himself in several exciting acting projects and television series. Roker has been full-time on TODAY since 1996, but just a few years before his arrival as co-anchor, the weathercaster guest starred in one of New York City's most iconic sitcoms: Seinfeld.
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As one of the most hailed sitcoms of all time, Roker's brief Seinfeld appearance is an absolute must-watch.
Watch Roker's hilarious throwback guest appearance on Seinfeld below.
What happened during Al Roker's Seinfeld episode?
Roker guest starred in Seinfeld Season 5, Episode 10 ("The Cigar Store Indian") in a tongue-in-cheek gag after Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) came face to face with him on a subway train.
It all began after the four friends made a trip to George Constanza's (Jason Alexander) family home in Kew Gardens, Queens — a neighborhood in the center of the borough near to the John F. Kennedy Airport. Elaine snagged the family's TV Guide (with Al Roker on the cover) as reading material for the hour-long subway ride back into Manhattan with Kramer (Michael Richards).
But after Kramer left her on the train to get a gyro, Elaine got caught in a conversation with a flirtatious TV fanatic who noted her reading material. Creeped out, she ran off the train, abandoning the Costanza family copy of TV Guide on her seat.
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Of course, George's father, Frank (Jerry Stiller), noticed his TV Guide was missing because he collected them and he thus demanded that his Al Roker copy be returned. "How do you just walk into a house and take a TV Guide?" he asked while watching TV. "How does she expect you to watch TV? Am I just supposed to turn it on and wander aimlessly around the dial?"
What followed were some quintessentially Seinfeld snafus: Elaine's would-be subway suitor turned the original copy into a bouquet for her, and then she got gyro sauce all over her repurchased copy. Frank went absolutely ballistic, and Elaine ultimately had to order a new copy of the TV Guide to help complete Frank's collection.
Elaine and Jerry then found themselves back on the train to Kew Gardens with the third replacement, but when he ran to grab a gyro at the last moment, she was once again alone on the train... only this time, the man left on the car with her was Roker.
After noting her reading material, Roker sat down and said, "I guess your boyfriend's going to have to take the next train," echoing the previous creep's exact line.
After Elaine again clarified that wasn't her boyfriend, Roker quipped, "He's not? Interesting!"
Rocker then expertly flashed Elaine a thumbs up, perfectly replicating his TV Guide cover pose.
Al Roker's Seinfeld episode is one of his first TV guest appearances
Al Roker's 1993 Seinfeld episode showcased his comedic timing and delivery, leaving the audience in stitches.
He found himself looking back fondly on his Seinfeld episode in October 2017, sharing a throwback clip on Facebook. "#TBT - that moment in '93 when I was on Seinfeld..." Roker captioned the social media post, garnering hundreds of likes from fans.
Seinfeld featured dozens of notable guest stars during its long primetime reign which began on July 1989. And Roker is now no stranger to sitcoms: In addition to Seinfeld, the TODAY co-anchor has appeared as himself in 30 Rock, The Proud Family, The Simpsons, several Sharknado films, and has even made severalappearances on Saturday Night Live.
But Seinfeld was one of his first-ever television projects outside of news coverage.
