Jerry Seinfeld Reveals the True Origins of Festivus
- - Jerry Seinfeld Reveals the True Origins of Festivus
Craig RosenDecember 24, 2025 at 12:51 AM
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(Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/WireImage)
It’s that time of year again. It’s time for Festivus, the alternative holiday to Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza that the character Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller), the father of George Costanza (Jason Alexander), created on the Dec. 18, 1997, episode of Seinfeldtitled “The Strike.”
Though that’s the way the story played out on TV, Seinfeld star and co-creator Jerry Seinfeld took to Instagram on Dec. 23 to reveal the true origins of Festivus by posting a clip on Instagram from a question-and-answer exchange from his show at the Beacon Theatre in New York on Dec. 20.
In the clip, Seinfeld is seen opening the floor up to questions. “If there’s anything you ever wanted to ask me about anything… You can ask me about the show or The Bee Movie or the pop tart movie [Unfrosted] or Comedians in Cars… or my life, your life, the universe, the galaxy, any subject of any time, I will attempt…”
At that point, Seinfeld was interrupted by an audience member who shouted out, “Festivus!”
That inspired Seinfeld to check his watch for the date. “When is it? What’s today? The 20th? Two days. So, it’s a couple of days …Festivus. That’s one of my favorite….Not technically a question by the way, I wanted to point that out.”
“The Festivus speech that Frank Costanza does is one of my favorite things of that whole nine years, when he does that thing about, ‘I reached for a doll but another man reached at the same time. As I rained blows upon him. I thought to myself there must be a better way.’
“But, yeah, Festivus, it’s amazing. Probably…that is the most sustaining thing of the TV series…It’s the 23rd, I think is Festivus, right? And it’s always all over the internet. It’s always fun. We get a big kick out of that. And it’s a true thing.
Related: 75 Festivus Quotes To Celebrate the 'Airing of Grievances'
“The writer of that episode, Danny O’Keefe, his father did invent that holiday and he called it Festivus, a holiday for the rest of us.”
Dan O’Keefe was a writer and producer on Seinfeld and also worked on The Drew Carey Show, The League, Silicon Valley, and Veep.
O’Keefe’s father, Daniel O’Keefe, was an author and editor who worked for more than three decades at Reader’s Digest. Not only was the elder O’Keefe’s concept of Festivus showcased on a now-legendary Seinfeld episode, it also was the subject of a 2005 book by the younger O’Keefe called The Real Festivus, which examined the holiday and its history.
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This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 23, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
