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If you think “Seinfeld” is all about its great foursome of Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards, I envy you. This means you have nine unwatched seasons of sitcom genius awaits you on streaming (or you could buy the complete series on Blu-ray and probably own every episode for the rest of your life, provided you store the discs’ n right). If there’s a “Seinfeld” fanatic in your life, you probably know about recurring characters like the weasel Newman (Wayne Knight), George’s eccentric parents (Jerry Stiller and Estelle Harris), and stances like the Soup Nazi (Larry Thomas), but do you know the deadpan majesty of David Puddy?
Portrayed by Patrick Warburton (much to his father’s chagrin), David Puddy first appeared in the classic season 6 episode “The Fusilli Jerry.” Puddy is Jerry’s friend and mechanic who breaks an unwritten guy rule when he steals Jerry’s coital “movement” while having sex with Elaine. This sets up a series of hilarious complications, so no one was upset to see Puddy return in a subsequent episode that found him wearing New Jersey Devils face paint. At this point, the strange but decent-looking Puddy seemed destined for recurring status. He was the perfect straight-faced foil for Elaine, and possessed quirks that could be exploited for huge laughs further down the line.
So, why did Puddy suddenly go away and not return until the final season of the series?
Another sitcom obligation caused Warburton’s two-year absence from Seinfeld
In a 2013 interview with The AV ClubWarburton revealed that his long absence from “Seinfeld” was due to him joining the cast of the sitcom “Dave’s World” in 1995. Based on writer Dave Berry’s nationally syndicated humor columns, the series hung around until 1997, which effectively keeping Warburton out of circulation for two years. As he told The AV Club:
“I got a few phone calls about doing more ‘Seinfeld,’ but I couldn’t do it. That was frustrating. But then they canceled ‘Dave’s World,’ and that’s when Jerry came to me to do a final season. o’ Seinfeld.'”
And this only came about because Warburton shot an American Express commercial with Seinfeld where he provided the voice of the sitcom star’s favorite superhero, Superman. Per Warburton:
“I was on that set and he threw her out there. He says, ‘Do you want to come back on the show this next season?’ I replied, ‘Let me check my schedule.’ Yeah, it was great that the door opened again because, as I said, it was very frustrating not being able to come back to work with Jerry and the crew on the No. 1 show on TV because I was tied up in another contract .'”
Warburton appeared in eight episodes that season (including the controversial finale), which boosted his profile and enabled him to star as the broken superhero The Tick on the short-lived tragic superhero sitcom in 2001. To date, he it is probably Warburton’s finest hour. his voice portrait of Kronk in Disney’s animated classic “The Emperor’s New Groove.” And none of this would have come to pass if he hadn’t stolen Jerry’s move on “Seinfeld.”
