Chris Rock Almost Played George Costanza on 'Seinfeld'

Jason Alexander told the story to Howard Stern.

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Image via Complex Original
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George Costanza, known to Jason Alexander to some who respect government names far too much, appeared on The Howard Stern Show to discuss the Seinfeld role he can't and never will escape. You'd think he'd have run out of things to say by now, but he offered up some intriguing, new information about casting for his iconic part. The most notable person up for the role (at least with hindsight) was Chris Rock. But Larry Miller, Brad Hall, David Alan Grier, Nathan Lane, Steve Buscemi, Paul Shaffer, and Danny DeVito all went out for it. Rock, Shaffer, and DeVito were all offered the part before turning it down. 

It's hard to imagine Rock as George Costanza, but it would have added some diversity to the show (the one thing the classic sitcom was missing) in addition to his then-bubbling comedic greatness. But we're not going to get sucked into FOMO because Alexander obviously knocked it out of the park while wearing a cotton Yankees jersey. 

"All I had were a couple of pages of the script, which read like a Woody Allen film," Alexander said of his audition tape. "Hence I did the glasses and as blatant as a Woody Allen as I could do. A couple weeks later I got a call from NBC to screen test with Jerry" 

Listen to the interview below. 

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