This ‘Seinfeld’ Date-Gone-Wrong Is Based on a Strange Real-Life Love Story

Seinfeld is one of the best sitcoms ever made, and while we may have loved the characters for how funny they are, let’s face it, they aren’t good people. Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld), George (Jason Alexander), Kramer (Michael Richards), and Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) are petty and self-absorbed. The world revolves around them and everyone else exists either to serve their happiness or be the reason why they’re so annoyed.

One of the recurring gimmicks with Seinfeld is that Jerry in particular is dating someone new almost every week. And every week he comes up with reasons not to like them. He notices that Ellen (Christine Taylor) has no friends, so he wonders if she’s a loser. Jenna (Kristen Davis) seems nice, but Jerry accidentally drops her toothbrush in the toilet and then can’t tell her about it. There’s Beth (Debra Messing), who is revealed to be a racist and Anti-Semetic. Okay, Jerry might’ve had a good reason to let her go. Another girlfriend Jerry is quickly repulsed by is a woman responsible for one of Seinfeld‘s most remembered phrases: “She had man-hands.” The woman accused of having man-hands is based on the real life future wife of one of Seinfeld‘s writers, and the reason he wrote the character about her will surprise you.

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Jerry Seinfeld Is Disgusted That His New Girlfriend Has Man-Hands

In the third episode of Seinfeld‘s eighth season, titled “The Bizarro Jerry,” we are introduced to the woman who will forever be known as “Man-Hands.” Jerry’s latest girlfriend of the week is first mentioned by Elaine in the diner, when she tells Jerry that he should go out with her friend Gillian (Kristin Bauer) who’s a writer. Jerry isn’t interested until Elaine shows him a photo, one that even contains information about Gillian like stats on a baseball card. George wants the photo so he can use it to pick up women by telling them this woman is his dead fiancée, but for Jerry it’s going to get much more personal.

Jerry meets Gillian at a fancy restaurant. She’s blonde and beautiful, just what he likes, but when they shake hands, he immediately sees that there’s one literally huge problem: the size of her hands. He’s not exaggerating, however. Gillian’s hands are massive. An actual man’s arm was used for close-ups. Back at the diner, Jerry hits Elaine with one of the series’ best Seinfeldisms: “She had man-hands.” He continues, saying, “The hands of a man. It’s like a creature out of Greek mythology, I mean, she was like part woman, part horrible beast.” Elaine is annoyed, then reminds Jerry that he’s helping her with something the next day. “Well, if you need an extra set of hands, I know who you can call,” he says.

Jerry and Man-Hands, er, Gillian, go out on another restaurant date, where she rips apart the bread with her huge hands and easily opens a bottle of beer. Jerry is so disgusted that he says he’s not hungry. Gillian then tells Jerry he has something on his face and goes to wipe it off with her finger. It turns out to be an eyelash. Gillian says to make a wish, and he reluctantly does so, closing his eyes and blowing on her finger. When he opens them again, Jerry says, “Didn’t come true.” Gillian proceeds to rip apart her lobster as Jerry looks on in pain.

The next morning, Jerry confides to Kramer he’s going to break up with Gillian. “Those meaty paws. I feel like I’m dating George ‘The Animal’ Steele… Maybe I’ll chain her to the refrigerator and sell tickets.”

Later, Jerry tells Gillian at his apartment that he just wants to be friends. While she’s in his bathroom washing her hands, George calls in a panic because the picture of Gillian he’s been using to pick up women just got accidentally destroyed. He needs another photo. Jerry goes through her purse, only for those meaty paws to clench down on his arm.

‘Seinfeld’ Writer David Mandel Reveals That ‘Man-Hands’ Is Based on His Actual Wife

“Bizarro Jerry” was written by David Mandel, who has a long history in comedy. Outside of being a writer for Seinfeld, for which he wrote 10 episodes, Mandel wrote for Saturday Night Live and Curb Your Enthusiasm. He was also an executive producer on the latter. Recently, he hit it big as the show runner for Veep, where he was reunited with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Mandel has spoken a couple of times about what inspired him to write Seinfeld’s “Bizarro Jerry.” Part of it comes from his love of Superman, where there’s a Bizarro Superman. Seinfeld‘s “Bizarro Jerry” has Elaine, sick of her usual friends and wanting something more, hanging out with three new guys who are sophisticated and read books. The bizarre thing is that they look so much like Jerry, George, and Kramer, but act the exact opposite. In 2017, Mandel told Variety:

“Not only does it incorporate the Superman concept, but also ‘man hands’ in there is sort of about my wife. She has farm hands because she grew up on a farm, whereas I have baby-like hands and have never worked a hard day in my life. We exaggerated it for the show, and the joke became this woman with giant hands. Obviously everything I write is me, but this is the one that felt the most me.”

Mandel Says ‘Bizarro Jerry” Was His Shakespeare Sonnet For His Wife

In 2007, The New York Times did a story about Mandel and his wife, an athletic pediatrician named Dr. Rebecca Whitney. The two met in 1988 on their very first day at Harvard. They began dating in 1995, but soon broke off it off. Partly as a way to win Rebecca back, Mandel wrote about his ex’s man-hands. The article says:

Mr. Mandel’s response was to write “a ‘Seinfeld’ episode about her,” he said. “It’s the modern equivalent of a Shakespeare sonnet.” He explained that in the episode, called “Bizarro Jerry,” Jerry Seinfeld dates a woman with “man hands.” Dr. Whitney, who winces when he mentions it, chimed in, “I would like to clarify that my hands are farm hands and not man hands.”

Seinfeld has long been referred to as a “show about nothing.” While that may partly be so, as the series aimed to be about the moments where the characters talk about the something that just happened, it can’t be entirely true. One of their writers used it as way to win back his ex-girlfriend. So the next time you’re watching Seinfeld and you come across “Bizarro Jerry,” when Man-Hands puts her meaty paws all over Jerry’s face and he recoils, don’t laugh like the studio audience did. Be overwhelmed with joy, because you’re watching one heck of a hilarious and very strange love story.