It’s been three decades since "Seinfeld" first aired in 1989 and the classic sitcom with its cast of quirky, yada-yada characters and stories about nothing is still quintessential New York.
So for the 30th anniversary of its pilot, every Manhattan-dweller can be a master of the show's domain—if they buy tickets to a year-long activation called “The Seinfeld Experience” that will open sometime in the fall. No feats of strength required.
The pop-up experience will run seven days a week through February 2020 (including Festivus) and was created by experiential agency Superfly, aiming to give fans a “behind-the-scenes” look at the classic show. The activation will include revivals of iconic show moments and characters with costumes, memorabilia, sets and props, in addition to never-before-seen content. It will also house a retail store onsite so visitors can buy branded Seinfeld merch as they exit through the gift shop.
“Because I am Seinfeld, for a long time I was the only person to actually have the Seinfeld experience,” Jerry Seinfeld said in a statement. “Now, these crazy Superfly people are going to make it so lots of people can interact with our silly '90s TV show. All I can say is, in the general context of the world we live in, this seems completely normal.”
Not much else has been revealed about the experience except that it will be located in the Gramercy neighborhood of Manhattan and tickets will be going on sale in the coming months.
"The Seinfeld Experience" stems from an earlier activation at Clusterfest in San Francisco, a comedy festival produced by Superfly that Jerry Seinfeld headlined in 2017. Superfly created a replica of Jerry Seinfeld's apartment in that show, which has also housed other experiential destinations from hit sit-coms including Paddy's Pub from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
Superfly is a founding partner of Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Tennessee, Outside Lands in San Francisco and Clusterfest. Co-Founder Jonathan Mayers told Ad Age that his company is working directly with the "Seinfeld" creators on the New York experience and that it will be "on a much grander" scale than Clusterfest, without going further into detail.
"It's going to be something that's really special and we hope it blows everyone away," said Mayers, one of those "crazy Superfly people" that Seinfeld himself was talking about.
