- "It's the best, Jerry! The best!"
- ―Bania's catchphrase
- "That's gold, Jerry! Gold!"
- ―Bania's famous line
Kenny Bania is a fellow comedian with whom Jerry frequently comes into contact on the New York City comedy circuit. He is a "hack" standup comedian, much loathed by Jerry. Bania is portrayed by Steve Hytner. (Twitter handle: @hytner)
Story
Bania looks up to Jerry and frequently tries to impress him with recommendations to miscellaneous services and products. He follows up his suggestions by saying, "It's the best, Jerry! The best!" Conversely, Jerry intensely dislikes Bania for both his exuberance and his perceived lack of talent.
However, at one point Jerry becomes Bania's comedy mentor. Jerry does this basically to massage his own ego and prove his competency to his current girlfriend, who is highly dependent on her own mentor. During this brief alliance, one of Bania's jokes is:
- "Why do they call it Ovaltine? The mug is round. The jar is round. They should call it Roundtine."
Bania is awestruck by the joke, and in response exclaims: "That's gold, Jerry! Gold!" Jerry's intervention has the unexpected effect of improving Bania's reputation as a comedian, much to his annoyance. Jerry has even gone as far as calling Kenny “a timeslot hit”. (This is a reference to the shows that followed Seinfeld and Friends. They were popular because the shows that preceded them were popular; moreover, when these two preceding series were cancelled, those shows’ ratings suffered accordingly.) In “The Butter Shave”, he is added to Jerry’s NBC showcase, much to Jerry’s dismay. In the same episode, Kenny even gets one of Jerry’s past girlfriends, Jenna.
In "The Finale, Part 2," Kenny Bania attends the trial of Jerry, Elaine, George, and Cosmo in Latham County.
Quotes
"It's the best, Jerry! The best!" Catchphrase applied to many items, notably the food served by The Soup Nazi and at Mendy's.
Gold, Jerry, Gold!
I’ve been working out. Went from a size 40, to a 42. I'm huge.