The Parking Space

The Parking Space
Season	3
Episode	39
Air Date	April 22, 1992
Writer(s)	Larry David Greg Daniels
Director	Tom Cherones
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"The Parking Space" is the thirty-ninth episode of the sitcom Seinfeld. The episode was the 16th episode of the third season. It aired on April 22, 1992. It was written by Larry David and Greg Daniels, and was directed by Tom Cherones.

Plot

Kramer tells Jerry about his friend Mike Moffitt calling Jerry "a phony." After borrowing Jerry's car, Elaine comes up with a wild story involving a pack of teenagers with a gun, because the car is now making a strange clanking noise.

George drives with Elaine to Jerry's to watch a big televised fight with him. He finds a space, and decides to back into it. He spends a good deal of time positioning himself perfectly (bragging to Elaine about his ability to parallel park). When he starts backing into the space, Mike, also there for the fight at Jerry's, enters the same space, front first.

The two argue over who is entitled to the space, all the while blocking traffic. Mike argues that he entered the space first, while George argues that he saw it first and was simply positioning himself, entitling him to the space. People on the street also assess the situation and argue with each other over who should keep the space. To make way for an incoming ice cream truck, George and Mike get neutral people to move the cars and position them perfectly after the truck is moved.

Jerry and Kramer also come down to try to settle the problem. Jerry inadvertently tells a little boy named Matthew that his father, who owns the "fat-free" yogurt store, is closing the store, and Matthew gets upset. Kramer mistakenly thinks the boy's mother is pregnant. Near the end of the episode, two police officers finally arrive to supposedly resolve the situation. However, after the story is told, one tells Mike to move his car, the other argues against him, and by now, it is nighttime.

At the end of the episode, Jerry is seen dashing back into his apartment, just in time to see the last few seconds of the count for the knockout (missing the actual knockout punch).

Notes About Nothing

• The story of the parking confrontation was inspired by a similar incident that happened to Greg Daniels' father. Larry David has said in this episode's Inside Look that George was right in this case, being that since Mike wasn't there first and came in front first, it's not his space.
• The scenes on the street were really filmed outdoors, with the studio audience seated in a large set of bleachers behind the camera crew. As the day wore on, the filming extended into the evening, resulting in the darker lighting of the later scenes in the episode.
• This episode is one of only two to reference George's brother, the other being "The Suicide".
• The actor who played the ice cream truck driver, Michael Costanza, is a real-life friend of Jerry Seinfeld, and the inspiration for the name George Costanza.