It is often described as "a show about nothing", as many of its episodes explore the minutiae of daily life.

Newman is a disgruntled postal worker who lives down the hall from Jerry. In "The Big Salad", Jerry says "I've looked into his eyes. He's pure evil."

Often referred to as "The Coffee Shop" by the four friends, Monk's serves as the social haven for the group (outside of Jerry's apartment), who use it for coffee, breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

In "The Seven", George announces that he wants his firstborn child to be named "Seven" after his baseball hero Mickey Mantle's jersey number. Susan is horrified. Expecting moral support she tells her cousin Carrie, who is expecting, but Carrie and her husband love the name and decide use it for their own child. This outrages George who follows them into the hospital as Carrie is going into labor, desperately trying to get them to choose a different name.

Susan Ross, George's on-again, off-again girlfriend and later fiancée, dies from licking cheap, toxic wedding invitation envelopes George bought during their engagement.

Cosmo is known simply as "Kramer" for almost six seasons before George discovers his full name.

George sometimes lives with his parents, Estelle and Frank Costanza, a bitter couple who are almost as neurotic as their son.

When Elaine reluctantly allows George to attend a company party, he is horrified to see her dancing in cringe-worthy fashion to the song "Shining Star". George later describes the dance, which will become known simply as "The Elaine", as "a full body dry heave set to music".

Frank invented Festivus as an alternative to Christmas. He came upon the idea while pummeling a man in the face in a toy-store dispute over a doll for George. In his own words, "As I rained blows upon him, I realized, 'There had to be another way!'"

NBC executives objected to the production of "The Chinese Restaurant" due to its lack of an involved storyline, but audiences reacted positively, and it is now considered a "classic". In the episode, Jerry and freinds are waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant before seeing a one-night showing of Plan 9 from Outer Space.