The Soup Nazi

"The Soup Nazi" is the 116th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, which was the sixth episode of the seventh season. It first aired in the United States on November 2, 1995. In the episode, Jerry, George and Elaine visit a soup stand operated by Yev Kassem (Larry Thomas), who has strict rules.
Jerry, George and Elaine visit a new soup stand. Jerry explains that the owner, Yev Kassem, is known as the "Soup Nazi" due to his insistence on a strict manner of behavior while placing an order, but his soups are so delicious that the stand is constantly busy. En route, Elaine notices a man on the sidewalk with an armoire for sale. She forgoes the soup in favor of buying it. However, her building superintendent informs her that furniture move-ins are not allowed on Sundays, so she asks Kramer to watch the armoire and promises to get soup from Kassem for him in return. While she is away, Bob and Cedric bully Kramer and steal the armoire.
At the soup stand, George complains about not receiving bread with his meal. When he presses the issue after being expected to pay for it, George's order is taken away and his money returned. On a subsequent visit, George buys soup, but Elaine, having scoffed at Jerry's advice on how to order, draws Kassem's ire and is banned for a year.
Jerry and his girlfriend Sheila visit the soup stand. Kassem is repulsed by their kissing, so Jerry disavows Sheila to stay on Kassem's good side. Jerry talks about the breakup with George, who expresses disgust at Jerry and Sheila's baby talk and public displays of affection. Undeterred, Jerry makes up with Sheila at Monk's. George tries to teach him a lesson by behaving similarly with Susan, but this only leads to escalating affection between the couples as Jerry and George struggle to out-disgust each other. Susan is charmed by George's public show of affection and continues to mirror this behavior. Sensing George's discomfort at this, Jerry gloats by informing him that he and Sheila have broken up again.
Kramer, who has befriended Kassem, tells him about the armoire theft. Kassem offers him an armoire he has in storage as a replacement. Elaine is elated and goes to Kassem to thank him. When Kassem learns the armoire was for Elaine, he says he would rather have destroyed it than give it to her. Vowing revenge, Elaine returns to her apartment with Jerry, where they discover Kassem's soup recipes in the armoire. Elaine returns to the soup stand and confronts Kassem with the recipes, stating her intent to publicize them.
Jerry encounters Newman, who is running to get a pot from his apartment. Newman tells him that because of what Elaine said to Kassem, he is giving away whatever soup he has left, closing down his stand, and moving to Argentina. Jerry runs towards the soup stand.
"The Soup Nazi" was Spike Feresten's first credited Seinfeld episode as a writer. The idea for the episode arose when Feresten told Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David about New York soup vendor Al Yeganeh, who was nicknamed "The Soup Nazi". Seinfeld and David laughed and said, "That's a show. Do that as your first show". Feresten's inspiration for the armoire subplot was a New York apartment building where he had lived, which forbade moving furniture on certain days. The armoire thieves were written as homosexual because Larry David decided that "Only gay guys would steal an armoire". At the time Feresten wrote the episode, both he and Seinfeld were dating women who would use affectionate baby talk with them, which led to the Jerry/Sheila story.
The first cast table reading for "The Soup Nazi" was held on September 28, 1995, and it was filmed before a studio audience on October 3. In the episode, Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) references Scent of a Woman. Louis-Dreyfus had never seen the film, but Seinfeld suggested she do an impersonation of Al Pacino's character and showed her how.
The Soup Nazi was portrayed by Larry Thomas. Thomas, who did not realize that the character was based on a real person, received the inspiration for his portrayal from watching Lawrence of Arabia and studying Omar Sharif's accent.
The Soup Nazi has a cameo in the Seinfeld series finale, in which his true name is revealed. He is a witness in the case against Seinfeld, Elaine, George and Kramer. He tells Hoyt about how he banned Elaine from his shop, only for her to return and ruin his business, forcing him to move to Argentina (paralleling the Ratlines used by the real Nazis). Elaine angers him by smugly claiming, "His soup wasn't all that good anyway."
The character was inspired by Ali "Al" Yeganeh (Persian: علی یگانه), an Iranian American soup vendor who ran Soup Kitchen International in New York City, eventually turning it into the chain The Original Soup Man. Yeganeh was originally offended by the portrayal.
According to writer Spike Feresten, Jerry Seinfeld and several members of the production team went to Soup Kitchen International for lunch weeks after "The Soup Nazi" aired. Upon recognizing Seinfeld, Yeganeh "did a triple take" and went into a profanity-filled rant about how the show had "ruined" his business, demanding an apology. Seinfeld gave what Feresten describes as "the most sarcastic apology I've ever seen anyone give." Feresten has also said that some of the episode's encounters in the soup line, such as Elaine slapping her hands on the counter and telling the Soup Nazi he looks like Al Pacino, were based on scenes he witnessed at Yeganeh's real-life soup outlet.
According to Nora Ephron's DVD commentary, the first pop culture reference to Yeganeh (though not by name) seems to have come years before the Seinfeld episode, in the 1993 movie Sleepless in Seattle. In the film, an unseen journalist pitches a story for the lifestyle section of The Baltimore Sun to their editor: "This man sells the greatest soup you have ever eaten, and he is the meanest man in America. I feel very strongly about this, Becky; it's not just about the soup."
Thomas's portrayal of the Soup Nazi earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1996.
Like Jackie Chiles, the Soup Nazi character (played by Thomas) has appeared in commercials after the end of the series.