Kathy Griffin's Second Seinfeld Appearance Was Based On A Hilarious True Story

Comedian and actress Kathy Griffin appeared on NBC's beloved sitcom "Seinfeld" twice between 1996 and 1998. She first showed up in Season 7, Episode 17, "The Doll," as Sally Weaver — the sassy college roommate of Heidi Swedberg's Susan Ross, who appeared throughout Seasons 4 and 7 — before reprising the role in Season 9, Episode 13, "The Cartoon." In that later episode, Weaver is encouraged by Jerry Seinfeld to keep pursuing stand-up comedy, even as people repeatedly tell her that she stinks. Instead of quitting, she leans into the criticism and builds new material about how awful Seinfeld is (famously dubbing her act "Jerry Seinfeld, the Devil"), a move that launches her comedy career and turns her into a star. What makes the storyline especially memorable is that it was rooted in a real experience from Griffin's own career.

As it turns out, that storyline closely mirrors how Griffin landed the gig in real life. While appearing on "The Skinny Confidential" podcast, she revealed that during her very first TV special, she told a story about Seinfeld that he saw and found funny — so funny, in fact, that he thought it'd make a great storyline for the series. As Griffin explained, "He actually, to his credit, thought it was funny. He didn't clutch his pearls and go, 'Oh, how dare you? I'm a star.' So they wrote the second episode where my character becomes a stand-up comic whose whole act is making fun of Jerry Seinfeld. And that was amazing."

Guest-starring on one of the most popular sitcoms of the '90s certainly helped Griffin's rise in show business. But even before that, she was already carving out her own path to fame. The same year as her "Seinfeld" debut, she appeared in Ben Stiller's cult classic comedy, "The Cable Guy." She also appeared in Quentin Tarantino's much-lauded "Pulp Fiction" and 1995's "Four Rooms," acting alongside stars like Antonio Banderas, Tim Roth, Salma Hayek, and Madonna. She also appeared in other lesser-known features such as "Shakes the Clown," the horror film "The Unborn," and Disney's "The Barefoot Executive."

Beyond her film work, Griffin proved even more prolific on television. She guested on shows like "Civil Wars," "Dream On," and "Dweebs," and appeared on cultural touchstones like Will Smith's "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and Michael Crichton's groundbreaking medical drama "ER," which helped redefine the genre and became a blueprint for future shows. Much of that happened before "Seinfeld" entered the picture. In the aftermath of "Seinfeld," Griffin's career accelerated, with roles in high-profile shows like "The X-Files," Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and "The Simpsons." She won two Primetime Emmys for her reality series, "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List," which ran on Bravo for six seasons between 2005 and 2010.

Today, she continues acting (mostly on TV), releasing comedy specials, and rustling feathers with her often controversial material about religion, sexuality, and politics. She has come a long way since those "Seinfeld" episodes, becoming far more successful than her on-screen counterpart in the '90s.