Monk Star Tony Shalhoub Almost Played One Of Seinfeld's Most Iconic Characters

Tony Shalhoub seems born to play handwringing, tightly wound personalities. Long before he solved crimes as the brilliantly obsessive detective of "Monk," he was a contender to play George Costanza on NBC's "Seinfeld."

Although there were rumors that Shalhoub auditioned for the role of Kramer, he revealed on Today, "I auditioned for George Costanza ... I'll tell you what happened, Jason Alexander happened. I can't tell you how many roles I've lost to Jason Alexander." Both actors share a background in theatre and a knack for playing eccentrics.

Alexander ultimately won the part, but Shalhoub still found enormous success of his own with "Monk." It became one of television's most successful detective dramedies, running for eight seasons on the USA Network and even culminating in "Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie" in 2023 on Peacock.

On the podcast "Inside of You With Michael Rosenbaum," Jason Alexander listed some of the "gazillion people" considered for George, including Chris Rock, Danny DeVito, and Paul Shaffer. "In Living Color" star David Alan Grier also revealed he bombed an audition for George.

Tony Shalhoub has other connections to the "Seinfeld" orbit, not just in his similarities to Alexander, but also through Kramer's Michael Richards. ABC originally developed "Monk" for Michael Richards, but he ultimately wasn't interested in the project. As Richards told Interview Magazine, "I had 'Seinfeld' and wasn't able to think ahead in how we could put that into development." Richards' decision ultimately left the door open for Shalhoub's Emmy-winning turn on "Monk."