Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Jason Alexander Had Hair When He Starred in These 8 Hilarious ‘80’s Commercials

Remember that time George Costanza was an 80s commercial star?

Well, maybe not exactly. But we found proof that before Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, Jason Alexander was a famous commercial personality.

We found a McDonald’s commercial from 1985 — featuring peak 80s fashion and music — in which Alexander dances, sings and snaps fingers while wearing a white blazer(!!!) with the sleeves scrunched up (!!!). It almost feels like an embarrassing video Frank Costanza would play during Festivus.

That had us thinking, what other commercials did Alexander shoot? Sit back and enjoy because found plenty!

There’s his Hershey’s Kisses ad from 1981 in which the then 21-year-old Alexander played a teenager.

And this Delta Gold Chips spot from 1986 that made us want to have a chip as well.

And what about this hilarious Miller Lite commercial from 1987 with Yogi Berra? Alexander has no lines but his facial reactions are priceless and indistinguishable from Costanza. This was also only two years before he began shooting a little show about nothing called “Seinfeld.”

Who know Pabst Blue Ribbon had a theme song? Alexander plays the doofus who finally gets the girl at the end of this 1984 commercial.

Holy denim! Here’s Alexander playing the cool and sexy guy in his 501 Levi’s jeans commercial from 1984.

Can we take a moment to chuckle at this commercial for the teeeeeeny tiny screen in this Sony Watchman TV.

This 1986 Western Union commercial is nothing special, except for the close up on that computer!

It’s a good thing Larry David found his George Costanza because we can’t imagine anyone else but Alexander playing this deranged, selfish character.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.