Michael Chiklis Fondly Remembers His Seinfeld Cameo For One Reason

Michael Chiklis is most (and deservedly) famous for playing corrupt LAPD detective Vic Mackey on “The Shield” — but before that, he was more of a comedy actor. There’s a reason he got the part of Ben Grimm/The Thing in director Tim Story’s super family-friendly “Fantastic Four” films.

Before “The Shield,” Chiklis’ two leading TV roles were “The Commish” (about a wholesome police commissioner in a small New York town) and “Daddio” (a short-lived sitcom about a stay at home dad). Then he made a conscious choice to change his image, shaving his head, going to the gym and ultimately landing “The Shield” due to a run-in with his neighbor, series creator Shawn Ryan.

If this sounds familiar, or Chiklis’ past roles make his performance as Mackey seem shocking, remember that Bryan Cranston also played goofy dad Hal on “Malcolm in the Middle” before he became Heisenberg on “Breaking Bad.”

One of Chiklis’ more well-remembered early roles is a brief guest spot on “Seinfeld.” Yes, a 28-year-old Michael Chiklis (still rocking a head of hair) shows up in season 3 episode “The Stranded.” George, Jerry, and Elaine go to a house party on Long Island hosted by Chiklis’ character, Steve. Jerry gives an empty “stop by if you’re ever in the city” invite to Steve — who follows up on it a week later and stops by Jerry’s apartment. Steve is left to hang out in Jerry’s apartment, but he gets drunk with Kramer and ends up calling over a prostitute named Patty. Steve leaves Jerry to foot Patty’s bill — which then almost gets him arrested for solicitation. 

In a 2013 interview with the Archive of American Television, Chiklis said that “More than any single thing that I’ve done in my career, that episode…more people have referenced.”

Chiklis added that he looks on “Seinfeld” fondly because his appearance on “The Stranded” got him plenty of residual checks.

“Residuals” are payments to film and television workers (writers, actors, crew, etc.) when a project they were involved in generates new revenue. The most obvious example is when television episodes are rerun and/or put into syndication across many channels. Residuals ensure the workers who made the episode get a cut of continued profits it brings in; they were a major point of contention in the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, as streaming rereleases of old projects were not covered under old residual agreements.

“Seinfeld,” as one of the most popular television shows ever made, has been rerun a lot and heavily syndicated — including “The Stranded.” Some of the later “Seinfeld” cast negotiations were about Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Michael Richards wanting in on the syndication residuals.

No one in their right mind will argue that Steve Pocatello is a more important role than Vic Mackey to television history, or a more impressive performance by Chiklis (or an uglier sweater for that matter). But he still gets widespread recognition for it, because a violent and unflinching police procedural like “The Shield” (especially one that doesn’t bend over backwards to make the boys in blue look like heroes) is always going to have more limited appeal than a well-made comedy like “Seinfeld.”