There's been a lot of talk about guest stars on Seinfeld. Most notably, how the cast apparently hated the character of Susan and wanted the actor who played her fired. However, not all guest-stars have run afoul of the incredible cast of the show. After all, they knew that the guest-stars helped make the show as beloved as it has become. In fact, without the guest stars, the show simply wouldn't be as good. But there's one guest-star on Seinfeld that was the best. One who has gone down as one of the most memorable characters on the entire show... and certainly the one with the best catchphrase. And that's Larry Thomas' Soup Nazi from the episode of the same name.
It's not like Larry Thomas has been a part of many memorable projects since his days on Seinfeld. Although, he has been working steadily ever since. He calls all of these fairly unfulfilling roles his "day job", but because of Seinfeld, Larry has pulled in some pretty impressive money. Here's how much he was paid to be part of Seinfeld as well as how much he's made after he actually filmed the show...
How Much Larry Thomas Made By Playing The Meanest Soup Maker In Manhattan
According to Networth Post, Larry Thomas is worth $1.5 million. Given that People also reported on him earning a whopping six figures in 2020 alone, it seems as though this number is fairly accurate. But how much did he make from Seinfeld? During an interview with Jane Wells on her Youtube Show, the Soup Nazi himself explained exactly what his salary was for his absolutely classic episode of Seinfeld.
"I just got cast and I'm getting paid $2,610, which is top of show, whatever that means," Larry Thomas explained. "That was the most they would pay any guest-star. And that includes like Bette Midler [who guest-starred on an episode of Seinfeld]."
While this was certainly not a lot to be paid for the main guest-starring role on an episode of one of the most successful shows of all time, it all worked out for Larry. Of course, he was brought back for the highly controversial Seinfeld finale. But fortunately for Larry, his salary was upped a bit. He got about $3,500 for his very brief appearance in the hour-long finale instead of the $2,610 he got for his massive role in the episode about him. However, this was just the beginning of the success that Larry experienced after the "Soup Nazi" episode.
During his interview with Jane, Larry explained that he's basically been living off of Seinfeld residual cheques ever since the Season 7 episode aired in 1995. Of course, because of the success of the show, Larry has also been able to make money from autographs and Cameo videos thanks to the outlandish success of his character on the series.
"Put it this way, since 2003 I have made a pretty decent living doing nothing but autograph shows, personal appearances, and then, finally, Cameo. In the year 2020, when all my friends were hurting bad [due to the global pandemic], I made more money than I've ever made in my life. And I wrote that in an email to Jerry. And his response to me was, 'What a wonderful thing to hear. I'm so glad that perfect performance you did all those years ago is still serving you.' He goes, 'Any work is good work in this crazy business of ours.' Wasn't that sweet?"
The Many Ways Larry Thomas Has Made Money By Not Really Working Since His Seinfeld Episodes
There have been a lot of ways that Larry has made money from Seinfeld after filming his part. As mentioned above, Larry received around $3,500 for his cameo in the series finale. But he was also paid the same amount again once the episode re-aired a week after the initial release. Prior to the series going into syndication (when a show is aired on multiple television networks/streamers at the same time), the finale was aired again in prime time... and Larry received a third cheque for $3,500.
"When they re-air in prime time, you get like 99% of your original pay and then it goes into syndication and everything [the money] goes down," Larry explained to Jane. "But for the first few years, just for the two episodes that I did do, and being the blackjack dealer in Austin Powers when it went on to VHS, I was making more money than my day job. Although, I still needed to keep my day job. But just those two episodes and Austin Powers... Austin Powers' VHS residuals, for the first year it was on sale, I made three times as much as I got paid to do the movie."
So, how much was that exactly? Well, according to Larry himself, he was making about $20,000 a year in just residuals. While that's not exactly enough to live on, hence why Larry continued to take little acting gigs every year since his days on Seinfeld, it certainly helped him live more comfortably... After all, he didn't have to work for that money. It was continuously sent to him because of the short time he spent working on Seinfeld and Austin Powers.
"I was making like $20,000 a year at my day job and I was making $20,000 in residuals," Larry explained.
Larry did everything possible to capitalize off of his famous guest-star appearance and the even-more famous line that went with it. Although for the three years between "The Soup Nazi" episode and the finale, Larry flat-out refused to say the line out of pride. Even when he was nominated for an Emmy for his role on Seinfeld, he denied the press the chance to hear the line. But after he said "No soup for you" in the finale, Larry has said the line thousands of more times at events, autograph signings, and on Cameo and has made quite a decent amount of money because of it.
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