The behind-the-scenes story of Jerry Stiller’s famous Seinfeld blooper

It was a line so funny it caused the actors to break character – and now, the stars of Seinfeld have revealed what was going on behind-the-scenes.

Jerry Stiller was behind one of the most famous bloopers on Seinfeld — and co-stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander still couldn’t stop laughing about it recently.

Stiller, whose death was announced Monday, played the hysterical rage-filled dad of Alexander’s hapless character, George, and in the 1996 behind-the-scenes episode of the classic sitcom, he’s talking to Louis-Dreyfus’ Elaine about his son suddenly turning bad boy and getting arrested to impress a woman.

“My George isn’t clever enough to hatch a scheme like this,” Stiller’s character, Frank Costanza, tells Elaine, who shoots back, “You got that right.”

Frank Costanza then shouts, “What the hell does that mean?!” — at which Louis-Dreyfus breaks out of character and dissolves in uncontrollable laughter before saying, “That means whatever the hell you want it to mean.”

Stiller (left) with Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander in Seinfeld.

This prompts Stiller to deliver the now-famous line, “You want a piece of me?!” — which he has to repeat as Louis-Dreyfus again erupts in giggles.

Louis-Dreyfus and Alexander laughed as they reminisced about the moment for an online fundraiser last week before Stiller’s death.

Louis-Dreyfus said Stiller, the dad of actor Ben Stiller, would look to the sky while on camera when he had trouble remembering his lines because he was nervous — and the gesture only added to his character’s hilarity.

Alexander said his on-screen dad also used his frustration at having trouble with his lines to make his character more angry, which added to the humour, too.

“That is where a lot of [Frank Costanza’s] internal rage would come from,” Alexander said, chuckling.

Ben Stiller said his dad, 92, died of natural causes.

This article originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.