Fun fact: series composer Bob James originally wrote that theme (called “Angela”) as incidental music for the third episode of season 1, where Alex goes on a blind date with answering service operator Angela Matusa. The showrunners liked it so much that they decided to use it as the theme song for the entire series.

As it happens, James is a very accomplished jazz composer and keyboardist outside of the show; several of his non-Taxi works were even sampled by early hip hop artists.