What’s funny about this is there’s never been anything edgy about Jerry Seinfeld’s standup act. And as far as Seinfeld goes he was barely involved in the writing. That was all Larry David and other talented writers. Of 180 episodes Jerry Seinfeld had 18 writing credits and all of them were shared with Larry David. Of those 18 credits 5 were in the first season which is undeniably the show’s weakest and most forgettable. Jerry was always just the name. Larry was the talent.
I guess that’s probably why Larry David just wrapped the final season of Curb this year while never once complaining about “not being allowed to do comedy” anymore like Jerry is. Turns out, you’ve always been allowed to do whatever comedy you like, you just have to actually be funny.
It’s also funny because It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is still airing too, and that is massively more edgy than anything seinfeld ever did.
I think that the problem is that jerry want to be edgy and still be considered the good guy. Which is not how Curb, IASIP or even the Seinfeld tv show ever was. They always were presented as bad/flawed people doing bad stuff. You 100% can still do that type of comedy. But you can’t do comedy where the characters are supposed to be good but do bad stuff
It’s also funny because It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is still airing too, and that is massively more edgy than anything seinfeld ever did.
And that’s always been my argument when it comes to this particular dead horse. I don’t think any jokes are off the table, you just really have to make whatever discomfort you’re summoning be worth the punchline. The edgier something is the more it has to be funny to compensate, the point of offensive humor is to be funny not to offend, right? This has to be common sense. I don’t get how it flies over the head of so many people.
There are a lot of people who seem to think offending is all it takes. I think Sam McMurray’s character “Glen” in Raising Arizona, who is constantly telling “jokes” about Polish people being stupid that none of the other characters find funny, is a perfect example of the type.
Exactly. Either risk it and have a big payoff, or insert a point behind it. Make the audience think after they laugh, or search within themselves why that was funny, or the context behind the joke.
Or if you go for the edgy or dark joke, and get called out - you rolled that die, live with it. Crying “it’s just a joke” or “comedy is cancelled” after your bit failed to land is hacky
Same thing with folks who say they are in to the ‘brutal honesty’ thing, it should be about the honesty…essentially it’s about the earnestness of the thing instead of just using comedy/etc as cover to be an asshole (like Chappel).
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Thats corporate culture ruining it.
Don’t bother, the guy posted “if it ain’t white it ain’t right” in another post.
Just another boring 20 something white guy trying to feel powerful by inciting others. Just block him and forget his existence, everyone else will too.
Yawn.
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Better than sucking fash cock.
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Aww did they hurt your feefees? Does the snowflake need a safe space?
Cry some more baby bitch fash.
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That’s a lie.
Man that whole ‘being funny’ thing sounds really hard
Curb Your Enthusiasm is one of the best & funniest shows I’ve ever seen
It’s just years of “what’s the deal with ______________” jokes, and 4 of the shittiest narcissistic people ever.
Are you talking about Seinfeld the show? The show is amazing. Jerry Seinfeld just isn’t funny as a comedian.
Yes, I’m talking about the show. I didn’t find it amazing, and felt that all of them going to jail in the end was a bit overdue
Yeah it was absolutely Larry David’s show. But Seinfeld is a genius stand-up comedian in his own right.
He’s categorically wrong on his conclusion here.
I’ve seen his stand up. It’s nothing special.
So much of his standup depends on making initial observations of seemingly absurd things and then not putting a single ounce of thought or research into them to determine if they’re actually absurd. It’s low-hanging fruit for tipsy people at a comedy club.
He was utterly, perfectly cast as a supposed straight-man who’s just as callously thoughtless as his bizarre friends but with a veneer of “insight”. It was brilliant. I wonder if he quite realized why.
Whats the deaaaal with airline food?
seinfeld pilot
You know, why we’re here? [he means: here in the “Comedy club”] To be out, this is out…and out is one of the single most enjoyable experiences of life. People…did you ever hear people talking about “We should go out”? This is what they’re talking about…this whole thing, we’re all out now, no one is home. Not one person here is home, we’re all out! There are people tryin’ to find us, they don’t know where we are. [imitates one of these people “tryin’ to find us”; pretends his hand is a phone] “Did you ring?, I can’t find him.” [imitates other person on phone] “Where did he go?” [the first person again] “He didn’t tell me where he was going”. He must have gone out. You wanna go out: you get ready, you pick out the clothes, right? You take the shower, you get all ready, get the cash, get your friends, the car, the spot, the reservation…There you’re staring around, whatta you do? You go: “We gotta be getting back”. Once you’re out, you wanna get back! You wanna go to sleep, you wanna get up, you wanna go out again tomorrow, right? Where ever you are in life, it’s my feeling, you’ve gotta go.
seinfeld final episode:
It seems like whenever these office people call you in for a meeting, the whole thing is about the sitting down. I would really like to sit down with you. I think we need to sit down and talk. Why don’t you come in, and we’ll sit down. Well, sometimes the sitting down doesn’t work. People get mad at the sitting.You know, we’ve been sitting here for I don’t know how long. How much longer are we just going to sit here? I’ll tell you what I think we should do. I think we should all sleep on it. Maybe we’re not getting down low enough. Maybe if we all lie down, then our brains will work.
…what particularly about these bits is either edgy or genius?
The last office bit is so true specially on Fridays when people have the wonderful idea of pushing to prod, instead of waiting to Monday with all hands available and everything triple checked
You don’t have to find it funny. Did people laugh at it how and when he said it? If so, it was funny. Too late to cast your vote now. That’s how comedy works.
I’m just saying that its pretty funny in and of itself that Jerry Seinfeld is like “you can’t say anything in comedy any more” and all his bits are about losing a sock in the washing machine
Yeah he’s obviously wrong about that and lives in N elite bubble. He’s colored by how he saw the left treat Dave Chappelle and Louie CK, for example. But he also saw how the right treated Lenny Bruce and Dice Clay, for example. He should know better that nobody on the left is actually wanting to put comedians in jail for their jokes, that’s exclusively the province of the right.
Also, this is the daily mail. It’s probably not even real quote.
Unfortunately for Chapelle and Seinfeld, James Acaster did that bit that absolutely destroyed their whining.
And Unfortunately for Louis CK, his sex-pest-intimidation is just too memorable.
Why don’t we mention Michael Richards (Cosmo Kramer) while we’re at it.
Maybe the issue isn’t “you can’t say anything nowadays” and instead it’s “you can’t say the n-word, the t-slur, and look-its-my-dick-im-jacking-off-at-you nowadays”
As for Andrew Dice Clay, the man’s schtick was just racism, sexism and pretending to light a cigarette. it was hardly one for the ages.
And then as for Bruce, yes, him being arrested for saying cocksucker is the only legitimate example of being cancelled for comedy on the list - but also he impersonated a priest and stole donations meant for a leprosy charity, which you’d be cancelled for in 200BC as well as 2024 AD
I don’t think anyone was “cancelled.” That’s a righty-wing bogeyman word with no definition.
Nothing any of these comedians said or did takes away the fact that when they deliver their acts, they bring down the house. They connect with the crowd and the crowd laughs, involuntarily! The crowds are voting with their laughs and any one of these legendary comedians on an average day can play any room and get laughs. You’d be lucky to witness it. Laughing is involuntary. If the crowd is laughing, can’t say the act isn’t funny, that’s some election denying bullshit. You certainly won’t find it funny if you don’t realize it’s an act. Punchlines aren’t true statements of the comedian’s personal point of view or opinion, they are an act. Sometimes the joke is that the thing was even said in the first place.
At any rate, all the examples I gave are real things that happened. The three most justifiable shit storms, against Kramer, CK, and to a lesser extent Chappelle, are examples I gave of the left coming after a comedian.
Bruce, you agree, is as an example of the right coming after a comedian. You are wrong to lump Dice Clay in with CK and Kramer; Dice Clay cleared the way for comedy as an artform, and, again, the crowds laughed.
A better example I’m sure you’ll also agree is not justified is South Africa, where the political right simply banned stand up comedy as a practice. That’s the usual example, too, in far right countries: no laughing allowed!
Man, if you can’t find the humor in these people’s acts, not just Seinfeld, but also Dice Clay, or whatever other dirty or sexist or whatever fart jokes you think you’re too whatever to laugh at, all these comics would laugh at your discomfort, which is with one person standing in front of a room full of people and talking for an hour straight. Anyone can buy a ticket. How provocative could it possibly get before they get booed off stage? You should go to a Chappelle set and turn the crowd against him; just explain why he’s not funny like you do online. Should be no problem for you.
Without the show and its success, he wouldn’t be a well known Stand up today. He’s still surfing that wave.
He was a well-known comic before he did the show. Perhaps not a household name but very few comics ever are. He had already been on Carson like a dozen times, as a stand up in the 80s that’s like the height of fame. You might even say that Seinfeld’s TV show elevated him to a status that no comic had ever before achieved.
Certainly a status he couldn’t have achieved on his own merits. 95% of the people going to his shows go there because they know him through the TV show, not because they’re interested in his stand-up. Nowadays he’s mostly famous for being famous. But a douche, too.
Weird how these woke kids keep killing comedy while still being the best comedians, and it’s always the ones leaning on their 30+ year old sets that think it’s a problem.
What is the deal with airline food, anyway?
What’s the deal with time passing? It just happens! You don’t want it to, but it does. One day you’re riding high, one hand on Larry David’s coattails and the other up some high school girl’s skirt. You’re thinking, “I’m gonna be on top forever. Everyone loves me now and it’s always gonna be this way.” Then the next day you’re complaining about woke on a drive time radio show with Kid Rock. What’s his deal anyway? He’s not a rock, or even a kid. He’s a man. He should be called Man Man.
You know who had a 30 year old set that was still awesome and hysterical to the very end? The Amazing Jonathan.
I got to see him in Vegas probably a few years before he died, he was doing shows in what amounted to a fancy conference room somewhere. I was the person called up to the stage, and even though I knew every single thing he was going to say and do, it was still just funny. I got to look him right in the eyes up close, and it was clear that he knew he was doing the same set he’s done forever, in a conference room. and it seemed like we both knew that “WTF am I doing here?” added a whole other layer of funny to the whole thing.
Maybe I was reading too much into it. Maybe it was just the methamphetamine.
while still being the best comedians
can you recommend some?
If you haven’t heard it: Bill Burr Philadelphia Rant.
Look it up on YouTube. It’s unfortunately a crappy video, but the audio is straight gold. For 30 whole minutes it’s just Burr trashing the audience and Philadelphia and its perfection. Better than any stand up of the last few years because it’s organic and in the moment.
Bo Burnham is also fantastic if you want something introspective at the same time. Inside, by Bo Burnham was a critical piece of Covid media.
Bill Burr Philly
That was 2006.
Burr kills but is not new, nor is he a ‘kid’.
I have a favorite link that for “full stand up comedy special” on YouTube and new ones pop up like every day. Listen to it on my commute, shower, dishes, etc.
The deal with airline food has nothing to do with the food, but everything to deal with the dry, low preassure air in an airplane lowering the sensitivity of our tastebuds, making thw food taste bland.
It’s not low pressure. The cabin is pressurized to 5k feet.
Are you saying that people that live in Colorado or other high altitude locations have trouble enjoying their food because of “low pressure”? The answer is no.
The reason airline food sucks is because it’s highly processed and filled with preservatives to keep it “fresh”. In other words the food sucks.
And the issue with the joke is that it’s painfully obvious that serving meals to thousands of passengers on a cramped metal tube that’s sensitive to weight would result in something less than gourmet. THAT’S the deal with airline food. As an offhand comment from a sympathetic stranger sharing your experience, it’s mildly amusing. As performed humor, it’s lazy and not funny.
I don’t know if Jerry specifically ever did airline food (but he probably did). Still, it describes pretty much the entirety of his stand-up.
I think it just goes to show how out of touch he is.
Reality is airlines stopped serving food a long time ago outside of international travel, which means most young people today haven’t even experienced this before.
It’s hard to be funny when you don’t even relate to your audience. Thing is Seinfeld was “funny” in the 90s when his comedy was more relevant.
Since then the world has changed dramatically and his comedy has stayed stagnant. He’s behind the times. It’s not that comedy in general is dead. It’s just his view that died because the world changed and he did not change with it. Happens to most comedians.
Maron is still going strong, thankfully. I like Seinfeld’s Netflix show, but haven’t seen any stand up of his for years… I could see it being rough.
It is absolutely low preassure compared to sea level.
Also, note that I said it was a combination with very dry air.
Of course. But it isn’t enough to make any difference on your sense of taste.
At least not big enough to justify naming the entire reason for why airline food sucks.
The food sucks because the food sucks. There is no other reason. You aren’t going to convince anyone otherwise.
The food sucks because the food sucks. There is no other reason.
This is absolutely a part of it, but you are simplifying it too much, here is a BBC article about the issue:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150112-why-in-flight-food-tastes-weird
As a comedian you either die funny or live long enough to become a reactionary shit bag.
I don’t think he was ever funny. Larry David may have been funny, and Seinfeld was fortunate enough to be involved with the show, but Jerry himself has always been a poor comedian and a tool.
I think Seinfeld was pretty funny in the 80s. His style of observational comedy was fresh back then though. Then there were a million Seinfeld copycats and there wasn’t anything special about him anymore.
The same thing happened with Carlin. So he kept reinventing himself and updating his comedy with the times and that’s why people loved him until the day he died.
Seinfeld would have had to die in adolescence for that do happen.
What does reactionary mean other than just being an insult?
It means he lacks the ability to reinvent his comedy to fit the times. Instead he just complains.
We all need to continue to reinvent ourselves over time. Things change. We need to retool for the times ahead. Reality is Seinfeld doesn’t need to because he already made his money.
So instead of him getting back on the horse he just sits back and complains like the out of touch old turd that he is. He sucks but just can’t accept it or admit it. It’s easier to whine.
He is a has-been and never will be again.
I agree he’s not funny, but that’s not really how most people use reactionary
“Reactionary” means regressive conservative/anti-progressive. It originates from, as much political terminology on the regressive vs. progressive divide does (including the terms “left”, “right”, and “conservative” themselves), the French revolution, where people who favored opposing the revolution (i.e. reacting to the revolution) were called “réactionnaires” in French.
Here’s the first known usage of the word in English, from a 1799 English translation of Lazare Carnot’s letter on the Conspiracy of the 18th Fructador.
Interesting, but I often see it used not for people who oppose any form of change, but for people who oppose a specific change. And it’s intended to be more slanderous than conservative.
Reactionary can be seen as a more extreme version of conservatism.
Conservatives want to keep things as they are and oppose change.
Reactionaries want to turn back to some previous, supposedly better state.
He’s gone full Bill Maher.
“Is my comedy stale and out of touch? No, it is the audience who are wrong.”
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Yeah that’s why edgy comedian like Jimmy Carr has released 2 Netflix specials in last 3 years. And he, unlike Seinfeld, isn’t whining about ‘kids these days’.
There’s a shit ton of good young comedians. Jerry is an old man telling kids to get off his lawn.
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You should read up on juvenoia (sp?). Vsauce did a great video on the topic. Helps keep you grounded when you struggle with the thoughts of are the kids wrong or am I just out of touch. Spoiler, they are no more wrong than we ever were as kids, and yes we are out of touch with the youth. But it’s all ok as long as you accept that there can be things you don’t understand or that just aren’t meant for you.
That’s a great way to look at it.
Also remember, you’re the oldest guy you saw when you were the kids age.deleted by creator
Yeah, but Jimmy Carr’s greatest achievement is beating Father Time by transforming himself into a plastic vampire. Jerry Seinfeld’s greatest achievement is making a movie where a bumblebee cucks Kronk.
I love Kronk, but immortality > bee sex.
Jerry’s greatest achievement is his billion dollar bank account…
Nah, that came from the TV show Seinfeld, which is arguably Larry David’s greatest achievement.
Who’s bank account is it in LoL? Cuz at the end of the day, dude’s got a billion dollars and that’s a helluva accomplishment by anyone’s standards.
Or Chapelle
But in chapelle’s case, chapelle ruined comedy
Chapelle’s special’s have been very controversial. I think people protested about one of them, kind of proving Seinfeld’s point.
Please, tell me more about how Chappelle was canceled and didn’t get like 3 standups in a row on streaming playforms.
This “somebody didn’t like it” = “cAnCeLeD” narrative is fucking tiring. I didn’t watch “the one” or any of them - because I just don’t fucking care about someone who hasn’t done anything for 20 years, didn’t think about it all either way past “I heard it exists” - and for 6 months I couldn’t tell anyone I didn’t watch it because I’d be subjected to a 30 minute/5 paragraph rant about how I personally destroyed comedy and freedom by not watching it, with a heavy implication that I OWE IT TO HIM to watch it and that I’m a fascist if I don’t give him my clicks.
I just don’t give a fuck about Chappelle, but spoiler alert, he’s not some edgy on the brink celebrity. He’s washed up celeb #386 out of 1,000 who have chased the easy paycheck of saying the things that only the dredges of society want to hear. If you think hearing “trans women are men LULULULUL” for the 800th time is all you want in life, by all means go empty your wallets for Chappelle, Seinfeld, Sorbo, etc - but FUCK ALL THE WAY OFF with this bullshit “you’re the real fascist if you don’t throw your money/attention at them” nonsense.
Yeah he had a bit about how he believes trans people are gender they claim
But against Seinfeld’s point; it still got made and is still on streaming platforms
His latest special was incredible.
They’ve certainly killed right-leaning comedians like Seinfeld, Bill Maher, Dennis Miller and (can’t believe he made the list) Dave Chappelle.
Or maybe they killed themselves by just getting even lamer with their unfunny jokes that punch down at marginalized groups. 🤔
That’s weird about this to me, I never would have called Seinfeld right leaning. Like every one of his standups I’ve ever seen is very neutral, and the show was actually pretty progressive for the time. Chapelle did the punching down, got called out on it (rightfully so), and then doubled down and swung to the right because now he’s the victim! But as far as I know, Jerry didn’t do anything (In terms of jokes, ignoring the… youthfulness… issues for the moment) He just decided to bust out with I’m a victim too stop censoring me? Was there any preface to all this?
I think it’s just anger about being out of touch. You can’t make comedy in a vacuum, it necessarily draws on contemporary culture, and Jerry’s probably feeling a bit left in the dust. But he frames it in a way where he feels victimized. That’s my reading for most embarrassing or offensive old comedians though, so maybe I’m painting with too broad a brush.
Real problem is that so many basic things, like we should treat each other decently, or that the earth is warming, shouldn’t be political issues. But here we are. And somehow these things become political in conservative circles and thus they are political to liberal circles too.
Now you can’t even say “what’s the deal with airline food” because even that gets political. Greenhouse gas emissions from flying planes, vegetarian and kosher options in flight, paper straws, airline bailouts, take your pick of where to go next, all political.
That’s because Larry David was the primary writer on Seinfeld.
ignoring the… youthfulness… issues
What a fucking euphemism lol for fucks sake
I wouldn’t be surprised if all his backlash is because he’s a fucking pervert
OP mentioned 3 prominent Democrats as examples of right-wingers. You can have opinions that aren’t lock-step with whatever the current hot button issues are without being a right-winger. Democrats are supposed to be the more independently thinking party, but we’re seeing a hell of a lot of tribalism these days from both parties. It’s honestly pretty disturbing.
He didn’t do anything in his comedy shows no. Comedians in cars with coffee got pretty right slanted pretty fuckin quick.
It did? Maybe it’s been a while and I don’t remember but it seemed fine at the time.
Anti liberal ideology is introduced in almost every episode, it’s just slightly veiled.
He even talks cancel culture on the Michael Richards episode. I like Kramer but you scream the hard r a dozen or more times and you deserve everything you get.
Fair enough. Pretty sure I skipped that episode because I just didn’t really care to hear Richards try and rehab his image.
Even the Jim Carrey episode was a bit iffy and I love Jim Carrey movies.
He just decided to bust out with I’m a victim too stop censoring me?
He probably finally realized that people don’t find him funny and wanted to have his name int the news again.
Have you seen any of his recent stand up?
Yeah the Dave Chappelle one came way outta right field lol that PIC with Taylor majore Greene idk how to spell it was unexpected or I’m uninformed
I think you mean left field just fyi
I was trying to be funny lol
Why does it matter?
If you are a running batter in baseball (where the term originated), then the ball being thrown from left field seems as if it came out of nowhere.
Damn, all these years and I never realized that’s what it literally meant. I always knew what the expression meant figuratively but not its literal origin.
Ok, but it was understood what they meant
Since when is Dennis Miller a right winger? Bill Maher has always been a vocal member of the Democratic party.
Both seemed to have turned recently. Both of them in recent stand up specials they’ve released since 2019 have said, on stage, they are Republicans and expressed views consistent with that in their routines. It was a shock to me, considering I remember them being very anti-conservative back in the 90’s.
Seems like people just age into being conservative.
They said they’re Republicans, or they expressed viewpoints that people considered to be aligned with Republicans?
Both.
Dennis Miller has been part of the Fox News hosting and commentary family for a long time now.
I seem to remember Maher seeming more leftist at some point, but that might be because of his unabashed atheism. He’s always been insufferably arrogant though.
He’s a leftist that doesn’t like PC culture or identity politics. He does believe in equality, inclusion, and those sorts of principles, but he doesn’t agree with the way we’re going about seeking those things.
Economic reductionist would be the term, right? The “we fix the economy and regulate corporations and racism will fix itself” viewpoint?
That’s not a view that I’ve ever heard him express, but I haven’t heard much from him in years. He used to be outspoken about global warming, and the environment. He was the first celebrity to buy an electric car all the way back in like 1996, I think it was called the Honda Insight. He was pro-gay rights, pro-women’s rights, and a lot of other issues you’d consider Democrat. But he also mocked PC culture, and even had a show called Politically Incorrect. Last time I heard about him he seemed pretty much like the same person, but society has changed. I guess if you retain your same “progressive” views from 30 years ago, and social views change and progress, then you’re kind of “conserving” old views, even though you weren’t a conservative at one point. That’s probably why people appear to become more conservative as they get older. They haven’t actually changed, they just stopped agreeing with the direction of progress.
Oh I was just guessing that was the case, you seem way more informed than me here though
Can’t tell you the exact year but DM became a right wing pundit some years back
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How though? Dave Chapelles last Netflix special was 2023 and he fills halls in 2024, the same year in which he won another Grammy.
Man I don’t think it’s fair for Chappelle to be on the list. I wouldn’t even call him right-leaning, but in today’s sociopolitical landscape, anything not left-leaning is by default right-leaning and all centrists or near-neutrals are closet fascists who want to pick the worst candidate at all times because that’s what their satanic cult taught them to do, according to social science graduates. Just like how unprovoked hatred towards men or whites is never sexist or racist because men were historically oppressors.
The court of public opinion really do be wil’in sometimes frfr but hey I guess at least they have some science to back them up…
Anyway, as always, downvote and insult away, idgaf about ur opinion or whether mine digress’ from the status quo
edit: all this said, I never found Chappelle funny and his social commentary was hit/miss
Eeeeeh, Chappelle’s views on trans people are pretty fucked up.
What views exactly? I don’t recall anything that sounded super fucked up, but I do recall some incendiary remarks that were pretty dick-ish.
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I somehow did not expect the 17 year old thing to be quite so creepy.
She was a highschooler who he met in a public park when he was 38. JFC.
I can understand maybe thinking she was older when he talked to her and then finding out later she was underage and backing off, but he definitely just went for it. Creep.
Also he only dated her til she got to drinking age!
“I love those high school girls. I get older, they stay the same. Alright alright alright.”
I remember seeing a post on r/agedlikemilk which theorised that Russell Brand was leaning more into right wing talking points in anticipation of the looming rape accusations being made public.
I wonder if the same thing is happening here.
Would not surprise me in the slightest you’re right.
I can’t say, but seinfeld has almost a billion dollars. The woman would be a fool not to sue and settle for 10 million or something.
Yeah, how foolish to demand actual justice in form of a criminal conviction for crimes instead of just letting people get away with it by paying hush money.
my favorite part of Seinfeld complaining that woke has killed comedy is that Curb Your Enthusiasm just finished a 24 year, 12 season run and their last season has a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
I mean how far can “What’s the deal with crackers?” humour go?
You see, “crackers” means White People. Really, he was trying to start a conversation about race relations. Or was that when Jerry ate a black and white and got sick after comparing the cookie to race relations?
During the first two years of Seinfeld Jerry would stop by The Howard Stern show once a week trying to get the word out about the show. Howard said multiple times when the show takes off and is doing well Jerry would find a reason to stop coming in. Sure enough Robin reported the story of Jerry dating Shoshanna and Jerry stopped coming on.
Howard kept making fun of this, even sang a song with video intercut during his PPV.
Howard at least never pretended he wasn’t an asshole.
I mean… his movie kind of implied he sort of wasn’t? And also that the marriage that ended not long after was a perfect one.
“Extreme left” is such a ridiculous term to use for this sort of thing lmao
boy if they think this is what the extreme left is, they’re in for a fucking ride
Seinfeld is very exceptional in that it was a show which featured unapologetically bad people, and glorified them, very effectively.
You can be extremely cynical in your scripting while still holding up characters who have some sort of moral center and are trying to do the right thing. Old-season Simpsons did this very well. The characters are not bad. They are not nice and they have genuine failings, and the situations they find themselves in are not sugarcoated. But, it’s still a show about trying to maintain your humanity, in a pretty realistic portrayal of the grim reality we all find ourselves in. The original “Arrested Development” is similar although a little more upper-class and light hearted.
Maybe I am a corny motherfucker but I do think that it’s important to try to keep your eye on doing the right thing instead of the wrong thing, because it’s real shit that every human being runs into and it’s definitely not easy. Art does influence the ways people behave and the way they perceive the world. Seinfeld is a show about absolute horrible sociopaths, who ruin relationships and other people’s lives over and over again because of their commitment to selfishness, and if you only look superficially, how relatable and fun and entertaining they can be to spend time with, and how easy it is to overlook what abominably bad people they are as long as it all seems fun.
Somewhere there is a video talking about how Jerry Seinfeld is actually one of the darkest comedians working. I don’t even know where I could start to find it, but the guy talks about watching a Seinfeld bit about throwing trash in the movie theater before he leaves for someone else to clean up, and how the guy watching got this chilling feeling he never got from much more serious topics: Like it’s not an act, he genuinely just feels nothing below surface level, and doesn’t give a fuck what happens.
Seinfeld is very exceptional in that it was a show which featured unapologetically bad people, and glorified them, very effectively.
I think that this contrasts rather heavily with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I had a lot of trouble getting into the show because I thought that that was what they were doing. But, in reality, we’re NOT supposed to empathize with or relate to them. The Gang are unapologetically awful people who, despite never really getting what they deserve, cause nearly all of their own problems through their greed and selfishness (plus, Dennis is probably a serial killer).
Yeah I consistently find myself appreciating that show more and more. One of my favorite themes is with the recurring characters. Consistently if they give in to the gang’s bullshit like Cricket their life gets worse and worse, but if like Carmen they don’t their life gets better every time you see them.
And each of the characters seems to understand that the others suck. Like, Mac calls out Dennis and Dee’s rape. Everyone in the gang acknowledges that Charlie is a stalker and that Mac is a hypocrite. It’s a group of terrible people who push away everyone else so they keep coming back to each other.
My favorite episode is definitely the musical. It seems like the one time that The Gang (or most of them) aren’t trying to scheme and genuinely are doing their best. They just sabotage themselves because they’re all too selfish and stupid to not, even when they are trying.
I don’t think it’s either/or. IASIP is good because it both mocks the characters for being awful while simultaneously making you like and empathize with them. You can think someone is horrible and a human that deserves things at the same time. In fact I think what makes that show exceptional is exactly these two viewpoints having truth to them. It would’ve gotten old really fast to me if it was just laughing at assholes.
That’s fair. Like, the spiritual successor to Seinfeld, Always Sunny, is made by people who hate their characters as people. The show goes out of its way to explain to the audience that Dennis and Dee are both rapists because some of the audience didn’t see it. In Seinfeld I can absolutely imagine a scene in which the characters describe sexually violating someone and acting like the victim is overreacting, and the narrative treating that person like they might’ve overreacted. Things are left open to audience interpretation as they consistently act like everyday sociopaths
Seinfeld is very exceptional in that it was a show which featured unapologetically bad people, and glorified them, very effectively.
I think that’s more just the consequence of celebrity. They’re supposed to be normal New Yorkers, which is to say petty and superficial and cheap and rude. And that’s supposed to be a funny thing to watch.
But by the ninth season, you’ve developed a parasocial relationship with them. You find the petty rudeness and the stingy superficiality endearing. And they’ve been one-upping themselves for so long, a lot of it just looks absurd rather than obnoxious.
Somewhere there is a video talking about how Jerry Seinfeld is actually one of the darkest comedians working. I don’t even know where I could start to find it, but the guy talks about watching a Seinfeld bit about throwing trash in the movie theater before he leaves for someone else to clean up, and how the guy watching got this chilling feeling he never got from much more serious topics: Like it’s not an act, he genuinely just feels nothing below surface level, and doesn’t give a fuck what happens.
Go back and listen to “I’m Telling You For The Last Time”, the comedy album he put out right after the show rapped.
I think a lot of the show is Larry David’s own brand of cynical humor. But Seinfield was the perfect vehicle precisely because he’s just this soulless husk of a human being who has filled his emptiness with unlimited money.
this soulless husk of a human being who has filled his emptiness with unlimited money.
If the last 2 decades had a tagline…
Found it on Reddit I think: https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/18oeiw/clip_from_jerry_seinfeld_standup_on_letterman_feb/
I agree! I think just about anyone who has stupid amounts of money has no conscience, personally. Maybe Bill Gates a little. But I especially believe that Seinfeld was showing us who he really was during the whole show. Well maybe not the first year when he was relatively normal, but after success hit, I honestly think he just became a narcissist.
Nah, Bill Gates is just like the rest of them. He pushed for a Covid vaccine just so he could own it. The researchers didn’t want to profit from it and he shot that down. Check the Behind the Bastards episode on him.
Ok cool didn’t know that.
Ooph, legit reddit vibes with that exchange, as I hadn’t seen BTB referenced on lemmy yet. I need to check out that episode too! Appreciate it
And his wife bounced afrer Epstien news dropped.
And listen to all of them laughing
“I’m a jackass who throws trash on the floor, hurrdedurr!”
But you have to look at it within the context of the time. At that point, even the horrible people had redeeming qualities. Archie Bunker was a right-wing racist, but his heart was often in the right place. Murphy Brown was horrible to her coworkers, but she fought for the right causes.
And then Seinfeld came out. Everyone in it was horrible. Irredeemably so. There was just nothing else like it at the time.
It also did some really interesting things in terms of experimentation with what you could do with a sitcom, like the episode that takes place entirely while they are waiting in a restaurant for Chinese takeout.
It’s a totally outdated concept now because it’s been done again and again, but it was pretty revolutionary at the time. Personally, I credit this to Larry David, not Jerry Seinfeld.
Normally when people identify all the “P.C. crap” that Seinfeld complains about as coming from the “extreme left” I figure it’s because they’ve gone so far to the right that from way out there Bill Gates looks like a communist. But it’s tempting to give Seinfeld the benefit of the doubt and assume that he might just be confused and ill-informed. The same refusal to accept reality that leaves him unable to let go of the urge to put a llama with a human head in his movie about Pop-Tarts may also have been sufficient to prevent him learning anything at all about politics for the past 30 years.
I think you’re right that he is* just out of touch and doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Oh my God, I forgot about that Pop-Tart movie.
E: He is out of touch, not you.
Wait is this an AI hallucination or is there really a pop tart movie?
Oh god. I see. He is making a bold and idiotic statement to get people talking since he has a new movie coming out.
At least he’s not playing a talking pop tart which is what I envisioned.
Still, here we are, talking about him. Ugh.
Yup, a guy who has a comedy movie coming out is whining about not being able to make comedy.
That’s very on brand for him
I was going to give it a chance because Jim Gaffigan is in it and he is still funny, but I saw Seinfeld wrote it and said forget it.
Oblong nibblers
Only real Jerry Seinfeld fans will get this reference!
The trailer wasn’t bad, but it made me feel like I’ve seen the movie.
The trailer seemed like somebody took a single diner conversation between George and Jerry and made an entire movie about it. It didn’t look terrible I guess, but I think it’s going to drag at anything over 100 minutes, and probably well before that.
Pretty much what I meant. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t make me interested at all.
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No one asked fash
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Dude, you’re getting banned because you’re being an asshat. Just downvote, block, and move on when you find that someone isn’t worth replying to. Lemmy is still small enough that you’ll filter out the people you personally consider shit quite quickly.
Jerry, kids aren’t laughing at you because you’re still doing the same style of comedy you did in the 90s and they don’t think it’s funny.
And I say that as someone who does think he’s funny.
Edit: I did standup in the 90s too (obviously nowhere near his level). There are many reasons why I don’t do it anymore, but realizing that what I was doing was getting out of date was definitely a factor. Get out when you can and people might still think of you fondly.
I watched a woman do stand up recently who looked to be in her late 30s/early 40s. All of it was unironically about those stupid millennial kids and how they’re running comedy because they “are woke”. Seriously.
The material is 20 years out of date and she’s a member of that group (or damn close). I think she stole the act from someone 20 years ago who thought a movie like Tropic Thunder would never get made.
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Last account get banned so you’re back on a fresh sock puppet, eh?
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No one asked, and no one cares about you.
I’m sure someone does, just not here.
I agree with this take. RWNJs and reactionaries are still human beings and all human beings deserve to be cared about, even if they have low levels of empathy towards others. However, I don’t think that they are entitled to our time or acceptance of their shit takes. The “kumbaya” shit isn’t going to work with bad faith actors, so, ostracize away to protect those that they would harm.
Please don’t mistake me, I am very much a part of the ‘here’ in my statement.
My point was actually much more pessimistic, it was by no means kumbaya.
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I dunno, I disagreed with him and and other “commies” and I’m still around. Maybe it’s something else you are doing.
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Don’t worry. Won’t be around for long.
Don’t we all hope.
