What does Jerry Seinfeld know about being funny anyway? Wasn’t that Larry David’s job?
I’ve never understood why he’s been placed on such a pedestal. Professionally, he wasn’t even among the funniest of his contemporaries. Personally, he’s also always been a piece of shit, and I’m not just talking about him being generally rude to others.
I mean Seinfeld was fucking huge. It’s hard to overstate how big a hit it was in its time. And he was co-creator, the lead role, and obv his name is the name of the show. How could you not see people putting him up as one of the greats?
I’m not personally the biggest fan of his particular style of comedy, and you can certainly find issue with his personality and behavior over the years, but the man knows how joke structure works. He’s an expert in his craft. And you may not think he’s as good as some of his contemporaries, but there’s no denying he’s more of a household name than most if not all of them.
Seinfeld, the show, was remarkable and set a number of expectations that shows today must hit to be even partially successful. It was remarkable. So many modern tropes and memes are directly traced back to Seinfeld.
Jerry Seinfeld, the comedian, was not exceptional in the grand scheme. He is a decent comedian, but without the show, he wouldn’t be referred to nearly as much as he is.
There’s a difference between the two, and I think a lot of the disagreements are with people equating these two as if they’re the same.
I know how big Seinfeld was, I was around, lol. Him getting that show and being a household name isn’t exactly a reflection of talent. There are other factors and circumstances that also contribute to that. I also don’t disagree that the man has an understanding of comedy/joke telling. I just feel that, overall, he is very overrated, and he is long past the point that his opinions should be considered relevant or listened to.
Hey, good for him. I believe firmly in reformation, or reflection and changing your views and it sounds to me like he thought about it and came around, so good.
this is the second time he’s changed his mind on this particular issue. After a certain point I wonder why we’re still listening to him
I think he was trying to get a buzz for his stand-up by going anti-woke. Then those people didn’t show up for him because they are still laughing at Rob Schneider.
After Jerry realized his mistake, he figured he would say he grew and learned to help any damage control. I don’t think people really care enough about him for this, but he is rich enough to have people tell him.
What mistake would he need to be concerned about? Jerry has more money than he can spend. I seriously doubt his income is a motivating factor here but I could be wrong.
Wait, you wonder why we’re still listening to Jerry Seinfeld about comedy?
Like, I don’t agree with the guy and I don’t think everything he does is funny, but… I mean, I’m a contrarian nerd on the Internet and even I would think about that one twice.
For what it’s worth, you can change your mind on things as often as you want. Hell, I’ll take older rich guys walking back their slow drift rightwards as many times as is necessary.
I don’t trust it, they turn left and make a walking motion only to start moon walking. Lip service doesn’t mean shit until I see actual actions.
I personally loved his Getting Coffee series. Honestly, I just like watching him talk about his craft and talking w/ other comedians. I honestly think he could have kept that show going for as long as he felt up to the task and I would have watched.
I do think things like Twitter and being terminally online and trying to “get” people by recording them and starting a tempest in a teapot is very obnoxious. It’s like next-level heckling and I guess I understand why some comedians are kind of done with that. The thing about comedy is that they’ve always talked about “finding the line” with a given audience. It’s supposed to be a bit transgressive and so, yes, some will get offended, but now people seem to go out of their way to be offended by a set they didn’t even attend…
He’s flip-flopped on his bigoted views before. This isn’t the first time and it probably won’t be the last time he does this.
He’s not changing any more than any other right-wing bigot. He’s a conservative. Every word uttered by a conservative is deception or manipulation. In this case, it’s both.
To be fair, it’s a complicated topic. Some people see humour as a form of therapy or control over dark topics while others see it as a channel to project them. And both are true. Unfortunately many people lack the spark to discern the two and subsequently fall back on the behaviour they are familiar with; picking a side and setting up camp in it.
sounds to me like he thought about it and came around
That’s not what it sounds like to me. I think a slightly different kind of absolute nonsense just started coming out of his face:
“I said that the ‘extreme left’ has suppressed the art of comedy… It’s not true. If you’re a champion skier, you can put the gates anywhere you want on the mountain and you’re going to make the gate. That’s comedy. Whatever the culture is, we make the gate. You don’t make the gate, you’re out of the game. The game is where is the gate and how do I make the gate to get down the hill.”
Even you generously interpret that as coherent thought, he’s still saying that the left changed comedy and you can’t make same jokes anymore. No awareness that risky and ‘offensive’ comedy is fine and everywhere, no awareness that there’s a difference between offensive comedy and racism on a stage, no awareness of the social context of his comments amidst the rise of fascism.
He just repeated his comments, but less coherently and with the strongly negative words taken out.
“Does culture change and are their things that I use to say that [I can’t because] people are always moving [the gate]? Yes, but that’s the biggest and easiest target,” Seinfeld added. “You can’t say certain words about groups. So what? The accuracy of your observation has to be 100 times finer than that just to be a comedian…So I don’t think, as I said, the ‘extreme left’ has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy.”
I don’t know, seems pretty cogent to me and it seems pretty far from doubling down.
Why are you guys making me defend Jerry Seinfeld? Seriously, sometimes leftie spaces just can’t take a win.
I don’t think he’s doubling down. Just officially taking back his comments with a bunch of meaningless apology waffle that makes it clear this is not a change of heart, only a change in his official position.
I’m glad that he felt he had to officially change his position, but I think it’s incorrect to frame this as “he thought about it and came around”.
Your quote is just as clear about that as mine. They both have the official position stated clearly: “I said that the ‘extreme left’ has suppressed the art of comedy… It’s not true.”, "I don’t think, as I said, the ‘extreme left’ has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy.”
But the remaining apology waffle makes no sense:
“You can’t say certain words about groups. So what? The accuracy of your observation has to be 100 times finer than that just to be a comedian” What does it mean that comedians have to be 100 times more accurate than a racial slur? “things that I use to say that [I can’t because] people are always moving [the gate]? Yes, but that’s the biggest and easiest target” Target for what? By whom? This sentence still implies that he wants to make the jokes that he used to but can’t anymore.
“Look, I was just upset that day because my girlfriend’s parents grounded her”
Jerry Seinfeld has never been politically relevant and hasn’t suffered in the least because of his Seinfeld residuals.
Bill Hicks (RIP) has never been more relevant.
I never understood why he would say that to begin with. It’s not like his brand of comedy was ever particularly edgy. Obviously the “people are too sensitive these days” thing is stupid, but it felt extra strange coming from him.
People are too sensitive these days though. The problem is that no one agrees what it’s important to be sensitive about while simultaneously looking for reasons to be offended on behalf of others.
