Watching the new Seinfeld special. He’s not even trying to be contemporary. It’s a 90s throwback set. Comes off as trying to own being self-aware about being stuck in the past but somehow still comes across as out of touch. Just 5 min in though. Maybe it gets better.
Conversation
He’s trying phone jokes now... kinda flat
3
3
ok this is getting cringe
1
4
Ok one good riff here on when did texting start
2
2
Back to cringe. I think he’s too rich and stable to be a standup anymore now. You can’t fake being contemporary. Even if you’re trying to fake being a throwback retro act you have to do it in a 2020 way and if you’re too rich you’re too insulated.
2
1
24
This is sad. Why do this set at all?
The comedians in cars thing was mildly ok. Watched a few episodes.
3
6
But he’s 66...doesn’t look it though. He’s aged really well.
I guess it’s fine for a young-old man to want a swan song.
I only watched the last Seinfeld season live, since I came to the US in 1997. Watched all the rest in reruns by 2000 I think. Oddly the show is still fresh
1
11
I think the show was much better than his standup and his 3 costars were all funnier and better actors. His great contribution was playing straight man to 3 others at once.
Replying to
I guess he was never really messed up and miserable enough to be a great comic, but talented enough to be a reliably good one for a long and anchor an ensemble. But once he got rich enough, there was no reason to play foil to others.
3
11
Ok done. That was disappointing.
1
5
I guess I do empathize with one clear impulse in his career which is to just quit bothering to grow at some point and coast. I’m pretty sure that’s what I’d do too if I could afford to past a point.
3
1
12
Replying to
Yeah; the credit I also give him for the show is that he was half actor and half writer/director, and the latter category is the value he brought to the table. That said, the straight man in comedy is always under appreciated, despite being so important.
1
Replying to
I always appreciated Jerry’s disdain for acting, evident in Seinfeld in his constant breaking. But it always just seemed like he was having fun and didn’t think it was worth taking too seriously. He has a great takedown on acting in this clip:
youtu.be/4F3pJfmqnUM
1


