The live bits that interspersed the rest of the show, that wasn’t real live act footage was it? I seem to recall seeing some outtakes that included some of the ‘live’ bits where he couldn’t get a line right but maybe I’m misremembering.
If they were staged for the show, was the material also specifically written for the show or was any of it from actual live performances?
It was mainly Jerry’s live material, but I think it was filmed for the show. I mean that if he messed up, they re-recorded it. However, it was his material.
Right, the footage definitely has a “filmed in a studio” look to it like the rest of the show. If it had been filmed at a live performance, it would have looked different.
I always thought the most amazing thing about the “live” bits was that, although I loved Seinfeld and it regularly broke me up, not one of the live bits was more than moderately amusing. I could never figure how a guy doing that stuff ended up where he did.
I never found it remotely humorous either, but I figured most of his stand up material was better, … just the stuff they used to tie into the episode never worked. Limited to what stand up, they could use, since it was always on topic with the episode.
AFAIK the “live” stuff they recorded was related to the plot of that episode. His material not related to the show was funnier.
IIRC, in the extra features to the DVD sets it was mentioned that he was writing this new “stand up” material every week as well as working on the show. I think his regular act would be material he’d spent time going over and collecting.
I think in one of the DVDs, they mention that those segments are filmed for the show and often populated by staff members, their friends, and family. So the people you see laughing are people who worked on the show.
I’m kind of glad they dropped those for the later episodes, but I’m glad they exist. The original premise for the show was how a comedian gets his material, so its nice to see the stand up at the beginning and then watch the episode to see where it came from
Really? For whatever reason I ran across a bit of his stuff this morning.
“Why do airline pilots have to tell us what they’re doing all the time? I don’t knock on the cabin door and say, ‘Hey just letting you know we’re back here eating these peanuts. We’re not going to eat them all at once though because the bag is SO big.’”
I thought it was fairly amusing. His sardonic 'You know how to take the reservation, you just don’t know how to hold it. And really that’s the important part." persona is fairly funny.