I must admit I’m too young to have watched Seinfeld when it first came out so perhaps time has had an effect, but I never really found the stand up segments very funny (plus I’m British so I might just come from a different place). I always thought Seinfeld was about the life of an average working comedian who did no more than flirt with TV fame.
Or was he supposed to be a brilliant comedian?
Has anyone seen him stand up live, and what did you think?
It’s Jerry, with a J, quite famously I would’ve thought. And yes, he was almost the definitive observational stand up comedian of the 90s (and presumably before). I never saw him live but everything I did see of him was very funny.
Are you talking about Jerry Seinfeld the comedian, or the character named Jerry that Jerry Seinfeld played on the Seinfeld show?
The character was supposed to be middling successful. He supported himself by comedy and wasn’t living with 10 roommates in a 2 bedroom apartment.
However, when the character Jerry tried to create a TV show he got as far as making the pilot, which failed. So the character Jerry was not nearly as successful as the real Jerry. Character Jerry made enough to support himself. Real life Jerry made millions and millions and millions of dollars from the show.
Or are you asking if Jerry Seinfeld the real person was a successful standup before he got his show? Yes, he was successful. But it was his TV show that made him super-famous. And he was never regarded as “brilliant”, but more for “j’ever notice…” type stuff.
Eek, I’m watching the box set and up to season 6, but quite obviously my spelling isn’t up to much! Loving it too.
Who *are * these people?
Yes it’s clear the sitcom is what he’s famous for. Just curious to know if the stand up segments in the show, presuming they’re from his real routine, are supposed to be as funny as the rest of it. I always find them a bit dull in comparison. Makes me wonder if that’s on purpose as part of his character or a genuine attempt to add more comedy.
(And boy, I’m still feeling stupid from ruining my own thread title with the name goof)
The 1980s, really. He first appeared on The Tonight Show in 1981, and, as I remember it, was regularly on both that show, and David Letterman’s Late Night show, through the '80s, doing standup. “Seinfeld” started in 1989, and ISTR that he did little in the way of standup comedy while it was running (save for the bits that were in the show itself).
Larry David set the tone of the show’s humor, if not the heavy lifting. Seinfeld was the sort person charismatic enough to get away with the sociopathy. Compare and contrast the show with its spiritual follow-up Curb Your Enthusiasm.
I’m British too and I loved his stand-up. Maybe it’s about age as you say. I was 32 in 1980 and I also had a real appreciation for American stand-up going back to people like Benny Rubin in the 20s and 30s, who was an enormous influence on Bob Hope and Jack Benny. I always liked Seinfeld but he was never one of the titans of stand-up, far below the real masters like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Sam Kinison, etc.
That’s just my opinion though and you asked for Seinfeld’s reputation in the eyes of critics, etc. FWIW Rolling Stone places him at No 7 in the 50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time. Frankly I think that’s way too high a ranking but there you go.
I did wonder if I was right. My timeline of the late 80s thru early 90s is a blur, I can’t remember what came before or after which anymore.
Yeah, but Mr. Bigshot also bought his parents a Cadillac. A CADILLAC!! Some car that is, huh?
On the other hand, I’m American, and everything I’ve seen from him has just fallen flat, to me. So it’s definitely not a Britain-vs.-US thing.
Aside: Would you like me to correct the misspelling?
True, but he also bounced a check at Marcelino’s bodega.
My kids would request “Put on Jerry!” – his “I’m Telling You For The Last Time” CD – in the car over and over for years. It’s a stand-up routine, but a classic. Dated, now, but I relistened before I posted this, and I laughed, despite having heard it hundreds of times from '98-03.
Here’s the HBO special that it was taken from. Hang in there for the kids’ favorite bits like the Olympics. Especially the Involuntary Luge (“the only event that someone could compete in against their will”) “There’s no bobsled. It’s just Bob.”
^^Yeah, this is what I was going to suggest to the OP. Watch his actual stand-up, not just the routines from the show. Those were made to tie in with the episodes, and weren’t always his strongest stuff.
But I actually saw that tour live, the “I’m Telling You For the Last Time” one, and man was it hilarious. And just to have the courage (or audacity) to retire all those jokes after one last tour (hence the title), shows you just how successful he was.
sigh You and me both, man …
I don’t think the stand-up segments on the show were meant to be bad, but I assume they didn’t necessarily represent Jerry Seinfeld’s best material. I don’t know how many of the jokes came from his pre-existing stand-up act and how many were written especially for the show, but I assume there was a fair amount of material written for the show. As a stand-up he would have been able to tell his stronger jokes repeatedly while the show always needed new material.
In the show, the protagonist Jerry is about as successful as real-Jerry was before his sitcom.
The difference is that in the show, the sitcom is way worse and is not picked up after the first episode.
I do remember an episode where they all see how much Jerry is paid for a show and they are really impressed. Elaine even kind of likes him more once she realizes he earns OK cash.
I saw Jerry Seinfeld doing standup live once. He was hilarious.