"I don’t hear the laugh. Why waste my time? It’s a horrible performing interface. I can’t think of a worse one. I always think about people that write books. What a horrible feeling it must be to have poured your soul into a book over a number of years and somebody comes up to you and goes, 'I loved your book,' and they walk away, and you have no idea what worked and what didn’t. That to me is hell. That’s my definition of hell."
From
a little interview in the NYT that he's doing to promote the new season of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" (which I think you can only watch on Netflix now).
BONUS:
"Ranking Every Episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" (Vulture). Excerpt:
43. Jerry Lewis... Lewis’s breakfast order just sums up the man he was: “I’m gonna have three fried eggs up, and a large order of very very very stiff bacon.”
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68 comments:
He is a performer. I get that. I also get that he doesn't understand non-performer creators. 'S ok. I like this stuff. :)
What a horrible feeling it must be to have poured your soul into a book over a number of years and somebody comes up to you and goes, 'I loved your book,' and they walk away, and you have no idea what worked and what didn’t. That to me is hell. That’s my definition of hell."
That's why I only write blog comments.
Makes sense. Stand up comics surivive on incrimetnal, instantaneous validations. In fornt of a live audience you know if a joke "worked" or not immediately. To be fair I guess you get that with Twitter too, just not the auditory component (hearing the actual laughter) that a lifelong stand up comedian may require to trigger that little dopemine hit from success.
Nevertheless, comedy is thriving on Twitter, and has been for a few years now. I’m not even a very big fan of Twitter, but I see this. Ten years ago I was very much into stand up and the type of comedy you consume via TV. It’s surprising how this has been superseded for me by internet humor.
How does he get response from netflix?
But if you write a book and the book is turned into a movie, then you can see and hear what worked and what didn't. And way more people watch movies than read books. Too hard to read.
There’s no studio audience for Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Same difference.
Retweet = laugh
It is a different kind of feedback and it's easier, and quicker, to recover from a joke that is taken the wrong way when you're saying it in person rather than tweeting it.
Seinfeld is great, love him. I bet he is a closet conservative.
Left Bank of the Charles said...
There’s no studio audience for Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Same difference.
The comedian and Seinfeld have each other to bounce their comedic theories off each other, more like defending a dissertation.
"Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Making Each Other Laugh Until Coffee Comes Out Their Noses" would be setting the bar too high, however.
It's gotta be more than that you can't hear the laugh, as there's no audience in the Cars...
Or maybe there is, there could be some ear monitors that allow those in the car to hear from a director and maybe even other crew members.
Either way, he's used to writing material for performances, and writing to be read is a very different thing. Especially in short social media-bursts.
"Nevertheless, comedy is thriving on Twitter..."
Can you name some people who are doing good comedy on Twitter?
I think it's more that Twitter creates the world I'd always heard about, the one where everybody's a comedian. Every columnist and TV head. It seems to go down easily because it's short, but that's the problem. Everything must be a one-liner, a quip. And you read it in a second and you're done. How can you complain that your time has been wasted? But you just hang out there consuming nothing.
Now, the form obviously works for Trump, so there's that. Extrapolate your theory of Twitter as a performance space from that utterly crucial fact.
"It's gotta be more than that you can't hear the laugh, as there's no audience in the Cars..."
Each comedian is a perfect audience of one for the other.
It's like sex. You have an audience of one.
Except for that time you had Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks.
Episodes that can never be that I'd be interested in:
Patrice O'Neal
Greg Giraldo
George Carlin
Richard Pryor
Not surprisingly, the Vulture article annoyed me in the first sentence by calling the show an "anti-talk show." Yes, good, you remember that "Seinfeld" was a show about nothing, but that doesn't mean you should apply it here. Try the Larry Sanders show.
Ann, I think user @dril and people like that are pretty funny. I’ve heard this style of comedy referred to as “Weird Twitter.”
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/weird-twitter
I think meme culture which is widely spread on Twitter is also pretty funny, and a very new form of entertainment.
IIRC Carl Reiner also ordered very well-done bacon.
That's why I only write blog comments.
Compile all your comments into a book. Self-publish. Presto, you're an author!
I wonder if there is a way to search for all my comments, in chronological order. That might be interesting to see. Could I recall what I was commenting on, out of context, from 2007? Doubt it.
Althouse asks:
"Can you name some people who are doing good comedy on Twitter?"
Sure - Laurence Tribe.
Hell to me would be standing at a mike Ralph Kramdening through a joke. Hats off to anyone who performs live.
I'd swear on someone's life that the laughter on "Seinfeld" was canned. One reason I changed the channel (a housemate liked it).
Bacon goes from chewy to brittle, not stiff.
I wonder if there is a way to search for all my comments
Sippican managed to delete all of his, the jerk.
Twitter was created for David Burge, AKA Iowahawk, James Woods, and a slew of other very funny conservatives. There's a lot of conservative humor on Twitter. It's just not a very good humor forum for the people on the left. Maybe because clever works better than mean.
Sippican managed to delete all of his, the jerk.
Yeah, at some point I noticed that. I'm not sure how he did that. Manually would be tedious in the extreme.
I wonder if Sippican Cottage products are still available? It seems not.
Can you name some people who are doing good comedy on Twitter?
Not sure what the question means, but Iowahawk has some really funny, pithy and double take and things that make you go hmmmm. He also heckles people.
Frankly, heckling it the bete noir of Twitter, I would think.
I wish Don Rickles had a Twitter account now.
Whatever happened to Palladian, as well? I wonder sometimes.
People come and go so quickly here.
I do live streaming sportscasts for HS, college and amateur sports of all types. When I'm doing color, especially for a sport like Rugby or (believe it or not) adult kickball, where the participants and fans are pretty good humored, not to say raucous, it can feel like a stand-up gig. Once you get a few laughs, it's hard not too keep trying for more. One of my favorite moments was when a Boston College Rugby player came over while we were packing up and said his 70-something year old grandmother in Arizona was watching and said that "the one with a New England, accent, he is sooooo funny!". Made a 12 hour day in the Carolina sun feel worth it.
I saw an episode of Comedians, Cars and Coffee, with Alec Baldwin (who is surprisingly funny, by the way. Funnier than Jerry Lewis, IMHO) where Jerry explained how he got the idea for the show. He and Alec Baldwin were at a dinner where the guest of honor was ex-princess Sarah Ferguson. They were entertaining everyone around them with their conversation and it annoyed Fergie, so she asked that they be told to cut it out. So, he thought, "Well, I'll just have my own show where two people can talk and be funny."
I've only seen one episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and that was enough.
Bay Area Guy: wonderful answer!
My favorite Cars, Comedians and Coffee episodes:
1. Gary Shandling
2. Alec Baldwin
3. Norm McDonald
4. Jay Leno
5. Larry David
6. Dana Carvey
7. Michael Richards
8. Chris Rock
9. Dom Rickles
I admit I haven't seen them all. Some of them don't seem to have been transferred to Netflix from YouTube and those that were are edited a little differently.
MM, I was gone for 4 years until June of last year. I doubt anyone noticed, but Althouse's posting rate increased when I've been reading (not religiously) and declined significantly when I wasn't, almost to the month. But I'm not a stalker, I swear.
Imagine the outrage that might be generated if Don Rickles had a Twitter Account.
@Sydney,
My favorite Cars, Comedians and Coffee episodes:
1. Gary Shandling
2. Alec Baldwin
3. Norm McDonald
4. Jay Leno
5. Larry David
6. Dana Carvey
7. Michael Richards
8. Chris Rock
9. Dom Rickles
I love each and every one of those folks. Even Alec Baldwin, when he stays away from politics, is pretty darn funny. He was great in 30 Rock.
The problem, worse than the spread of Communism or the Ebola virus, is the wave humorless Leftists that have overrun are culture and society.
They are the scourge of humanity.
Why wasn’t Obama number one? Or 1-73? They missed an opportunity to influence voters...
I agree with what others have said about who's funny on twitter. When asked, I recommend @frcharles. He's an American priest living in an Italian monastery who tweets every day life moments. Not spit take funny, but lovely human humor.
The best twitter, as someone said, is the meme style. It's made by regular people, so I can't think of one specific follow.
Everyone on that list cis-het male, as far as we know.
Except for that time you had Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks.
That was the best one ever.
George Carlin was a liberal, but damn funny. Richard Pryor was great, too.
You notice that the list is heavily larded towards to top with liberal late-nite icons. It's almost as if the list wasn't really about the best episodes, but more liberal self stroking.
But I thought that the Alex Baldwin one was pretty good. They both came from Massapequa, NY around the same time but by different ways, so it is natural that they would connect in a deep way.
What would be funny is if the FBI re-hires Peter Strzok again, to fire him one more time.
Can you name some people who are doing good comedy on Twitter?
Not stand up comedians, but these can be funny:
Trump (not all comedy, but the funny ones are hilarious...or, at least the reaction to some of them is hilarious)
The Mossad
Wendy's
The Last Blockbuster
>Imagine the outrage that might be generated if Don Rickles had a Twitter Account.
There would be no outrage, as there is no way Don could do his act today. The first derogatory comments about Puerto Ricans or blacks would get him banned.
The left has proven conclusively that "I was just making a joke" is an admission of guilt, not a defense.
"There would be no outrage, as there is no way Don could do his act today. The first derogatory comments about Puerto Ricans or blacks would get him banned."
Q: What do you call a Puerto Rican with a rubber toe?
A: Roberto!
Seinfeld is great, love him. I bet he is a closet conservative.
Nope. While he's not as obnoxiously leftist as some, he's a D. He couldn't believe people would actually NOT support Al Gore after the glory of the Clinton years. And he pulled out of a Trump event way back in 2011 over the birther crap.
He tries to play it down the middle and I appreciate his humor stays away from politics. But he's no conservative.
@Jim at,
I would grade Jerry on a political curve; that he tries to be apolitical, and ran his epic tv show for 9 years without any leftwing sermonizing, I'd give him his props.
True, he's no Clint Eastwood, but that's too high a standard.
If you think it's funny, it doesn't matter if other people laugh.
But you can't monetize Twitter, so why would a professional comedian use it?
Personally, Jerry, I would LOVE it if someone came up to me and said, "I loved your book."
This is the essence of Seinfeld's genius: his ability to zero right in on the simple obvious things right in front of us all. Twitter is tossing shit out to the universe and asking the universe to treat you nicely, while only hearing back from those looking for a fight or a friend.
I say we all de-Twitter for 48 hours. See if your life changes. You'll have more time to do things, like watch Comedians in Cars getting Coffee. Not that doing that will save your life, but laughing a bit is far better for your overall health then getting all pissed off at some random tweet about Trump or Alexandria Occasional Cortex.
Twitter is not a traditional joke-telling medium. Its nature is response comedy. Hence, Iowahawk, who offers funny ripostes to things he sees/hears. t
"Personally, Jerry, I would LOVE it if someone came up to me and said, "I loved your book."
You didn't get the joke.
Seinfeld needs to avoid politics so he doesn't get the Roy Moore treatment for dating a teenager. (It's not what you've done in the past, it's a matter of someone deciding you are now the enemy.)
"I say we all de-Twitter for 48 hours. See if your life changes."
I have de-Twittered for years and right after being recognized for tweeting.
I wrote book that I self-published. Since the subject matter was NSFW, I haven't really shared it with many people. The feedback I get is from site reviews. Which is okay. I am never going to write The Great American Novel. I'll settle for the criticism, positive and negative, from my friends who have read my other stuff.
Blogger readering said...
How does he get response from netflix?
He gets it from the comedians he is interviewing - conversing with. Watch the show, you'll understand.
Some of his guests are exceedingly funny and charming, unexpectedly, to me anyway.
I love funny people, cars - especially classics - and coffee. It's the perfect show for me.
@sydney
I would add:
Sarah Jessica Parker
Brian Regan
Ellen
What's funny? The photo of Brennan up on Drudge just now. *howl*
@Jim at:
Nope. While he's not as obnoxiously leftist as some, he's a D. He couldn't believe people would actually NOT support Al Gore after the glory of the Clinton years. And he pulled out of a Trump event way back in 2011 over the birther crap.
He tries to play it down the middle and I appreciate his humor stays away from politics. But he's no conservative.
Seinfeld may be a member of the Democratic Party, but he should still be counted as an ally as he (like most comedians) as an instinctual distaste for identity politics and political correctness. The Seinfeld episode "The Cigar Store Indian," which aired nearly a quarter century ago was a pretty concise attack on PC sensitivity. And Seinfeld was forced to defend Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee against the nearly unpardonable sin of featuring way too many white guys in its initial episodes.
The old ideological battlegrounds of right vs. left, Republicans vs. Democrats are being redrawn. Identity politics will likely be the defining fault line of this century.
Here was Ann, doing Seinfeld:
"It's like sex. You have an audience of one."
I saw all the episodes prior to this season. They were enjoyable and pleasant in a low key way. The only show that sticks in the memory was the one with Shandling and that was because of the detached way they discussed death. The framing device of Shandling's death was excellent. It's a shame that Jerry and CK Louis didn't discuss offbeat sex habits. That would have made their meeting so much more interesting.......Stand up comics get a lot of immediate feedback, but it's an ephemeral art form. A good book gets passed along for generations. A good stand up comedian has his moment and then is forgotten.
Identity politics, diversity a.k.a. color judgments, are a progressive form of what was simply racism, sexism, bigotry, etc, but so much more as they are all Pro-Choice in principle, selective and opportunistic by design.
For our hostess..
If the answer is just that you don't want to do this, great! Your blog, no problem.
But, maybe when you make a post and it by nature will have a limited appeal for conversation, you could schedule a cafe post for say, three hours later. If you come home and have something else you want to say right away, just cancel the scheduled cafe before it goes live and make the new post..
"George Carlin was a liberal, but damn funny."
I never really got that impression of Carlin, at least in his later years. He seemed pretty libertarian. If you ever saw his bit where he skewers environmentalism, you certainly wouldn't think he was "very" liberal, in fact you might think he was darwinistic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjmtSkl53h4
my dad was born in 1891 and used to hang out, back in the day, in a certain European city, with a future dictator.
Said dictator liked to drink with my dad, a funny guy, a guy who was always quick with a joke, but the future dictator resented the fact that he, a future dictator, had to pay - every single time - for sex with sober women and my dad got free sex from sober women often.
had my dad not been so charismatic and so attractive to the ladies, the dictator might have been a little less resentful and a nicer dictator.
this is not a joke. i am just trying to explain that stupid look in my eyes - and in the eyes of people who have made tens of millions times more money than me being funny - when I am telling even the best jokes i have ever told, i cannot, just by words, undo the bad things that have been done to people I care about, by people whom I also care about.
Carlin was pissed - very pissed, if you listen to enough of what he said - that pretty women were treated nicely, and he was not, That is the key to his world view.
Almost everyone gets over it (over the fact that none of us are treated as if we deserve to be loved), almost everyone is happy that pretty women are treated nicely, it is nice to live in a world where at least someone is treated as if their problems are real problems, as if they deserve love...
But poor Sourpuss Carlin , God bless his sad little bitter heart (and I mean that) never got over the fact that he was not pretty and desired, or even handsome and desired, that almost nobody cared much about his problems, that most people looked at him and just saw some guy who, as far as they could tell, did not deserve to be loved. He was angry to live in a world with mediocrities everywhere!!! But if he knew some of my friends, who ....
He had no idea how wrong he was - God loves us all - but he was fixated on worldly pleasures. Sad!
" The Seinfeld episode "The Cigar Store Indian," which aired nearly a quarter century ago was a pretty concise attack on PC sensitivity."
Don't get people started on "The Puerto Rican Day Parade" which I'm not sure is even aired in syndication anymore.
Salon is on it, of course:
https://www.salon.com/2015/07/22/10_seinfeld_episodes_that_are_racist_and_sexist_in_retrospect_partner/
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