After all Ive read here I am jiggered about that many people seems to dont like JS.
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joshshosh — 17 years ago(February 11, 2009 10:12 PM)
"His entire style doesn't even give me a chuckle. "Whatis the dealwith cab drivers? Who arethese people?!" I'm sorry, I don't find that style funny. In fact, I fink it downright annoying."
He's never even told a joke like that before. Have you even watched his standup or just parodies of him? Because the parodies are nothing like his act. Jerry has never said "what's the deal" or "who are these people" and has humorously complained about this a lot of times on talk shows (David Letterman, Howard Stern).
In Seinfeld he did say "What's the deal with airplane peanuts?" to parody these accusations however. -
timbob82 — 17 years ago(February 12, 2009 03:19 AM)
yeahumI've seen him say it. Straight from the horses mouth. I mean, his most famous one liner is "What is the deal with grapenuts? No grapes, no nuts!" Note the "what is the deal" preamble?
A lot of the first couple seasons of the show which had a lot of standup comedy interstitials had him telling jokes in this style. Maybe he doesn't do it so much anymore, but he definitely use to. You don't parody someone by doing something they have never done. -
joshshosh — 17 years ago(February 13, 2009 12:06 AM)
Err then why have I seen interviews of him saying he's never even told a joke like that? YouTube it. His last appearance on Letterman and his first appearance on Howard Stern. It's happened twice now, that I know of. I've never heard any jokes like that before from him. I googled "what's the deal with grapenuts" but couldn't find anything Seinfeld-related. Source please?
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timbob82 — 17 years ago(February 13, 2009 01:26 AM)
Really? Cuz I typed it into Yahoo and got pages and pages of accounts of it being attributed to him.
It's an old bit of his. One of his most famous and retold one liners
http://badgerherald.com/artsetc/2002/11/26/after_all_these_year.php
He was a New York kid, with a quirky family, who grew up to form a comedy routine around simple and direct observations of the stupidity of the world. With classics such as his old Grapenuts bit (Whats the deal with Grapenuts? You open the box, no grapes and no nuts!), he was the antithesis of cerebral comics
http://www.tvacres.com/catch_d.htm
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld also questioned his audience with the phrase "Didja ever notice? and "What's the deal with." in his comedy routines and on his sitcom SEINFELD/NBC/1990-98. While onstage Jerry often asked his audience "What's the deal with_____" and then began a mocking tirade on a variety of trivial topics. For example: "What the deal with Grape Nuts? You open the box. No Grapes. No Nuts. What's the deal? Who are the ad wizards who came up with that?"; "What's the deal with the Professor? He can make a radio out of a coconut but he can't fix a hole in the boat!"; and "What's the deal with Oprah? She's fat. She's thin. She's fat. She's thin. I mean pick a body and let's go with it!"
http://gurugilbert.com/2007/10/
Whats the deal with grape nuts? I mean, there are no grapes and there are no nuts? We all know Jerry Seinfeld as an observational comedic genius and, of course, for his show. I was fortunate enough to see him last Thursday at the Hammerstein Ballroom for the Stand Up For A Cure event.
I got tons more if you need them -
joshshosh — 17 years ago(February 13, 2009 05:31 AM)
Well whatever.. Anyway thanks for not being like everyone else online and actually posting sources. The point is, not all of his jokes are like that - he has some really funny stuff. At least the things from the late 90s, early 2000s. So watch/listen to that. His latest stuff is about candy and weird things. His adult jokes are better.
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alexcuk — 13 years ago(May 01, 2012 04:08 PM)
@Tony_Plush I was just about to say that, and then I saw your comment on the next page. What a fail people are arguing about his comedy yet none of them actually watched the show. Saying "Seinfeld" is formulaic, or that his comedy is stupid is just annoying. Get your facts 238straight and actually watch the show before you make incorrect claims.
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fiete5 — 16 years ago(October 06, 2009 05:27 AM)
Right, when you see some star you don'T say to yourself. "Man he/she's great" you rather ask yourself "wow he/she's great. i wonder how many people know him/her" like that would matter at all Who are these people? :-
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nycjen00 — 16 years ago(October 14, 2009 01:15 AM)
This is a delayed response, but anywayAlthough I think "Seinfeld" is one of the top sitcoms of all time, and I saw Jerry live and he gave a really great hilarious performance, I agree that Jerry's current demeanor is pretty douchey, like he's the ultimate arbiter of what's funny and who's as deserving as he to be a celebrity.
But to Timbob82 - Jerry gave us a lot of the "what's the deal" and "Did you ever notice," that became a style comedians emulated. But the quotes you posted are actually from a Saturday Night Live episode Jerry hosted in 1992(?). The skit was a Jeopardy-type show making fun of Jerry's style, with Jerry as host and 3 stand-up comedian contestants played by Dana Carvey, Rob Schneider, and Adam Sandler. The joke was all of them doing lame/funny Seinfeld impressions. So for instance, the category was Oprah, and one contestant buzzed in and said the quote you cited - "What's the deal with Oprah - she's fat she's thin, pick a weight a go with it!"
Another quote, "Who are the advertising wizards who thought of that one?" was the only line Adam Sandler's guy could ever come up with. -
arthousearrest — 16 years ago(December 06, 2009 05:38 PM)
I like Seinfeld as a show, but I think Jerry is merely the glue that sticks all of the other (and in my opinion, more interesting) characters together. In that sense he is vital to how the show works. The only real issue I have with Jerry Seinfeld is that throughout all seasons of the show you get the impression that he is laughing at his own jokes. He has a constant smile on his face, even when he is shouting or his character is supposed to be in a fit of rage!
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xrayzrofl — 16 years ago(January 14, 2010 06:46 AM)
">>> He has a constant smile on his face, even when he is shouting or his character is supposed to be in a fit of rage!
Ten examples, please. If it's constant, should be easy."
Man, you're seriously dense. Watch ANY seinfeld episode, you'll see this guy with a stupid grin in every situation that is meant to be serious (at least to the characters in the show). He can't act and he knows it, that's why it was mentioned in the actual show during the pilot episode. By admitting it in his own show, it makes criticism from the outside less severe.
The only reason the show is cool is because Kramer and George are hilarious. They own, but Jerry stinks. I'm just done watching all 9 seasons (took me a couple of weeks), and as the show progressed I found myself skipping more and more scenes of Jerry without Kramer or George in it -
yyuusr — 13 years ago(October 21, 2012 06:59 PM)
Man, you're seriously dense. Watch ANY seinfe1908ld episode, you'll see this guy with a stupid grin in every situation that is meant to be serious (at least to the characters in the show). He can't act and he knows it, that's why it was mentioned in the actual show during the pilot episode. By admitting it in his own show, it makes criticism from the outside less severe.
The only reason the show is cool is because Kramer and George are hilarious. They own, but Jerry stinks. I'm just done watching all 9 seasons (took me a couple of weeks), and as the show progressed I found myself skipping more and more scenes of Jerry without Kramer or George in it.
I would say he plays himself perfectly. You see his old interviews or stand up routines and he seems just like that in real life. Of course there is really no way of telling what he is like off camera but you can say that about everybody. He's changed and gotten a kind of more grumpy with age as I have seen him get kind of mad more recently but I guess that's expected with age.
And you seem a little butthurt. Yes he is definitely not as good as Kramer or George but he character is funny and interesting in his own ways.
As for him "always smiling is serious situation" they made fun of the the fact in an episode about he can't seem to get mad. I mean why else would he tolerate a person like Kramer. -
vnh_colt — 16 years ago(December 26, 2009 07:30 AM)
"He has a constant smile on his face, even when he is shouting or his character is supposed to be in a fit of rage!"
Yes! I've noticed that too! It's really annoying me.
I love the Seinfeld show even if it's pretty old. I just like the situations and how the cast responds to them - it feels so natural (Jason Alexander is the best part of Seinfeld to me).
Also at the guy above me - I'll give you about 170 examples - he does that in virtually every episode. Especially the ones in which he's arguing with people. I've noticed other actors there do it too (except J. Alexander - he never betrayed his character :)) )
As to the OP - I really like Seinfeld, but I can see what people don't like about him (and about comedians in general) - he makes fun of things that seem so normal, so unimportant to some people that they don't understand what's funny about them.
But I do like his style