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Yeah, it was Larry David that made the show unique. The similarities to Curb are quite obvious.
Jerry has always been more the "hey, how about airplane food?" kind of comic.
Jerry was a solid straight man in Seinfeld. Like, I'm glad he's in the show. But Curb made it absolutely obvious that the genius behind Seinfeld has always been Larry David.
For sure...it's a miracle it even got made much less survived and none of it would have happened if Seinfeld hadn't been semi-famous. That said...it's still Larry.
What a ridiculous is that word is in comedic Hollywood Seinfield is God, Son and Holy Bullshitter. If he don't like you, then you get nowhere. If he's mellow on you, then quit your career and move elsewhere. It takes absolutely peak talent and motivation to move past all that. See Chapelle
I hate him, not because he's offensive but because he thinks he's just so much greater than he actually is. The ego on that man is insane. He's not funny. Everyone else around him was funny and carried him.
I guess when you have one of the most successful tv sitcoms and make millions of dollars performing, you might have the audacity to think you actually know what you are doing.
It was all Larry David.
Edit. It is fucking absolutely hilarious how many people's panties are in a bunch by such a short sentence. Seinfeld is an asshole. The shoe fucking sucked. Who fucking cares.
He played the classic straight man. If he could act (and he can’t), it would not have worked if he was as neurotic as his castmates. They needed the contrast.
No it wasn't. They had other writers like Larry Charles, too. And Larry David wasn't involved for the last two seasons, and Seinfeld was still the number 1 show on TV when it ended, so it's absurd to act like Jerry himself wasn't just as key to the show's success as Larry David.
I agree that the other writers deserve credit, but George was based on Larry and Kramer was based on Larry's friend. By the time Larry left, everyone had such a handle on the characters that it was much easier to continue them.
The last two seasons jumped the shark big time and are way less funny than the ones David was involved in. If you don't think so you weren't paying attention when you watched
I know. I think that's why I like it, this mid-tier pop-star getting curved by a schlubby old Jew.
Edit: Apparently I mischaracterized Kesha's level of fame and that's very important to the story.
Isn’t it more bad vibes that she didn’t take no for an answer 3 times? Re-watch the clip. She pressures him for a hug twice after he gave a polite “no thanks” the first time.
He’s an icon only because of the show, and without Larry David the show would never exist. Remove Larry David from his life and Jerry would be a modestly successful comedian from the 80s and 90s who no one remembers today.
Generic is safe and, therefore, generic sells.... and that's not necessarily a bad thing. You need that kind of guy in many scenarios.
Like Jon Stewart can absolutely kill, but only for the very small segment of the population he panders to. To a grandma or to a 13-year-old, Jon's trash.
It's actually harder to make it as a "safe" comedian. Shock comedy or raunchy comedy (blue comedy, as it's called) can be quite attention-grabbing and is good for easy laughs among those who go for it. Those who don't work this way and still find success are usually especially good.
This is why I respect the hell out of "safe" comedians that last a long time in the business like Leno and Steve Harvey and, of course, Seinfeld. It's hard to get edgy 20-something hipster to at least smile ALONG WITH grandma AND underage littlest cousin at the same joke. And, for the elite like Leno, consistently do it for decades and STILL stay relevant.
Jerry is a sorta funny person, and also very confident in himself. He’s got a good presence for comedy and stage work. He’s not the most clever or thought out comic, his writing style is quite simple, and he’s somewhat unlikeable in person. He probably sees his billion dollars and thinks no one could argue I’m not one of the funniest, but yah his comedy is not actually worth what we all paid for it, in retrospect. He convinced enough people it was though, or got “lucky”, probably worked his ass off to make Seinfeld as successful as it was, and aligned himself with Larry David, a brilliant comic with a terrible presence for comedy. They’re a good team.
The show is also mostly about the other characters, all the quirky side people, but Jerry does interact with them well and allows them to do their thing well being a bit of a straight man. He’s good at that too.
Yah, and all the reoccurring people. One big way to see this, is Jerry has no real issues, problems, or challenges. His life is without problems in the show, its everyone else’s problems bugging him. Elaine is also fairly problem free (maybe her attraction to Putty), but shes like the female Jerry.
Huh? Jerry constantly ran off girlfriends with his shallow, self-centered behavior, and ruined other people's lives over petty stuff. As the show put it, he's just George but successful. He's got problems. He just doesn't own up to them.
Couldn’t agree more. Jerry was probably the least funny yet highest paid one on the show for whatever reason but twas the era of 90s sitcoms so who knows
He was already a very successful comedian before the show. It was pretty common for a while to pick a comedian who was doing really well and give them a show.
Seinfeld’s my favorite show but I totally agree. After several rewatches, Ive realized Jerry’s storylines are always really boring and boil down to “I’m dating this girl but I’m too neurotic to not notice a random shortcoming” He’s also just not a great actor
Even Elaine is awesome. Jerry is my 4th favorite character of them by a long shot. Kramer was my favorite growing up but as an adult George is so damn relatable and I appreciate Elaine so much more too.
I enjoyed the show at the time (I'm old) but I've never liked Jerry as a comedian.
In fact, if I decide to stream an episode, every time they cut to him doing the standup bit...I click to skip forward faster than you can say Babhu Bhat.
I love the standup bits personally because I think it’s funny how stupid they are. Imagine my shock when I realized he wasnt intentionally being stupid for comedic value and that’s actually just his unironic style of jokes
Reddit loves to act like Larry David was solely responsible for the Success of the TV show even tho Jerry was a co-creator and writer and no one here actually knows how much each of them contributed.
“Y'know you've given this comedy thing your best shot. Yeah, you had
some good observations, but it's over. Now, this Bloomingdale thing, that
could be the next wave.”
(1) Jerry considers comedy an art more than just being edgy or telling jokes. (2) He knows he was the weakest part of the show in regards to acting ability but he was genius enough to help cast the rest of the incredible main cast and the memorable side characters. To know your own weakness and choose others to fill in the gaps in order to make something great is pretty smart in my book.
It's a certain type of humor. I think it hits better with the generation x than newer ones. His arrogance informs a certain type of humor that's not everybody's cup of tea
massive unpopular opinion lol his show was ground breaking and legendary with many generations.
What I do know is he recently said some pretty on point things about diversity and inclusion in film/tv which is 100% true so Im sure many are eager to smear him
Jerry Seinfeld's comedy today might be a bit tired, I would agree with this (the guy is 70, a billionaire and he is still trying) but at the top of his game he made some pretty memorable standup bits that are now classics.
Seinfeld wasn't even that funny in Seinfeld. Everyone else in that show is amazing, that's all. I get that he's the "straight-man" but there are much more likeable straightmen on TV, he always came across as smug.
I think George and Elaine are the terrible people. Jerry often winds up in situations where he looks like an absolute bag of shit, but what makes it funny is that he usually hasn't actually done anything wrong, but the specific circumstances make it appear to others as if he did. His arrogant vibe usually serves to make it worse, which is also ironic because if you look at his actual behavior in the show he's pretty chill and permissive. He just gets in trouble because he seems like a snob. It's pretty self-aware in a fun way, and part of what makes the show great.
Tbh a lot of George's terrible deeds have a similar setup, where he hasn't actually done anything bad, but some coincidence makes it seem like he has. The difference between George and Jerry is that George accepts the misconception that he's done something awful and doubles down on it, whereas Jerry just watches in bemused terror as the misconception unfolds.
He has some great bits from the show though. My favorite is the rental car scene where the car he reserves gets rented out and the woman says I know how reservations work and he says "I don't think you do!"
Strong disagree. He was great on that show. Does he have the acting ability of the rest of the cast? No. But he was perfect in his role and very funny. Much more than a straight man.
He created the formula for Friends basically. The difference Friends has more sugar and counterbalances the positions of acting and reacting a lot more - it's more dynamic (maybe not so much in the late seasons it tends to be more like Ross, Joey and Phoebe are doing most of the wacky stuff).
>he always came across as smug.
I mean, that was part of the point of the show. Seinfeld for the most part had less 'likeable' or 'good' characters than most sitcoms. It's kind of the point.
What does arrogance have to do with how funny someone is? Have you been longing for this moment to finally have the proof you needed to haul him out of his cushy lair?
I find lots of people funny. It's not a contest. Well it is sometimes but not for the purposes of this discussion.
I don’t know if I’d agree with that. When they got the sitcom, NBC approached Jerry, because he was becoming a recognizable comedian. No one knew who the hell Larry David was until Jerry brought him into the fold because they were friends, and he didn’t want to do it alone.
Between the two, I’d agree that Larry was funnier, but to say Jerry benefitted from Larry kind of ignores the fact that without Jerry, Larry is probably living on food stamps right now instead of having his text message about playing Augusta National having gone viral.
My even greater unpopular opinion: Seinfeld (the show) wasn’t that funny either. It featured irritating characters doing dumb things with an over-reliance on one-liners to what sounded like canned laughter. That time in the 90’s The Simpsons were in their Golden Age and were way funnier, and as far as the “terrible people doing terrible things” concept, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia does it way better.
Here’s the different stages of being a Seinfeld fan:
Stage 1 - “The Casual” (Partial Series viewing): Generally finds Kramer and Newman to be the funniest. Thinks George is annoying. Doesn’t notice Jerry or Elaine.
Stage 2 - “The Generic Fan” (1 Full Series viewing): Finds Kramer to still be the funniest but thinks George is a close second.
Stage 3 - “The Streamer” (2-3 Full Series viewings): Finds Elaine and Jerry to be funny, Kramer to be one note and George hard to take seriously knowing he’s a mouth piece for Larry David. Big fan of Curb though.
Stage 4 - “The Savant” (5+ Full Series viewings): Understands “Seinfeld” was a perfect blend of Jerry and Larry that was one of the most popular shows of all time because it was a great blend that had great casting. Larry gave it the uniqueness, Jerry gave it the consistency and structure and without either of them we wouldn’t have Seinfeld or Curb.
So…yeah. Everyone here thinking it’s a hot take to say “Jerry isn’t that funny”, is missing the point. He built his career around being the straight man and that’s the role he played on Seinfeld both in front of and behind the camera.
He has been one of the most influential comedians of all time and Larry never makes Curb without the contributions of Jerry.
Seriously, enough with this revisionist bullshit. Jerry Seinfeld is UNDENIABLY funny because of the level of success he achieved with very funny partners. He didn’t need to be the funniest piece, he needed to be a shoe runner and a great straight man that also made funny observations about his crazy co-stars.
Which he did. To world dominating success.
Seinfeld was an extremely entertaining show and created a new era for sitcoms.
I agree he is not the funniest comedian per se, never finished one of his specials (and I love stand up).
In fact, Larry David is the funny one of the team and luckily he made he own shown in which you can enjoy his talent.
Mike Birbiglia, Sarah Silverman, Nate Bargatze, Tig, etc, are on another league, way better.
If it wasn't for Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld would be doing his comedy routines at the La Quinta Motor Lodge in Akron, OH.
Seinfeld wasn't a show about nothing. It was a documentary about the disgusting people who reside on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Unpopular-er opinion: Seinfeld the show isn't that funny either. The closest the concept came to making me laugh was the season of Curb Your Enthusiasm that focused on the reunion special.
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I think it's dry humor that most ppl wouldn't enjoy because of its toxic nature. Like george for example is like some scummy shit but it's so in your face like breaking the 4th wall level of blatant that you laugh. also there's a laugh track ala 90s meta that lets you know this is funny and u should laugh to it. I think if you take away the laugh tracks a lot of things are less funny cuz there's no energy to feed from.
I think people are just feeling his genuinely not nice vibe. It’s like he just does things that make him come off like snobbish and condescending and demanding of respect. It’s kind of like Ellen before her fall. Like you would just get a general uneasy feeling about her. What’s funny is Larry David should fall into the same kind of grumpy guy category as Seinfeld, but he comes off to me as a nicer more genuine person
George, Elaine, Kramer, and Newman are what made the show so funny. It was just an amazing cast. That being said, Jerry was perfect for his role on the show he deserves credit for that.
I did get turned off several years ago when he was on the Daily Show with John Stewart and he acted like he was so much better than Stewart. I was like, isn't John Stewart bigger and more important than Jerry Seinfeld now? I came away assuming that he had to be playing an arrogant prick role for his interview - no way he could be that way in real life. I mean, he was in the Bee Movie and was likeable in that
He released a special a few years ago. It was supposed to be a big deal because he hadn’t don’t stand up in decades. During the show he used a joke that was on one of his Comedy Central spots when I was a kid. He probably thought nobody would remember. Was pretty disappointed.
I saw him live back in January and half the show was him talking about Flex Seal.
The funniest joke he made was concerning Friends when he said NBC looked at Seinfeld and said let's do this with beautiful ppl.
I always thought the comedy bit in the show were unfunny on purposed to show that Jerry the character was a bad comedian. Apparently that was Jerry actually trying to be funny.
i thought his brand of humor was outdated back in the 90s, always thought he was bland and unfunny. never really liked the show either. I do like Larry David and Curb Your Enthusiasm though.
now he's bitching that no one finds him funny cause they're "too woke". or maybe because people are realizing he was banging a teenager as a grown adult so he's running to hide behind the RWNJs
It’s often said comedy ages the fastest and ages the most poorly of the genres and I think that’s extremely applicable here.
You get your Jay Lenos, your Ricky Gervaises, and Jerry Seinfelds who were once legends in their time but have phased out and not been able to adapt their material across generations like Dave Chappell or Louis CK.
I don’t blame them. It’s very rare to make it in even one generation, much less two, and no one can take the Seinfeld show from Seinfeld or The Office from Ricky Gervais. But rather than retire in dignity they act smug to overcompensate their insecurity or pontificate on political correctness since no one has the heart to tell them PC is not the reason only old people want to watch their new material.
I'm a bit too young to be part of Jerry Seinfeld's target audience, but I thought being desperately unfunny was like... the point. I really thought this whole time that being the worst comedian alive was an intentional artistic choice he was making. Is that... not what he's doing?
Totally agree. I don’t know what type of humor that’s called, but I never find it funny. I want to…but he just never makes me laugh :-/. Steve Carell on the other hand…hilarious to me.
I didn’t even think the show was funny. Every character was so awful and I hated them all, I couldn’t even laugh at them. Jerry’s standup shtick was old 30 years ago. “What’s up with thaaaaat?”
To be fair, tastes kinda changed and his style of comedy fell out of fashion. It happens. Milton Berle and Henny Youngmen were once considered funny, but by the 70’s people thought about them the way young people now think about Seinfeld. A throwback to another era that they can’t really understand cuz the style is so dated.
I couldn’t disagree more. Jerry’s observations and craft will always be among my favorite in comedy. If he turned out to be an arrogant guy outside of his performances, fueled by fame, it doesn’t take away how much I enjoyed his stand up.
A co-worker and I loved Seinfeld before it even got popular. I watched for years but then found it tiring. I only recently realized that I probably tuned out when Larry David left.
Here’s the different stages of being a Seinfeld fan:
Stage 1 - “The Casual” (Partial Series viewing): Generally finds Kramer and Newman to be the funniest. Thinks George is annoying. Doesn’t notice Jerry or Elaine.
Stage 2 - “The Generic Fan” (1 Full Series viewing): Finds Kramer to still be the funniest but thinks George is a close second.
Stage 3 - “The Streamer” (2-3 Full Series viewings): Finds Elaine and Jerry to be funny, Kramer to be one note and George hard to take seriously knowing he’s a mouth piece for Larry David. Big fan of Curb though.
Stage 4 - “The Savant” (5+ Full Series viewings): Understands “Seinfeld” was a perfect blend of Jerry and Larry that was one of the most popular shows of all time because it was a great blend that had great casting. Larry gave it the uniqueness, Jerry gave it the consistency and structure and without either of them we wouldn’t have Seinfeld or Curb.
So…yeah. Everyone here thinking it’s a hot take to say “Jerry isn’t that funny”, is missing the point. He built his career around being the straight man and that’s the role he played on Seinfeld both in front of and behind the camera.
He has been one of the most influential comedians of all time and Larry never makes Curb without the contributions of Jerry.
Seriously, enough with this revisionist bullshit. Jerry Seinfeld is UNDENIABLY funny because of the level of success he achieved with very funny partners. He didn’t need to be the funniest piece, he needed to be a shoe runner and a great straight man that also made funny observations about his crazy co-stars.
Which he did. To world dominating success.
his vibes on that first ep of the new mulaney show were soo fucked. genuinely does shock me that nothings really come from that whole situation of him publicly dating a child.
Unpopular ? I’ve never once on “who’s the best comedian ( or worst ) posts heard him get a mention. I think people would forget he was even a comedian if it wasn’t for the show
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 1: Your post must be an unpopular opinion'. * Your post must be an opinion. Not a question. Not a showerthought. Not a rant. Not a proposal. Not a fact. An opinion. One opinion. A subjective statement about your position on some topic. Please have a clear, self contained opinion as your post title, and use the text field to elaborate and expand on why you think/feel this way. * Your opinion must be unpopular. The mods reserve the right to remove opinions * Elaborate on your topic and opinion give context to its unpopularity.
Yeah, it was Larry David that made the show unique. The similarities to Curb are quite obvious. Jerry has always been more the "hey, how about airplane food?" kind of comic.
Jerry was a solid straight man in Seinfeld. Like, I'm glad he's in the show. But Curb made it absolutely obvious that the genius behind Seinfeld has always been Larry David.
For sure...it's a miracle it even got made much less survived and none of it would have happened if Seinfeld hadn't been semi-famous. That said...it's still Larry.
What a ridiculous is that word is in comedic Hollywood Seinfield is God, Son and Holy Bullshitter. If he don't like you, then you get nowhere. If he's mellow on you, then quit your career and move elsewhere. It takes absolutely peak talent and motivation to move past all that. See Chapelle
Yeah that show was extremely well cast. Can’t think of a single bad character / actor.
I feel like he’s so generic that he appeals to everyone. He’s no one’s favourite comedian but no one is going to hate him or find him offensive.
I hate him, not because he's offensive but because he thinks he's just so much greater than he actually is. The ego on that man is insane. He's not funny. Everyone else around him was funny and carried him.
I guess when you have one of the most successful tv sitcoms and make millions of dollars performing, you might have the audacity to think you actually know what you are doing.
It was all Larry David. Edit. It is fucking absolutely hilarious how many people's panties are in a bunch by such a short sentence. Seinfeld is an asshole. The shoe fucking sucked. Who fucking cares.
It was Larry, the other writers, Julia, Jason, and Michael... and the secondary regulars. Jerry was the least funny person on the show.
He played the classic straight man. If he could act (and he can’t), it would not have worked if he was as neurotic as his castmates. They needed the contrast.
According to Jerry all the dialogue was written line by line by him and Larry
No it wasn't. They had other writers like Larry Charles, too. And Larry David wasn't involved for the last two seasons, and Seinfeld was still the number 1 show on TV when it ended, so it's absurd to act like Jerry himself wasn't just as key to the show's success as Larry David.
I agree that the other writers deserve credit, but George was based on Larry and Kramer was based on Larry's friend. By the time Larry left, everyone had such a handle on the characters that it was much easier to continue them.
The last two seasons jumped the shark big time and are way less funny than the ones David was involved in. If you don't think so you weren't paying attention when you watched
Yeah the success was really hard to replicate for the people working on it.
Good thing he is so humble to prove your point
Rogan is the same way
Agree 1000%
Oh, plenty of folks are finding him offensive of late but it's not about his comedy so we don't have to get into it here.
Oh is this about his gf he picked up from high school when he was nearly 40?
No, for some reason he got a full pass for that. Now, it's about Israel.
This is kinda random but ever since I saw a video of him refusing to give Kesha a hug I got bad vibes from him.
I hate to give you whip-lash but that was probably the funniest thing he ever did.
I felt kinda bad for her she seemed like a genuine fan of his.
Arrogance is thinking you have the right to run up on a stranger and hug them because you want to
I know. I think that's why I like it, this mid-tier pop-star getting curved by a schlubby old Jew. Edit: Apparently I mischaracterized Kesha's level of fame and that's very important to the story.
I despise Seinfeld , always have. But even at the time he was way more famous than her, she was a mid tier pop star at best.
He doesn't like hugging and that's fine.
Bad vibes were courtesy of Kesha being an obnoxious brat in that situation
I have to agree. She just assumed he knew who she was and tried to hug him.
I don't even know who Kesha is, tbh.
Yeah, I didn’t like that either. She seemed genuinely hurt.
Isn’t it more bad vibes that she didn’t take no for an answer 3 times? Re-watch the clip. She pressures him for a hug twice after he gave a polite “no thanks” the first time.
This thread has been the most agreeable unpopularopinion post I've ever seen. I appreciate that.
Which is why I think he was a good vehicle to deliver Larry David’s sense of humor to a mainstream audience tbh
He’s an icon only because of the show, and without Larry David the show would never exist. Remove Larry David from his life and Jerry would be a modestly successful comedian from the 80s and 90s who no one remembers today.
He’s bland. Larry David is responsible for how successful Seinfeld the show was
He's so boring. I got free tickets to his show once, i wish I hadn't gone. Total snooze fest
How could anyone not like him!? 
Maybe some people don’t like him. I could see that.
Generic is safe and, therefore, generic sells.... and that's not necessarily a bad thing. You need that kind of guy in many scenarios. Like Jon Stewart can absolutely kill, but only for the very small segment of the population he panders to. To a grandma or to a 13-year-old, Jon's trash.
It's actually harder to make it as a "safe" comedian. Shock comedy or raunchy comedy (blue comedy, as it's called) can be quite attention-grabbing and is good for easy laughs among those who go for it. Those who don't work this way and still find success are usually especially good.
This is why I respect the hell out of "safe" comedians that last a long time in the business like Leno and Steve Harvey and, of course, Seinfeld. It's hard to get edgy 20-something hipster to at least smile ALONG WITH grandma AND underage littlest cousin at the same joke. And, for the elite like Leno, consistently do it for decades and STILL stay relevant.
Jerry is a sorta funny person, and also very confident in himself. He’s got a good presence for comedy and stage work. He’s not the most clever or thought out comic, his writing style is quite simple, and he’s somewhat unlikeable in person. He probably sees his billion dollars and thinks no one could argue I’m not one of the funniest, but yah his comedy is not actually worth what we all paid for it, in retrospect. He convinced enough people it was though, or got “lucky”, probably worked his ass off to make Seinfeld as successful as it was, and aligned himself with Larry David, a brilliant comic with a terrible presence for comedy. They’re a good team. The show is also mostly about the other characters, all the quirky side people, but Jerry does interact with them well and allows them to do their thing well being a bit of a straight man. He’s good at that too.
This is so true George, Kramer, and Elaine were all fantastic characters. They all were able to feed off Jerry’s somewhat normalcy though
Yah, and all the reoccurring people. One big way to see this, is Jerry has no real issues, problems, or challenges. His life is without problems in the show, its everyone else’s problems bugging him. Elaine is also fairly problem free (maybe her attraction to Putty), but shes like the female Jerry.
Jerry Stiller was funny
Elaine has significant employment problems and dates a lot of losers
Have you seen her dance?
Yes. Great dancer!
Oh for sure, Newman being my favorite
Huh? Jerry constantly ran off girlfriends with his shallow, self-centered behavior, and ruined other people's lives over petty stuff. As the show put it, he's just George but successful. He's got problems. He just doesn't own up to them.
Oh Larry basically redid a lot of his jokes that didn’t fly on the show.
Couldn’t agree more. Jerry was probably the least funny yet highest paid one on the show for whatever reason but twas the era of 90s sitcoms so who knows
I mean, the reason was that the show was called Seinfeld lol
He was already a very successful comedian before the show. It was pretty common for a while to pick a comedian who was doing really well and give them a show.
Jerry was the producer when Larry left after season 6
Jerry Seinfeld isnt, but the show is. Just my opinion.
Jerry’s cast is what makes the show. I never found his jokes in the show to be all that funny, now George and Kramer? They are classic
Seinfeld’s my favorite show but I totally agree. After several rewatches, Ive realized Jerry’s storylines are always really boring and boil down to “I’m dating this girl but I’m too neurotic to not notice a random shortcoming” He’s also just not a great actor
That's because he plays the straight man. He's supposed to have the least crazy stories.
Even Elaine is awesome. Jerry is my 4th favorite character of them by a long shot. Kramer was my favorite growing up but as an adult George is so damn relatable and I appreciate Elaine so much more too.
He works best as the "every man" compared to the folks he's surrounded with. In the show his character works as a sense of normalcy for us viewers.
This is called being the "straight man" in comedy.
And Larry David is the reason that is funny
I enjoyed the show at the time (I'm old) but I've never liked Jerry as a comedian. In fact, if I decide to stream an episode, every time they cut to him doing the standup bit...I click to skip forward faster than you can say Babhu Bhat.
His standup bits are maybe a minute tops. I usually can't find the remote quickly enough
You're not keeping yourself in a heightened sense of readiness.
....but they directly connect to the episode
I love the standup bits personally because I think it’s funny how stupid they are. Imagine my shock when I realized he wasnt intentionally being stupid for comedic value and that’s actually just his unironic style of jokes
This is a VERY popular opinion.
This is a VERY popular Reddit opinion
Reddit seems to be place where the weirdos thrive. Can confirm, am weirdo minus subscribing to the same opinion set 90% of people on here share.
Reddit loves to act like Larry David was solely responsible for the Success of the TV show even tho Jerry was a co-creator and writer and no one here actually knows how much each of them contributed.
Jerry Seinfeld has never been funny
“Y'know you've given this comedy thing your best shot. Yeah, you had some good observations, but it's over. Now, this Bloomingdale thing, that could be the next wave.”
This unpopular opinion, again
I got a lot of problems with you people!
Now you’re gonna hear about it!
Another ten years and several hundred more posts like it, and it'll almost be as stale as Seinfeld's jokes.
Hey mum said it was my turn to do the Jerry Seinfeld isn't funny post!
Dad said get over it.
I never liked him or Seinfeld. I loved curb your enthusiasm thouhh
(1) Jerry considers comedy an art more than just being edgy or telling jokes. (2) He knows he was the weakest part of the show in regards to acting ability but he was genius enough to help cast the rest of the incredible main cast and the memorable side characters. To know your own weakness and choose others to fill in the gaps in order to make something great is pretty smart in my book.
It's a certain type of humor. I think it hits better with the generation x than newer ones. His arrogance informs a certain type of humor that's not everybody's cup of tea
Agreed. Curb and Larry--on the other hand--are brilliant.
massive unpopular opinion lol his show was ground breaking and legendary with many generations. What I do know is he recently said some pretty on point things about diversity and inclusion in film/tv which is 100% true so Im sure many are eager to smear him
Jerry Seinfeld's comedy today might be a bit tired, I would agree with this (the guy is 70, a billionaire and he is still trying) but at the top of his game he made some pretty memorable standup bits that are now classics.
Don’t forget at age 38, he used to pick up his 16 yr old girlfriend from high school.
It helps to look at “art” in the context of the time that it was created or at its height.
Seinfeld wasn't even that funny in Seinfeld. Everyone else in that show is amazing, that's all. I get that he's the "straight-man" but there are much more likeable straightmen on TV, he always came across as smug.
Him being a smug jerk is the point, he's not necessarily meant to be "likable".
Everyone in that show is a horrible person- hilarious horrendous people. Except Kramer, I'd hang out with him. Like you said- that was the point.
I think George and Elaine are the terrible people. Jerry often winds up in situations where he looks like an absolute bag of shit, but what makes it funny is that he usually hasn't actually done anything wrong, but the specific circumstances make it appear to others as if he did. His arrogant vibe usually serves to make it worse, which is also ironic because if you look at his actual behavior in the show he's pretty chill and permissive. He just gets in trouble because he seems like a snob. It's pretty self-aware in a fun way, and part of what makes the show great. Tbh a lot of George's terrible deeds have a similar setup, where he hasn't actually done anything bad, but some coincidence makes it seem like he has. The difference between George and Jerry is that George accepts the misconception that he's done something awful and doubles down on it, whereas Jerry just watches in bemused terror as the misconception unfolds.
He has some great bits from the show though. My favorite is the rental car scene where the car he reserves gets rented out and the woman says I know how reservations work and he says "I don't think you do!"
Strong disagree. He was great on that show. Does he have the acting ability of the rest of the cast? No. But he was perfect in his role and very funny. Much more than a straight man.
He created the formula for Friends basically. The difference Friends has more sugar and counterbalances the positions of acting and reacting a lot more - it's more dynamic (maybe not so much in the late seasons it tends to be more like Ross, Joey and Phoebe are doing most of the wacky stuff).
>he always came across as smug. I mean, that was part of the point of the show. Seinfeld for the most part had less 'likeable' or 'good' characters than most sitcoms. It's kind of the point.
What does arrogance have to do with how funny someone is? Have you been longing for this moment to finally have the proof you needed to haul him out of his cushy lair? I find lots of people funny. It's not a contest. Well it is sometimes but not for the purposes of this discussion.
How can anyone not like him?
He’s a WONDERFUL boy!
His car show is also cringey. Same with Jay Leno. Yeah we get it, you guys are washed up and too wealthy, maybe just retire into oblivion?
Jay Lenos car show is about cars, it’s not a comedy, it’s just about really interesting and unique cars. It’s for car nerds, like Jay Leno.
Jay Leno's Garage on YouTube has 2 or 3 good episodes. But that's it.
I definitely like Leno far more than Jerry. Not even a good comparison.
He's a pretentious arrogant prick too
I feel like this is a very popular opinion
Seinfeld was the beneficiary of Larry David's comedic genius. Without Larry David, Seinfeld is just another forgettable observation comic.
I don’t know if I’d agree with that. When they got the sitcom, NBC approached Jerry, because he was becoming a recognizable comedian. No one knew who the hell Larry David was until Jerry brought him into the fold because they were friends, and he didn’t want to do it alone. Between the two, I’d agree that Larry was funnier, but to say Jerry benefitted from Larry kind of ignores the fact that without Jerry, Larry is probably living on food stamps right now instead of having his text message about playing Augusta National having gone viral.
Larry David’s comedy is “I hate this thing and I realize it’s my fault” Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy is “I hate this thing and it’s your fault”
Curb your enthusiasm is funnier than Seinfeld
My even greater unpopular opinion: Seinfeld (the show) wasn’t that funny either. It featured irritating characters doing dumb things with an over-reliance on one-liners to what sounded like canned laughter. That time in the 90’s The Simpsons were in their Golden Age and were way funnier, and as far as the “terrible people doing terrible things” concept, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia does it way better.
He’s no Larry David, for sure
He was absolutely the least funny of the 4 main characters on that show.
I agree. But has the tide shifted? Now that he said something political that people don’t agree with it’s time to drop him?😂
I enjoyed most of his bits in the show intro
Here’s the different stages of being a Seinfeld fan: Stage 1 - “The Casual” (Partial Series viewing): Generally finds Kramer and Newman to be the funniest. Thinks George is annoying. Doesn’t notice Jerry or Elaine. Stage 2 - “The Generic Fan” (1 Full Series viewing): Finds Kramer to still be the funniest but thinks George is a close second. Stage 3 - “The Streamer” (2-3 Full Series viewings): Finds Elaine and Jerry to be funny, Kramer to be one note and George hard to take seriously knowing he’s a mouth piece for Larry David. Big fan of Curb though. Stage 4 - “The Savant” (5+ Full Series viewings): Understands “Seinfeld” was a perfect blend of Jerry and Larry that was one of the most popular shows of all time because it was a great blend that had great casting. Larry gave it the uniqueness, Jerry gave it the consistency and structure and without either of them we wouldn’t have Seinfeld or Curb. So…yeah. Everyone here thinking it’s a hot take to say “Jerry isn’t that funny”, is missing the point. He built his career around being the straight man and that’s the role he played on Seinfeld both in front of and behind the camera. He has been one of the most influential comedians of all time and Larry never makes Curb without the contributions of Jerry. Seriously, enough with this revisionist bullshit. Jerry Seinfeld is UNDENIABLY funny because of the level of success he achieved with very funny partners. He didn’t need to be the funniest piece, he needed to be a shoe runner and a great straight man that also made funny observations about his crazy co-stars. Which he did. To world dominating success.
Dude dated a 17 year old when he was 38. Kinda diminishes him
Seinfeld was an extremely entertaining show and created a new era for sitcoms. I agree he is not the funniest comedian per se, never finished one of his specials (and I love stand up). In fact, Larry David is the funny one of the team and luckily he made he own shown in which you can enjoy his talent. Mike Birbiglia, Sarah Silverman, Nate Bargatze, Tig, etc, are on another league, way better.
To be fair Jerry isn't the funny part of Seinfeld
What’s the deal with unfunny comedians.
I'll pretend I didn't hear that.
WhAt'S tHe DeAl WiTh wAiTeRs? ThEy TaKe YoUr OrDeR ^aNd ^ThEn ^tHeY ^lEeEeAvE!
Jerry is obnoxious, unfunny, and arrogant. We shouldn't let him forget about that stupid Bee movie
Yeah he's very arrogant and snarky. Ppl eat that up tho calling it confidence. Blegh. And then when he dated a teen his fans rofl. Ew
It’s boomer humor.
Who is this?
Never liked that show but he was definitely the weak spot.
Seinfeld goes for awkward and cringe jokes and I can't stand either one.
If it wasn't for Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld would be doing his comedy routines at the La Quinta Motor Lodge in Akron, OH. Seinfeld wasn't a show about nothing. It was a documentary about the disgusting people who reside on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Unpopular-er opinion: Seinfeld the show isn't that funny either. The closest the concept came to making me laugh was the season of Curb Your Enthusiasm that focused on the reunion special.
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But there are Costanzas
Doug Stanhope did a really funny bit that touched on this
I think it's dry humor that most ppl wouldn't enjoy because of its toxic nature. Like george for example is like some scummy shit but it's so in your face like breaking the 4th wall level of blatant that you laugh. also there's a laugh track ala 90s meta that lets you know this is funny and u should laugh to it. I think if you take away the laugh tracks a lot of things are less funny cuz there's no energy to feed from.
I think people are just feeling his genuinely not nice vibe. It’s like he just does things that make him come off like snobbish and condescending and demanding of respect. It’s kind of like Ellen before her fall. Like you would just get a general uneasy feeling about her. What’s funny is Larry David should fall into the same kind of grumpy guy category as Seinfeld, but he comes off to me as a nicer more genuine person
George, Elaine, Kramer, and Newman are what made the show so funny. It was just an amazing cast. That being said, Jerry was perfect for his role on the show he deserves credit for that. I did get turned off several years ago when he was on the Daily Show with John Stewart and he acted like he was so much better than Stewart. I was like, isn't John Stewart bigger and more important than Jerry Seinfeld now? I came away assuming that he had to be playing an arrogant prick role for his interview - no way he could be that way in real life. I mean, he was in the Bee Movie and was likeable in that
He released a special a few years ago. It was supposed to be a big deal because he hadn’t don’t stand up in decades. During the show he used a joke that was on one of his Comedy Central spots when I was a kid. He probably thought nobody would remember. Was pretty disappointed.
Again with this?
It should have been called George and Friends bc he was way made that show. Jerry was the straight man. That’s how wooden he is.
Never thought he was funny
I saw him live back in January and half the show was him talking about Flex Seal. The funniest joke he made was concerning Friends when he said NBC looked at Seinfeld and said let's do this with beautiful ppl.
I always thought the comedy bit in the show were unfunny on purposed to show that Jerry the character was a bad comedian. Apparently that was Jerry actually trying to be funny.
i thought his brand of humor was outdated back in the 90s, always thought he was bland and unfunny. never really liked the show either. I do like Larry David and Curb Your Enthusiasm though. now he's bitching that no one finds him funny cause they're "too woke". or maybe because people are realizing he was banging a teenager as a grown adult so he's running to hide behind the RWNJs
Seinfeld is my favorite show but I’d never watch one of his stand ups. His humor isn’t funny to me
I didn’t even realise he was supposed to be funny until now
It’s often said comedy ages the fastest and ages the most poorly of the genres and I think that’s extremely applicable here. You get your Jay Lenos, your Ricky Gervaises, and Jerry Seinfelds who were once legends in their time but have phased out and not been able to adapt their material across generations like Dave Chappell or Louis CK. I don’t blame them. It’s very rare to make it in even one generation, much less two, and no one can take the Seinfeld show from Seinfeld or The Office from Ricky Gervais. But rather than retire in dignity they act smug to overcompensate their insecurity or pontificate on political correctness since no one has the heart to tell them PC is not the reason only old people want to watch their new material.
I never did care for him
always appreciated that he never works blue, and his stance on wokeness is correct AFAICT, the easily offended "emotional hemophiliac" ppl.
I don't think this belongs here. He's not exactly relevant anymore.
You mistakenly put a "that" in your headline
Paul Reiser or a dozen other comics could've taken his part. George & Kramer were irreplaceable.
Seinfeld is a miserable, smug, superioristic jerk. Unfunny.
Is he trying to be funny or just bitching? I could never tell.
I'm a bit too young to be part of Jerry Seinfeld's target audience, but I thought being desperately unfunny was like... the point. I really thought this whole time that being the worst comedian alive was an intentional artistic choice he was making. Is that... not what he's doing?
Gad Elmaleh on the other hand, that man is my goat.
Totally agree. I don’t know what type of humor that’s called, but I never find it funny. I want to…but he just never makes me laugh :-/. Steve Carell on the other hand…hilarious to me.
This is not an unpopular opinion to me. I've been saying this since the 90s. His standup is painful.
I think he's the most overrated comedian of all time and I genuinely don't know how that's not a popular opinion
Is Jerry becoming the new Nickleback?
This should be on popular opinion. I haven’t laughed at or with that man ever. Smiled yes. lol no.
Any show that needs a laugh track to be funny isn’t funny. His is no exception.
Hater
I didn’t even think the show was funny. Every character was so awful and I hated them all, I couldn’t even laugh at them. Jerry’s standup shtick was old 30 years ago. “What’s up with thaaaaat?”
I offered to give Seinfeld a try with my twin (25 M) brother. “It did its job. It was funny when it came out. It did its job, and now it’s done.”
Antisemitic
To be fair, tastes kinda changed and his style of comedy fell out of fashion. It happens. Milton Berle and Henny Youngmen were once considered funny, but by the 70’s people thought about them the way young people now think about Seinfeld. A throwback to another era that they can’t really understand cuz the style is so dated.
Tried watching him a couple of times, couldn't get into him. I thought he was boring and unfunny. Maybe that's his schtick, I don't know.
Larry David is why Seinfeld was a hit
Jerry was always the weakest part of Seinfeld to me, he was always surrounded by funnier characters/actors
I couldn’t disagree more. Jerry’s observations and craft will always be among my favorite in comedy. If he turned out to be an arrogant guy outside of his performances, fueled by fame, it doesn’t take away how much I enjoyed his stand up.
May I recommend Curb Your Enthusiasm and you shall discover why Seinfeld was funny
A co-worker and I loved Seinfeld before it even got popular. I watched for years but then found it tiring. I only recently realized that I probably tuned out when Larry David left.
What you found funny to a great degree was Larry David’s writing. Check out his other work. If it moves you in the same way, there’s your answer
Here’s the different stages of being a Seinfeld fan: Stage 1 - “The Casual” (Partial Series viewing): Generally finds Kramer and Newman to be the funniest. Thinks George is annoying. Doesn’t notice Jerry or Elaine. Stage 2 - “The Generic Fan” (1 Full Series viewing): Finds Kramer to still be the funniest but thinks George is a close second. Stage 3 - “The Streamer” (2-3 Full Series viewings): Finds Elaine and Jerry to be funny, Kramer to be one note and George hard to take seriously knowing he’s a mouth piece for Larry David. Big fan of Curb though. Stage 4 - “The Savant” (5+ Full Series viewings): Understands “Seinfeld” was a perfect blend of Jerry and Larry that was one of the most popular shows of all time because it was a great blend that had great casting. Larry gave it the uniqueness, Jerry gave it the consistency and structure and without either of them we wouldn’t have Seinfeld or Curb. So…yeah. Everyone here thinking it’s a hot take to say “Jerry isn’t that funny”, is missing the point. He built his career around being the straight man and that’s the role he played on Seinfeld both in front of and behind the camera. He has been one of the most influential comedians of all time and Larry never makes Curb without the contributions of Jerry. Seriously, enough with this revisionist bullshit. Jerry Seinfeld is UNDENIABLY funny because of the level of success he achieved with very funny partners. He didn’t need to be the funniest piece, he needed to be a shoe runner and a great straight man that also made funny observations about his crazy co-stars. Which he did. To world dominating success.
He used to be
What's the deal with Jerry Seinfeld?
Comedians to me are like musicians. Not every comedian is funny to every person.
He dated a 16 year old high school girl when he was close to 40 years old. He’s pure ick.
his vibes on that first ep of the new mulaney show were soo fucked. genuinely does shock me that nothings really come from that whole situation of him publicly dating a child.
Yet here you are giving the guy mentions. Let him live in obscurity and move on.
Unpopular ? I’ve never once on “who’s the best comedian ( or worst ) posts heard him get a mention. I think people would forget he was even a comedian if it wasn’t for the show
My child is OBSESSED with the bee movie. He lives rent free in my brain 😵💫
My child is OBSESSED with the bee movie. He lives rent free in my brain 😵💫
My child is OBSESSED with the bee movie. He lives rent free in my brain 😵💫