Jerry Seinfeld: the Woke Extreme Left Killed Comedy

Christian Toto:

When host David Remnick asked him about mixing serious themes with comedy he couldn't hold back.

"People always need [comedy] ... they need it so badly and they don't get it," Seinfeld began. "It used to be you'd go home at the end of the day, 'oh, 'Cheers' is on. Oh, 'M*A*S*H*' is on. Oh, 'Mary Tyler Moore' is on. 'All in the Family' is on.' You just expected there will be some funny stuff on TV you can watch tonight.

"But guess what? Where is it? Where is it? This is the result of the extreme Left and PC crap and people worrying so much about offending other people."

...

Seinfeld shared where comedy continues to thrive in our P.C. world.

"Now, they're going to see stand-up comics because we are not policed by anyone ... the audience polices us. We know when we're off track and we know instantly and we adjust to it instantly. But when you write a script ... and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, 'here's our thoughts about your jokes,' then that's the end of your comedy."

"Isn't that what ['Curb Your Enthusiasm'] was all about?" Remnick asked of the just-wrapped series created by "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David. The show routinely broached challenging topics without fear of reprisal.

"Larry was grandfathered in. He's old enough, 'I don't have to observe those rules because I started before you made those rules,'" Seinfeld said, taking on David's voice to make a point.

Seinfeld brought up a classic moment from his self-titled show to bolster his argument against "P.C. crap."

"We did an episode of the series in the '90s where Kramer decides to start a business where homeless pull rickshaws because, as he says, 'they're outside anyway.'" the comedian said. "Do you think I could get that episode on the air today?"

It was a rhetorical statement, and the podcast host treated it as such.

Seinfeld returned to "Curb" to hammer home his point.

"If Larry was 35 he couldn't get away with the watermelon stuff of Palestinian Chicken," he said before adding his "Seinfeld" writing team would pen a different scenario for Kramer in that aforementioned episode.

...

Remnick asked if the woke mindset, which Seinfeld referenced but didn't name check as such, was showing signs of weakness of late.

"Slightly. I see a slight movement... with certain comedians now people are having fun with them stepping over the line and us all laughing about it. Again, it's the stand-ups who are able to do it. No one else gets the blame if it doesn't go down well," he said.

Toto notes that the left immediately began a counter-offensive calling Seinfeld "old," "white" (what a giveaway, eh?), "cranky," and my favorite: "unfunny."

Seinfeld. Not funny.

Sure. Sure.

Other idiots attacked Seinfeld claiming his stand-up act is famously mild and inoffensive, so what does he have to complain about?

1, one person whose speech is not being censored may still object, on principle, to someone being censored for his speech.

2, Seinfeld's stand-up may be famously wholesome, but the TV show that made him a half billion dollars (I'm guestimating) was famously boundary-pushing and edgy.

Idiots.

Below, Adam Carolla plays a clip from the interview.

And then he drops a bomb: five years ago, when he and Seinfeld were at the same event, Seinfeld made a "beeline" over to him to tell him how much he liked what Carolla was doing.

Since Carolla was mostly knocking the left, Carolla takes this to mean that Seinfeld is a -- gasp -- Republican.

He points out the obvious, that if there's any celebrity whose politics you don't know because the celebrity doesn't announce his political affiliation, guess what, you do know his politics, it's the politics you're not allowed to talk about.

This would surprise me because Seinfeld is great friends with that idiot propagandist George Stephanopolous and, as Carolla notes, Larry David is also a huge lefty.

But, food for thought.

Further evidence, maybe? Seinfeld rails against lefty edgy failed comedian Bobcat Goldthwaite.

Here's an old Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, in which, starting at 6:35, Seinfeld rails against Keith Olbermann for being an "insane political demagogue." Though his main complaint seems to be Keith Olbermann shifting from baseball geek to "insane political demagogue" and then back to baseball geek. He also claims "and I like Keith Olbermann."

Eh, I'm not convinced. I think Seinfeld might just think Carolla is funny. He certainly appreciates Carolla's pushback against woke crap, but that doesn't make Seinfeld a Republican. A lot of old liberals are pissed at the woke crap, too.

Time to bust out the Seinfeld DVDs. I think I'll re-watch season 3. I really prefer the later seasons but season 3 will be halfway new to me, because I don't watch it much.

One of the best Seinfelds: David Puddy vs. Elaine on who's going to Hell.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 05:32 PM

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