Photo: NBC / BACKGRID / Backgrid UK / Profimedia
American comedian Jerry Seinfeld believes the “far left and political correctness crap” is hindering comedy today, arguing that it is restricting the kind of comedy people still need in their lives, The Hill writes.
Seinfeld offered his take on the current issues facing comedy and what the future holds for the art during his appearance on “The New Yorker Radio Hour” podcast. The famous comedian used to say that people need comedy so much, but they don’t get it.
“Back in the day, you’d get home at the end of the day and most people would say, ‘Oh, Cheers is on. MASH has begun. Mary Tyler Moore is on TV. All in the Family is on TV’. You were just wondering, ‘Is there going to be anything funny on TV tonight?'” he added.
The “Seinfeld” creator has blamed the paradigm shift on the far left, claiming that modern comedy is not concerned enough with eliciting laughter, but focuses more on not offending the audience. “This is the result of the far left and political correctness shit,” Seinfeld believes. He also pointed out that when you write a script and it ends up in four or five different hands, that’s “the end of your comedy“.
Seinfeld and Political Correctness
Today, the famous comedy series “Seinfeld” from the 90s could no longer be made, because “political correctness killed the humor”, as Jerry Seinfeld himself says. He turned 70 on Monday, April 29.
Rolling Stone Magazine writes that “Seinfeld” was never “cancelled” because co-creator Jerry Seinfeld and his cast mates decided to retire after nine seasons, leaving viewers wanting more. But for about a decade, Seinfeld continually complained that “political correctness” was stifling comedy.
Back in 2015, just as ideas about “cancel culture” were starting to take shape on social media, Seinfeld talked about not going to do stand-up shows on college campuses for fear of students tagging him the material as “racist” or “sexist”.
Jerry Seinfeld’s remarks on “The New Yorker Radio Hour” podcast weren’t substantially different from what he’s offered in years past about the state of comedy. Only this time, certain far-right voices took advantage of Seinfeld’s argument to attack what they call representatives of the “woke” culture, Rolling Stone Magazine also reports.
Among those US influencers who shared and celebrated Jerry Seinfeld’s claims was one of the US’s most active disinformation mongers, Benny Johnson of Turning Point USA, who pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) that Seinfeld said “finally” that “the left has ruined comedy.”
For his part, conspiracy theorist and election denier Dinesh D’Souza used the Seinfeld clip to attack pro-Palestine protesters on college campuses, writing that “one problem with humorless activists is that they can’t stand to hear anyone laughing, let alone at them!”.
The owner of X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk, also entered the debate, who shared a short video with Seinfeld’s comments, accompanied by the statement: “Make comedy legal again!”.
The Seinfeld team, nor Jerry Seinfeld himself, has yet to respond to the fact that he entered an ideological war. Rolling Stone Magazine also says that Seinfeld is an odd ally for today’s angry ideologues.
Why? Because Seinfeld is known for working clean and avoiding swearing. “Seinfeld” remains popular and, with a few exceptions, has not come to be “re-evaluated” as a “problem” comedy. Furthermore, the show’s executives even scrapped a 1991 episode that mocked gun violence, as Seinfeld and co decided it was in bad taste.
Seinfeld was asked point-blank outside a hotel last year if “cancel culture” was hurting comedy and replied, with some exasperation, “No, I don’t think so. I don’t know,” notes Rolling Stone Magazine.
Seinfeld became a director
Jerry Seinfeld will release a feature film he directed, titled “Unfrosted,” Variety reports. According to Agerpres, this comedy produced by Netflix, with a star-studded cast, is a fictional account of the creation of Pop-Tarts cookies.
In an interview with GQ magazine, Jerry Seinfeld reflected on his experience breaking into film for the first time and so late in his career. “It was something totally new for me. I thought I had already done some interesting stuff, but it was nothing like the way these people work. They are so serious! They have no idea that the movie industry is over. They have no idea,” he said.
Seinfeld believes ‘the film industry has been replaced by a disorientation of viewers’
“The film no longer occupies the top of the social and cultural hierarchy that it occupied for most of our lives. When a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We were all talking about him. We mentioned lines and scenes that we liked. Now we’re going through a kind of water hose jet, just trying to see through it,” explained Jerry Seinfeld.
“Confusion, disorientation has replaced the film industry. Everyone I know in showbiz, every day, wonders: What’s going on? How do you manage to do this? What should we do now?”, Seinfeld also said, quoted by Agerpres.
“Stand-up is like being a carpenter and everyone needs a guy who knows wood… There are trees everywhere, but to make a beautiful table, it’s not that easy. So, the metaphor is that, if you have a good craft and a good craftsmanship, you are somewhat impenetrable to the whims of the industry”, the famous comedian said.
“Audiences are turning to stand-up in large numbers now because it’s something that can’t be faked,” he added. “It’s like a diving platform. You can say you’re a platform diver, but in two seconds we can tell if you are or not. That’s what people like about stand-up. They can trust him. Everything else is fake,” Seinfeld explained.
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