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“Jerry Seinfeld is more or less
the perfect mainstream comic,” Leo
Benedictus wrote in the Guardian. “He doesn’t swear; he does not
express political opinions... he is
rarely topical, so his shows don’t
date.” At a benefit show two years
ago, he did 10 minutes of material
on cell phones and bottled water.
Cell phones and bottled water. And
it was funny! His web series uses
a modern medium to resume his
timeless diner chats, taking you
right back to Monk’s coffee shop
(and in a hackneyed way).
Perhaps the most telling instance of his relevance was on
Louie, when C.K. and Seinfeld
compete for David Letterman’s job,
and we see both the 90s star and
the comedian du jour have what
it takes. C.K. may not enjoy the
level of fame he does in reality on
his show, but the real-life parallels
are hard to ignore: while Seinfeld
exudes confidence and commands
a $12 million price tag, a beleaguered C.K. — one of today’s most
popular comedians — is worth
only $1 million to the network.
Humor stays popular when it
continues to resonate with regular people, and Seinfeld is still that
safe, familiar choice for Americans.
However wealthy and sheltered his
SEINFELD
HUFFINGTON
10.07.12
We welcome Seinfeld
back not as a comedian whose
material has gotten better
with age, but as we would a
time capsule from the ‘90s.”
life has been, he’s never stopped
being the champion of comedy of
the everyday. In an interview earlier this summer, Seinfeld lamented
that he is constantly associated
with “the little show about nothing” because that’s not the way he
looks at it: “To me these are great
things and essential things. I’m very
well-known as an obsessive of the
minute, but it’s not minute to me.”
Cell phones. Bottled water. Can
you think of two things
more essential?
“The Big
Salad”
episode from
season 6 of
Seinfeld.