I've also heard him tell jokes on talk shows that end up on the show (as part of the show's monologue) some time later. The guy is a professional comedian, and he's got a routine. If you see him two nights in a row, you'll probably hear a lot of the same jokes, right? Maybe the exact same ones! So if they take part of his routine and put it on the show, there's a chance you'll have heard it before or will hear it again. If you see a rock band on Leno and they play something from their latest record, do you call that 'rehashing old songs'? It's the same thing.
That's the point: on a talk show when he is being interviewed, he is still in "routine mode" rather than being himself. His interview on the Charlie Jones show was the type of interview I think we're looking for -- answer the questions, be funny, be boring, whatever.
Ditto for his recent interview on the late-night "Later" show with Bob Costas. Bob was asking Jerry something about being a celebrity, and Jerry commented that it's hard for him to tell just how "big" a name he is, so he asked Bob to tell him someone who is "equally big," i.e., "if you saw us both on the street you couldn't decide who to go up to." Bob first cracked "Richard Dawson," and this led to a hilarious sequence where Jerry was saying how Bob used to be bigger than him, but now he's bigger than Bob.
Jerry: "I remember telling people at parties, 'Hey, I met Bob Costas.' Can you imagine?"
You could hear Costas' staff roaring in the background!
Rich Simoni
p.s. All quotes are approximate; this was from memory.
OK, so I can't complain about him redoing jokes, but I'll stick with my second complaint which is that he just sits there and does material. (old material, but I'm not complaining about that anymore) If he's going to sit on the couch, I want to hear something interesting about the show, the cast, or his personal life. (In that order of preference) I don't mean to imply that the guy is a total failure in show business, I just mean that I don't find him entertaining on talk shows.
Of course, he's not there to entertain a devoted fan of the show like me, he's there to recruit new devotees. Oh well, guess I just won't watch him on talk shows anymore.
Just saw JS on tonight with Jay Leno (yawn). I noticed the rehashing of several old jokes that JS had previously used during the monologue portions of his show; namely 1) the one about traffic school and the instructor and 2) the one about why all the men at weddings are wearing tuxedos.
However, JS describing Kramer's hair was amusing, as was the joke about women waxing their legs; They can rip the hair out of their legs by the roots but they are afraid of a little spider (maybe this was also in one of his monologues but I don't remember it).
Another thing I could help but notice was how both Jerry and Jay kind of made a wisecrack about NBC's problems.
I apologize in advance if the following question has been dealt with before. On last night's Tonight Show Jerry made a reference to a fan who asked if Kramer was Kramer's first name or last. "Is there anybody out there?"-P.F. ----
I have seen several talk shows with JS interviewed on them, and every time he has just rehashed jokes from the show. I wouldn't mind if he didn't tell any new jokes but had something interesting to say, but all he does is sit there and do old jokes. I also think he's copped a bit of an attitude since he hit success big time.
Don't get me wrong, I love the show and I think that the writers are brilliant, Seinfeld among them. I also love Seinfeld's old stand up stuff. I just think he stinks as a talk show guest.
I think this is common practice among comics. I remember seeing Jay Leno in concert, and many of his bits were the same as he had done on Letterman interviews. It's just that most comics don't have their own show as another outlet for their material.
I do agree that his stuff does seem to overlap more than other
comedians. I've never got to see him live, but I didn't particularly care
for a videotape I rented. I thought he was very funny on Letterman a while
back, though. He gave Dave an acting lesson my using a clip from the show
(he was telling Kramer how the fantastic lock system he has only works of
you CLOSE THE DOOR) and one of those draw on the screen things like John
Madden always uses. I think there was a clip of Jerry with the pointer, as
well, when he was showing the trajectory of the spit that hit Kramer. Je
was explaining the pointer as an acting device.
He was also hilarious on Later, with Bob Costas. I didn't see him on
Leno, but maybe Leno just isn't very good at setting him up. And I always
think Jay is in fake-laugh mode, so you can never really tell when he is
truly entertained by a guest.
I do agree that his stuff does seem to overlap more than other
comedians. I've never got to see him live, but I didn't particularly care
for a videotape I rented. I thought he was very funny on Letterman a while
back, though. He gave Dave an acting lesson my using a clip from the show
(he was telling Kramer how the fantastic lock system he has only works of
you CLOSE THE DOOR) and one of those draw on the screen things like John
Madden always uses. I think there was a clip of Jerry with the pointer, as
well, when he was showing the trajectory of the spit that hit Kramer. Je
was explaining the pointer as an acting device.
He was also hilarious on Later, with Bob Costas. I didn't see him on
Leno, but maybe Leno just isn't very good at setting him up. And I always
think Jay is in fake-laugh mode, so you can never really tell when he is
truly entertained by a guest.
I'd blame the network talk-show format, not Jerry. He was great on Charlie Rose's show, which is a free-form discussion instead of a phony plug-athon like the Tonight Show.
D'ya really think that Leno just "wings it" with the people who consent to do the show? In these matters a list of appropriate questions is drawn up by Seinfeld's "people" and is submitted to Leno's "people". If Seinfeld is not giving up much on talk shows, it's because he chooses not to; the Tonight Show would love to have him blab on about his personal life, don't kid yourself. (Significant that he has NOT shown up in a Barbara Walter's special -- please don't tell me I'm mistaken.)
So he's a dud on talk shows. He ignores Entertainment Tonight. Some would say it's a plus.
Sure, he's got a list of questions, but that doesn't mean he can't deviate
from them depending on how the interview is going. As the interviewer,
Leno is in control of where the interview goes and how far. He must
therefore bear a lot of the responsibility for the quality of the interview.
The previous poster wanted to blame the lack of entertainment value in the
interview all on Seinfeld, which to me seemed unfair. Besides, Seinfeld
is not a dud or purposely bland on all talk shows. Some people have
already mentioned the Charlie Rose interview. He was also very entertaining
the last time he was on Letterman when he was giving Dave acting lessons.
This indicates to me that Leno should receive much of the blame for those
who found the Tonight Show appearance unentertaining. So don't kid
YOURself.
By your reasoning, it is significant that he has because you are mistaken.
--The Rodman
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I was under the impression that Jerry and Jay were close personal friends -- they both know all of each others' stories, jokes, etc. So any time Jay interviews him, it's gonna be strange since they have to pretend to have a more formal relationship. I think it's hard for them both not to say lots of inside things that none of us would get. Imagine interviewing one of your best friends on national tv and being expected to make it come off like any other person.
I thought that they spoke frequently to each other, so I doubt that Seinfeld's "people" needed to do anything with Leno's "people" beside find out where to send Jerry and when.
Sorry, I can't restrain myself..... You're mistaken. :-)
He appeared fairly recently on a special that also featured Kathy Lee and Frank Gifford and Al Pacino.
The segment was shot in his soon-to-be completed LA mansion. I found him to be more at ease here, although he really didn't "open up."
The best part, IMO, was when he talked about his childhood and teenage years. I wish I could be more specific, but I was doing something else while the TV was on. To me, a Barbara Walter specials is like cleavage - I don't look straight at it for too long (horrible paraphrasing, I know... :-( )