Review of Jerry's Stand Up - RAMA, Ontario

Oct 18, 2007, 7:48 AM ET4 posts by 4 posters
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TheNewsGuy(Mike)

Seinfeld the mime? It's not that hard to imagine (Toronto Star)

Oct 18, 2007 04:30 AM Peter Howell Entertainment Reporter

RAMA, ONT.�Jerry Seinfeld spent the first few minutes of his Casino Rama show last night wondering where he was.

"What a town this is!" he exulted to the sold-out audience of 5,200.

"Where is it?"

Understandable question. He's from New York, of course, and last time he did stand-up in these parts was in 2004 at Massey Hall. He's the consummate big-city comic.

He's also known for his cerebral style of humour. Some call it observational, others call it obsessive. There's no human foible too small or object too humble for him to fuss over. He covers everything from Life cereal to 'til-death-do-us-part.

He also pondered why it is that people use "sucks" and "great" to describe everything, sometimes both at the same time.

One thing he's not known for, but which was abundantly in evidence last night, was how much of a physical comedian he is.

The 53-year-old delivered a couple of hundred jokes during his 70-minute performance, and punctuated many of them with very amusing body movements, pretty nimble for a guy in a business suit and tie � such as the martial arts moves he employed when trying to describe all the baffling features on his cellphone, some which accept and some which deflect calls: "Caller ID! Star 69! Caller ID block!"

Or the very graceful swoops he made with his hands and arms, as he demonstrated the gymnastics people have to go through in public washrooms to activate the faucet sensors in so-called hands-free sinks.

He did all of this with no props whatsoever, apart from the microphone in his hand.

The only other thing on the stage with him was a stool and a bottle of water.

Seinfeld did so well with the physical jokes, you'd almost think he could mime the entire show. Just slap on some greasepaint, give him a striped jersey and a funny hat and he could take up from where Marcel Marceau left off.

Just an idea, Jerry.

Great show � and by that I mean it really did not suck.

PaigeTheNewsGuy(Mike)

Thanks for posting this. Some of the best parts of "Seinfeld" were Jerry's standup routine a the beginning (and sometimes in the middle) emphasizing a concept from the show. I've never seen him on stage so I always got a kick out of watching him in action.

Paige

osmiumPaige

"Paige" writes:

That's interesting, those are the bits that put me off watching the show for the first two or three years. In the fall I used to "sample" new shows, watching for three minutes or so for a few weeks. I always caught those stand up things and couldn't stand them (still can't stand them), so I started watching Seinfeld only when there became so much hoopla and I gave him another chance.

Sitcoms are so bad now that I don't even bother to sample any more. By luck I chanced across Big Bang this fall. But with only one show a week on the six or so broadcast channels, I don't even look at the schedule so I already missed one of the shows.

OscartheGrouchosmium

"osmium" wrote in message news:[email]...

I didn't like the sitcom scenes either at first. Then I found that, as I liked Jerry's humor more and more, that those scenes were likeable. But then my whole opinion of Jerry Seinfeld went from "I really don't care for this guy or his comedy" to "this guy can do no wrong."