Stale on Letterman

Caught Jerry on Letterman last night. Felt like I was reading excerpts from 'Seinlanguage' or watching old standup intros to 'Seinfeld'. And boy, was he VERBATIM! Who knows, maybe Jerry is running out of ideas. I still like him, but he's becoming predictable.

In article ,

I thought so too. The only one I hadn't heard was the part about "pulling valuables out of your pants" or whatever it was. I wonder if I missed it (from an earlier episode) or if that shows up tonight -- it seems to fit with his description of the show. Of course, he still made me chuckle, but they are getting a bit old.

The last time he was on the Tonight Show (right before the glasses/air conditioner/rabies episode, I think?) I felt the same way -- lots of old material, all of which I remembered from the show intro segments :-(

JS needs new material, in a big way!

In article ,

Yes. However, this is not a new situation for Seinfeld or comedians in general; it is called "doing panel" and is as old as talk shows. A really good host can make a lot of difference, if he cues the material in a natural way -- unfortunately Letterman is better at impromptu humor than manufacturing conversation designed to introduce stock material. I have seen JS do the "men all dress the same at weddings" bit on three different talk shows.

IMHO, the best comedian for deliberately failing to do panel is Martin Short, who is almost always funny and almost never draws from stock.

Wes

I thought Letterman was a rerun because I had heard him say those same exact jokes before.. night guy, day guy, and work guy. Rather lousy interview, all in all.

John Judas John Judas John Judas John Judas

[email] (JUDAS) writes:

Hey i saw that particular letterman here in Australia, and yeah I was a bit dissapointed when he'd leap from one subject to another just to get a routine in, just for a laugh.. he reminded me of interviews with Rita Rudner.. never talks about herself, just tries to link the question by the host to a bit of a sketch, and they usually do it very roughly..

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I know... that was definitely not a very good appearance.

The first segment was very dull... the second started out better, but then he *ruined* it by doing that same old "morning guy/night guy" routine word for word...<yawn>

*** I have to agree 100%

I thought he was pretty lame. In fact, I didn't like him the few times I've seen him on the Tonight Show either. He always seems to work too hard at being funny on these talk shows. I sometimes think that the only way for me to enjoy Jerry Seinfeld is when the 'others' are there... Elaine, George, KRAMER, etc...

But, I still like him.

[email] (J Yew) writes:

My sentiments exactly! I said the same thing to friends while we were watching Letterman.

Nathan

In article [email] (Haydee C. Rodriguez) writes:

Here, here! I even set my VCR to record his interview hoping for some funny stuff. About 2 minutes into it, I stopped it. Maybe I see too much of him on talk shows, but really... some of that stuff was YEARS old...

Keep current Jerry-boy!! Funny jokes are only funny the first 100 times....

[email] writes:

And some of *that* stuff didn't even work, like the 'morning-guy' but. I was very unimpressed ... Nice suit, though :-)

• mf

This is a common problem(?) with stand up types... I've seen a lot of old stand up comedy and then you see these same people on the late shows and they are doing the same material... that's the way the standup business works. I think the "valuables in the pants" bit was new, I've never heard it before. Its just more noticeable with Seinfeld because he uses alot of his standup material in the show, either in the plots or when he is doing his standup routines... oh well, what can you do? except not complain about it, as it's not gonna change.

Andy

In article , [email] (Haydee C. Rodriguez) writes:

I really enjoy the gang on Seinfeld each week.....have since the beginning...but...

I can swear I saw Jerry do the "Night guy/Morning guy" routine on *both* Leno and Letterman last time he did the late night circuit. Seems like he feels he's got to have canned bits for Letterman like the standard new comic coming up through ranks, trying to prove he's funny. Disappointing.

I'd just like to see him sit around and shoot the breeze with Letterman. It seems as if the two of them together could talk about just anything and provide interesting segments. I got the feeling that Dave had heard all the bits before as well, and didn't offer to help Jerry out of the dreaded dead air.

Guess the *new* material he tested at the DC improv earlier didn't make the cut, eh?

Ah well. Enjoy the new hour tonite!

Jim Hassert "They're mysterious little fellows, aren't they?"

I can't believe he went as far as to use a routine on Letterman that would be the closing monologue of the episode on THE VERY NEXT DAY! He was on Letterman more or less merely to plug the episode, I guess he must have assumed none of us have enough memory retention that late at night to be able to remember what he said. Like, what was he thinking?

It seemed that no matter how hard Letterman tried to steer Seinfeld into normal conversation, Seinfeld would keep pulling in bits of his routine. Now, that was the first time I've seen Seinfeld on a late night talk show, and I've heard in the recent past that his appearances are like that. Can anyone out there who remembers interviews of him from the early days of the series, or even before, tell me if he's always been that stringent?

[email] (Kevin Oberle) writes:

Yes, unfortunately he has. :-(

Nathan

good interviews that really let you inside the real Jerry. In particular, Jerry was a regular on "Later" with Bob Costas. I don't know if you ever saw that show, but it was 1/2 an hour and only 1 guest. Jerry and Costas used to get pretty in depth (for TV anyway). I've got like 4 of those on tape, and even some good stuff off of E-Entertainment Television. They not only did features on the show, but had a single, long interview with Jerry too. He's a fairly interesting character in real life...but you don't get to see it on the major talk shows.

I agree with eveyone that he was stale on Letterman the other night. I'm just wondering, did anyone ever see his interview (I only know of one) on Later with Bob Costas? I think it was about a year or so ago. He was VERY funny and spontaneous in that interview. Those are the only two interviews I've seen him on (Letterman and Costas). Quite a differnce between the two!

He's been on Letterman twice, once CBS, once NBC... The last time he was on NBC Letterman, it was just after the show got the "Nothing" description and he was doing a whole bit about why the show was funny. He had one of those television that you draw on and he was sorta doing a play-by-play of the show. Using circles, pointing at the spoon as he was eating, noting george's hair... it was great. More interviews should be like that... oh well, what can you do? except learn to accept it.

Andy

JEK>I thought so too. The only one I hadn't heard was the part about "pulling JEK>valuables out of your pants" or whatever it was. I wonder if I missed it JEK>(from an earlier episode) or if that shows up tonight -- it seems to fit JEK>with his description of the show. Of course, he still made me chuckle, JEK>but they are getting a bit old.

All this talk reminds me of when Bill Cosby was starting to show signs of aging as far as his comedy routines were going. I kept on seeing him do the same routines - such as the tri-focal glasses over and over and over. The funny thing is, I didn't see the dentist act done too much. Oh my gosh, that was the funniest thing I had ever seen or heard from him. It was absolutely brilliant. It's those types of things that I find are absent from many of today's comedians, including Jerry. But then again, his delivery and material are totally different.

JEK>JS needs new material, in a big way!

I second that motion.

• SLMR 2.1a * Oh, and another thing - we're out of coffee

DA>>Caught Jerry on Letterman last night. Felt like I was reading excerpts fro DA>>'Seinlanguage' or watching old standup intros to 'Seinfeld'. And boy, was DA>>VERBATIM!

DA>I know... that was definitely not a very good appearance.

Well, one thing's for sure... his real-life appearances on talk shows are pretty much how they were portrayed in the 1-hr "The Trip" episode. Although not quite as a bomb, they are pretty weak.

• SLMR 2.1a * No job is too big, no fee is too big...

-=> Quoting Internet: AbakunInternet: [email] to ** All ** <=-05-05-94 00:50 IA>

IA> This is a common problem(?) with stand up types... I've seen a lot of IA> old stand up comedy and then you see these same people on the late IA> shows and they are doing the same material... that's the way the IA> standup business works. I think the "valuables in the pants" bit was IA> new, I've never heard it before.

Well, that bit was used the very next day. But, comedians are ALWAYS known to re-use their material.

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