Not as many as Harvard, but it’s something.
Tbh I’m glad and support their reasoning but I would have walked out on Seinfeld even if he had no connection to Israel just because he’s an entitled smug bag of shit
Also a pedophile
He’s never even been all that funny. I’ve always seen his entire shtick as making fun of bad comedians through imitation.
Removed by mod
I honestly never understood the attraction to Seinfeld.
There were a few good jokes in there but the whole show was about them being assholes and proud of it.
They’re selfish, judgemental and entitled. They’re constantly mocking and bullying other people and each other. The final episode even lays it out explicitly.
Shows like “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, “Married… With Children” or “Breaking Bad” have various unsavory characters but we’re invited to reject these flaws or at least identify with them as flaws.
Seinfeld is shameless about being an asshole and pretends the rest of us are just too dumb to understand his genius.
Archer. Archer is the perfect genius asshole protagonist.
You have to have grown up with it and gained an unconditional love of the characters. You don’t care that they are an asshole to a character you don’t like.
Look at Kramer he is so stupid he can’t figure out a washing machine! Lol he’s going to try to pour a bunch of deterrent in next and act like he’s drunk because he’s that stupid! He’s so funny!
I grew up with it and still hated it. I know I’m in the minority but I agree with the comment OP, I hate asshole like this.
The bass theme is a banger than that’s about it
It was always played with a keyboard. No one is ever slaping a bass
And they’re different lengths to make up the small differences in episode length.
I think you have a fundamentally different view than I do on the characters. They are all fundamentally nice people. The difference is, they get fixated on small issues, and let it control their actions. Jerry dates a woman that only looks good in bright light? Only go on dates that have good lighting. It is something you would want to do too, but you would have the control to not let it run the relationship. Jerry doesn’t have that control, and focuses on the good lighting at the expense of everything else.
The characters aren’t mean. They didn’t wish I’ll on anyone. Many of the episodes are them trying to find a way to get out of a situation without being honest because they think the truth would hurt too. Idiots, yes, not not jerks.
For another example. There is an episode where a waiter accidentally puts a menu on a candle and it lights on fire. George points it out, puts the fire out, and casually mentions “I think the busboy put the menu too close to the candle.” The manager overhears this, and fires the busboy. George then finds the busboy to try and help him get another job, but leaves the front door open, and the busboy’s cat escapes. It is the perfect example of what the characters are. They don’t want to hurt people, and go to extreme lengths to do it, even though it always backfires.
I think you have a fundamentally different view than I do on the characters. That’s clearly true :)
Even when the characters behave reasonably I always felt that they were motivated more by the potential for public embarrassment than by moral concern.
It’s hard for me to think of George as a fundamentally nice. This is the guy who shoved children and elderly out of the way when he saw smoke, goaded an alcoholic into relapsing because he felt left out, constantly lied to get advantage in situations and even tried to kill a guy out of jealousy.
I found that the clowning/assholery in Seinfeld was just too close to plausible to clock as humor most of the time, while picking on small and petty things; it’s a little too real. I don’t think that comes from conceit, but rather, a generation gap and all the insensitivity that comes with it. Just add a little casual violence and it’s peak boomer-era humor. That said, Seinfield was its best when the stories were less believable and cruel.
The other shows you cite put these humor beats way over the top which is far more paletteable, IMO.
I think you’re missing the point of these shows and that’s okay.
The characters aren’t role models, they are your intrusive thoughts manifest. If you didn’t hear someone’s name when they told you, any rational person would just say it was loud and they didn’t hear you. They wouldnt go through lengths of introducing friends, finding out childhood taunts and rifling through your belongings in an attempt to save face.
The joke is in the breaking of social norms. A show about people being polite to each other doesn’t make for very good comedy.
That’s exactly my point. None of the characters in these shows are role models. We can sympathize with the Bundy’s or their neighbors but the show makes it obvious that nobody wants to emulate them. We can understand why Walther White did the things he does even if it’s clear that he shouldn’t have. The gang in Philly is all about showing us the worst possible decision in any given situation.
Seinfeld, on the other hand, celebrates their behavior. It canonizes our intrusive thoughts as though they were a more authentic form of expression.
you must be fun at parties
The characters in Seinfeld are shameless, but like with IASIP, they usually get burned at the end of the episode. And that continued over Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry is petty and self-centered, he never learns, karma gets him in the last 30 seconds and then the Tuba drops - BUM BUM BUM.
Who are all these people Jerry?
Seinfeld has publicly supported Israel following the 7 October Hamas attack, and traveled to a kibbutz in December to meet with hostages’ families
In case you’re wondering what the argument is. You should still read the story though.
That’s the biggest part of the reason, but there’s also the fact that he’s been complaining about how the ‘woke left’ has destroyed comedy. That’s not exactly going to endear him to young adults either.
And the point of a lot of old comedy was based on shitting on other people. The “woke left” is the kids calling us out on being assholes for no reason.
The ironic thing is that the show Seinfeld was more like IASIP than Friends, in that the characters were mostly shitty people, and the joke was usually on them (even though they similarly often destroyed the lives of people around them.)
Let’s not forget he’s literally a fucking pedophile too
True, although I don’t know how many graduating students in 2024 would be aware of that part.
17 year olds count?
Seriously. His recent comments are vile.
First Kramer got himself cancelled, and now Seinfeld is next! Curse the “woke left” /s
Also, the whole reason he’s complaining about comedy being destroyed is that he hasn’t been relevant in over 25 years. So even ignoring everything, he’s some boring old dude that hasn’t been that relevant the entire life of most of the graduates. They selected someone that the staff might be impressed by, but not someone that is vaguely interesting for the actual graduates.
As a 24 year old who spent way too much time watching 90s reruns, Seinfeld was just kinda meh. 3rd rock and married with children were better IMO, also the married with children lingerie scene was my sexual awakening.
Funny, at the time, I thought Seinfeld was better (and more innovative) than either of those. Married With Children was mostly just about being as crass as possible, which has been topped significantly since by shows like South Park and Always Sunny, which broadened their shows to not make it just about “how trashy can we get” and Third Rock… eh. Mostly just weird for weirdness’ sake.
Seinfeld had some pretty decent ideas for a sitcom like the episode taking place entirely while waiting in the restaurant entrance for Chinese take-out or the episode which is entirely set in a parking garage. There just wasn’t TV like that back then.
Yeah, it’s hard for me to point to anything relevant other than that interspecies cuck film he was in.
Exactly. I enjoyed his stand-up comedy back in the 80s and 90s. I enjoyed his sitcom (although that was mostly down to Larry David), but the world has moved on. Comedy evolves. If you can’t evolve with it, you end up being Don Rickles in the world of George Carlin.
It’s sort of laughable to have him give a commencement speech. Who the hell cares about this old dude.
I like how in his documentary he lays out all his yellow legal pads of material like I’m suppose to be impressed he wrote stuff down.
Wow, dude, you’re so smart.
Notebooks full of material is literally something every standup comedian has (or at least had before the smartphone era). I still have a good dozen out of the dozens I used to have.
when are you going to say something funny then
Curb Your Enthusiasm is hilarious and modern while the most popular thing Seinfeld has put out since Seinfeld was the Bee Movie. I think that shows were the talent is. Even when Jerry was in Curb he was awkward as he’s not a great on-your-feet type comedian. All the other members of the Seinfeld cast fit in far better than him.
Also, the whole reason he’s complaining about comedy being destroyed is that he hasn’t been relevant in over 25 years.
YouTuber MovieBob absolutely nailed it when he said in his recent review of the new stupid Seinfeld movie that at this point going “anti-woke” is just a marketing move for older washed up comedians. Most of them probably don’t even give a shit but it’s vastly easier to pander to the crowd so desperate for any validation of their hateful rhetoric than it is to write new insightful jokes that resonate with a culture you’re quickly aging out of.
Of course none of this is to defend Seinfeld; if anything being a manipulative conman willing to pander to the worst appetites in America is arguably even worse than genuinely believing the bullshit in the first place.
Seinfeld is a Billionaire. If I ever had 1% of that, I’d never try to force myself to be relevant and happily accept I’m not relevant anymore.
I’d expect that’s in fact the natural trajectory of being in pop culture, that your time of relevance is fleeting, and plan accordingly. No hurt feelings that no one is lining up for your material anymore, it happens to almost every single person in that field. You only can make your legacy worse by trying to force things, exit on a high note.
I thought it was because of his pedophilic commentary about teenage girls.
Seinfelds wife also donated to the riot mob throwing fireworks into the UCLA pro palestine camp
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/jessica-seinfeld-bill-ackman-fund-200308497.html
Jessica Seinfeld, cookbook author and wife to comedian Jerry Seinfeld, is funding a pro-Israel counterprotest at UCLA—where violence broke out Tuesday night after a mob attacked demonstrators inside a pro-Palestine encampment.
A GoFundMe for the effort, which Seinfeld promoted in an Instagram story this week after contributing at least $5,000, has since made the majority of its donations anonymous. The fundraising page has raised more than $93,000 as of Wednesday and also changed its organizer name and description since launching over the weekend.
“I just gave to this GoFundMe to support more allies like yesterday’s at UCLA,” Seinfeld wrote this week. “More cities are being planned so please give what you can. Donations are annonymous [sic]. We will continue to share our light and love, as proud American Jews.”
Yup this is the reason I expected students would’ve walked out of his speech, not just because he used to date underage girls.
Seinfeld has publicly supported Israel following the 7 October Hamas attack, and traveled to a kibbutz in December to meet with hostages’ families. He has been “uncharacteristically vocal” about his support during press calls for his new film, Unfrosted, *The New York Times *reported.
The comedian, who was receiving an honorary degree from Duke, largely stayed away from the issue at the centre of the protests during his speech. At one point, he mentioned his Jewish heritage which was met with applause from the crowd.
“I grew up a Jewish boy from New York,” he said. “That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian.”
Outside Duke’s stadium on the Durham campus, Gaza-supporting students chanted: “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
A bit more context
His wife also donated to and promoted a GoFundMe to fund the violent counterprotestors at UCLA
The bee movie guy?
yeah, the guy who dated a 17 year old in his 30s.
39-year-old Jerry Seinfeld with his 17-year-old girlfriend Shoshanna Lonstein in 1993
I’m really not sure what the Duke administration was thinking.
They either weren’t considering it at all or considered it a plus. Awful look either way!
Confusiong riches and fame for brains. Classic mistake
The guy who said woke (aka not self centered sociopaths) have ruined comedy even though his partner on Seinfeld has had a wildly successful hit comedy series burning everyone for like eight years?
does anyone under 40 watch Curb?
I started watching at like age 20. This is a bad take.
I’m sure you can look up the demographics but I’m not sure how it would change the point
Me. I watch curb and I’m in my 20s
8 years? Try 24 yeas of Curb your Enthusiasm and it was glorious.
Also Always Sunny in Philadelphia exists and proves Seinfeld wrong as well.
- Jfc
- Absolutely
I forget where I heard it but I’ve never forgotten it: Comedy punches up, bullying punches down. The only people who are afraid of getting canceled are the ones who do the latter.
Try 24 years of Curb your Enthusiasm and it
wasis glorious.The newest season just ended.
Last season :’(
Last season :’(
He’s been saying that since season 5.
🤞
What’s the deal with college kids these days?
Took me a second
Title of your sex tape.
Not even worth the film.
Their sex tape was shot with a Polaroid.
What did he say?
It wasn’t about the commencement speech
literally nothing. the only people who walked out were pro palestine
Wow. Those protestors are so violent. Call the riot squad!
Anti-semites!¡
I can’t help but notice all the comedians who complain about society being took woke for comedy are has-beens. John Stewart’s back to crushing it at the Daily Show, is he complaining? No, it’s only the guys who’ve run out of material and have nothing left to do but shake their canes at gen Z kids.
I challenge anyone to go to the “good old days” and find me a comedian who was actually funny and not just being an edgelord. You know who the most popular comedian was in the 80s? Andrew Dice Clay. That’s right. That’s was peak comedy, dirty nursery rhymes. Sure, I get that some people are nostalgic. But let’s be serious for a minute - do we really wanna go back to that kind of comedic void?
Society hasn’t gotten too woke, rather comedic standards have evolved to the point where merely being offensive in itself no longer counts as comedy.
Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, and Jim Carrey all seemed like they had really good specials. I haven’t watched them in a long time, but I don’t recall them being edge lords. I’m sure there have to be others.
Eddie Murphy can be funny, but there’s a ton of homophobic and other problematic content in Raw and Delirious.
=(
(I’m unhappy because that’s bad, not because I disagree with the statement.)
The first 10 mins of Delirious are difficult watching, but worth getting through for the timeless gold in the rest of it.
problematic
mfs can’t take a joke in a thread about not being able to take a joke
/s
If you want to keep happy memories, never rewatch a comedy special older than 10 years. It’s incredible how fast most jokes age.
I think there are some big exceptions. For example- Robin Williams at the Met was an amazing show and is still extremely funny.
Emo Philips
I challenge anyone to go to the “good old days” and find me a comedian who was actually funny and not just being an edgelord.
The master himself. George Carlin. We could debate whether he was an edge lord or not. But his comedy was timeless and remains hysterical to this day. And his funniest bits were based on observation of the human condition.
Carlin also re-invented himself with the times. The comedy he did in the 60s was entirely different from the comedy he did in the 90s.
Jerry Seinfeld is still doing the same comedy he did in the 80s.
Carlin was vulgar, but he never punched down. I firmly believe his comedy would be as accepted today as it was when he made it.
I can confirm. No matter how many times I listen to Mr Conductor talk about Poo Bear, I can’t help but laugh. Specially when he saws Roo into his own pouch!
Carlin was good at what he did but he absolutely did punch down, just not at a specific person. The overarching message for a lot of his comedy was “You know you’re all being screwed over and maybe you have a hard time doing anything about it, but you deserve it because you’re stupid.” It’s just such a popular sentiment to call everyone else in society stupid, while excluding oneself, that I guess few people notice those undertones and their implications.
It IS as accepted today. His material is still very relevant.
He could plainly see what was coming. Tore it down. People laughed and let it happen anyway.
This shit couldn’t be more off base lmao.
Not only have many greats been listed in response to you, you also have relevant comedians today bitching about “woke” as you call it.
Is Bill Burr an edge lord has-been? Chapelle? Jon Stewart has mentioned this as well. Honestly, I think the meme of “YoU cAnT sAy tHiNgS aNyMoRe” is in over half of standups I watch.
A huge portion of comedians mention this at some point.
Chappelle I’ll grant you, but I’d put Chappelle in the category with Seinfeld of a once super-popular comedian who has passed his prime, and now just shakes his cane at Gen Z in frustration instead of creating new material.
As for Bill Burr and John Stewart:
Bill Burr Stuns Bill Maher by Declaring Cancel Culture ‘Over’
Jon Stewart Is “So Fucking Sick” of “Anti-Woke” Culture: “I’ve Lost Two Words in 35 Years”There’s a difference between thinking cancel culture has gone too far and complaining endlessly that it has “ruined comedy”. One is an opinion, the other is an excuse.
Is George Carlin considered an edgelord?
He was, back in the day, his anti-authoritarian bent was pretty edgy then
Tangentially: I tried getting into him a few years ago and it seemed tame and nothing I hadn’t heard before from so many other comedians. Then I realized that he was the vanguard of that style of comedy and of course it’s going to sound like retrodden ground if I’d heard all the people he’d influenced before I listened to him.
Tomorrow he’s going to complain about being “cancelled” and how he “can’t say things anymore” while talking about the event where he was invited to speak in front of a college full of students.
You can say whatever you want, people don’t have to listen.
Exactly. Plus the right to free speech doesn’t equate to being free from criticism, or as you said, general disinterest.
The supreme Court has described it as freedom of speech not being freedom from speech.
tomorrow he
no he’s not, this is a nothing burger that has nothing at all to do with his comedy
invited
be mad at the people who invited him if you’re going to be outraged at something.
