When stand-up legend Jerry Seinfeld hinted at a reunion of his ’90s sitcom from the stage in Boston on Oct. 7, his fans cheered — first the ones in the audience, and then on social media.
In an Instagram video clip from the set, Seinfeld called it “… a little secret for you about the ending (of the show), but I can’t really tell it.”
Thanks to Instagram the non-secret is out, and the 69-year-old comic is heading to Denver exactly one week after his Boston set. His 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows on Saturday, Oct. 14, at the 5,000-seat Bellco Theatre might hold clues about the future of Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer.
And it might not. Either way, teasing a reunion on stage will instantly make headlines, despite Seinfeld’s general bearishness on amateur concert footage.
“I can’t believe people think other people want to see whatever stupid thing you shot on your phone,” Seinfeld presciently told The Denver Post last week, in reference to secretly recording stand-up sets. “I can’t believe they think other people are going to watch it, or that they would even watch it at some point.”
He’s mostly right, as he often is with his observational humor — unless there’s big news at play (like, say, a “Seinfeld” reunion). Finding humor in technological addiction, among countless daily annoyances and contradictions, is something he’s practiced for 45 years. And as a classically molded joke-teller in the club, talk show, and prestige-theater circuit, he has no plans to retire anytime soon.
Here’s our Q&A with Seinfeld in advance of his Bellco Theatre concert. The transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: Hi, Jerry. Thanks so much for your time. How’s the weather in New York right now?
A: Couldn’t be better. It’s weird: it’s going to be 80 today and it’s October. But I don’t really care. I like strange weather, and we’ve had quite a bit here in New York.
Q: You’re playing Denver this month, and just announced a show for Colorado Springs in February. And you’re touring with Jim Gaffigan…
A: With Gaffigan I’m doing Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco and L.A.
Q: And Gaffigan performs clean comedy, like you. My 11-year-old son has recently gotten really into comedy — mostly sketch comedy and “Seinfeld.” Between syndication and streaming, is there always a generational revival for the show?
A: I don’t know, everybody has a different sense of humor. But the best laugh you can hear is the sound of (younger people). For some reason it sounds better when you get a laugh from a young kid. I mean, like a 10-year-old or something. It’s incredibly satisfying, so I’m always trying to make them laugh. I keep hearing about that age, 10 to 12, watching the show. Whenever people come up to me and say, “My kid is watching the show,” I always say, “How old?” But you were probably pretty young when you first watched it.
Q: I was in high school and college in the ’90s, yeah. Have you noticed the audience at your shows change lately? Your sets are all-ages, whereas comedy clubs are 21-and-up.
A: It’s hard to say. But I can definitely see the audience as we’re leaving the theater. We go out the back and they go out the front and then I see them in the street. I see a very wide age range, which is really nice, but that’s what the TV show does. It keeps people finding you at different ages. Comedy is kind of an age-free thing. You don’t really care how old somebody is. You either like their style or you don’t. It must make you feel good that your son has a good sense of humor. When my kids watch things I think, “Ok, they care about laughing.”
Q: It does, thank you. I’ve been thinking lately about hard it is to police audience recordings at these big stand-up shows. Friends of yours like Chris Rock have for years taken steps to bag phones during shows and give them to people afterward. Is that a factor in your sets?
A: Nobody cares about anything to do with anybody on a phone. It’s horrible. The worst thing you can hear from another human being is, “I’ve got to show you this thing.” That is just the most depressing moment of the day. I like when people complain about going to Taylor Swift or these big things and you see everybody holding their phone up like a toddler at a parade so they can get a better view. You realize they care more about looking at their stupid phone than experiencing something live, and you’re like, “They don’t have a life. Their phone has a life.”
Q: Between “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” and your 2020 book and Netflix special, do you feel like you have else anything in you that hasn’t come out yet?
A: I have a movie coming out (the fictionalized comedy “Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story,” which does not have a firm release date), so that counts as a thing that I did. And I’m doing a stand up tour now every week, so that counts too. So where is it you’d like me to tighten the slack?
Q: Opera, maybe? (laughs) Have you heard much feedback lately about high ticket prices? I know for my readers it’s a big issue in terms of going out. A lot of people can’t afford tickets anymore, and there doesn’t seem to be a solution.
A: It’s a big issue and we talk about it every week. A lot of these ticket places, Ticketmaster and all these things, have their phony service fees. I remember when we were kids it was shipping and handling for $5. What do you mean handling? It’s your delivery. I have to pay you to put the frogman (U.S. Navy figurine) in the box and send it to me? That’s your business! But it’s terrible. It’s really just stealing, because there’s no service in handing me a ticket. And it’s a different service fee for differently priced tickets, when obviously the same operation can hand any ticket to any person. Ticketing companies should make money for distributing the tickets, but I think everyone’s feeling these companies are gouging the public.
Q: I read once that you’re a proponent of transcendental meditation. Is that still the case?
A: Huge. I do it every single day because you need energy to perform, and TM is rest, so it’s a pretty simple equation: rest, and then you have energy.
Q: You’re on stage a lot, but only release comedy specials every so often. Have you thought about following up (Netflix’s 2020 special) “23 Hours to Kill” with anything else soon? What’s your turn-and-burn schedule for material?
A: It’s much slower than other comedians. I’m very detail-obsessed with my stuff and I sometimes take years to finish a bit, to (get it) to the place where I want it to be. And I don’t care how long it takes. I enjoy the experience of playing with it and I keep changing it every week and every night until I finally feel like I got all I could out of it. I don’t really think about, “Gee, I wonder if they heard this before or if they didn’t?” Nobody knows the answer to those questions. I don’t like to assume everyone has seen everything I’ve done, or that they’ve never seen me.
Q: In “Seinfeld” you played a fictionalized version of yourself. Do you still see a wall between your stand-up persona and your life?
A: I don’t know. There’s a bit from my set where I go, “I do not think things that are in conflict with what my wife thinks. We do not have any arguments, but remember, I am advanced and you beginners, you intermediates, do not attempt to jump to this level.” They know when I say that it’s not true. It’s fun to say, it’s fun to hear and we’re here to laugh. But then there’s younger people who have a different style where they tell you about something that happened to them and we kind of assume it did.
Q: That’s certainly the discussion lately around Hasan Minaj, the stand-up who caught flak for making up seemingly real details about being harassed and discriminated against.Â
A: I was thinking about that article (Jason Zinoman) wrote in the (New York) Times about that (“Lying in Comedy Isn’t Always Wrong, but Hasan Minhaj Crossed a Line”), and about how different comedians have different deals with the audience. When they come see me they know this is just going to be jokes for a laugh. When they go see other comedians, I’m going to learn where this person’s at in their life right now. You’re not going to learn anything from listening to me. That is my brand.
Q: Will you still be working on stage into your 70s and 80s, like so many other classic comics? You don’t seem to be able to not do stand-up.
A: As long as you have energy and you have stuff that’s fresh. Comedy is about how into it the person up on stage is. Are they into it, or just kind of picking up some cash on the weekend and they’re not that into it? That’s all you care about. The great thing about stand up is if you’re not into it, the audience smells it instantly and they turn right off, so there is a truth in that. That’s the real truth in stand-up: they know if you’re into it or not. Which is the same as sports. When you see a player run onto the field everybody knows if this player’s on their game or not. It’s not like in acting or music or many other fields. But in stand-up and sports the whole place knows if they’re on their game or not.
Q: What’s something that has nothing to do with comedy that you’re into right now?
A: I would say playoff baseball, because today (Oct. 3) the games are starting.
Q: You’re a longtime Mets fan, right?
A: Everything. I’m fascinated to see how it plays out, whoever it is. I’m more of a National League guy so I’m kind of hoping for the Braves and Phillies to meet up in the division series (note: that’s just what happened). But whoever it is, I love sports. I love the authenticity of sports. Fake as that may be.
Q: We’ve got a lot of disgusted but diehard Colorado Rockies fans here despite their horrible record.
A: I like the Rockies. I like the colors and I like the light at the stadium. It’s so different on TV than every other stadium. You can just tell you’re in the mountains. It’s a fun place for baseball.
Q: One last question: Do you feel like you’re on a tear lately with stand-up shows? You seem to be hitting a new stride.
A: I’d have to know you better to answer that question, but I am on a tear. I just made a movie, which took a few years, and when I finished it I felt like a dog in a dog park that was just unclipped. (That’s) because with movie-making you feel like Gulliver on the beach, when the Lilliputians had him all tied down with the string. That’s what a movie is, and in stand-up, you can just kind of dance around in the park like a mental patient.
If you go
Jerry Seinfeld. Stand-up comedy. All ages. 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. sets Saturday, Oct. 14, at Bellco Theatre in the Colorado Convention Center, 1100 Stout St. in Denver. Tickets: $90-$350 via axs.com
