Jerry Seinfeld is on a new press tour promoting Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Today, he returned to The Howard Stern Show for the first time in many years.
Seinfeld hasn’t appeared on the show since Stern teased the celebrity for dating a girl who was still in high school. It may have been a long time coming, but the comedian did not disappoint.
SPOILER ALERT: He complained a lot.
One thing about Jerry, he is always humble...or at least pretends to be. This humility was on full display when discussing the factors that made Seinfeld so successful:
“I’m not arrogant enough or stupid enough to think I did that. I know that I got caught in what we call the ‘perfect storm’--a good one. Me and Larry just kind of fit together, as well as the rest of the cast.”
Howard asked Jerry if he thought Larry David was bitter about not getting more fame from Seinfeld. Jerry didn’t believe that was what Larry was after at that point:
“At that time in life, he was really out of that mode of wanting to appear in front of the camera. He was really writing a lot and wanted to be a writer. In comedy, as you know, its about the bar and you are waiting to go on. It’s a long time of waiting. So you go up to guys and start talking. And, some guys you talk to, it’s just funny right away. You’re talking and then two minutes later you find something hilarious. It worked for us. Larry was a little fragile on stage. It’s a tough thing. You’re being judged.”
Seinfeld on why it took NBC so long to recognize his talent:
“I had this meeting at NBC. I was on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson for nine years and no one thought to put me on TV, because network television people struggle in the entertainment field. They struggle to create entertainment. They struggle at it. They are not good at it. Have you watched TV? They’re not good at seeing talent and knowing what to do with it."
“So, nine years later, one executive sends a letter and the execs say ‘OK.’ A week later, I run into Larry David at The Improv and we start talking. We go across the street to a Korean deli and are making fun of everything. And we say, ‘This is what the show should be...just comedians making fun of stuff they see during the day’ and that’s it.”
Seinfeld then went on to discuss his friend, Johnny Carson. He recounted the time they last saw each other and the lessons Johnny offered:
“He was too iconic and too important to ever relax around. We went to dinner. It was after he was off the show. He was talking about how when he heard Laurence Welk got a TV show and Johnny couldn’t believe it. That was his example of how you could never be certain of what was going to happen with TV. Welk was supposed to be a joke and he wound up beating out Sid Caesar. He was the biggest thing.”
