TV COOKING
I will never understand why they cook on TV.
I can’t smell it.
Can’t eat it.
Can’t taste it.
The end of the show they hold it up to the camera.
“Well here it is.
You can’t have any.
Thanks for watching.
Goodbye.”
Yes, this is an example of what you’ll find in Jerry Seinfeld’s new book, Is This Anything? According to Seinfeld, comedians ask each other “Is this anything?” when trying out new comedy material. So here are hundreds of Seinfeld jokes, some funny, some very funny, and a few clunkers. I loved the Seinfeld TV show from the start. Even today, if I’m channel surfing and run across a favorite Seinfeld episode, I’ll watch it even though I’ve seen it a dozen times. Are you fan of Jerry Seinfeld? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
The Seventies — 1
The Eighties — 81
The Nineties — 205
The Double O’s — 251
The Teens — 353
Acknowledgements — 453
Index — 455
Never found his stand up very funny, but love the tv show.
Steve, Diane and I saw Jerry Seinfeld’s stand-up act twice and it was funny. The audience added to the experience. Like you, I love the SEINFELD TV show.
Loved the show too. I can remember going up and down the hallway at work telling people about it. It took a while for a lot of them to “get it.” Because it truly was a game changer. I don’t find his current series Comedians in Cars Having Coffee very funny.
Patti, I’ve only seen a couple episodes of COMEDIANS IN CARS HAVING COFFEE. It seems more of an analytical show about how comedy really works.
Definitely. We quote it often. We’ve seen his stand up and he is funny. Of course, there are certain episodes of the show we watch repeatedly. Jackie considers the original Florida episode (the only one without George or Kramer, I believe) to be virtually a documentary, as her parents were just like Jerry’s parents.
Jeff, about a year ago, the actor who played The Soup Nazi showed up at a local convention and was instantly mobbed by fans!
“Seinfeld” is one of my all time favorite tv shows. I watched it when it was on originally and then went through the whole thing again when I got Hulu a few years ago. The odd thing is I’ve never been able to get into any of the big time network sitcoms that followed it. Not “Friends” or “The Big Bang Theory” or any of the others. The only exception is Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, which really doesn’t count as network show. I’ve considered the notion that “Seinfeld” may have exhausted the possibilities of the form, at least for now.
Michael, I agree with your canny analysis of SEINFELD. It set a high bar for comedy that hasn’t been exceeded by other TV shows.
I never was able to get into Seinfeld. My loss, I guess.
Jerry, you might not have been able to get into SEINFELD but just think of all the things you did get into!
I enjoyed it, so many episodes I remember years later. So many catch phrases. I also enjoyed Friends, Mad about you from that era. I still remember Paul & Jamie walking into the apartment and Murray the dog was standing on the dining area table. Paul said “this is new” and they kept walking.
Maggie, I remember the MAD ABOUT YOU episode with Jamie sitting on the washing machine! It’s only a minute long, but it’s a very funny minute! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwR3Eo3KDZQ
Love it! We have Hulu and we’ve been watching the show from the beginning. Interesting how George evolved (devolved) from a go-getter realtor into a bit of a sad-sack. Kramer started out plain weird without the endearing wackiness, but he quickly became the Kramer we know and love. Lawrence Tierney appeared on one early episode as Elaine’s gruff father—never showed up again and neither Elaine’s mother nor father were ever mentioned again. A different actor played Jerry’s dad in the earliest episode, but he was soon replaced by the actor who played him for the remainder of the series.
Deb, I’ve been intending to rewatch SEINFELD from the beginning, but our DVR is still full so we’re trying to whittle it down before it maxes out!
I’ve not seen a single episode. Not sure why not, just never turned it on. Everyone says it was great, but I wouldn’t know.
Rick, SEINFELD may be the best TV sitcom ever. But, as we all know, comedy is subjective.
Same here – in Europe.
They probably thought it was too difficult to translate and original US tv shows were not common. Of course now it’s different – but there’s so much/too much to watch.
A bit OT:
I read about all the movies and tv shows on MAD (had a subscription as soon as I got my credit card for almost 30 years) – depending on their style of parody I often decided whether to watch it. If they were negative I wouldn’t be interested.
However I had a really great experience.
In the early 80s in Italy they started “private tv channels” – didn’t have them in Germany until the 90s. So one evening we were sitting in a bar in a little city at the sea in Croatia (at that time a part of socialist Yugoslavia), maybe 100 km across the Mediteeranean Sea from Venice.
When I heard English being spoken I looked up at the tv and realised that they were showing an Italian channel with …
An early episode of SNL – still in black&white!
So of course I had to go there every evening for the rest of our holidays, sometimes alone because nobody else was interested …
Second best sitcom ever! I watch snippets every day on YouTube!
Bob, what’s your Number One sitcom?