Most renowned for his blockbuster sitcom television series Seinfeld, comedian, actor, writer, and producer Jerry Seinfeld isn’t the typical celebrity you would find in Hollywood. As exceptional as he is, the stand-up comedian is rather one of those hard-to-predict personalities who are not afraid to break the norms – not just once, but several times.
Surprisingly enough (or perhaps not so surprisingly), this even included not watching modern television sitcoms like Schitt’s Creek and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. However, behind not following this one norm that most people follow religiously, Jerry Seinfeld has a pretty good reason that is actually quite understandable.
Jerry Seinfeld And His Reason Behind Not Watching Modern Sitcoms
While Jerry Seinfeld himself has starred in one of the biggest blockbuster television sitcom series of all time, Seinfeld, his approach to comedy is rather different than usual. Talking in an episode of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards Chatter podcast, the stand-up comedian said:
“I approach it very carefully and scientifically because it’s so risky. In comedy, success is not about taking risk, it’s about eliminating risk.”
He then went on to share how he avoids following the norm and watching modern sitcoms like Schitt’s Creek and Brooklyn Nine-Nine because it gets him confused.
“The sitcom seems like it’s not sure what it’s supposed to be in this moment,” he said, adding, “It feels a little confused.”
Further explaining his reasoning behind it, Seinfeld said:
“When it’s a single-camera show, you’re listening and you go, ‘That was funny. Was that really funny? I think that was really funny. I don’t know. That seemed like a really funny joke, but I don’t know.’”
Although he is a mysterious man indeed, Jerry Seinfeld‘s reasoning behind not watching modern comedy television series is a rather understandable one.
Jerry Seinfeld Shared How Seinfeld Came Into Being
During the same episode of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards Chatter podcast, Jerry Seinfeld went on to share how his superhit sitcom Seinfeld came into being. Claiming NBC “never had any interest in working with me,” and ABC series fired him just after three episodes, the stand-up comedian said:
“I had a very violent psychological reaction to someone else controlling my fate. That bothered me deeply, and I said, ‘I will never be in that position ever again.’”
But that changed when his manager pitched to the NBC president for Seinfeld, the comedian cum actor’s own TV series. One thing led to another, and before heading to officially kick-start his career with the blockbuster sitcom, Seinfeld felt the need to talk to Larry David, his co-star in the series, first.
“He said, ‘You should do a show like this.’ I go, ‘Yeah, that would be fun. Let’s do a show like this. Two comedians. Nothing to do. Walking in and out of places in New York. Talking about stuff.’ That was it.”
However, Seinfeld wasn’t like the typical comedy shows airing at the time, but was distinctive by a major feature: it avoided, at all costs, “the sentiment or moralizing that was then common on other sitcoms.”
“Our thing was, ‘We’re either setting up or paying off,’” he said. “Nobody wants to learn from a comedy. Learn somewhere else. How arrogant to presume that you could teach in addition to entertaining.”
Just like that, Seinfeld ended up becoming Jerry Seinfeld’s one of the best works to date that is still widely commended and able to make people laugh at its silliness.
