Jerry Seinfeld (Part 3)

“I did well because I didn’t care if I was successful. I just wanted to be a comedian. I didn’t care about the money, I didn’t care about my career. I just wanted to be up on stage telling jokes.“
Jerry Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld graduated from college in 1976 and that year did his first open-mic night at Catch a Rising Star in New York City. He had stretches where he said he did stand-up every night for 18 months without missing a night—and without getting paid. He was simply honing his craft. In 1981, after five years of various degrees of success he made his debut on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. 

He spent years honing 20 minutes of material into a tight comedy set. For his first appearance on Carson he would have to edit that down to a tight 5 minute routine. And he then honed that five minutes by performing it 200 times before audiences before his shot with Johnny Carson.

In an interview many years before the his Seinfeld Tv program (and before his marriage) this is what Jerry Seinfeld told Larry Wilde about what makes his comedy original:

“I like to look at something that seems so trivial in life—like I do this whole thing about cotton balls. And how women need thousands and yet men don’t seem to need any. And, ‘what are they?’ And I’ll get more into that than I could into my girlfriend or some subject like that that people would find attractive as a subject. That somehow doesn’t attract me. I get interested in the type of faucets that they use at the airport and the sinks. Wondering how much milk you have in your refrigerator. And the little interrogation you go through if you live with someone. Who had the had the last? What time did you get up? How much milk was there? Those little things in life—that’s why I like to get in there—I’m more interested in the mortar than the bricks.”

Kickstarter launch in 3 days—Monday, July 25.

Scott W. Smith