Comedian-actor Jerry Seinfeld believes that some of his old jokes from 'Seinfeld' have not aged well and thinks they won’t fly in current times.
Comedian-actor Jerry Seinfeld believes that some of his old jokes from 'Seinfeld' have not aged well and thinks they won’t fly in current times.
Comedian-actor Jerry Seinfeld believes that some of his old jokes from 'Seinfeld' have not aged well and thinks they won’t fly in current times.
The 70-year-old 'Seinfeld' alum candidly discussed how the current political climate has restricted the creative process for many comedians on television, reports 'People'.
The actor told ‘The New Yorker’: "Nothing really affects comedy. People always need it. They need it so badly, and they don’t get it."
As per 'People', Seinfeld elaborated that "most people" would go home at the end of the day to watch comedy on television.
"You just expected, There’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight. Well, guess what -- where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap and people worrying so much about offending other people," he said.
Seinfeld said that the public has now flocked to stand-up comics "because we are not policed by anyone.”
"The audience polices us," he added.
"We know when we’re off track. We know instantly, and we adjust to it instantly. But when you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups -- 'Here’s our thought about this joke'. Well, that’s the end of your comedy."
When asked whether the same applies to his 'Seinfeld' co-creator Larry David and his HBO series 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', Seinfeld suggested that "Larry was grandfathered in".
"He’s old enough so that -- 'I don’t have to observe those rules, because I started before you made those rules'," Seinfeld remarked.
As an example, the comedian recalled an episode of 'Seinfeld' with a storyline that might not fly today, saying, "We did an episode of the series in the nineties where Kramer decides to start a business of having homeless people pull rickshaws because, as he says, 'They’re outside anyway.' Do you think I could get that episode on the air today?"
"We would write a different joke with Kramer and the rickshaw today. We wouldn’t do that joke. We’d come up with another joke," he added.