Following a provocative interview with GQ where he proclaimed the “movie business was over”—despite having directed his first movie—comedian Jerry Seinfeld is back at it, delivering more controversial statements, this time about TV comedy and liberal culture. While promoting his feature film “Unfrosted,” the comedian said in an interview with The New Yorker that “P.C. crap” and the “extreme left” are to blame for the extinction of television humor. Seinfeld became a sitcom hero thanks to his namesake NBC sitcom, which aired from 1989 to 1998. However, he claims that audiences no longer swarm television sets to satisfy their need for comedy, as they did for many years, partly because of politically correct worry.
“Nothing really affects comedy. People always need it. They need it so badly, and they don’t get it,” Seinfeld said. He then said, “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.”
Comedy lovers, according to Seinfeld, are “now going to see stand-up comics because we are not policed by anyone. The audience polices us. 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 our thought about this joke.’ Well, that’s the end of your comedy.”
Seinfeld then brought up an episode of his sitcom in the ’90s in which Kramer decided to start a business of having homeless people pull rickshaws because, in his words, “They’re outside anyway.” He continued, asking, “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. They move the gates like in the slalom. Culture—the gates are moving. Your job is to be agile and clever enough that wherever they put the gates, I’m going to make the gate.”
Seinfeld insisted it is “stand-ups” who “really have the freedom” to cross the line when it comes to comedy in today’s world, implying that TV networks are no longer inclined to do anything that would cause a rift and alienate the P.C. audience.
Given Seinfeld’s audience was always pretty liberal in the first place, one has to wonder if his P.R. team is in near panic mode. He’s undoubtedly not setting up his “Unfrosted” movie to be well-received, and his entire interview strategy seems puzzling unless he’s just truly in DGAF mode (which could be the case, given how wealthy he is). Regardless, “Unfrosted” arrives on Netflix on May 3, and we’ll just have to see how critics take to it. Watch some of the interview below.