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Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee; Single Shot - Hitler

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Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee: Single Shot - LOL

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Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: "Just Tell Him You’re The President” (Season 7, Episode 1)

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Jerry Seinfeld - Everyone Is So Sad And I Still Wanted To Have Fun - Motivation

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nce or twice a week, towards the end of the day, Jerry Seinfeld leaves the Manhattan office where he spends his afternoons writing, but he doesn't head home to his family. Instead, he shows up unannounced at some minor comedy club in New York or New Jersey, and inserts himself into that night's lineup. Seinfeld reportedly has a private jet, owns more than 40 vintage Porsches and makes at least $32m (£19.5m) a year, in large part from syndication revenue, adding to a net worth estimated at $800m (£487m) in 2010. Having spent a decade making a celebrated "show about nothing", he could easily afford to just do nothing now. But he prefers - or feels compelled - to keep honing his act, trying a new line here, shaving a word off an old one there, analysing the audience's laughter: a scientist of comedy, painstakingly calibrating his equipment. By the time you hear a Seinfeld "bit" at one of his £70-a-ticket O2 Arena gigs, or on a TV talkshow, it will have undergone months or years of testing, and there won't be a syllable wasted. As in: "Why does moisture ruin leather? Aren't cows outside a lot of the time?" Or: "A two-year-old is like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it." Or: "People are never really sure if they have milk."

Because his material's never edgy or obscene, because his delivery is so laidback, and because he's so stupendously wealthy, it's easy to dismiss the Seinfeld of 2014 as altogether too slick, smug and mainstream. But in his best lines, buffed to a perfect shine, extreme professionalism crosses over into a kind of absurdist Zen - and that takes work. "To a guy like me, a laugh is full of information," Seinfeld says, on a bright winter morning in a photo studio three floors above Broadway. He has just posed for pictures in one of his trademark designer suits, but now he's back in dark jeans, a sweatshirt and blue-and-green sneakers, his tall frame slouched in a tatty armchair. "The timbre of it, the shape of it, the length of it - there's so much information in a laugh. A lot of times, you could play me just the laughs from my set and I could tell you, from the laugh, what the joke was. Because they match."

This April, despite being lodged in the collective consciousness as permanently fortyish, Seinfeld turns 60, which is the kind of age he used to tell jokes about. ("My folks are moving to Florida. They didn't want to move to Florida, but they're in their 60s, and that's the law.") He has become a grand old man of standup, a national treasure; don't audiences laugh simply because he's Seinfeld, especially if they hadn't been expecting him? "Maybe for a couple of minutes. But I've said it many times: nobody laughs at a reputation. They get excited in the beginning, but they can't lie to me. They cannot lie to me. I'm going to find out."

For years after the finale of Seinfeld in 1998 - an event only beaten, in sitcom viewership history, by the finales of M*A*S*H and Cheers - people speculated about his next major project. There was the 2002 documentary Comedian; and there was 2007's Bee Movie, a modest box-office success, which Seinfeld co-wrote and produced, and in which he voiced the lead role of a bee outraged to learn that humans are stealing honey. But even as he promoted it, he was ruling out the possibility of a Hollywood producing career. ("Oh my God, I'd kill myself," he told one interviewer. "Give me a gun.") Then came The Marriage Ref, a shortlived combination of gameshow and reality series in which celebrities cast judgment on real-life couples' marital disputes, panned in both its American and British incarnations.

These days, an alternative possibility is beginning to suggest itself: what if the post-Seinfeld Seinfeld just isn't a "major projects" kind of guy? His latest creation, a web series entitled Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, has frequent moments of brilliance, but it's not even a show about nothing; it's barely a show at all. In each of the episodes, which vary in length, Seinfeld collects a fellow comedian in a different vintage car (Chris Rock, Larry David, Mel Brooks and Ricky Gervais are among the participants); they then drive to a diner or cafe, drink coffee and talk. "The real action of the show," the New York Times's reviewer explained, "consists of this seemingly involuntary snorting, cackling laughter of middle-aged men so amused by each other's observations ... that they rock in their seats and double over in helpless paroxysms." Actually, there are some women, too: the third season, which starts this month, includes Tina Fey. But apart from that, the analysis isn't unfair. What's strange is how well the idea works.

"My goal was to make it the effortless talkshow, where you don't have to show up, you don't have to think about what you're wearing, there's no makeup, there's no prep - there's nothing. It's literally getting in a car." The effort comes in the editing, but that's another opportunity to smooth and hone obsessively, "so I kind of enjoy it". The format doesn't allow for audience-tested Seinfeld one-liners, so much of the pleasure comes from the other comedians' contributions. One of the best episodes largely involves Mel Brooks eating pastrami in Carl Reiner's living room and retelling old jokes: "Guy gets hit by a car, little Jewish man, his friend says: 'Get a pillow! Do something! Put it under his head! All right. Are you comfortable?' And the guy says: 'I make a living ...'"

A competing theory for Seinfeld's low profile since 1998 is that his comedy belongs squarely to the 90s - an era of economic plenty, before 9/11, before widespread anxiety about climate change, when the bottomless self-absorption of Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer felt excusable. Rewatching the show today is a curious experience. The haircuts are terrible, obviously. But the much-hyped focus on "nothing" - on overblown conflicts with doormen, restaurateurs and so on - feels familiar: it's central to many of the shows that count Seinfeld as a major influence, from Arrested Development to The Office to Curb Your Enthusiasm. (The latter's success fuelled yet another theory about Seinfeld's post-90s career: that Larry David had been the genius behind the sitcom all along.) What stands out, in those old Seinfelds, is the weird callousness: a total lack of concern with anyone other than the central foursome, unmatched even by Larry David's character in Curb, or David Brent, or the South Park kids. When George's fiancee dies, poisoned by the glue in the cheap wedding invitations he'd insisted on buying, his pure relief is certainly funny, and in keeping with the famous motto of the show's writers: "No hugging, no learning." But it's also more pathologically egocentric than anything you'd encounter, in a comedic context, on TV today.

The real-life Seinfeld has little time for this kind of analysis, professing zero interest in capturing zeitgeists, or in the postmodern themes that academics love identifying in his work. (He even claims, semi-convincingly, not to know what people meant when they called the sitcom "meta": "I've looked it up a number of times. Could you define it for me?") His preferred view of himself isn't the cliched one of the tortured comedian battling inner demons, but of a baseball player or a sprinter, obsessively cultivating a single skill, fighting not to lose his edge. "I think of myself more as a sportsman than I do an artist," he says, which explains his bafflement when he's asked, as he often is, about whether he'd like to take acting roles in films. "It's hilarious to me that anyone would think I would have the slightest interest in it. Baseball players don't think: 'I gotta get into soccer!' They think: 'I gotta do what I gotta do to try and hit that ball today. That's my life.' As a comedian, I found this thing, this profession, that suits my mind and life force. To drop it to do something else? I just don't get that."

Keeping his act sex- and swear-free, the way he sees it, is part of this athletic challenge, since it denies him the easiest laughs: "A person who can defend themselves with a gun is just not very interesting. But a person who defends themselves through aikido or tai chi? Very interesting." Likewise his focus on minutiae. "It's so much easier when you're talking about something that really is important. You've already got a better foundation than someone who's bringing up something that does not need to be discussed." Such as? "I do a lot of material about the chair. I find the chair very funny. That excites me. No one's really interested in that - but I'm going to get you interested! That, to me, is just a fun game to play. And it's the entire basis of my career."

The cast of Seinfeld. Photograph: Nbcuphotobank/Rex Features

One episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee does attempt to get more serious: it features Seinfeld's former co-star Michael Richards, and concerns the shockingly racist tirade , directed at black hecklers, that ended Richards's standup career in 2006. "It was a very bad miscalculation," Seinfeld says today. But a miscalculation, he insists, is what it was; it's a misunderstanding of standup to conclude that it showed Richards to be a racist himself. "Lenny Bruce already did that bit! He already did it! It's a knife-throwing act, and unfortunately Michael missed." On camera, Richards seems genuinely remorseful, and resigned to never working again.

In a recent New York Times profile of Seinfeld, another guest on the series, Sarah Silverman, called him "the least neurotic Jew on earth". But his early life was highly typical for Jewish New York. The son of Austrian and Syrian immigrants, he was raised in the Long Island town of Massapequa, which he likes to say is "an old Indian name, meaning 'by the mall'". The family kept strictly kosher and attended synagogue; the teenage Jerome spent time on an Israeli kibbutz. He seems never to have considered any career but comedy: as a college student in Queens, he managed to persuade his tutors to let him study standups - and perform himself - for course credit. (Jackie Mason, in the audience one night, delivered praise that kept him going for years: "It makes me sick, you're going to be such a big hit.") In 1981, he got his big break: the first of many spots on Dick Cavett's talk show. Seven years later, over coffee in a New York diner (of course) with Larry David, the sitcom, originally entitled The Seinfeld Chronicles, was born.

All the way through, from first standup shows to stardom, he forced himself to work by marking a cross on a calendar for every day he wrote material; soon enough, he had a long chain of crosses, and kept going partly because he didn't want to break the chain. Since he revealed this trick to a would-be comedian years ago, "Seinfeld's Productivity Secret" has achieved cult status online: there are at least three apps and one website dedicated to helping people emulate it. This amuses its inventor no end. "It's so dumb it doesn't even seem to be worth talking about," he says. "If you're a runner and you want to be a better runner, you say, well, I'll run every day and mark an X on the calendar every day I run. I can't believe this was useful information to anybody!" He spreads his palms, a gesture conveying the sheer obviousness of the insight. "Really? There are people who think, 'I'll just sit around and do absolutely nothing, and somehow the work will get done'?"

Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld in Central Park, New York. Photograph: Jamie Mccarthy/Getty Images for Baby Buggy

Earlier in his career, it was Seinfeld's life outside work that consumed the media most: first when, in his late 30s, he began dating the 17-year-old Shoshanna Lonstein, now a fashion designer; and again at 45, when he began a relationship with a PR executive, Jessica Sklar, made public mere weeks after she'd returned from honeymoon with her husband, the scion of a family of Broadway theatre owners. But 15 years later, he touts the conventionality of his domestic arrangements: he and Sklar, now Jessica Seinfeld, have three children aged between eight and 13, and he is openly judgmental of celebrities incapable of such stability. "Comedians are known for having long marriages," he says. Why? "I have to apologise for the self-serving answer I'm going to give you, but: we're smart. If you're smart, you stay married if you can. Marriage is hard for everyone - that's a basic fact - but it's a better life if you can do it. Very nice. Very relaxing. Very enjoyable." One part of his standup routine stresses the importance of realistic expectations. "Here's the secret I'm going to tell you about relationships," he tells his audience. "They don't work ... Do you know what works? Potato chips work. Fire extinguishers work. Relationships? They don't work."

Seinfeld has a theory about marriage and driving, which may explain his choice of post-sitcom projects. "They're the window into every aspect of human life," he claims. "There's just two things I'd need to find out everything I want to know about everyone: one, let me see them drive; two, let me hear them talk about marriage, whether they're married or not. That's going to tell me exactly your relationship to the world. I wouldn't need to know anything else." If he had the time, inclination or energy, he says - "and I have none of those three" - he'd make The Marriage Ref again, "just because I do find marriage to be the most interesting subject there is." (If there is a next time, I recommend not including Alec Baldwin on a panel of experts on marital harmony.)

The subject also offers him a guaranteed point of connection to audiences, counteracting the ironic fate of the extremely successful observational comic - which is that once you're travelling in private jets or a fleet of vintage Porsches, the life you're observing isn't one your audiences know. ("I may be dumb," he says, when I ask if he ever talks about his car collection in his act, "but I'm not that dumb.") Leaving LA also helped with that problem. "That's the nice thing about living in New York: just being on the street does a good job of breaking [the celebrity bubble]," he says. "LA? Not so much. You leave your gorgeous house, get in your gorgeous car, and go to some gorgeous place where you're feted. It's tougher. That was a conscious choice of mine, when I lived in LA: I thought, if I want to stay funny, I need to get out of here."

Jerry Seinfeld on stage in New York in 2013. Photograph: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for New York Comedy

To this day, Seinfeld still marks crosses on a calendar, keeping regular hours (albeit relaxed ones: most days, he says, he'll meet a friend for a two-hour breakfast) and spending 20 minutes a day doing Transcendental Meditation, which is the only topic to jolt him from his default nonchalance into real enthusiasm: "I could do the whole interview about TM, to be honest, but we'd just lose everybody. I'll describe it very simply: it's like you have a phone, and somebody gives you a charger for it. And so now you can recover from this exhausting experience of being a human, twice a day. It's deep rest. Now that's something that can help people. As opposed to this idiotic calendar thing."

Seinfeld talks about his comic routines as if they're discovered rather than created: observations that are out there, camouflaged against the patterns of everyday life, waiting for him to detect them. One example: the other day, his two sons were arguing, because one of them had farted. "They were accusing each other - 'he who smelt it dealt it!' - and I just thought, Jesus, these guys need some new material. That's the same thing I was saying when I was five. Fifty years ago! Kids! I can't believe they're still doing the same material!"

"Kids need new material": that was an idea with legs. With a bit of work, there could be a few minutes of an act there. Some things just have potential while others don't; he doesn't claim to be able to explain why. Chairs are inherently amusing. Salt-shakers, Seinfeld reckons, are not. Reflecting upon the comic possibilities of various other everyday objects, a thoughtful expression passes across his face. "I find the fork very funny," he says.
The third season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee has begun at comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com

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Jerry Seinfeld on how to be funny without sex and swearing

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nce or twice a week, towards the end of the day, Jerry Seinfeld leaves the Manhattan office where he spends his afternoons writing, but he doesn't head home to his family. Instead, he shows up unannounced at some minor comedy club in New York or New Jersey, and inserts himself into that night's lineup.

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Watch List

Larry David, left, and Jerry Seinfeld in "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."

Leave it to Ricky Gervais to get to the essential truth, even in someone else's Web series. "You're like a young king, aren't you?" he says, sitting across a table from Jerry Seinfeld in "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." If Mr. Seinfeld wants to drive around in cool old cars with "some friends he's seen on the telly," well, all he has to do is pick up the phone. He's Jerry Seinfeld, for God's sake.

Mr. Gervais, while participating in "Comedians in Cars," touches on questions that viewers might have, like, What is this exactly, and why does it exist?

With two episodes posted at comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com and at crackle.com, Sony's online-video site - the Gervais video went up on Thursday night - it looks like a jeu d'esprit, a low-stakes way to keep a hand in the game while seeing what this online thing is all about. There's not much to it, but it's got some charm and a few laughs, which is more than could be said for "The Marriage Ref."

Really, though, there's not much to it. Mr. Seinfeld obtains an old car with offbeat appeal (a 1952 Volkswagen bug, a 1967 Austin-Healey), picks up a comedian pal (Larry David, Mr. Gervais) and drives to a coffee shop (John O'Groats in Los Angeles, City Island Diner in the Bronx). The men talk and riff, occasionally approaching a fully formed joke - Mr. Gervais actually gets there, with a line about Hitler's honeymoon - and constantly, effortlessly crack each other up.

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Ricky Gervais, left, and Jerry Seinfeld in a 1967 Austin-Healey in the second episode of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." Credit... comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com

The real action of the show consists of this seemingly involuntary snorting, cackling laughter of middle-aged men so amused by each other's observations on boxers versus briefs or tea versus coffee that they rock in their seats and double over in helpless paroxysms. Mr. David is so taken by Mr. Seinfeld's use of the word "debauched" that he actually spits his tea into the restaurant window.

Later in the 13-minute episode, Mr. David gives Mr. Seinfeld the obvious post-"Seinfeld" backhanded compliment: "You have finally done the show about nothing." In the online context, what Mr. Seinfeld has done is like a fragmentary, Dadaist take on Marc Maron's popular podcast interviews with comedians, or a freewheeling, cooler-than-thou entry in the mock-talk-show genre. Be amused by me if you will - this isn't costing me much.

Not much by Mr. Seinfeld's standards, anyway, though one thing that makes "Comedians in Cars" easy to watch - even if you don't find the comedians' intense self-regard all that amusing - is that quite a bit of thought and care has been given to how it looks.

The videos (which include a series of amusing outtakes with Mr. David) are presented in a clean, elegant template with a studiously casual pencil-drawn logo. And the filming and editing are, if you break them down, impressively complex and artful for a Web series. Multiple cameras, including three mounted inside the cars, are used simultaneously to render the free-flowing conversations seamlessly, without the staccato cuts that have become the norm in a new generation of new-school chat shows.

One other pleasure afforded by Mr. Seinfeld - whether through his wealth or the influence and control that he exerts - is a conspicuous lack of the product-placement, commercial-tie-in ethos that taints so many online series. He's only advertising himself, his friends and his love of cars and coffee, and that in itself is nearly enough to make me like his show.

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So These Comics Drive to a Diner and Drink Coffee (Published 2012)

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Watch List Leave it to Ricky Gervais to get to the essential truth, even in someone else's Web series. "You're like a young king, aren't you?" he says, sitting across a table from Jerry Seinfeld in "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."

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Andrew Hetherington/Redux

After years as a stand-up performer, Jerry Seinfeld conquered 1990s television with his eponymous sitcom. Two decades later he's again drawing viewers and accolades, this time for his inventive online talk show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee-even as a new generation discovers Seinfeld on streaming video.

Seinfeld: It's very important to know what you don't like. A big part of innovation is saying, "You know what I'm really sick of?" For me, that was talk shows where music plays, somebody walks out to a desk, shakes hands with the host, and sits down. "How are you?" "You look great." I'm also sick of people who are really there to sell their show or product. "What am I really sick of?" is where innovation begins.

You and Larry David wrote Seinfeld together, without a traditional writers' room, and burnout was one reason you stopped. Was there a more sustainable way to do it? Could McKinsey or someone have helped you find a better model?

Who's McKinsey?

It's a consulting firm.

Are they funny?

Then I don't need them. If you're efficient, you're doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way. The show was successful because I micromanaged it-every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting. That's my way of life.

How much of Seinfeld's continuing popularity stems from quitting when it was still atop the ratings?

I would love to know the answer to that. My theory is that proportion is key to everything. You're making this TV show, and it gets really popular, and you have to stop at a certain point or it loses the magic. I'm not comparing myself in any way, shape, or form to the Beatles, but they ended after nine years when I was a kid, and there was something about that single-digit number. Once a TV series is in double digits, it's like, "God, is this thing ever going to end?" Ten seasons seemed so much longer than nine. I decided that ninth season should be the last so that the audience would feel it saw a performance that ended on a high note.

Was it hard to figure out what your career should look like after Seinfeld?

I never thought I had to do anything. I was a successful stand-up comedian for many years before I got the show. I knew that was going to be my life. The show came along, and it was quite a detour. I went from being relatively unknown to getting the greatest ride you could possibly get in entertainment and feeling a certain amount of cultural relevance. People were picking up words we had made up, like "regifting" and "shrinkage." But I never saw myself as anything other than a professional stand-up comedian. It would have been a mistake to try to springboard into building a huge media company, making movies and TV shows.

Can you teach someone to be funny?

Nope. You can teach someone aspects of making it in the comedy profession, but you can't teach someone to be funny. I didn't realize how genetic it was until I saw my daughter-I couldn't believe how funny she was. I didn't teach her to be that way, and I know my dad was funny, so now I see that there's a huge genetic component. You just pop out with this thing.

How effective is humor as a leadership tool?

Being funny is one of the ultimate weapons a person can have in human society. It might even compete with being really good-looking.

How do you get psyched up before going onstage?

You don't have to get psyched up-the audience will take care of that. You walk out in front of 3,000 people who have paid $75 or $100, they're sitting there saying, "We want to laugh right now," and you feel that. But every comedian, like every athlete, has a little routine. Mine is to look at my notes until five minutes before the show. When my tour producer says, "Five minutes," I put on the jacket, and when the jacket goes on, it's like my body knows, "OK, now we've got to do our trick." And then I stand, and I like to just walk back and forth, and that's it. That's my little preshow routine. I never vary it. It just feels comfortable.

As a live performer, how do you improve?

You have to know how to encourage yourself to be confident and courageous when you're creating new material and also how to be harshly critical and go, "That's good, but it's not good enough-take it out." I don't like to be so critical that I get depressed, but I get close. Managing that is the toughest part of the profession. Most of the time when comedians come off the stage and you ask them, "How was it?" they say, "I hate myself."

With Comedians in Cars, do you risk running out of people to interview?

My feeling is that instead of digging down in the barrel of comedians, I want to start having people I like on again: Alec Baldwin, Larry David, Sarah Silverman. Twelve minutes of Alec Baldwin isn't enough for me, and I assume that's true for the audience. I'm looking at the show now the way the old Tonight Show was, where you would have people like Charles Nelson Reilly who didn't have anything to promote but were just great on a talk show-so they came on all the time. I'll maintain the standard as opposed to the variety.

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Andrew Hetherington/Redux After years as a stand-up performer, Jerry Seinfeld conquered 1990s television with his eponymous sitcom. Two decades later he's again drawing viewers and accolades, this time for his inventive online talk show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee-even as a new generation discovers Seinfeld on streaming video.

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When asked about why he turned down $50 million from NBC for another season of Seinfeld, Jerry says, "I make the show for the people watching it."

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Oprah: How do you feel?

Jerry: This is the day I step into the next place in my life. I didn't walk in the house last night, I stumbled in. I had no idea how much is involved in making a movie.

Oprah: You've never made a movie before.

Jerry: No. I've been to movies, and I'll tell you, it's better to see them than make one.

Oprah: Tell me how Bee Movie came about.

Jerry: I asked Steven Spielberg to direct a commercial I was going to make for American Express. I'd never met him, but I thought, "What the hell-why don't I call? I'm Jerry Seinfeld, I'm not just nobody." [ Laughs] Steven says, "I can't do it, but why don't we have dinner tomorrow in East Hampton?" I say, "That sounds great." Then I hang up the phone and go, "Oh my God! I'm a Jewish boy from Long Island, and I'm having dinner with Steven Spielberg!" It was like my second Bar Mitzvah. So I get up the next morning, I shower, and I sit down on a chair at 9 A.M. I was too excited to do anything but wait.

Oprah: I know what you mean!

Jerry: There I was, waiting until 6 P.M. when my wife, Jess, and I would meet Steven and his wife, Kate Capshaw. Now, my wife is one of the best-dressed women I know, but at 20 minutes before 6, she comes out and says, "What do you think?" and her blouse was just slightly see-through. Slightly. I then said something I'd never said before: "I'm not crazy about the top."

Oprah: Twenty minutes before you were supposed to meet Steven Spielberg!

Jerry: Exactly. Every husband knows when he has moved into DEFCON 2. My mind was spinning with all the right and wrong ways to talk to a woman about her clothes.

Oprah: Why couldn't you just say, "Honey, I can see through your top"

Jerry: Because when you're a good husband, you don't "just say" anything! You think first, especially in a moment like this. We'd only been married for three years then, so I wasn't very experienced. Being a good husband is like being a good stand-up comic-you need ten years before you can even call yourself a beginner. My skills were stretched to the max. I had to get this wife into another blouse without a fight.

Oprah: And the clock is ticking!

Jerry: And ticking. I started with compliments. Then I accepted all the blame for taking too long in the shower, or for showering in the first place, or for whatever I did wrong-it was all my fault. So I engineered the blouse change, we got into my Porsche-the one that's 43 years old and has a piddly ignition-and we have exactly the amount of time we need to get to the restaurant. I had wanted to get there early; instead of gushing about his movies, I wanted to show respect by being there when he arrived. But on Long Island, the police write tickets to the fancy-pants New York City people who flood their little towns in the summer.

Oprah: And they'd know you're one of those people because they'd spot your Porsche.

Jerry: Right. I'm on a straight road that I could have gone pretty fast on, because I really want to be sitting in that booth before Steven gets there, but I did 33 in a 30 miles per hour zone. So a day that started off with me waiting in a chair for hours turned into that scene in Star Wars where the walls are closing in on Luke Skywalker. Just as I'm pulling in to the place, I spot Steven and Kate driving in behind me. I think, "I could run into the restaurant and hope that Steven doesn't recognize me from behind." But when I get out of the car, he sees me and says hello.

Oprah: And you walked in together. Now, is that so bad?

Jerry: It wasn't. And at least I got this funny story out of it. That's the end.

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Oprah: How do you feel? Jerry: This is the day I step into the next place in my life. I didn't walk in the house last night, I stumbled in. I had no idea how much is involved in making a movie. Oprah: You've never made a movie before. Jerry: No.

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Masturbating! By 2017's standards it seems almost adorable-so tame and normal. It's something our president would probably talk about on the phone to a war widow at this point and no one would bat an eye. But in 1992, when aired the episode "The Contest," masturbating was still a pretty taboo thing to talk about on TV. That wouldn't stop Seinfeld though. Rather, the show could take unexplored territory-Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine making a bet on who could go the longest without masturbating-and turn it into one of the most iconic TV episodes of all time.

And the story behind this bold and crazy idea is just as bold and crazy as the episode itself-complete with shocked network executives, secrecy, and plenty of people doubting creator and writer Larry David.

In a new oral history of the episode in New York Magazine, David reveals the true story behind the episode's origins and who was part of the actual contest. As he tells New York:

I can't believe I have to discuss this at my ripe age. I would say there was only one other person involved [in the actual contest]. Should I mention his name? I don't even know-my friend Frank Piazza. I don't remember what the bet was. There must have been some money involved. I think it was a small amount. [The contest lasted] two days. Maybe three. I just remember it didn't last very long. I was surprised at how quickly it ended. I won handily, yes.

His friend, Kenny Kramer (the real Kramer) added: "I wasn't in [the contest] because I knew I would never win it." It was an idea, David said, he'd had for a long time, but never actually followed through with it because he didn't think the network would allow it. But once they finally went through with it, they got some of their biggest laughs ever on a Seinfeld episode -specifically during the moment when Kramer comes in after losing the contest.

"That got a roar. That was a huge moment when Kramer came in," David said. "That was one of the biggest laughs we ever got, I think."

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Larry David Reveals the True Story that Inspired 'Seinfeld's' 'The Contest'

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Masturbating! By 2017's standards it seems almost adorable-so tame and normal. It's something our president would probably talk about on the phone to a war widow at this point and no one would bat an eye. But in 1992, when aired the episode "The Contest," masturbating was still a pretty taboo thing to talk about on TV.

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Are comedies good for us? How does watching a comedy affect our mental and physical health?

For answers, we turn to psychologists and experts in the media, health and wellness, and psychotherapy fields.

A complex visceral response

Because there are a lot of different types of humour - from wordplay and self-deprecation to slapstick and dark humour - the way comedies and humour register in our brain can vary, making the neuronal activity in response to it very complex, explains media psychologist Dr. Pamela B. Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center in California as well as faculty in the media psychology program at Fielding Graduate University.

She says that multiple brain regions, including both cognitive and affective components, are involved in identifying the social disconnect that makes something funny.

"Cognition is necessary to 'get' the joke, and emotion is involved in enjoying humour and producing the visceral responses - such as smiling or laughter."

Different regions of the brain are activated depending on the type of humour it's processing. "For example, the frontal lobe, to process the information; the areas that draw on learned experience and direct motor activities, such as laughter; and the emotional center to evaluate pleasure and trigger the reward that comes from the punchline."

This means Alexis' famous exclamation "Ew, David!" from registers the same way as Appa's "OK, see you!" from .

While an absurdist sketch might light up different circuits in the brain.

"Research, however, has been unable to definitely chart these neural pathways," adds Dr. Rutledge.

The effects on mental and physical health

The mechanics of our brains are beyond intriguing but can watching comedies like , or be that special mental or physical remedy? Is laughter really the best medicine?

Dr. Joti Samra, clinic founder of Dr. Joti Samra, R.Psych & Associates in B.C. and CEO and founder of MyWorkplaceHealth.com, thinks that it's not necessarily the best medicine.

"It's an important medicine," she says. "The reality is that we know if we're getting clinical depression or anxiety or insomnia, we need other kinds of treatments. So, laughter alone isn't going to solve it but it is one of the ones that is the most accessible to us on a day-to-day basis."

"What we know is that comedy and uplifting content really do have a lot of positive impacts on our emotional health and also our physiology."

If we look at adaptive coping, she continues, through watching comedy we can keep perspective, add some lightness and have that air of gratitude because it can poke light at something and instill a positive emotion.

Dr. Shira Gabriel, an associate professor of psychology at SUNY, University at Buffalo, also agrees that comedy lightens the mood and can provide a space where the worries we have and everything that is going on around us in this world don't exist.

Providing further details, Dr. Rutledge explains: "Humour, when it's actually funny, has social and physical benefits: laughter releases neurotransmitters responsible for your happiness, such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins."

"The release of these chemicals in response to humour decreases stress, diminishes pain and in the process strengthens the immune system."

Dr. Samra agrees saying that just the physical act of smiling leads to the release of those exact positive feel good hormones in our brains which she calls the "natural antidepressants."

ScienceDaily reported that in a 2008 study published by the American Physiological Society researchers found that even the mere anticipation of laughter lowered the levels of three stress hormones. Cortisol (the stress hormone), epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) and dopac (brain chemical which helps produce epinephrine) were reduced by 39, 70 and 38 percent respectively.

This in turn creates a relaxed environment for both the mind and the body, eliminating negative emotions and changing our brain activity toward gamma frequency which also increases memory recall.

In light of that, may we suggest a natural relaxer like Baroness von Sketch Show!?

Or a memory enhancer like Schitt's Creek!?

The use of humour can enable people to not only decrease negative emotion but distance themselves from adversity and hardship, says Dr. Rutledge, adding: "If you consider that positive emotions fuel optimism, efficacy and resilience, then it makes sense that humour can contribute to overcoming challenges."

A few studies corroborate that theory, including a in the Journal of Dental and Medical Research, where humour therapy was performed on 40 patients undergoing hemodialysis (treatment for advanced kidney failure).

The study, on patients who listened to 30 minutes of comic shows twice a week over an eight-week period, concluded that humour therapy can in fact reduce blood pressure in hemodialysis patients. Hint hint: Baroness von Sketch Show episodes are approximately that length.

Dr. Gabriel expands on it and says: "Mental health and physical health are very tied into one another."

For example, during laughter, the amount of our T-cells and B-cells dramatically increases. This is important because the sole purpose of these cells is to find and destroy viruses and tumours in our bodies.

The purpose of humour is enjoyment and positive emotions, says Dr. Rutledge, however, positive emotions vary from hedonistic responses, such as happy surprise, to more meaning-based responses that might trigger self-reflection and feelings of social validation.

Humour also plays a big role in social communication and the most complex type of humour requires the ability to process social/emotional content, says Dr. Rutledge, relying, in part, on our ability to mentalize or understand the mental states of others.

Just like empathy (an ability to understand the emotional state or mood of others) she says that these are essential skills for successful interpersonal relationships.

'You don't want to become a slug in front of a TV'

Though there seems to be a consensus around the point that there is no such thing as too much laughter, the psychologists all agree that the laughter best be matched to the situation, adding that we have to be intentional when watching any type of content, including comedy.

When we think about negative effects, Dr. Samra says that if we're watching anything for an extended period of time without intention or start to ignore the important things in life - such as spending time with family, and physical activity or doing simple chores like cleaning the house - that becomes avoidance which, of course, is a big problem.

Eating extensively while watching can also easily occur which can be detrimental to health, as it can lead to obesity, so physical activity on a regular basis is important.

Dark comedy during difficult times

"There's so much heaviness around us that I think it is important for us to be making sure that we're balancing out what we're consuming with comedy, that which naturally and intrinsically creates that positive state," says Dr. Samra.

Dr. Rutledge adds that the potential to see humour in life, or having a sense of humour, can be an important way to regulate emotion.

"Humour is a coping mechanism that allows us to gain perspective and take some control. In this sense, humour reframes experience so we can see something in a new way," adding that watching comedies can provide some safety and distance from difficult things, or reinforce the fact that we are not alone facing not just daily foibles but major issues and life events.

"When we think of being exposed to something that is out of our control, unpredictable, non-sensical, whether it's severe crimes that happen, murder or now with COVID-19, we know that dark humour can have a positive effect," add Dr. Samra.

"I think it can be comforting to make light of the very things that worry us, adds Dr. Gabriel. "It can make those things seem less scary and remind us that we are not alone."

This is why we see memes like this one.

Basically, we laugh at things that stress us out and also try to make the best out of a bad situation.

"Laughing during uncomfortable and tragic events, whether seen on screen or in real life, is a stress response and a defence mechanism," says Dr. Samra.

"When something happens that our brain has not yet caught up to understanding, we go into denial. It's a very natural response, and it's actually a very adaptive response in the short term because it allows us to hit the pause button. It allows our brain and mind, and body and heart to catch up to understanding what's happening."

What it really does, says Dr. Samra, is it flips our minds dramatically from something that is otherwise overwhelming.

"We use laughter to fill the space when we don't know what to say or when we don't know what to feel."

"Sometimes we laugh because a situation feels so absurd that we actually find comedy in it. We can think, 'Can this really be happening?'," adds Dr. Gabriel.

Not everyone resonates with dark humour or comedy. Certain personalities are a little more attracted to that type of comedy and Dr. Samra advises that, "it's always good to be mindful of the impact to people around us."

She strongly advises against consumption of content that might be harmful and perpetuate negative stereotypes, especially in light of COVID-19.

How much is enough

We have no control over what will make us laugh, but what would happen if we stopped laughing for a while?

"I think if we stopped laughing for a while, we'd have a very serious society. It would be much more likely for us to feel very heavy and weighed down, if we didn't have humour and comedy," says Dr. Samra.

"People do stop laughing sometimes," adds Dr. Gabriel. "When people get depressed, they often don't find anything funny. Some people with personality disorders have a hard time with humour. Neither of those are good situations."

She says that forcing laughter won't work either but comedy can help.

Dr. Rutledge adds that it is also possible to find things funny and have positive emotions without actually laughing.

So, how frequently should we watch comedy and laugh for an improved mood or health? Dr. Samra says we should laugh frequently. "Kids are a beautiful testament to the natural state of being. At least every day we should have moments that are making us laugh and smile."

And you can definitely find those moments on CBC Gem. From Baroness von Sketch Show to Schitt's Creek to School of Life with Ryan Reynolds, it's all there for you, if you need a positivity booster.

How to watch responsibly

Take it easy on yourself and listen to your mood is the advice of all three psychologists.

"We are in an unusual time and for the very first time most of us are dealing with something of this [COVID-19] magnitude, in our lifetime. So, it's too easy to go down that vortex of watching all the news," says Dr. Samra, adding that many of us are immersed for hours checking the news - morning, through the day, before we go to bed - and we just have to balance that out.

She says that bingeing comedies can give us a little bit of a temporary escape from all of that: "It's wonderful, it's healthy, it's good for us and we're supposed to be homebound now anyways so it's a good way to keep us busy."

"If what you feel like you need is an afternoon or evening or nothing but your favourite show, go for it," adds Dr. Gabriel.

"Don't worry about watching too much," echoes Dr. Rutledge, "there's no point in feeling guilty about bingeing. It's much more important to keep your emotions positive."

Dr. Samra explains that it's also very easy for so many of us to start feeling weighed down and focused on all that is out of our control which can result in worries, anxieties and low mood. "It's very important to stay positive and balance that out with humour - whether it's in our home, with our families and friends or whether it's in our work teams."

"Now is the time to allow for guilty pleasures. As long as they are improving and not worsening your mood, you are doing it right," says Dr. Gabriel. "But, if you find that it is all you are doing and you are starting to feel down or unhappy then STOP and do something else."

For that reason they advise we keep a somewhat regular schedule to ensure we get plenty of sleep, exercise, get fresh air, eat well and, of course, virtually meet with friends until it's safe to do otherwise.
Browse through now, figure out which ones make you laugh and enjoy watching, guilt-free!

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Why watching comedies is 'important medicine' | CBC Comedy

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Are comedies good for us? How does watching a comedy affect our mental and physical health? For answers, we turn to psychologists and experts in the media, health and wellness, and psychotherapy fields.

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omedians in Cars Getting Coffee was a nice idea at the time. It was a fun, low-stakes YouTube series where you could spend quarter of an hour watching Larry David or Chris Rock shoot the breeze in a cafe. It wasn't the smartest show. It wasn't the funniest. Its entertainment value largely depended on how much you liked the subject. But that was the fun of it. Jerry Seinfeld didn't need the money, and you didn't need to love it. It was just there as a nice little diversion; something to watch at your desk while you ate a sandwich at work.

But then Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee jumped ship to Netflix, and something has changed. The charm has been lost, and as a result it's genuinely difficult to stir any emotion whatsoever about its new season.

The difference can be boiled down to three main areas. First, and most overwhelmingly, there's the money. In 2017, Netflix announced that it had bought Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee - along with two Jerry Seinfeld standup specials, one of which was formed of archive material - for $100m. And that's ridiculous. Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee isn't a $100m television show. It isn't The Crown. It's a collection of videos where two people sit next to each other and chit-chat to a Go-Pro. That's all. As soon as you start assigning enormous worth to a show like that, it's bound to alter your perception.

If something is slung up on YouTube without fanfare, your expectations are ultimately zero. But when you learn that it cost twice the national GDP of Tuvalu, you can't help but expect something. And not necessarily something spectacular. You might just expect something like basic production values or a soundtrack that doesn't sound like it's ripped directly from the Garageband preset list. And yet the episodes of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee that aired after the Netflix acquisition have been exactly the same in terms of look and feel as the ones that came before it.

There's a huge difference in platform between Netflix and YouTube. When something airs on YouTube, it airs for free and its competition is makeup tutorials and cat videos. Compared to YouTube, Netflix is The Ritz. It's a destination. You pay for Netflix out of your wages, and you expect something of quality in return. You expect cutting-edge drama and amazing comedy. Putting something as tossed-off as Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee on Netflix cheapens the platform and makes the show look worse than ever by comparison.

Seinfeld with Ricky Gervais (again) on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix

And then there's the matter of the guests. In its infancy Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee felt like a hobby, like Jerry Seinfeld had thought about which of his friends would make the most interesting subjects. So we saw Larry David talking about old times and fussing over food. We saw Alec Baldwin at his most charming and gregarious. We even saw Ricky Gervais at his least obnoxious.

But the show is a product now. It's a treadmill, 90 episodes long, and quality control is lapsing. This isn't a byproduct of the Netflix buy-out, incidentally, because the show's nadir arguably came before that with the Christoph Waltz episode, which wasn't just a betrayal of the premise but a slab of flabby filler to boot. The big name of this upcoming series is Eddie Murphy, but it's surrounded by guests that elicit little more than a shrug. Matthew Broderick. Sebastian Maniscalco. Ricky Gervais again. It doesn't exactly seem essential, which is has to be now it's competing with actual television programmes.

YouTube has got on fine without Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. There's a newer - and better - low-stakes interview show now in the form of Hot Ones, where guests like Trevor Noah and The Jonas Brothers answer questions while being assailed by dangerously spicy food. Like Seinfeld's show, it isn't going to change the world. Like Seinfeld's show, it's a fun enough lunchtime watch. And, like Seinfeld's show, it will absolutely fall apart the moment that Netflix pays $100m for the rights.

* This article was amended on 25 July 2019 because an earlier version referred to the show as a "YouTube series", rather than a series on YouTube. This has been clarified because the series was originally broadcast by the platform Crackle, however many viewers watched the show on YouTube.

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Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: how Netflix totalled Seinfeld's star vehicle

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omedians in Cars Getting Coffee was a nice idea at the time. It was a fun, low-stakes YouTube series where you could spend quarter of an hour watching Larry David or Chris Rock shoot the breeze in a cafe. It wasn't the smartest show. It wasn't the funniest.

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After nine seasons, the star's series earned its fourth Emmy nomination, as he looks back on memorable episodes and explains why the Netflix show "is an absolute trifle."

In July 2012, Jerry Seinfeld premiered C omedians in Cars Getting Coffee on Sony's digital platform Crackle, scooping up his funny friends in vintage cars and going for a drive and a coffee date at a local spot. After nine seasons, the show was picked up in 2017 by Netflix for season 10, which earned the series its fourth Emmy nomination - and its first in the informational series or special category. The season's guests included Dave Chappelle, Ellen DeGeneres and Jerry Lewis (filmed a few months before the icon's 2017 death). Days before the 11th season's July 19 debut, Seinfeld, 65, sat down with THR to talk awards, favorite guests and toothpaste brands.
Moving from Crackle to Netflix, how has the show changed over time?
When I get to the editing part of it, I know better what I want to make the show into. Although each show kind of is its own thing and takes me in a different direction, I go, "This one I think is going to be about this, and this one is going to be about this." When you start, you have three hours of material, so let's say you pick out 20 items and you know you can only use 10 of those. It becomes quite a puzzle to assemble it.
Do you have a favorite episode from over the course of the show?
I'm really excited about Eddie Murphy this year because I think a lot of times with interviewers, if I can call myself that, it's like a nut you want to crack. You want to get inside the shell and get to the nut inside - literally, in my case. And I feel like we brought a certain perspective on Eddie that people really want to see and maybe have been missing. It's hard to see these people in the conventional press format that they do; it's hard to get to that person. I think something like Larry King and Charlie Rose, those were the shows where you really - but even on those shows, they don't work as well because the only one who can talk to most people is someone that does what they do, they know how to talk. I think they should just have interviewers on those shows.
How did getting Eddie on the show come about?
We're both from Long Island, we both started at the same club on the same week, the first week of July 1976, and I thought people would really like to see him again. The show's about the life of stand-ups and what our life is like. [A stand-up] show is only an hour; the other 23 hours a day, this is what you're doing.
Do you have someone you still really want to get on the show?
I haven't really thought about it. I don't know if we're continuing at this point. There's a lot of people I'd like to have back - I like doing multiple episodes with certain people.
How do you pick the guests? Do you have a wish list You got another Emmy nom for the show. Is that still exciting for you? ? You mentioned in this season's promos that a lot of copycat shows have popped up. How do you feel about people using your format?
It's a very casual thing, it really is. That was the idea: Let's try to make something. It couldn't be more of a trifle, even though we kill ourselves to make them. The show itself is an absolute trifle. That's what comedy is - it's a trifle, it's a cupcake.
How do you prepare for these interviews?
It's lovely, it's wonderful. Any time people like what you're doing, it's wonderful.
Do you research them beforehand if you don't really know them?
It's just like people saw what I did and said, "That's kind of nice, that's kind of different, let's do that." Does it really bother me? Absolutely not, it was just a bit.
Do you have a preference for who should host the Emmys, or should they go hostless like the Oscars?
I don't. There's no preparation, just a hang.
Would you ever want to do it?
Nope, I look up where they grew up and if they have any kids, just big basic stuff like that, just an interesting person to talk to. I never want to talk about the regular things anyway - they don't interest me. I want to know what toothpaste you use and what you think of these Waterpiks and if they really do anything.
Interview edited for length and clarity. This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
I don't know. Maybe we should have lots of hosts - but I guess that's who the presenters are. I don't know, they seem to be struggling with their awards show: "Who are we now? What is this show now?" It seems to be like it's lost its footing a little bit, the awards show.

No, no.

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Jerry Seinfeld Reflects on His 'Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee' Interview Style and Favorite Guests

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In July 2012, Jerry Seinfeld premiered C omedians in Cars Getting Coffee on Sony's digital platform Crackle, scooping up his funny friends in vintage cars and going for a drive and a coffee date at a local spot.

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Crackle's Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee is a reflection of cultural relativism through Jerry Seinfeld's (creator) understanding of its audience's standards of comedy: to provide an outlet for escapism.

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It's hard to describe the look that appeared on David Letterman's face when Jerry Seinfeld told him why he chose to make "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" a web-series: "I was thinking, what would be a good TV show for a phone?"

It was a mix of curiosity, thinly veiled confusion, and that look your dad would give you when you told him you wanted a tattoo.

Seinfeld sat down with Letterman after previewing the new season of "CCGC" at The Paley Center in New York City on Monday in an interview that felt more like a seminar on thinking outside the (television) box for the veteran late night talk show host.

After watching Jerry tool around Long Island in an old station wagon with Sarah Jessica Parker, Letterman's first few questions were variations on a single theme: "Why isn't this on TV?"

"Are you my agent?" Seinfeld quipped, after rejecting Letterman's suggestion that the series might be better suited for auto-centric TV network Velocity than the Internet. Letterman, who at one point asked what made the series "different than Funny Or Die," also wanted to know why the interviews on "CCGC" couldn't work in front of a live studio audience.

Seinfeld's theory was that, when attempting to show the meandering, silly and sometimes deep conversations that comedians share, you have to remove the audience to keep the participants from dropping into their acts.

"Being funny isn't what a great comedy act is about. Being funny is the fuel, but you have to have a machine to burn it, and that's the act," Seinfeld said, in one of several car analogies that he deployed throughout the night.

Letterman wanted to know why cars were such an important part of the show ("I thought you just found a way to write them off," he joked) and Seinfeld explained that it keeps people watching a show which is essentially (to coin a phrase) "about nothing" a lot longer than they might otherwise.

"Part of what makes the show watchable is that it's always moving. There's no narrative [to] drive the story. We know what happens. We know they're going to get coffee. You need a kinetic energy to move it along," Seinfeld said. "Moving people around keeps them awake."

There was another theme of the night: Letterman's genuine admiration for the show. He had done his homework; he even had favorite episodes - he recapped Louis C.K.'s boat story and called it "fascinating" - and described the Sarah Jessica Parker episode as both "delightful" and "lovely." The word "tremendous" was thrown around quite a bit as well.

When Seinfeld showed two pieces of raw footage followed by the edited versions, Letterman said he was "very impressed" by the finished product.

The audience was, too. Each episode of "CCGC" costs $100,000 on average (guests are paid, but Letterman refused pay for his episode) and it's safe to assume that a big chunk is used for the editing process. The episodes take just three-and-a-half hours to shoot. Seinfeld said that gives him "Just enough" raw material to create a 12-20 minute episode, but the contrast between the unedited footage and the finished product proved that skilled editing is even more important when your show has no plot.

With no writers or directors, Seinfeld sits in on the editing process, which takes a few weeks per episode, to make sure it all fits together. He has no boss or demands from producer Crackle, save for fulfilling his Acura product placement agreements, which he does with tongue-in-cheek, throw-away bits that almost make it tolerable.

After hearing about Seinfeld's lean production staff, lack of network meddling, and how an "edited talk show without an audience" can be watched on people's phones, Letterman seemed a little jealous of Seinfeld's web series, despite being a 30-year staple of American television himself.

""I'm envious of this," Letterman said. "I think this would almost be as satisfying as doing, 'Seinfeld.'"

"No, Dave," Seinfeld flatly said. "This is an hors d'oeuvre. This is a tapas bar. It's an anti-show about a nonevent. If you're being sincere, I'm flattered, but I don't know what you're talking about."

The fact of Letterman's impending departure from television also hung over the evening. He joked that, when people ask him what he'll do after retirement, he responds with, "Look for a job." He even suggested a spin-off series, "Comedians On Horseback Getting Coffee."

But, as a man who has spent 30 years idly chit-chatting with celebrities on TV, Letterman understood Seinfeld's love affair with talking shop with other comedians.

When asked what kind of person makes the best guest, Seinfeld said, "It doesn't matter, as long as I can engage with the person." However, they can't be "normal."

"Anybody who's normal, even a little normal, I'm lost," he said. "I'm not curious. I'm not interested. Oh, you've got a show? I don't care."

"You just described the last 30 years of my life," Letterman commiserated.
Season 4 of "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" premieres June 19 on Crackle.

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Jerry Seinfeld Explains His 'Anti-Show' To David Letterman

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It's hard to describe the look that appeared on David Letterman's face when Jerry Seinfeld told him why he chose to make "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" a web-series: "I was thinking, what would be a good TV show for a phone?"

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Even Jerry Seinfeld gets rejected once in a while. He was told by some of the top social networks and content influencers that his web show--longer than five minutes--would never work on the web. To add insult to injury Seinfeld was shopping around for a sponsor for his web show "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" and he was rejected by coffee titan Howard Schultz.

These examples demonstrate that viral content is not a straight arrow. Many times you throw something at the wall and it doesn't stick. But the web allows you to try out different material in increasingly creative ways. We have a lot to learn about content from Seinfeld's show--now in its fifth season--" Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee."

Eventually Seinfeld got a sponsor for his web show. Acura not only embraced the concept but gave Seinfeld the creative license to write the Acura ads. The ads are catchy, charming and gel nicely with the show without distracting from it.

A Starbucks rejection didn't phase Seinfeld. Nor did the naysayers who told him the format was doomed. "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee"--an edited talk show without the live audience--has been nominated for two Primetime Emmys and received critical acclaim.

Who wouldn't want peruse bear claw donuts with Sarah Silverman, watch Larry David take a break from his spartan diet to try a pancake or listen to Chris Rock talk about how kids need bullying because this shapes them into future innovators? We can't get enough.

Seinfeld said in an interview that he is attracted to people who are "weird." He admits to having zero chemistry with "normal" Hollywood actors. It's the content and characters from Jerry's Bizarro World that create magical moments--moments where you laugh so hard you cry. Weird, funky, eccentric--these are these are the traits that generate eyeballs today. Normal is boring. This was the reason Seinfeld was such a hit. It was eccentric--unlike anything before.

"Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" isn't scripted. The chemistry between the characters is delicious. The mood is cozy, intimate and palpable. You feel like you are riding in those sexy vintage cars with the wildly charismatic guests. They have included Aziz Ansari, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patton Oswalt, Tina Fey, Louis C.K., Brian Regan and the list goes on.

No More Press Releases Published As LinkedIn Posts Please

We know there's a content deluge on the web. Every vendor and brand and Tom, Dick and Harry are looking for attention. But can we all agree that too much junk is being published as "content." Let's stop the madness.

A fan of the show, I pulled three tips from "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" you can apply to your own content creation efforts.

Jerry Seinfeld talked about the making of this show in an interview with David Letterman and in this interview he talks about some of the reasons he thinks the show has taken off, some of the initial uncertainties and more about life according to Jerry.

Three tips anyone can learn from "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee"
1. Does your content have movement?

Whether it's a white paper, webinar, podcast or article--you want to steer clear from me-too content. The content shouldn't sound formulaic or trite. Ask yourself would you take time out of your day to watch, read or listen to the content you're publishing?

Seinfeld in the above interview says he believes the show is only possible because it's always "moving." Jerry has much of the dialogue happening in a car giving it a "kinetic energy." The editing of the dialogue creates an overall tone and rhythm. Anything can happen in that car ride to the coffee shop. Seinfeld and a guest often go to a second location all with "movement" in mind. The viewer never knows what adventure the segment will bring.

Remember that content is not only about educating your customers, peers and audiences--it's about entertainment people who are probably multitasking and have a short attention span. Make it lively for them. Give the content movement. Create something that feels as lively as a dance.

2. Do people care about the topic?

It's rare that I see trending topics on social media about VRM, CRM or manufacturing processes. While this is perhaps what some of us do day to day it's nice to mix up your "editorial calendar." Create something inspired and magical.

Seinfeld knows his audience cares about cars and coffee. Seinfeld said "people like those things. Let's make a show where we pour over those things with affection." That sounds pretty simple but it's true--people love cars and coffee. These two symbols conjure powerful emotion. They bring back memories, conversations and sensations. Ideally the content focuses on something that makes a person's blood boil or makes them laugh or makes them *feel* anything at all.

3. What's the optimal length for your content?

Seinfeld looks at the analytics for his show. In an interview he said most people watch "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" while at work. If you knew that would you alter your content approach? The data can help you create smarter formats that are optimal for not only timing but the device the content is being consumed on.

Seinfeld says he met with the top Facebook guy, the YouTube lady and another esteemed content futurist. They all told him the show wouldn't work if it was longer than five minutes. In turns out the average viewer tunes in to "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" for 19 minutes--the full segment.

You don't always know what will resonate with your audience. By testing different formats and versions you will get your best feedback. Don't always listen to your peers about what will and won't work.

In conclusion you might get rejected--after all Seinfeld did by Howard Schultz--but if you keep at it eventually you will find your voice.

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3 Content Tips From "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee"

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Even Jerry Seinfeld gets rejected once in a while. He was told by some of the top social networks and content influencers that his web show--longer than five minutes--would never work on the web. To add insult to injury Seinfeld was shopping around for a sponsor for his web show "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" and he was rejected by coffee titan Howard Schultz.

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Larry David Tells Jerry Seinfeld About His Snacking Problems | Netflix Is A Joke