Ticket 2 Ride

It’s been a long time since I’ve attended a performance by a comedian.

My wife purchased these tickets months ago as a wedding anniversary gift for us. It’s only fitting that Seinfeld’s comedy routine dealt with marriage and the relationship between husbands and wives.

Seinfeld said he’s been married for 26 years and has three children. Seinfeld made a lot of jokes about the differences between husbands and wives, and advice for a good relationship, which involves showing up and not asking too many questions. At age 72, Seinfeld didn’t get married until his 40s, and makes a few jokes about his kids and not enjoying family vacations. If you’ve listened to comedian Jim Gaffigan, who has five kids, he and Seinfeld can riff pretty good about the mysteries and challenges of parenthood. All in jest.

During his approximately 75 minute show, Seinfeld covered a variety of subjects, somehow weaving them into a minimum of subject-jumping. Seinfeld is of course known as finding the interesting in nothing, or the ridiculous, or the subjects already dissected by other comedians.

Occasionally, he went into subjects where a wrong turn might been a joke too far. Like the Titan submersible dive to see the Titanic. Or the business models of hospitals and cemeteries. Hospitals could be marketed as “bed, bath and beyond.” At one point, Seinfeld recognized the sensitivity level and recalled a joke. It was all part of his routine.

We don’t think of Jerry Seinfeld as a Richard Pryor or Louis CK. His comedy is edgy, but more like PG – edgy. No political jokes or anything too topical, although he did riff on AI.

Seinfeld’s delivery is sprinkled with a few curse words, but nothing over the top. We do associate Seinfeld with likability, wit, and superb comic delivery. Instead of phoning it in, which he could do at this point in his career, he feeds off his connection with his audience. That has never changed, despite his swelling bank account, magnificent estates and royal treatment when he travels.

On stage, it’s just him, a microphone and a glass of water. No elaborate stage dressing or props. It’s just a comedian finding common ground with his audience.

His bit on Flex Seal products is a rehash of an older routine, but it’s still funny. Same with his routine about Frankenstein’s monster’s sport coat. Most of us have never really paid much attention to the monster’s attire, but Seinfeld gets mileage out of it. Something I hadn’t given much thought, Seinfeld builds up a joke using his voice to increase with volume and emphasis, giving it almost a whiny vibe. Remember, “I don’t want to be a pirate”, when presented with the puffy shirt?

Marriage, kids, aging, smartphones, and even coffee v. tea. “I hate tea,” he rants, later in the evening. “I hate it! Tea does not understand how hard life is! All these names … darjeeling, chamomile, jasmine. What am I, in a whorehouse on the Bayou?”

Seinfeld is into coffee like he is classic, Porsche cars. He even owns a Steve McQueen Porsche. Back to coffee, Seinfeld owns a $17,000 vintage-styled Elektra Belle Epoque espresso machine. No light brown hot water with a squeeze of lemon or milk. Bring the caffeine, baby!

Seinfeld was done very well for himself. His initial salary for Seinfeld the show was $20k for each of five episodes. At the end of season nine, NBC offered him $5m per episode if he would come back for a tenth season. He said no. It was time to move on.

According to Bloomberg, he and co-creator Larry David each negotiated a 15% backend ownership deal in Seinfeld. Syndication deals alone have generated an estimated $465 million for Seinfeld, according to Bloomberg, with Netflix paying more than $500 million for global streaming rights in 2019. Don’t worry about Jerry, Forbes has his worth at over $1b.

The Seinfeld’s Hamptons home includes a 22-car garage, ideal for his extensive antique car collection, including over 150 cars that he keeps in a custom-built $1.4 million garage on Manhattan’ Upper West Side. That’s according to Architectural Digest.

Why keep working with his net wealth? Why not. Audiences love him and the pay is good. Starlight was nearly full, only a few of their 8,000 seats not filled.

At the end of the show, Seinfeld announced that he would take a few audience questions. Everyone shouted questions.

“But you’re a cashier,” someone yelled from the audience. “Are we going to trade lines from the show?” Seinfeld asked, before moving on to answer question. Seinfeld and other cast members have said that fans on the street shout out lines from episodes. Seinfeld lives on.

After arriving home from the concert, we did our nightly routine of watching Seinfeld before falling asleep. Jerry Seinfeld has stated that “The Marine Biologist” is his favorite episode of Seinfeld. The episode that played when we pulled up Netflix?