Jerry Seinfeld Isn't Wrong

We All Need to Lighten Up, Not Be So Serious...and Enjoy a Good Laugh at Ourselves

In a recent story in the New Yorker, famed comedian Jerry Seinfeld said while touting his feature directorial effort “Unfrosted” that “P.C. crap” and the “extreme left” is making television comedy go extinct. Seinfeld is a sitcom icon thanks to his eponymous NBC sitcom that ran between 1989 and 1998, but he says viewers no longer flock to their television sets in order to get their comedy fix like they did for decades.

“It used to be, you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, ‘Oh, “Cheers” is on. Oh, “MASH” is on. Oh, “Mary Tyler Moore” is on. “All in the Family” is on.’ 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.” Part of the problem he rightly attributes to network executives, fearful of blowback if something gets too edgy and watering it down. Nonetheless, a lot of comedians refuse to cater to a younger crowd these days, avoiding college campuses particularly, because they simply take the issues being discussed too seriously. Comedy used to be an area that was perfect for social commentary, because everyone was expecting to be made fun of in some way and smiled at it often acknowledging the hypocrisy and ridiculousness; today, social commentary as humor is out, except among discrete target audiences, because nobody wants to be made fun of and prefers obliviousness than to be called out on it.

Now, I would note that it is not just “the extreme left” but also “the extreme right.” In fact, at the time Seinfeld’s classic sitcom was taking off, it was often the conservatives who complained openly and loudly about many of the gags seen on many sitcoms back in the day. George H.W. Bush himself flat out tried picking a fight with Bart Simpson¹ and Dan Quayle tried mocking Murphy Brown, which backfired spectactularly (Murphy Brown won the Emmy for Best Comedy that year). But people, especially liberals at the time, rightfully saw that claptrap for what it was back in the day, blatant prudishness. Somehow South Park has survived over 26 seasons mocking everybody and every sacred cow imaginable. Today, it’s something different in that people only want to hear jokes that cater to their existing political viewpoints, and to joke about them seems, well, unseemly. And marketing departments want to avoid that altogether.

That was the problem with a recent sitcom pitched by comedians Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, the hilarious writers of the comedy show, “Mr. Show.” Cross and Odenkirk wrote and developed the show, which would have been an eight-episode limited series. He said the show’s pitch ignited a bidding war between four different networks. “We went with Paramount+, and we wrote up the first four episodes and then a really specific, extensive bible for the last four — all of which we had pitched, like, ‘Here’s the story, here are the characters and here’s how it would work…And then they said no, which was weird because it was what we pitched.” Cross went on to say that the reason Paramount+ scrapped the series was because of the “marketing and analytics department not getting it, not wanting it.” Cross said he learned early on in his career how much influence the marketing department has over development decisions, and that what happened to their show is “an ugly reminder” that “they have all the fucking power!” Cross continued, “If the marketing department doesn’t have the imagination to take a preexisting idea, and figure out […] how to sell it, then they can say no.” Marketing comedy is a lot harder today than ever before.

Nowadays, people can’t seem to decide whether they think Dave Chappelle is or was funny unless they inject his politics into the discussion. They praise comedians not based on how funny they are being but on what political scores they are making, and disregard extremely hilarious comedians who have the audacity to point out the lunacy and hypocrisy in that.

Now, some valid criticisms of Seinfeld’s point can be made. First, the days of the 30 minute single camera sitcom anchoring the evening at 8 p.m. are over. People get their entertainment from too many various sources, and often watch the same shows through different methods. Abbott Elementary for instance airs on ABC, but then also can be streamed starting the next day on Hulu, where more people watch it. Likewise, there are still some vestiges of comedy shows out there; the forementioned Abbott, Simpsons, and South Park, Young Sheldon, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, etc. But it still has to be mentioned that there are much fewer, hasn’t been much new to laugh at in some time, and some of those programs are getting long in the tooth. It still doesn’t change Seinfeld’s main criticism, that there aren’t very many of them and that the humor is very much watered down.

When I look at the ‘80s and ‘90s, we were living through a golden age of comedy. When I look back at those times, I think of Eddie Murphy, Steven Wright, Sam Kinison, George Carlin. I beg everyone to watch Richard Pryor’s standup from the 1970s, which was as much a social commentary as it was hilarious. I think about how MTV had a show called the “Half Hour Comedy Hour” showcasing up and coming comedians, and how it was common to see HBO on Saturday nights showing a featured comedian doing a stand up special. Comedy groups like The Kids in the Hall or The State. How It wasn't uncommon to see an entire network lineup of comedies on a given night. It was an embarrassment of riches. Watching some of those comedians, it was impossible not to laugh; sometimes it was hard to breathe you were laughing so hard. Now, after awhile the formula became routine; comedian makes sarcastic humorous quips, sometimes edgy, sometimes just observational, and then they’d wrap it up and say “Good night, god bless” wave their hand and walk off stage. The format got dull and repetitive, so it evolved to more improv comedy like “Who’s line is it Anyway?” Nothing has come up since to take that place.

Since then, too many have lost the humor to laugh not only at what is on stage but at themselves. You can’t make fun of the ridiculousness of life without finding something ridiculous in anyone, including ourselves. Our social mores are a comedic goldmine for laughing. But we are less and less able to make fun of it for fear of offense.

And that is where comedy turns to tragedy.

PurpleAmerica’s Cultural Corner

In honor of some of those great comedians, here are some classic bits from some very funny people. As you watch these, ask how much would make it today.

Eddie Murphy

Sam Kinison

Steven Wright

Rodney Dangerfield

PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day

As much as famed movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert disagreed with each other, and agreed in their dislike of many of the comedies in the 80s, one thing they consistently agreed on. Comedians make great dramatic actors.

The reason is timing. You can teach an actor to act, but it’s hard to make them funny. So much of it has to do with how one carries themselves and the timing in the delivery. That’s why its easier for a comedian to do drama than the other way around. They often praised such actors as Bill Murray, Steve Martin, John Candy and in the early 90s Tom Hanks, for taking serious roles and providing a genuine pathos to the characters.

PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject

Let’s give to my favorite comedian, George Carlin. This bit actually took him to the Supreme Court (contrary to what many think, he actually lost), and is as funny now as it was then.

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Footnotes and Fun Stuff

1. Something that resulted in one of the funniest early episodes, one where the Bushes move next door to Homer, Bart and family and a minor war between the Simpsons and Bushes ensues. It ends with Homer having a beer with Gerald Ford, who moves into the Bushes home after they leave. Coincidentally, the same scenario led to another great episode when Marge leads a conservative parents group crticizing the violence on Itchy and Scratchy; the hypocrisy between one form of artistic expression and another are very pointedly made plain.