Does Jerry Seinfeld Watch TV?

By Andrew Sanford | TV | April 30, 2024 |

By Andrew Sanford | TV | April 30, 2024 |

A recent episode of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia features Danny DeVito using anal beads to help him cheat at chess. The movement gets so out of control that it leaves him writhing on the floor. Another involves the gang going bowling so Dennis (played by Glenn Howerton) can make a point about men being superior to women. An episode of The Righteous Gemstones includes a fight where one of the participants is naked and eventually beaten after being grabbed forcefully by his penis.

Don’t tell Jerry Seinfeld! According to the comedian, TV ain’t what it used to be. You can’t get away with anything anymore! If Seinfeld were made today, there would be no funny jokes. Instead, they would do something tame and uninspired like, I don’t know, jokingly recreating the creation of Pop-Tarts. It’s a different time! There’s no way he could be funny today (his words).

Jerry recently sat down with The New Yorker and lamented not being able to joke like he used to. “We did an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer decides to start a business of having homeless people pull rickshaws because, as he says, ‘They’re outside anyway,’” the comedian said. “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.” Sounds like a skill issue to me.

He didn’t stop there! The Bee Movie star made it clear who he thinks the culprit is. “[In decades past, people] just expected there’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight,” he told the outlet. “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. Now they’re 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’s our thought about this joke.’ Well, that’s the end of your comedy.”

Jerry claims that Larry David only got to do Curb Your Enthusiasm because he’s been “grandfathered” in. He also points out that “there were no sitcoms picked up on the fall season of all four networks. Not one. No new sitcoms.” Does Jerry still watch TV? Does he understand that the four networks he’s referencing aren’t the only places to watch sitcoms? Things are different, yes, but that does not mean we are overwhelmed with unfunny shows about “P.C. crap.”

The content is not the issue. There are plenty of shows that continue to push the boundaries, for better and for worse. Rick & Morty used a giant baby created from incest as a plot point for two episodes. It may not always work, but this idea that comedy is no longer pushing boundaries or taking risks is absurd. It reflects more on Seinfeld than it does on today’s television landscape.