Best of 2024: Jerry Seinfeld on the Mike Hosking Breakfast

"I never stop": Jerry Seinfeld discusses NZ tour, comedy career 

One of the most iconic names in comedy, Jerry Seinfeld is no stranger to audiences. 

He’s been performing since the late 1970’s, creating and starring in the semi-fictionalised sitcom of his own life —Seinfeld— which became the most watched sitcom in American television by its third season. 

Seinfeld is returning to New Zealand, bringing his comedy tour to kiwi stages, and while for most tours are sporadic the comedian revealed that he’s always on the road. 

“I’m always touring,” he told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking. 

“I never stop.” 

He compared it to muscle memory, saying that stopping would have him lose the sharpness of his comedy. 

“You can do this because if you stop and think about it too much, it doesn’t look possible. How could I walk out there onto that stage and not come back for an hour?” 

Despite his status as a comic legend, Seinfeld doesn’t view himself the same way, revealing that most comedians are driven by doubt. 

“It is a tricky, a little balance beam to do your dance on.” 

Unlike many other comedians Seinfeld’s show doesn’t have a name, and he told Hosking that that’s for the younger people. 

“I did a sitcom so I don’t have to do that,” he said. 

“I hope you like it, but if you don’t, that’s fine too.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do we even need to bother with an intro to
Jerry Seinfeld. He's here in June with a new show.
His movie on Frosted Rhymes on Netflix later on this week.
So Jerry Seinfeld is whether it's from New York, good morning,
Good morning Mike.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
It's great to be back in New Zealand via zoom.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Now you're excited to mean, is this a tour? It's
it's like, are you like a rock and roller who's
on the road.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yes, but I don't. I don't go like they go
like for three months and then I'm off for a
year or whatever they do. I'm always touring. I never
stopped comedy. You can't. You can't ever really stop it.
If you want to maintain the uh, the the sharpness
of it, you have to keep doing it.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
It's going to ask you about that. Actually it is
it muscle memory, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
And the thing you have to remember is that you
can do this because if you stop and think about
it too much, it doesn't look possible. How could I
walk out there onto that stage and not come back
for an hour?

Speaker 1 (00:58):
But I mean, having said that, your Jerry's I mean,
and you know you can do it?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, you think see me that way, but I don't
see myself that way.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
It's another great thing about comedians. You've got this this
this Sullivan built self doubt, and that's basically what drives you.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
It's not self doubt, it's actual doubt. Uh it. It
is a tricky, a little balance beam to do your
dance on.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Now this this show this too. I mean it's it's
about to begin now, which I mean have you worked it?
I mean, have you been in front of anybody with it?
Have you tasted it?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
I'm I'm this is what I'm saying. I'm always I
was doing shows. Uh, last weekend in in Uh, i
was in Dayton, Ohio. And uh this weekend I'm in Reno,
Nevada and Northern California, and then I'll be at the

(01:49):
Hollywood Bowl in LA next week doing two shows there.
So yeah, so there's uh, there's a bunch of shows right.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
There now, the Hollywood Bowl. I'm looking at that. That
that's that's going to be Is that a Netflix thing?
Is that going to be filmed?

Speaker 2 (02:02):
That's a Netflix. It's it's me Jim Gaffigan, Sebastian Maniscalco
and uh.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
M and oh yeah, oh what's his name, Oh, what's
his name?

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Nate Bargatzi?

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Do they does that? Does that make any difference to
you when they say this is Netflix and you got
cameras on you? I mean, does that sort of build
the build the tension?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yes, it normally would, but this is not The show
is not going to be for air. It's just a
part of the Netflix is a joke comedy festival.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Oh okay, So it would have made a difference if
it was for.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Air, Yes, it would.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Now the show's about what I can't find a name?
Has it got a name?

Speaker 2 (02:41):
What show?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Your show?

Speaker 2 (02:44):
My show?

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
No, my show has no name. I don't that's for
the younger people. I did it. I did a sitcom,
so I don't have to do that.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
It's just like I'm.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Here, Yes, right, I hope you like it. If you don't,
that's fine too.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
The reason I ask you about the dates all of
the shows is, I note, you've got a significant birthday
in the next couple of days. Am I correct?

Speaker 2 (03:08):
I'll be seventy next week, all.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Right, so help me out. See I'm fifty nine and
I've got obviously a significant one coming up shortly as well.
Then I can't work out what to do. What do
you do with round numbers? You know, sixty or seventy.
They're big deals, aren't they.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
Sixty? Yeah, sixty is fantastic. I love my sixties. I
had a bit about when you're sixty, you don't turn
around anymore. Someone says, turn you got to go see this.
I'm not gonna stop and turn around. I'll see it
on the way back. I'll google it. I'm sure it's
like something else I've already seen. Seventy. I was heard.

(03:42):
I was at this show the other day and they
were mentioning some names. You know, they always mentioned these
pop stars, singers and that you haven't heard of. And
I used to think, who is that? Who is that person?
Are they popular? What do they do? Now it's just
you enjoy it. Go enjoy it, really.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Because I'm figuring on. I look at you. I mean,
for goodness sake, I'm inspired by you. You you look amazing,
you look like I mean, we look like the same
age for God's sake, absolutely the same, exactly. So there
is hope at seventy. It doesn't matter what you do
at sixty. There's a good time to be had at seventy,
as well, I got.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Some news for you. Make it doesn't matter what you do.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Ever, really, I mean, what do you do? What are
you closing the town down? Have you got a cake?
What do you do?

Speaker 2 (04:21):
No, my wife gave me a fantastic sixty fifth birthday party,
and I thought, you know, and that one was so great.
That's gonna be it. So I'm going to go to
dinner with two friends. Yeah, my wife and al go
dinner with another couple. And now maybe I'll have a
brownie or something with a candle in it. I just
I've lost interest.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
So is there a point in your life where it's
all basically cream on the cake? I mean, and the
coffee and cast thing that you did? I mean, I just,
I just I'm such a fan of that. And what
I got out of that series is that you appear
so complete. It's just like, you know, here we are,
let's talk. Everything's fantastic.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Well, I'll tell you the way I looked at it,
it's like, what do I read you? You know, when
you get older, This is the great part about getting older, Mike.
It's not something too a fear. It's something that you
can be really enjoyable. You stop doing the things you
don't really like, And what I like is just sit
and talk with an interesting person over a cup of coffee.

(05:22):
I enjoy that more than you know, vacations or I
don't know what people do, fishing, golfing, boating, skiing. I
tried it. It's okay. I really rather just talk.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
To somebody that's lovely. That episode, you know, the one
with Michael Richards, I mean that boy that really was moving,
wasn't it.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
I'm glad you got that from it, because that's what
I thought it was. I felt that, and I was
hoping other people would get it. Yeah. You know, there
was a particular piece of music, believe it or not,
that the editor chose for that last segment of it
where Michael was in the parking lot making those little

(06:05):
kids laugh, and the music just fit that scene and
it was I found it very touching, very emotional.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
I'm not surprised people if they haven't seen that, they
should look it up. But we've got Unfrosted coming on
Netflix later on this week. Speaking of which, by the way,
Bill Burr, who's in Unfrosted, but he also happens to
be on the road at the same time you're on
the road, and I am wondering, you know, I'm looking
at the other former president and court in your city
at the moment, and looking at the universities that are
a complete mess at the moment. Is a tricky time

(06:33):
to be funny in American.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
I don't find that, no, because audiences are always telling
you exactly where the lines are and aren't. I will
get protesters here sometimes at my shows because I'm Jewish,
and they just they don't realize really all their you know,
pro Palestinian. We really just don't like Jews. And now

(06:57):
we have a cover. This is our That's fine. You know,
I've been Jewish my whole life. I know this game.
So so whenever I have that, I make fun of
it in the show and the audience is fine with it.
They laugh along with it, you know. So stand up

(07:19):
comedy you get you get a sense of exactly where
the public is on everything.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
See Chelsea Handler the other night had some trouble at
one of whose shows. Are people protesting and stuff like that?
That doesn't does it bother you? If they started, you know,
standing up at your show with a flag.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
That would be a that's a challenge, that's challenging.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
As regards to the movie in Bill Burr, which you
also you know, did him with the coffee thing, and
that was fantastic and people should look that up if
they have time. Anyway, angsty time in America. Is it
more difficult for him given the sort of material he
rolls out?

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Oh no, I think I think people find Bill Burdabye
just a breath of fresh air, not to use the cliche,
but because they know he's not afraid, and we really
need people like that that will just tell you their opinion.
We're okay with anyone's opinion. You know, nobody wants to

(08:15):
be yelled at and nobody wants to be forced to agree.
But whatever your opinion is, if you're confident in it,
then say it. We can all hear it. It's not
a problem.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Now the movie, which is just a couple of days away,
your directorial debut. This all came about during the virus.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Yeah the virus. Yes, yes, the virus was just ending.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
And did you sit out and go, look, I'm sick
of being locked down here. I might as well make
a movie. Or was it more organic than that?

Speaker 2 (08:41):
What was organic was I wasn't doing any stand up
and so my friend Spike Ferris, and said, why don't
we write a movie? So we wrote the movie and
the script came out so good that Netflix wanted to
make it, and that just seemed like a crazy thing
to do. So I did it.

Speaker 1 (08:59):
And how many people in this movie? And what a
list there is?

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Ah? Do you?

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Because Seinfeld cold and I got well, I got to
do it.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
I have no idea. You'd have to ask them that,
but I was sure grateful for them to say yes.
And it was amazing working with all of them. There's
some incredible talents there, from Melissa McCarthy to Peter Dinkland,
Hugh Grant and Amy Schumer, and they're just so funny,
so talented, so it was amazing. I loved it.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
How do you write yourself as a director?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Oh, I'm very good as a director because I am
the writer, so I know what this scene is about
and I know what makes it work. I'm not interpreting
someone else's idea. I know the idea. So it's being
a writer director is actually easier, I think than just
being a director.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
Is it fun? I mean, you know, like directing writing
movies versus outn't you know, stand up versus television.

Speaker 2 (09:55):
It's all fun to me. A comedy is a an aquarium.
As long as I'm in the aquarium, I am okay,
and I'm happy, and I know what I'm doing pretty much.
This is a completely different type of thing. This was
a big, one of those big restaurant aquariums, but it
was a wild ride. I loved it.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Now this of course will be a smash. And if
it's a smash, they want another one.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Presumably they can want what they want. Anybody can want things.
It's okay to want anything you like, doesn't mean you're
going to get it.

Speaker 1 (10:29):
Britain, looking forward to seeing you in the country. I
hope the rest of the tour goes well. I hope
the party and the brownie and the candle is brilliant,
and we'll look forward to seeing you when you get here.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
Like it's been a pleasure talking with you. You're a very
nice chap.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
And we got Jerry Seinfeld out of New York for
you this morning. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast,
listen live to news Talks it'd be from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.