I admire how after the first couple jokes it was dead silence...but he just hung in there and ended up having a great set. There's a lesson to be learned there.
It's pretty common in stand up. People need to be reeled in. It all reads differently on a screen. I'm not an expert, but get to watch 5 to 700 comedians a year working at a busy comedy club.
I met Jerry through Make A Wish foundation after having brain cancer at 16. I even gave him some of my jokes to review and he wrote back to me with a few revisions, but at the end he said, DON'T GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS. YOU ARE FUNNY!
Holy crap young Seinfeld is superb at working through 0 laughter in the first few seconds of his set. I'm beginning to realize the difference between bombing or not is not showing fear
@@dennisneo1608 he rarely does, but they did a whole show on masturbation on Seinfeld. But he is a very clean comedian. I think he only said "fuck" in one bit on stage.
@Real Talk True Story It's true. Even if you didn't knew it, but you can tell when Larry stopped being a part of the TV show (after threatening several years in a row to do so, he finally did it, and quit.).
Seinfeld was able to consistently write jokes that just met the threshold of being funny. I’ve never heard him tell a joke that made me bust up laughing, but I’ve also never watched him do a set and thought that it wasn’t funny at all. He was a workhorse.
Yea well put.. it seems like he is walking the line of what he thinks is acceptable and not going further than that. Not really much risk taken. I prefer a louis ck or carlin who are going to plow over that line and drag you with them, and make you glad they did afterwards.
lol! I know! why don't you call people names? you know, like "putz". that way we'll be sure to take you seriously and you wont sound at all like a junior high kid! and it's "hear". Stay in school Mavis Morely.
Jerry has probably been the most naturally gifted for this type of clean comedy. He clicked from the getgo almost. If you watch Leno's career, he wasn't as good when young but by his 30s the man had mastered the artform. Jerry came out almost being a master himself.
His confidence was amazing. It must have something to do with realizing he could get people to laugh about freakin' slippers and socks. You can do that, you got nothing to worry about.
In 1981, while this was being filmed, Michael Richards was one of the cast members on ABC's Fridays television show, where Larry David was a writer. Jason Alexander dropped out of Boston University that year and began an acting career. Julia Louis-Dreyfus was 2 years out of high school and 1 year away from joining the cast of SNL, where she would work with Larry David who was a writer there from 1984-85. In 1981, Jerry and Larry David had already known each other for a few years.
? Really I feel like he was getting laughs before he even told a joke (his first joke was "can you see what the weather is like with that shot", so it was an easy crowd.
Performing by yourself is excruciating. I can only imagine how bad it is when you have to make the majority group laugh, consistently, to be considered successful. I'd be shaking and stuttering.
Back in the 90s I did not find him funny. Things done changed. I might be rolling on the floor with laughter, but his jokes get that "oh yeah, that's funny" instead. They're smart jokes.
I was there...the Roxy on the Sunset Strip. Other comedians on the bill were Howie Mandell, Maureen Murphey, Harry Anderson, Rick Overton, and Richard Lewis.
I remember watching this on HBO as a kid and holding a tape recorder up to the TV. Still have the cassette tape. I wish this whole special was on RU-vid
You can tell by his confident set he knew he was going SOMEWHERE, but he couldn’t have known he would have the show of a generation. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to see him live. Went with my best friend on my birthday in Charlotte. And lemme tell ya, that crowd didn’t give the man the crowd he deserved. Or I was too hammered to notice everyone else. I just kept standing up giving a standing o. We were the youngest ones there by a decade.
This is super star in the making. He had everything in him to make him what he has become today. Perfect comic timing, good humorous material and natural charm. He was born to rule show business.
Thank God for Jerry Seinfeld too, main star, script supervisor and co creator of the show, as well as one of the most successful stand up comics ever. a true professional and living legend!
It is incredible that he made these jokes in 1981. And here I am laughing at them after 42 years. Still funny. Even the video is uploaded 15 years ago. His jokes from the little details of the life are so relatable that you can laugh them regardless of time.
Little did Jerry know that he would have the funniest sitcoms in the history of television, named after him and he would go on to become a BILLIONAIRE.
@@mpup54 How can he be overpaid from the standpoint that everyone made money off of him no matter how much he made? He got paid a gazillion for Seinfeld and its syndication. But the buyers made even more! No one has ever been left holding the bag because Jerry Seinfeld took all the money and left anyone with bills to pay. Whatever you don't like about him, he's hugely loved as a comedian. He's only overpaid because you don't think he's worth the money, but he is!
@@mpup54 I disagree. He obviously has talent and is enjoyed by millions of people. To say he is the most overpaid makes no sense, as people shell out some big bucks to see his comedy routines when he does them live. So while he might not be your cup of tea, other people obviously disagree.
I noticed that Steinfeld thing as well. Then i think the other host corrected him by saying it properly. I honestly never heard of Jerry Seinfeld until he got the tv show. This was my first time seeing this. I thought it was fairly good, especially considering how old it is by now.
Great material - delivery gets much better later on in years. But you can tell one thing for sure - here is a guy who sits down and writes jokes. It's not just about his relationships or friendships or a job or whatever - it's creative material. Love watching him work.
Jokes about missing socks are "good material". I would call that "pedestrian observation that panders to the masses". His set is tired -just like old sock jokes. He does have a funny way about him; a funny way of presenting these things; but I would call his stuff FAR from revolutionary.
He is actually brilliant. I saw the pilot, called my husband and told him I had just seen the best show I had ever seen. His speech, his wry smile, his demeanor all funny, at least to me. Cuss words are cheap comedy
Wow fantastic! He was taking about nothing from Day 1. Now I understand why he based his TV series on that concept. Weather, socks, etc. And he made it work! Good job Jerry.
Wow, one of the best sets I've seen from him! This, and the Netflix special. At opposite ends of his career, still funny as heck. But I really like how he laughs at his own jokes more here.
The reason I like Seinfeld is that he's not false. He's largely a jerk, he's damn good at what he does and he knows it and he enjoys the rewards of his work. He won't put on a face, he will not engage with fans AT ALL, because he doesn't have to and doesn't owe anyone anything, and if he goes on a talk show he's a tough interview because he's not a good time yes man. It's hard to explain, but I appreciate him for it. He's neither an intentional asshole or a good guy, and everyone still loves him. I feel like that's the goal.
I use to do landscape work for Todd Glass's parents and Todd would invite me and some friends to The Comedy Works In Philadelphia to see his show. One week he said this one comedian is real funny and you have to see him, it was Jerry Seinfeld. We went and saw him, it was almost this same show as this video and he was very funny. Those comedy clubs back in the early 80's were small but a lot of fun.
scrapplepig weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/irma-major-hurricane-atlantic-ocean-intensification Hurricane Irma is a Major weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/irma-major-hurricane-atlantic-ocean-intensification Hurricane Irma is a Major Hurricane Again with 115 mph Winds; Potential Leeward Islands Threat zxNext Week; U.S. ... Again with 115 mph Winds; Potential Leeward Islands Threat Next Week; U.S. ...
I used to live by The Main Street Comedy Club in Ann Arbor, MI and, you're correct, these small clubs are great for comedy. Kirkland Teeple, Tim Allen, Scott Larose, Dennis Wolfberg, Sam Kinison, Richard Jeni. Great experiences.
Its very interesting to see him here, knowing that he's probably poor and drives a POS car. Having no clue what his future holds. But we know! I love this!
he wasn't doing too badly he scored a role on benson after this and during the 80s he was a regular on letterman, even without his 90s show he would've done okay
Has always been able to fight through the silence until he gets the laugh, has always been able to come up with observations/write bits that most will laugh at, and when you throw in Larry David they are and unstoppable comedy duo, the best of which has ever been. Amazing.
Jerry has a nice even smooth tempo and has great use of the English language to take everyday issues and make them entertaining hence the success of the sitcom Seinfeld.
I started this after a work to cool down and drifted off till he got a break in his act and I picked it back up. After, his charisma and confidence shines. I admire his mind and creative flow. Seems legit
amazing performance.. this is why he is who he is today and has all that fucking money seinfeld favorite sitcom ever, watched each episode at least two dozen times each
@Žööky Wįlldé The value of the dollar was actually destroyed deliberately by the gov. Capitalism has created enough deflation that we are as comfortable as we are.
I never found Jerry Seinfeld's standup that funny. I mean, he has got great observational references. And some of his bits are funny, but I GREATLY admire his comedic timing and confidence...
Gavin Wilshaw -he also probably knew the material he still had for the rest of the set was going get the wheels off the ground. Patience was the key there.
His jokes are apt for the time. You have to remember TV in America back then was very controlled regarding content with their Christian type regulations. But that has been Jerry’s smart approach for mass marketing, so he even did quite well in the Bible Belt states, where a lot of comics never performed or were shown.
That sums up Jerry Seinfeld's style in general. Ive never laughed too hard at a Seinfeld joke, he's not the best writer and keeps it tame. His delivery is certainly master-class though.
zalllon Comedy was considerably raunchier back in this time. It’s this day & age that’s gotten all uptight, to the point that comedians won’t even play colleges anymore. Look at Bob Saget’s performances that were basically 15 minutes of jokes about necrophilia & molesting children. Look at old episodes of All in the Family, or The Jeffersons. You couldn’t even put that on ACPBC, CBS or NBC nowadays, people would be beyond offended & flooding twitter, demanding the show be taken off the air. This was also on HBO, so the broadcasting has nothing to do with it. The whole ‘Christian’ thing didn’t really start until the mid 90’s, as a reaction to the Clinton administration. The Christian Coalition & Newt Gingrich all came out of that time.
Jerry Seinfeld is a great inspiration to any comedian because he is living proof that being funny is not a requirement for success. Just surround yourself with people with actual talent and they will carry your dead weight through a popular tv show.
Pretty cool how you can see how precise he is with his act. Nothing is left to chance. He's not nearly as smooth in his earlier years, that gives opportunity to see how he does his thing.
When Jerry is talking about the heaviest man he has mixed it up a bit. Bob Hugh was indeed the fattest of his time, but he weighed 1071 pounds at his heaviest. The person Jerry is referring to in this stand-up is Jon Brower Minnoch who were alive in 1981 (he died in 1983). Jon Brower's top weight was indeed 1400 pounds.
