Seinfeld's Standup Sequences: From Central Gimmick to Outdated Relic

The article discusses how Jerry Seinfeld's early standup monologues were integral to the original Seinfeld format, tying jokes to episode plots. It explains how the show evolved into a broader social satire, abandoning frequent standup segments, and how the once-innovative but now dated standup style is viewed in hindsight. When NBC executives approached Jerry Seinfeld about creating his own series for their network — just as it would later be depicted on the resulting series, Seinfeld, in its fourth season — he teamed up with his friend and fellow comic Larry David to come up with a concept. In Seinfeld season 4, Jerry's fictionalized alter ego and Larry's own avatar, George Costanza, come to the president of NBC with an idea for a 'show about nothing,' which has become a popular label for Seinfeld itself. But when Seinfeld and David were pitching the real show to real network executives, they had a very different take. Seinfeld was originally pitched as a show about how a comedian gets his material. Jerry would invite a woman over to stay at his apartment, be surprised to learn that she's engaged, and then go up on stage and do a standup routine about women sending mixed signals. In the first couple of seasons, it stuck to that premise. The standup sequences were featured heavily — not just over the opening and closing credits, but in between scenes throughout the episode, too — and the material was all tied to the subject of the episode. This format gave Seinfeld a lot of extra work to do. He wasn't just co-running the writers' room, and he wasn't just starring in the show; he also had to come up with two or three minutes of fresh standup material for every single episode — and not only that, it had to relate to the content of the episode in some way. If the episode was about Jerry and George stealing someone's limo, he had to write jokes about limousine travel — it's a very limiting way to write comedy. Originally, that was the substance of the show, but the standup segments are arguably the weakest parts of Seinfeld in retrospect . Seinfeld's Standup Segments Are The Most Dated Part Of The Show Seinfeld came into its own when it became a broader social satire about society's unwritten rules, and stopped tying the storylines so directly to the standup routines. After a couple of seasons, the standup segments were just used to open and close the show, so that the bulk of the episode could be used to deepen the actual stories and spend more time with the characters. The show eventually dropped the standup segments altogether in the last two seasons. After David left the series, Jerry Seinfeld became the sole showrunner, which meant he had final say on every creative decision involved in the show, so he didn't have time to write new standup material for each episode on top of that. The cold opens in seasons 8 and 9 often have the tone and cadence of a standup routine, but they're presented through dialogue between the characters, not Jerry's nightclub act. Frankly, the standup segments weren't missed. The show itself was revolutionary; at a time when sitcoms like Friends and Will & Grace were bordering on melodrama, Seinfeld was focused purely on the laughs. It had a pitch-black sense of humor about a cast of sociopathic characters who never learn their lesson, so it never got bogged down in the saccharin sentimentality of shows like Mad About You and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. But, while Seinfeld's storytelling changed the game, its standup segments have aged like milk. Jerry's brand of nightclub comedy — traditional one-liners, delivered clean and polished, tackling well-worn everyday topics — felt old-fashioned and antiquated back then, but it's like a historical relic now. He still uses that style today, but he at least talks about modern subject matter; the jokes in Seinfeld are about outdated subjects in an outdated style, and it stands out in what is generally a timeless show. Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Rate Now 0/10 Leave a Review Your comment has not been saved Like Follow Followed Seinfeld TV-PG Comedy 9/10 51 8.3/10 Release Date 1989 - 1998-00-00 Network NBC Showrunner Larry David Directors David Steinberg, David Owen Trainor, Art Wolff, Jason Alexander Cast See All Powered by Expand Collapse