Jerry Seinfeld Interview: How to Write a Joke | The New York Times
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ธ.ค. 2012
- Jerry Seinfeld describes the anatomy of his Pop-Tart joke, still a work in progress, and shows his longhand writing process.
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Jerry Seinfeld Interview: How to Write a Joke | The New York Times
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WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH POP TARTS
I MEAN, COME ON
MegaDrummerboy2009 ..they don't pop, and they don't tart
if you think about it they are much more frustrating than toast! and what about the butter? I'd like to be able to spread something on the thing before I eat it. I don't think I'll be popping anything!
WHO ARE these people whoeatpoptarts?
No Pop Tart for you.
Nothing but violence
"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it." - E. B. White
I totally disagree.
npxmnpxm i forgot betty white was such an outspoken philosopher. Def my fav quote from her
ben cornish cool
@@bencornish6910 sorry to disappoint you mate. But a frog will die if you dissect it.
@@ziksy6460 i think he was saying that it isnt analogous
That's gold Jerry! Gold!
Yeah he killed! Killed!
You know what had potential? "Fax me some halibut".
"Wood Jerry. Wood."
"Can I use that ?" -Kenny Bania
Jerry's theme -- working on nothing -- a show about nothing -- jokes about nothing -- designed to waste time... etc.
To say his jokes are well thought out is a massive understatement, and he has the ability to deliver the lines like he was just thinking about it right before he walked on. He is also very funny during impromptu conversation.
Beans
I understand his logic for the joke format. It makes sense and it works, but its not my favorite, but i appreciate it nevertheless
@@Slimenator I know
@@handofstranger i am more in the vain Louis C.K. and George Carlin, pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable but making sense while they do it in an absurd, convincingly way
@@Slimenator I know
Jerry giving us such a detailed analysis of his work almost feels like a magician letting us see behind the curtain.
...whuh...
sorry, just stole a joke from Larry David. ~.~
Bro, he didn’t say a thing
Detailed... mmmmm I dunno
Especially because historically he's kind of an elitist jerk about it
"No... I don't like that cursor flashing at me like... So, What ya got?"
Brilliant.
Really?
No dude..it isn't
Brilliant ? That whole "joke" was some nursery school nonsense... it wasn't funny AT ALL.... oh, I get it, the ironic pop-tart
Geez some people here seem to be lacking I a sense of humor. I thought that line was hilarious
@Jose Solis You're a little too invested in this youtube comment thread buddy, lol. Maybe pick up a new hobby or something.
I know that comedians have to be self-depricating, but I personally appreciate the artistic approach he takes to joke-writing. I think the correlation to song writing was totally appropriate.
all comedians are artists, we take time to prepare what we want to present. It always seems better in our heads(at least mine) and are usually our biggest critics.
Don't be, I waited a long time and regret it now, just try it, what's the worst that could happen they don't laugh? Just keep grinding and writing and you'll get there. I will say prepare to bomb, but bombing will make you so much better.
David Wayne haha you wanted people to know you’re a comedian
My favorites are self depricating but a comedian doesnt always have to be. Like i love anthony jeselnick
I write all my own music and this is pretty much me when I’m writing a new song.
It's comforting to know it takes him a while to write and create these routines. He makes them appear so seamless.
my favorite part was the abrupt "No" ........not at the suggestion of an alternative to the yellow pad but to alludinggggggggggg to an alternative.
jahlovin alluding
+Thom Eiser thanks
+jahlovin Not to be confused with "a luding", which is something entirely different all together.
Or more different still, 'a luring'. When you are talking about luring somebody, you're talking about something else entirely. You really are.
I think by watching this video we can tell it is all about the performer and how he delivers. the joke doesn't sound very funny as he explains the details, but if he were to perform it would be hilarious.
+FBGM a lot of bits were only funny if that comedian was saying it. Like the legendary Norm Macdonald, Zach Galifinakis, or Mitch Hedberg, just to name a few
I eard a interview with Woody Allen, in the very beginning, when he was exploding in the stand up, and they ask him for a advice to someone that want to make comedy. He say, "don't waste time with the jokes, if you are funny, the jokes could be bad, that it will be funny. If you aren't funny, it could be the best joke ever, no one will laugh. So go to a stage, if you are funny, after that try to write good jokes."
Allen just seemed to be funny all the time. That's just his natural state I guess. I wish I could have seen him do standup...
Rory Scott nope lol
Wrong! It must be funny on paper, AND in the delivery.
I did my first show last night and it went so well! My dad always loved Seinfeld so I draw a lot of inspiration from Jerry’s type of comedy. I’ve never been more relieved than when people laughed at my jokes, and I owe it to Seinfeld. I’m 15 so I was really nervous that people were just gonna laugh to make me feel better, but I’m more confident now! I still have a lot to learn though, so I’m back here scrambling around for ideas lol
could you give me a joke you did that night...
…… how’d it go
No update huh liar?
You are brave - well done !
Well done and good luck!
I could listen to this for hours. Comedy is an art like any other, and
getting a glimpse into a master's artistic process is fascinating.
This man is my hero. I can't imagine anybody else being more fun to hang around with. Thank you for the Seinfeld show!
+Barclay Benjamin (Barcrrt) And a big thank-you to the Kellogg's people for bringing the Pop Tart(s) into our lives, it was a really exciting time!! I once had to go into pop tart rehab, and with my just being introduced to McDonald's etc., well, it was just a really wild and crazy decade to be alive!!!!!
elvicare35 Giddy up!!
I forget where I parked my horse!
I don't think you'd enjoy it as much as you think. Jerry is a known a-hole.
The amount of happiness Jerry and Larry gave the world is unfathomable
Incredible video, it's not what he thinks is funny that makes us laugh, it's the personal interpretation of his thought process, it's his ability to acutely set the scene, and then allow a peak into his personal memories
Pure genius. The comedian's comedian. No wonder he is the highest earning comic in the world. His attention to detail is second to none.
Louie CK all day
I'd say George carlin is a little bit better
+Bigtroll101 no doubt about that
+YGTSTV also highest earning actor in the world.
+co122189 You have zero subscribers and you aren't funny...happy for that to continue?...
Bania: Why do they call it Ovaltine?
The mug is round; the jar is round... they should call it Roundtine. (pauses) That's gold, Jerry! Gold!
His story telling of the birth/creation of a joke..... amazing. I would listen to this kind of stuff for hours.
The comedic process is incredible. At one point he talked about counting the syllables, and how that affects the delivery of the jokes. If you watch George Carlin, you can see how incredibly precise he was with his syllables. His performances came off more like singing than talking. He was masterful at it. And his attention to details was: beyond.
"The Bic clear barrel blue".. I lost it there.
+onjoFilms I was like 'Ya that is a solid pen' lol so underrated
I was so disappointed that he doesn't write his bits with the astronaut pen!
Better is a Pilot G-2 Ultra Fine black, but Jerry's choice is thrifty... .
onjoFilms totally. We're obviously both writers. :)
Why? He was serious!
This video would be a lot better if it explained how to write a joke.
+Sir Deans Typical comment from someone with no wit.
+Sir Deans Very well put.
+Sir Deans it only took you 5 tries to be funny
+xybersurfer uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh BAMmmmmmm
But he did. He said to use a lot of silly sounding words, have the subject of the joke be something silly, and to have the biggest joke at the end of the stand up routine.
When I would try to make a speech funny for school, I always knew that the longer the joker the higher the expectations the audience will have so I would usually save my best joke for last. And the part about chimps, dirt, etc is true people will laugh at the corniest things but my favourite types of jokes are satires, cringe, parodies, and gallows. Seinfeld has been an influence in my life and I can't thank him enough!
The 3 M's of comedy are monkeys, midgets, and men who are bald.
Love how the video follows his punchline at the end rule: ".. to waste all this time on something so stupid... That FELT GOOD to me. "
I had a great set tonight and I credit it to this video.
You really should write your own set and not just play this video for you performance.
John C. Salinas right back at ya 😆
Congrats!
Yeah
stop yelling
"the wrong'er some thing is the right'er it is"
said the cleanest comedian ever.
I know what you mean. But Jerry meant getting angry and compulsive towards something as small as a poptart.
and the richest
They should have labeled this 'Jerry Seinfeld. Strictly For Comedians'. It's frustrating seeing all the negative comments from people who have never told a joke onstage in their lives.
For real
I favourited this years ago. I found it after I first started writing jokes, and then read them. I knew I needed help. There is a lot more going on in this video that you only realise is there after a bit of time spent writing jokes. Seinfeld is a real steward for having submitted to this and revealing practical comedy writing process.
***** what negative comments?
Joe Villa wut
@Joe Villa Ugh every comedian has to write material
''Two in the packet and two slots in the toaster. Why two? One's not enough, three's too many and they can't go stale because they were never fresh.'' I've heard that line 500 times and I laugh every time he says it.
Absolutely brilliant. Jerry is incredible. Great interview and with great insight into writing a bit. Thanks so much for posting.
Words for a comedy writer to live by: "In my world the wronger something feels, the righter it is."
Yep, I remember years ago watching a short documentary on comedy, and one of the comics was saying that if you've got something so dark, taboo and offensive that it can't ever be shown in public, he wants to touch and hold it. And, I do think that is right. The mechanisms that trigger laughing tend to be an attempt by the brain to reset after being given something that makes absolutely no sense.
"I don't like that cursor flashing at me when I write." Haha!
It's amazing how they edited this. They cut at more than one part to two screens, without ever actually changing the view, and it's just amazing that I didn't even notice that when I watched it a while back.
As a musician/songwriter I can really appreciate this. The creative process is hard to explain. Although there's a general approach to it, there are no set rules or timelines. The bottom line is "does this work?" Obviously Jerry Seinfeld's writing works, even if the vast majority of people don't recognize the painstaking effort that's involved.
Portuguese and who knows!
@@DIANNEELEE
??
The juxtaposition at the beginning of the joke where the sweet sounding breakfast foods are being talked about in really violent terms is genius. Murdering the orange juice, the wood chipper, even using *shredded* wheat instead of Wheaties or something. Brilliant.
"Genius" is possibly a bit strong. Talking about the opposite of somethings qualities isn't really that clever.
@@joedent3323 3 different comments hating on this video lol I hope u make it
Who’s here from his comedy special and remembers the pop tart joke
but we're here because he is a genius :D man for some time I was in line with the gossip that Jerry Seinfeld's standup skills would be overrated but this special was by far the best I saw on Netflix for a long time. But I'm living in Germany and there so many shows which Netflix provides to US customers are not available due to licenses especially regarding the subtitles
7 years later, crazy
me too
Yeah, his delivery in the special is so much different here, it loses the punch.
Fascinating how he disects the craft of telling a bit. The parallel to song writing where he cuts words and counts syllables was interesting.
That final punch line is so good and his delivery is so good. Brilliant.
He reminds me of that one uncle who is always fed up and sarcastic
I love that this video was ever made. Thanks jenny. And thanks jerry.
wow i've met Jerry a few times that he wouldn't remember ...... it's amazing to see more of the process and how much work it takes
I'm really glad we got to see two angles of Jerry at once. One was not enough. Now I understand twice as good!
Brilliant guy. It's one of the few things that gives me even a passing instant of hope that humanity is not doomed and spiraling the drain. That Jerry Seinfeld was not only a very funny, very clever guy but popular as well. Good job humanity. Now let's work on everything else.
I really love this man
He finally finished the bit he’s been working on for 10+ years
great stuff. Better then my knock knock jokes, I need to watch this 15 more times.
He looks amazing, at his 60s!!
Seinfeld is a machine. He works extremely hard on his jokes. Job well done sir. Thanks for sharing.
Very nice of him to share
That's kind of a amazing how everything is so well thought out about the simplest things.
I must agree with Seinfeld that writing on a paper is a process feels like that timing and constructing words in a clearer way. Mostly I choose to write jokes on paper but sometimes i feel so sorry that ctrl+f doesnt work on them so I lost most.
I always felt like the inside of a comedian's mind was like a unicorn. So cool to get an insight into his creative process and see that stand up isn't magic but it's a process and it takes work (2 years for a bit?! lol).
The First Bic clear barrel 'Black' in my case that I wrote dry with my first movie idea, is now proudly mounted on my studio wall, ... It was official, I had defeated writers block.. the door was finally open, there is a space next to it for my first Grammy! Keep on creating people, and a big shout to Jerry, it really was a show about something... So much in fact.
Love that I found this again while finally clearing out old emails including one I had sent back in 2016 to my budding comedy writer daughter! And Jerry finally finished the joke with this year’s film “Unfrosted”….directed by Jerry and co-wrote with his writing team Spike Feresten, Barry Marder, and Andy Robin. Really enjoyed the movie…..kudos to the writing team! Ya nailed it!😊
that's why it bombed in theaters and ratings.. a movie about a 13 year old pop tart joke. funny.
“I wrote every episode of Seinfeld with that pen.” *sponsored by bic*
pop tart is also a pair of hard consonant sandwich words. pop is funny, tart is funny. pop tart is a funny word.
***** thanks.
Hard consonants are funny cus they sound like exasperation. k is the funniest consonant, any word starting with k is funny, like coconuts. There is nothing funnier than a coconut. Maybe a pair of coconuts.
comprehensiveboy The "ee" vowel sound is also funny because you have to smile to say it, where as "oo" is a scared sound, like the little "Small Mouth Frog'...
you mean kokonuts !!
The subliminal meaning is a popular breakfast food, who dresses teasingly and provocatively.
This is amazing... Love the process.
this joke is so relate to probably most things in life. painters do not start with precise markings on the canvas, they have rough sketches and later refine them to art.
My favorite moments of Seinfeld is when he's just talking, or interacting with someone in a conversation.
always entertaining.....the man is a GOD
He basically explained how to write a freestyle rap.
Mr Seinfeld will never see this, but he is so right. The "they can't go stale" joke at the end of the bit really does put the final touch on it. I very much enjoyed this view into his process. My thanks to Jerry and the old grey lady.
"My favorite donut is the Old Fashion donut. It never goes stale. It can't go stale because it was never fresh."
-A joke I wrote when I first started comedy ten years ago. Nice to know my joke writing is on par with one of the great comedy writers of all time. Too bad I can never use that joke now. O'well...good video.
Jason Downs I laughed. It's pure gold Jason, pure gold.
Josh Costanza So is it pure gold just because Jerry Seinfeld said it too? I mean, if a regular 40 year-old said that randomly, would you really find it funny?
@joshcontanza, I totally agree with you. My joke is inferior to Seinfelds...I just felt good that i had similar thought process to a comedy icon who has 30 years more comedy experience than myself. But yes Jerry's joke is tighter and more crisp.
Jason Downs like a burnt pop tart
That's great. I should really get a comedienne as a girlfriend.
that's gold jerry, gold!
+kewltony Shut up, Bania! Stick to your Ovaltine jokes.
+Dennis Why? Because the mug and the jar are round?
+kewltony Stop it! Shopping carts with one bad wheel? Awful!
He's spent a lot of time letting us get a glimpse of being a comedian. Thank you!
Gold. Thanks for sharing.
If you explain a joke, you just killed it.
However, you can create a new one through that explanation.
It's a testament to Seinfeld's modesty that he thinks no one will be interested in this. Actually he's sharing fascinating inside information about the way a successful comic goes about his work. And it's very funny as well as informative -- the best moment for me was the comment about the cursor. Love this video! I will use it in a class I teach.
I'm not sure if it is modesty, he probably does genuinely question whether he is a literal tens of millions of dollars worth of funny and whatever his fee for a show is these days worth of funny. Which is even harder to define than if the laughs you're getting for no pay are genuine, let alone it being so expensive that you can literally never work again and would have to put major effort into disposing the money that you've got.
One thing is clear from this. Either Seinfeld is always on, never breaks character, even in interviews. Or Seinfeld really is Seinfeld. What you see is what you get. No acting required. I vote for the later. Brilliant guy. Even this interview is very funny. All he has do is talk. But fascinating to see how much effort he puts into getting a joke just right, at least in his mind.
Thanks for letting us know that some material takes time.
Definitely parallels songwriting. Especially taking forever to come up with that perfect one line.
The Night was Sultry.
I love Jerry. People mistake his lack of neuroses for ego. It's weird. The guy is just as happy to laugh at himself and how he's spent his life as he is at anything. He's completely open and down to earth. He only gets bothered if something is untrue. To him, funny is funny. If people see ego, they're projecting it.
also a lot of social media Jewhaters can't stand him.
I’m having a hard time finding joke writing processes online this was pretty useful.
I saw him live last year (June '14) and knew about the Pop Tart joke because I has seen a clip of him explaining it somewhere. That last line got virtually no reaction at all. There are a lot funnier lines in the story, in my opinion.
However, he told some other jokes I had also seen on clips previously and they were still really funny. He got into this thing about binge eating cookies and I thought my wife was going to choke she was laughing so hard. She hadn't heard them before and he was rapid firing these punch lines, so you couldn't recover from one before he hit you with another one. Brilliant joke telling, it was a great show.
Jerry Seinfeld on How to Write a Joke:
Step 1: "What's the DEEAAALLL with [random thing]?"
Step 2: Get TV show.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Nice! Nowadays there's social media to start instead of a TV show.
He never actually said that except one time when he was making fun of himself on Seinfeld after people started to misquote him. Welcome to The Mandela Effect!
I’m having a hard time finding a video that explains Jerry Seinfeld‘s method for writing jokes long-term.
The rumor is that he had a calendar and would mark off every day that he wrote a joke whether it was good or bad (and he would go as long as he could without breaking the chain).
Are there any videos of Jerry mentioning that method?
This reminds me of the how to have a great trip on Netflix. It’s like acid trip humor. He’s just observing himself observe the poptart in the past and monologuing it for us
10 years later he's making a movie about pop tarts. Saw him last week live and he told this joke. It was an amazing set. Can't wait to see the movie!
An absolute GENIUS. And showing how a joke has a beginning, a middle, a end. Each separate.
The minutia of social engagement was the whole Seinfeld show. THAT'S why it was so darn funny.
Insightful.
I saw jerry live in late 2023. Got to see this bit live. Wild to think he wrote it over 10 years ago and still kills
One of my favouritest persons in the whole wide world 🙏🏽
Pop-Tart, that's gold Jerry, gold!
for the record, i found this video very interesting
Awesome. Candid, inspirational, charming, funny and even educational to boot (Oh, and Jerry, at least 1,136,235 people and I at this point, would disagree that "noone will be interested"). Nice one guys. Cheers.
Great video, the angles and shots feel like a deposition tho hahaha
why would you ask Jerry Seinfeld? have you seen his stand up?
1:58 I thought he was gonna say his astronaut pen lol.
simply brilliant!
"That's gold, Jerry. *GOLD* !!"
Jerry Seinfeld is truly the Greatest Stand up comedian that's ever lived and he can't be praised enough God Bless you Mr Seinfeld for bringing so much laughter and joy over the years you'll always be in my heart love you
He is the kind of comedian that is so good and makes it look so easy that everyone thinks they can do what he does. "Anyone can look at things and point out what's wrong with it." Then why don't you? Why doesn't everyone have billion dollar comedy empires? If you don't think you can learn from him you can't learn from anyone.
It's cool that he did this, most people don't appreciate how difficult it is to structure and write jokes in a way that they sound funny but also completely natural, as though the story is just coming now to the comedian's head.
TBH, this is one of the rare cases where the bit of bait and switch was warranted. He's not writing a joke here, he's writing a bit. Writing a bit is much more involved than just writing a joke. He's got a set of smaller jokes that are being woven into a larger one. Writing simple jokes isn't really that hard and people often times make them off the cuff. I personally struggle with figurative language at various points in my day and I can do that. I just have to be careful because I can be more cutting than I intend to be due to a lack of appropriate body language.
My parents brought me to the Funny Bone in St. Louis for my 21st Birthday in 1981...there were several comedians that night, and I was thrilled I could drink legally without going to east STL Illinois....different state, different rules regarding the age to drink. Alas, a young Jerry S. was on the bill that night...he killed!...he was about my age or just a bit older...I was really impressed, even back then, and even more now. I think it's safe to say, he's one of the 20 or 30 best comedians of all time...and I'm including guys like Groucho Marx and Mark Twain on that list....Dude KILLS! Seinfield, thanks for the birthday party and the time spent with my Mom and Dad!
+Jeffrey Alexander ..he's easily in the top 600.
The guys a genius, I would say even more so than when on Seinfeld.
+OhMyBooda No, I think he's getting dumber..
+Dan Goodwin agreed
That was a fascinating clip. Clearly that material is not ready (although better delivery might make me change my mind) but the glimpses into his reasoning are fascinating. At first glance a lot of that reasoning seems completely absurd, but clearly it works. Jerry was an incredibly successful club comic who ruled the clubs in his day and seems to understand how to make people around the world laugh. The fact that he sees individual words as funny and analyzes each syllable... I should have known he writes everything out, he seems like the type. That ending was great too: "Appropriate amounts of time on deserving subject" vs: "Inappropriate on undeserving.". Love that reasoning.
At about 2:25, when he laughs -- I watched that show for 10 years and that's the first time I've ever seen him laugh.
Cool. I ran into a working comic back in the 80s who had a very similar approach which is useful in a number of areas such as proposal preparation, advertising, and sales. I like how JS talks about the connective tissue between ideas. Lastly, he talks about how it takes time to do this which I think is lost on people who just want to take the quick route to something.
When he got to, "cause they were never fresh" I laughed pretty good even though he's not really telling the joke here, really goes to show you sometimes just the words can make all the difference.
We’re all gonna be famous comedians now guys this is great
"That's what people want me to do; is spend a lot of time uhm wastefully, so then I can waste their time."
Love him or hate him, that intro alone shows what a master of his craft he is.
This was marvelous. Thank you!
high talker you mean...
Jerry is just a great story teller. Even if it's not all hilarious, it was entertaining. He had my attention the whole time.