Now 70, US comedian Jerry Seinfeld has warned that TV comedy is being policed (Picture: Getty)
Jerry Seinfeld is the latest comedian to join the anti-woke comedy cries and, honestly, everyone is done with it.
In recent years, a growing number of anti-woke comedians have denounced the shift away from ‘punching down’ comedy tactics in favour of more inclusive punchlines.
Now, Seinfeld, 70, is making his agreement loud and clear.
The US comic – best known for his semi-fictionalised sitcom Seinfeld which ran from 1989 to 1998 -has spoken out against the ‘extreme left’ who are ruining TV comedy with their ‘P.C. crap’.
While arguing that the state of current affairs does not influence comedy, he said in a new interview: ‘Nothing really affects comedy. People always need it. They need it so badly and they don’t get it.’
‘It used to be, you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, ‘Oh, Cheers [1982 to 1993] is on. Oh, M*A*S*H [1972 to 1983] is on. Oh, Mary Tyler Moore [1970 to 1977] is on. All in the Family [1971 to 1979] is on.’
‘You just expected, “There’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight”,’ he continued to the New Yorker.
Jerry in his eponymous sitcom finale in 1998 (Picture: NBCUniversal)
‘Well, guess what—where is it? This is the result of the extreme left and PC crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people.’
Unlike comedians like Dave Chappelle, Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Carr – who have all weathered outrage for their risky stand-up routines in recent years – Seinfeld still supports stand-up comedy spaces because they are dictated by audience reaction rather than executive producers.
‘[People are] going to see standup comics because we are not policed by anyone. The audience polices us,’ he explained. ‘We know when we’re off track. We know instantly and we adjust to it instantly.
He blames ‘PC crap’ for state of current TV comedy (Picture: Getty)
‘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.’
At one point during the interview, the TV star shared a Seinfeld skit that would not go down well today. In the episode, Cosmo Kramer starts a business getting homeless people to pull rickshaws.
‘Do you think I could get that episode on the air today?’ he questioned.
Fortunately for Seinfeld, he was able to put his love for the audience’s reaction to the ultimate test after his comments went down like a tonne of bricks online.
On social media, fans shared their annoyance at his perspective and refuted the idea that the extreme left had ruined anything at all.
As some users pointed out, the long-running edgy sitcoms that the multimillionaire so fondly reminisced on still exist, such as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Curb Your Enthusiasm, from his former co-writer Larry David, which recently ended a successful 24-year run.
Larry David used to work closely with Jerry (Picture: HBO)
‘Jerry Seinfeld saying you can’t write sitcoms anymore because of woke despite the fact his old writing partner just wrapped up a 24-year run of one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time, is arguably the funniest thing he’s done in decades,’ X user @TheIDSmiths wrote.
‘Jerry Seinfeld whining that there are no good sitcoms because of wokeness when his writing partner just ended one of the funniest sitcoms of all time which is loved by leftists,’ @esjesjesj echoed.
Others have started to question if Seinfeld was even funny to begin with.
‘Jerry Seinfeld today makes me really question retroactively if he was ever funny or if he was coasting by on the talents of much funnier people propping him up,’ @ashleylynch reflected.
While @juliusgoat pointed out just how strange Seinfeld’s argument was by posting:’Very sorry to report Jerry Seinfeld can’t be funny anymore and Cheers is off the air because of pronouns in my bio.’
And of course, the viral fact that Seinfeld dated a 17-year-old high school student when he was 38 has also re-emerged amidst the discourse.
There was some support for the actor online (Picture: Getty)
But hey, at least Seinfeld has the guaranteed support of X owner Elon Musk who shared a clip of the comedian on stage with the caption ‘make comedy legal again’.
Video creator Benny Johnson also dubbed the comments ‘powerful’.
User @aelfred_D echoed the sentiment by adding: ‘Jerry Seinfeld is a brilliant comedian and very well-versed in the history of comedy and you would have to be an idiot not to listen seriously to anything he has to say on the matter.’
Ricky Gervais is another comedian who has slammed ‘woke’ comedy (Picture: WireImage)
Seinfeld’s views come after growing outrage from certain comedians who have received pushback for their harmful jokes from the public.
In December, after the release of his latest controversial Netflix special Armageddon, Gervais, 62, thanked ‘everyone who hated it and whined about it’ for its popularity.
The same month Chappelle, 50, was drawn back into controversy over his views on trans people after he featured in a selfie with politician Lauren Boebert and US rep Anna Luna with the caption: ‘Just three people who understand that there’s only two genders.’
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