Day 63: Talking Funny

I went to the library today and read Jerry Seinfeld's book 'Seinlanguage' in one sitting. It was the first time I've done that in a while, and it felt awesome to tear through a book that fast. It was a collection of his thoughts and observations and most of it would later appear on his show. It reminded me a lot of Bill Cosby's books. Reading it made me want to watch some of his standup again, or the short HBO special he made last year, 'Talking Funny'.

'Talking Funny' is one long conversation with Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Louis CK and Ricky Gervais. They discuss their careers in comedy, their views on standup, and their favorite jokes from each other's sets.

What I learned: This is basically my comedy Bible. Getting to hear this much from 4 of my favorite comedians is a dream come true. I appreciate just about anything Seinfeld and Louis have to say- they are 2 of my biggest comedic influences. One thing that really stuck with me was when Louis said he starts every new tour by taking his old closer and making it his new opener, thus forcing the rest of his set to be that much better. Take your best stuff and throw it out in the first 5 minutes? That blows my mind. It's my new goal.

What I liked: Even more than hearing their views and tips I liked watching the 4 of them interact. It was cool to hear how long they've all known each other; Louis used to open for Seinfeld like 10 years ago and used to write for Chris Rock. At one point Seinfeld tells his favorite Chris Rock joke, and says "I probably think about that joke once a month". It's nuts to think a world famous comic has his own favorite jokes from other people.

What I didn't like: My only complaint was that it was a one time deal. It should be a show! I heard rumors they are putting together another one based on talk shows with Conan, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart but we'll see.

You can watch the full thing here:

Talking Funny 

And of course I'd be remiss not to throw out some stand up clips:

This was the joke that made me fall in love with him. I'd seen his previous special and wasn't blown away. But when I caught this one on tv half way through, and heard this joke, and I realized he'd transformed from a vague, run of the mill comic to something all his own. I still remember the specific line that did it for me: "I had to get in, and no one was in my car to judge me"; with that one line he established how little he thinks of himself. While the other guy is crazy for saying something like 'suck a bag of dicks', Louis has no problem showing us that's he's far from perfect himself.

This Seinfeld bit borders on a magic act: he tells you what he's going to do (prove that sucks and great are one and the same), then turns around and does it. Before you know it, he's convinced you, if only for a moment, that it's true. And even has the balls to throw in some tangents in the middle about eating out, because he's confident enough in his closer to allow the attention of the bit to wander. Amazing.

Return to Main Page