Our Man Jerry
Today I saw Jerry Seinfeld: 'I'm Telling You for the Last Time' on netflix. It's basically just 74 minutes of Jerry Seinfeld doing standup, but I just don't get it. I mean, how can one person be so funny? It doesn't really seem fair. I can't say that I've never laughed so hard before, but it's been awhile.
This reminded me how much I always thought the stand-up bits were the best part of his show, and it was kinda disappointing when an episode didn't contain any, as they seemed to do more and more as the show went on. I wonder if the show would have been better if it was just 22 minutes of standup each week. Not that a regular episode of Seinfeld usually had any more consistent a plot than your basic standup routine, but I can't think of any episode of any sitcom that I've seen that had me laughing as hard as any 22 minutes of this. Maybe The One Where Everybody Finds Out. That was really funny.
There's this thing that seems to happen to me when I've been laughing hard for a few minutes. My cheeks start to hurt, and I feel a little giddy and light-headed. At that point, you could say anything, and I'd laugh at it. I mean, I'm pretty sure the last 70 minutes of the show could have been in French, and I would have kept laughing. And, it's almost not pleasant in a certain way, because I'm laughing completely out of control, and it really does hurt not to be able to relax my face. So I kept having to pause the DVD and calm down for a while before going on. I'm not sure what I would have done if I'd been there live and had no way to stop Jerry from talking.
I think this uncontrollable laughter thing has been harder to get me to do as I've gotten older. I remember kids in 5th grade discovering that they could get me to laugh just by looking at me and saying the word "purple." Other words would work too. Or the times when I'd get in trouble during class because someone was making me laugh and I couldn't stop (that always annoyed me. "It wasn't even my fault!"). But the point is, anything is funny if I'm in the right state of mind. Is that the giggles? I guess so, but I'm not talking about giggling, I'm talking about laughing. Unless of course I get to the point when I'm laughing so hard that no sound comes out anymore. I used to do that all the time. Not so much any more. As opposed to guffawing, I guess. I don't think I even really know what the word means. It seems to imply loud and annoying. Do I guffaw?
Wow, that was ranty. Better, or worse?
This reminded me how much I always thought the stand-up bits were the best part of his show, and it was kinda disappointing when an episode didn't contain any, as they seemed to do more and more as the show went on. I wonder if the show would have been better if it was just 22 minutes of standup each week. Not that a regular episode of Seinfeld usually had any more consistent a plot than your basic standup routine, but I can't think of any episode of any sitcom that I've seen that had me laughing as hard as any 22 minutes of this. Maybe The One Where Everybody Finds Out. That was really funny.
There's this thing that seems to happen to me when I've been laughing hard for a few minutes. My cheeks start to hurt, and I feel a little giddy and light-headed. At that point, you could say anything, and I'd laugh at it. I mean, I'm pretty sure the last 70 minutes of the show could have been in French, and I would have kept laughing. And, it's almost not pleasant in a certain way, because I'm laughing completely out of control, and it really does hurt not to be able to relax my face. So I kept having to pause the DVD and calm down for a while before going on. I'm not sure what I would have done if I'd been there live and had no way to stop Jerry from talking.
I think this uncontrollable laughter thing has been harder to get me to do as I've gotten older. I remember kids in 5th grade discovering that they could get me to laugh just by looking at me and saying the word "purple." Other words would work too. Or the times when I'd get in trouble during class because someone was making me laugh and I couldn't stop (that always annoyed me. "It wasn't even my fault!"). But the point is, anything is funny if I'm in the right state of mind. Is that the giggles? I guess so, but I'm not talking about giggling, I'm talking about laughing. Unless of course I get to the point when I'm laughing so hard that no sound comes out anymore. I used to do that all the time. Not so much any more. As opposed to guffawing, I guess. I don't think I even really know what the word means. It seems to imply loud and annoying. Do I guffaw?
Wow, that was ranty. Better, or worse?