Some students could be heard booing as they waved Palestinian flags
  • IHeartBadCode@kbin.social
    1714·
    6 months ago

    Seinfeld has publicly supported Israel following the 7 October Hamas attack, and traveled to a kibbutz in December to meet with hostages’ families

    In case you’re wondering what the argument is. You should still read the story though.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      1366·
      6 months ago

      That’s the biggest part of the reason, but there’s also the fact that he’s been complaining about how the ‘woke left’ has destroyed comedy. That’s not exactly going to endear him to young adults either.

      • jj4211@lemmy.world
        593·
        6 months ago

        Also, the whole reason he’s complaining about comedy being destroyed is that he hasn’t been relevant in over 25 years. So even ignoring everything, he’s some boring old dude that hasn’t been that relevant the entire life of most of the graduates. They selected someone that the staff might be impressed by, but not someone that is vaguely interesting for the actual graduates.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
          303·
          6 months ago

          Exactly. I enjoyed his stand-up comedy back in the 80s and 90s. I enjoyed his sitcom (although that was mostly down to Larry David), but the world has moved on. Comedy evolves. If you can’t evolve with it, you end up being Don Rickles in the world of George Carlin.

          • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
            95·
            6 months ago

            It’s sort of laughable to have him give a commencement speech. Who the hell cares about this old dude.

            • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
              34·
              6 months ago

              I like how in his documentary he lays out all his yellow legal pads of material like I’m suppose to be impressed he wrote stuff down.

              Wow, dude, you’re so smart.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
                61·
                6 months ago

                Notebooks full of material is literally something every standup comedian has (or at least had before the smartphone era). I still have a good dozen out of the dozens I used to have.

          • ADonkeyBrainedFog@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            2·
            6 months ago

            Curb Your Enthusiasm is hilarious and modern while the most popular thing Seinfeld has put out since Seinfeld was the Bee Movie. I think that shows where the talent is. Even when Jerry was in Curb, he was awkward as he’s not a great on-your-feet type comedian. All the other members of the Seinfeld cast fit in far better than him.

        • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
          181·
          6 months ago

          As a 24 year old who spent way too much time watching 90s reruns, Seinfeld was just kinda meh. 3rd rock and married with children were better IMO, also the married with children lingerie scene was my sexual awakening.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            20·
            6 months ago

            Funny, at the time, I thought Seinfeld was better (and more innovative) than either of those. Married With Children was mostly just about being as crass as possible, which has been topped significantly since by shows like South Park and Always Sunny, which broadened their shows to not make it just about “how trashy can we get” and Third Rock… eh. Mostly just weird for weirdness’ sake.

            Seinfeld had some pretty decent ideas for a sitcom like the episode taking place entirely while waiting in the restaurant entrance for Chinese take-out or the episode which is entirely set in a parking garage. There just wasn’t TV like that back then.

        • Vespair@lemm.ee
          101·
          6 months ago

          Also, the whole reason he’s complaining about comedy being destroyed is that he hasn’t been relevant in over 25 years.

          YouTuber MovieBob absolutely nailed it when he said in his recent review of the new stupid Seinfeld movie that at this point going “anti-woke” is just a marketing move for older washed up comedians. Most of them probably don’t even give a shit but it’s vastly easier to pander to the crowd so desperate for any validation of their hateful rhetoric than it is to write new insightful jokes that resonate with a culture you’re quickly aging out of.

          Of course none of this is to defend Seinfeld; if anything being a manipulative conman willing to pander to the worst appetites in America is arguably even worse than genuinely believing the bullshit in the first place.

          • jj4211@lemmy.world
            10·
            6 months ago

            Seinfeld is a Billionaire. If I ever had 1% of that, I’d never try to force myself to be relevant and happily accept I’m not relevant anymore.

            I’d expect that’s in fact the natural trajectory of being in pop culture, that your time of relevance is fleeting, and plan accordingly. No hurt feelings that no one is lining up for your material anymore, it happens to almost every single person in that field. You only can make your legacy worse by trying to force things, exit on a high note.

      • slurpeesoforion@startrek.website
        222·
        6 months ago

        And the point of a lot of old comedy was based on shitting on other people. The “woke left” is the kids calling us out on being assholes for no reason.

        • TurtleJoe@lemmy.world
          6·
          6 months ago

          The ironic thing is that the show Seinfeld was more like IASIP than Friends, in that the characters were mostly shitty people, and the joke was usually on them (even though they similarly often destroyed the lives of people around them.)

    • gregorum@lemm.eeEnglish
      56·
      6 months ago

      Seinfeld has publicly supported Israel following the 7 October Hamas attack, and traveled to a kibbutz in December to meet with hostages’ families. He has been “uncharacteristically vocal” about his support during press calls for his new film, Unfrosted, *The New York Times *reported.

      The comedian, who was receiving an honorary degree from Duke, largely stayed away from the issue at the centre of the protests during his speech. At one point, he mentioned his Jewish heritage which was met with applause from the crowd.

      “I grew up a Jewish boy from New York,” he said. “That is a privilege if you want to be a comedian.”

      Outside Duke’s stadium on the Durham campus, Gaza-supporting students chanted: “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”

      A bit more context

    • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
      541·
      6 months ago

      Seinfelds wife also donated to the riot mob throwing fireworks into the UCLA pro palestine camp

      https://uk.news.yahoo.com/jessica-seinfeld-bill-ackman-fund-200308497.html

      Jessica Seinfeld, cookbook author and wife to comedian Jerry Seinfeld, is funding a pro-Israel counterprotest at UCLA—where violence broke out Tuesday night after a mob attacked demonstrators inside a pro-Palestine encampment.

      A GoFundMe for the effort, which Seinfeld promoted in an Instagram story this week after contributing at least $5,000, has since made the majority of its donations anonymous. The fundraising page has raised more than $93,000 as of Wednesday and also changed its organizer name and description since launching over the weekend.

      “I just gave to this GoFundMe to support more allies like yesterday’s at UCLA,” Seinfeld wrote this week. “More cities are being planned so please give what you can. Donations are annonymous [sic]. We will continue to share our light and love, as proud American Jews.”

  • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
    1617·
    6 months ago

    I find it funny that everyone assumed they walked out over Gaza, while I assumed it was because Jerry Seinfeld isn’t funny.

      • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
        425·
        6 months ago

        Which coincidentally is the primary reason I’ve never found him funny. All egotistical assholes I’ve ever met thought they are hilarious. They are mostly just incredibly cruel and bigoted.

        • Ultraviolet@lemmy.worldEnglish
          211·
          6 months ago

          I thought he was funny playing a petty, egotistical asshole as a character. It became a lot less funny after realizing he’s just like that.

          • Daft_ish@lemmy.world
            8·
            6 months ago

            Watching Seinfeld is like watching people endlessly criticize others because they are given license to since they themselves are jokes. Never will you find a heartfelt moment. Never will you see someone reflect on how awful they’ve been to other people.

            George trys to but is instantly ridiculed.

            • Soggy@lemmy.world
              2·
              6 months ago

              “No hugging, no learning” was a writing rule for the Seinfeld show. The lack of reflection and heartfelt moments is an intentional response to other sitcoms of the era.

          • aesthelete@lemmy.world
            41·
            6 months ago

            Same goes for Ricky Gervais IMO…shout out to Karl Pilkington who genuinely was the funniest part of Derek before he became fatigued with Ricky’s bullshit.

            • Facebones@reddthat.com
              3·
              6 months ago

              I kind of liked Gervais at one point, but I realized he was still one of those types, just one I agree with occasionally. So I don’t follow him anymore.

          • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
            61·
            6 months ago

            Cleese wears the lampshare well though.

            Seinfeld thinks he has important things to say. The show’s Hot Coffee arc and the jabs at the “A dingo ate my baby!” woman didn’t age well.

  • Reddfugee42@lemmy.world
    1116·
    6 months ago

    The guy who said woke (aka not self centered sociopaths) have ruined comedy even though his partner on Seinfeld has had a wildly successful hit comedy series burning everyone for like eight years?

  • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
    372·
    6 months ago

    Tomorrow he’s going to complain about being “cancelled” and how he “can’t say things anymore” while talking about the event where he was invited to speak in front of a college full of students.

    You can say whatever you want, people don’t have to listen.

    • JovialMicrobial@lemm.ee
      132·
      6 months ago

      Exactly. Plus the right to free speech doesn’t equate to being free from criticism, or as you said, general disinterest.

    • refalo@programming.dev
      317·
      6 months ago

      tomorrow he

      no he’s not, this is a nothing burger that has nothing at all to do with his comedy

      invited

      be mad at the people who invited him if you’re going to be outraged at something.

        • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
          72·
          6 months ago

          “haha, we knew we assholes along!”

          It was also universally hated by fans. IASIP made sure there was no confusion about the characters morality.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            6·
            6 months ago

            That’s not why it was hated, it was hated because it was a bad and abrupt ending that didn’t go with the rest of the show.

            I don’t think anyone was under any illusions that the Seinfeld characters were supposed to be anything other than horrible people.

            • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
              4·
              6 months ago

              There were definitely people who modeled their behavior or at least excused their actions based on Seinfeld. My aunt for instance.

              There’s a long, long history of idiots missing the point of various pieces of fiction. The Prince, Fight Club and the original MS Gundam come to mind. Yoshikazu Yasuhiko even felt the need create Gundam: The Origin because too many kids thought Gundam’s message was “War is cool”.

        • Deway@lemmy.world
          52·
          6 months ago

          Friends would have been okay with Janice and Gunter. Community only needs the Dean. The big bang theory would have been better with just a black screen.

          • barsoap@lemm.ee
            1·
            6 months ago

            Community only needs the Dean.

            I mean, technically, yes. It would work but it wouldn’t be Community. Abed is the cornerstone though if set alone wouldn’t work out, you also need sidekick Troy as an audience surrogate so we can all ride along. Troy&Abed on a space station would still be Community with different support characters.

    • suction@lemmy.world
      91·
      6 months ago

      Ever since be took Leno‘s side in the Tonight Show feud between Leno and Conan, he became non redeemable to me.

    • Crikeste@lemm.ee
      312·
      6 months ago

      Nothing is obligating you to respond this way other than some amount of respect you have for this bigot. DONT sugar coat your ability to look the other way in the face of bigotry.

  • rsuri@lemmy.world
    4010·
    6 months ago

    I can’t help but notice all the comedians who complain about society being took woke for comedy are has-beens. John Stewart’s back to crushing it at the Daily Show, is he complaining? No, it’s only the guys who’ve run out of material and have nothing left to do but shake their canes at gen Z kids.

    I challenge anyone to go to the “good old days” and find me a comedian who was actually funny and not just being an edgelord. You know who the most popular comedian was in the 80s? Andrew Dice Clay. That’s right. That’s was peak comedy, dirty nursery rhymes. Sure, I get that some people are nostalgic. But let’s be serious for a minute - do we really wanna go back to that kind of comedic void?

    Society hasn’t gotten too woke, rather comedic standards have evolved to the point where merely being offensive in itself no longer counts as comedy.

    • Skeezix@lemmy.world
      29·
      6 months ago

      I challenge anyone to go to the “good old days” and find me a comedian who was actually funny and not just being an edgelord.

      The master himself. George Carlin. We could debate whether he was an edge lord or not. But his comedy was timeless and remains hysterical to this day. And his funniest bits were based on observation of the human condition.

      • AgentDalePoopster@lemmy.world
        193·
        6 months ago

        Carlin was vulgar, but he never punched down. I firmly believe his comedy would be as accepted today as it was when he made it.

        • LostWon@lemmy.ca
          61·
          6 months ago

          Carlin was good at what he did but he absolutely did punch down, just not at a specific person. The overarching message for a lot of his comedy was “You know you’re all being screwed over and maybe you have a hard time doing anything about it, but you deserve it because you’re stupid.” It’s just such a popular sentiment to call everyone else in society stupid, while excluding oneself, that I guess few people notice those undertones and their implications.

        • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
          2·
          6 months ago

          I can confirm. No matter how many times I listen to Mr Conductor talk about Poo Bear, I can’t help but laugh. Specially when he saws Roo into his own pouch!

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        141·
        6 months ago

        Carlin also re-invented himself with the times. The comedy he did in the 60s was entirely different from the comedy he did in the 90s.

        Jerry Seinfeld is still doing the same comedy he did in the 80s.

    • MeDuViNoX@sh.itjust.works
      18·
      6 months ago

      Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, and Jim Carrey all seemed like they had really good specials. I haven’t watched them in a long time, but I don’t recall them being edge lords. I’m sure there have to be others.

      • root_beer@midwest.socialEnglish
        4·
        6 months ago

        He was, back in the day, his anti-authoritarian bent was pretty edgy then

        Tangentially: I tried getting into him a few years ago and it seemed tame and nothing I hadn’t heard before from so many other comedians. Then I realized that he was the vanguard of that style of comedy and of course it’s going to sound like retrodden ground if I’d heard all the people he’d influenced before I listened to him.

    • Ozone6363@lemmy.world
      86·
      6 months ago

      This shit couldn’t be more off base lmao.

      Not only have many greats been listed in response to you, you also have relevant comedians today bitching about “woke” as you call it.

      Is Bill Burr an edge lord has-been? Chapelle? Jon Stewart has mentioned this as well. Honestly, I think the meme of “YoU cAnT sAy tHiNgS aNyMoRe” is in over half of standups I watch.

      A huge portion of comedians mention this at some point.

  • nednobbins@lemm.ee
    4112·
    6 months ago

    I honestly never understood the attraction to Seinfeld.

    There were a few good jokes in there but the whole show was about them being assholes and proud of it.

    They’re selfish, judgemental and entitled. They’re constantly mocking and bullying other people and each other. The final episode even lays it out explicitly.

    Shows like “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, “Married… With Children” or “Breaking Bad” have various unsavory characters but we’re invited to reject these flaws or at least identify with them as flaws.

    Seinfeld is shameless about being an asshole and pretends the rest of us are just too dumb to understand his genius.

    • hardcoreufo@lemmy.world
      191·
      6 months ago

      I think you’re missing the point of these shows and that’s okay.

      The characters aren’t role models, they are your intrusive thoughts manifest. If you didn’t hear someone’s name when they told you, any rational person would just say it was loud and they didn’t hear you. They wouldnt go through lengths of introducing friends, finding out childhood taunts and rifling through your belongings in an attempt to save face.

      The joke is in the breaking of social norms. A show about people being polite to each other doesn’t make for very good comedy.

      • nednobbins@lemm.ee
        48·
        6 months ago

        That’s exactly my point. None of the characters in these shows are role models. We can sympathize with the Bundy’s or their neighbors but the show makes it obvious that nobody wants to emulate them. We can understand why Walther White did the things he does even if it’s clear that he shouldn’t have. The gang in Philly is all about showing us the worst possible decision in any given situation.

        Seinfeld, on the other hand, celebrates their behavior. It canonizes our intrusive thoughts as though they were a more authentic form of expression.

    • olmec@lemm.ee
      7·
      6 months ago

      I think you have a fundamentally different view than I do on the characters. They are all fundamentally nice people. The difference is, they get fixated on small issues, and let it control their actions. Jerry dates a woman that only looks good in bright light? Only go on dates that have good lighting. It is something you would want to do too, but you would have the control to not let it run the relationship. Jerry doesn’t have that control, and focuses on the good lighting at the expense of everything else.

      The characters aren’t mean. They didn’t wish I’ll on anyone. Many of the episodes are them trying to find a way to get out of a situation without being honest because they think the truth would hurt too. Idiots, yes, not not jerks.

      For another example. There is an episode where a waiter accidentally puts a menu on a candle and it lights on fire. George points it out, puts the fire out, and casually mentions “I think the busboy put the menu too close to the candle.” The manager overhears this, and fires the busboy. George then finds the busboy to try and help him get another job, but leaves the front door open, and the busboy’s cat escapes. It is the perfect example of what the characters are. They don’t want to hurt people, and go to extreme lengths to do it, even though it always backfires.

      • nednobbins@lemm.ee
        2·
        6 months ago

        I think you have a fundamentally different view than I do on the characters. That’s clearly true :)

        Even when the characters behave reasonably I always felt that they were motivated more by the potential for public embarrassment than by moral concern.

        It’s hard for me to think of George as a fundamentally nice. This is the guy who shoved children and elderly out of the way when he saw smoke, goaded an alcoholic into relapsing because he felt left out, constantly lied to get advantage in situations and even tried to kill a guy out of jealousy.

    • dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world
      81·
      6 months ago

      I found that the clowning/assholery in Seinfeld was just too close to plausible to clock as humor most of the time, while picking on small and petty things; it’s a little too real. I don’t think that comes from conceit, but rather, a generation gap and all the insensitivity that comes with it. Just add a little casual violence and it’s peak boomer-era humor. That said, Seinfield was its best when the stories were less believable and cruel.

      The other shows you cite put these humor beats way over the top which is far more paletteable, IMO.

    • Sludgeyy@lemmy.world
      51·
      6 months ago

      You have to have grown up with it and gained an unconditional love of the characters. You don’t care that they are an asshole to a character you don’t like.

      Look at Kramer he is so stupid he can’t figure out a washing machine! Lol he’s going to try to pour a bunch of detergent in next and act like he’s drunk because he’s that stupid! He’s so funny!

      Edit: Remembered it wrong. He was pouring concrete into the washing machine. Classic asshole

      https://youtu.be/JdOwTN4-n1I?si=BSFSYj4FbGWLfqHA

          • nednobbins@lemm.ee
            1·
            6 months ago

            TIL about John Wolf.

            At the time, it never would have occurred to me that each one was different or that there was beatboxing involved.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      The characters in Seinfeld are shameless, but like with IASIP, they usually get burned at the end of the episode. And that continued over Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry is petty and self-centered, he never learns, karma gets him in the last 30 seconds and then the Tuba drops - BUM BUM BUM.

  • Copernican@lemmy.world
    281·
    6 months ago

    Weird choice of quotes and headlines:

    From the OP article:

    “He has been “uncharacteristically vocal” about his support during press calls for his new film, Unfrosted, The New York Times reported.”

    From the NYT link in the quote:

    “As Mr. Seinfeld, who has recently been vocal about his support for Israel, received an honorary degree, dozens of students walked out and chanted, “Free, free Palestine,” while the comedian looked on and smiled tensely”

    But when you go to the link to the NY Times article that references Mr. Seinfeld as being recently vocal about his support of Israel, one of the concluding comments in the article is:

    Surely, Mr. Seinfeld sees it differently. His public comments have largely avoided geopolitical specifics, dwelling little on the choices of the Netanyahu government or prospective conditions for a cease-fire.

    And he can still sound hesitant even in recent discussions about the Jewishness of “Seinfeld” — which an NBC executive once described as “too New York, too Jewish.”

    Nothing about this makes me think Seinfield is a a strong supported of the war. Support for Israel after the attack can be a lot of things and does not mean pro Netanyahu war machine.

  • Crikeste@lemm.ee
    288·
    6 months ago

    CoMeDy Is DeAd.

    No. We’re just through with your bigotry disguised as humor.

    • refalo@programming.dev
      237·
      6 months ago

      That wasn’t it at all.

      The only people who left were pro-palestine nutjobs and there weren’t even that many of them