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NetflixFinding a novel angle on everything from Pop-Tarts to the annoyances of modern technology, the American everyman is still on sparkling form
Mixed messages emanate from Jerry Seinfeld’s new Netflix special, which introduces a daredevil leaping from a helicopter to get to his gig, then substitutes him for a world-weary sexagenarian, disengaging from life with a dismissive wave of his hand. So which is true? Neither, I should think – as that contradiction cheerfully reminds us, we don’t turn to Seinfeld for personal intimacies. He is Mr Generic, the American everyman who exists on stage to channel our observations of, and mild frustrations with, the business of being alive.
Aged 65, he still does so sublimely – particularly in the first half of this new hour, filmed in New York and featuring material performed in the UK last summer. A wonderful opening sends up the rigmarole of coming out to do a comedy show, just another “hyped-up not necessary special event … put together so we could kill some time”. Why do any of us bother? None of us want to be here, Seinfeld tells us, as if blowing the gaff on some illicit truth. “Nobody wants to be anywhere … Nobody likes anything.” Continue reading...