License To Laugh.
Seinfeld. Jerry Seinfeld. Beacon Theatre, Broadway, New York City. Sometime in 2009. Me and my brother Ste are out in the bright lights of the big city for my first holiday in four years and it's been a long time. From the neon entertainment core of the earth in the never sleeping lights of Times Square, to the almost 50 (worth it for those sliders) block walk to my favourite classic Americana diner (Metro) on the showstopping stage of the city's performing arts of Broadway. You just knew back then we were going to live it up. No tomorrow live it up. For being lucky enough to score tickets to a live taping of a Late Night With David Letterman broadcast featuring special guest as New York as '30 Rock', Tracy Morgan making some flashlight helmet, tongue in cheek jokes about being stuck in the same predicament as the Chilean miner guest prior (an inspiration) and watching Jimmy Fallon dress rehearsal some jokes Rockerfella across town. To seeing the New York Knicks lose in the Mecca of Madison Square Garden again as per and even catching a glimpse through glass of none other than Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifinakis riding high off 'The Hangover' Alan supply, holding that masturbating dog off 'Due Date' on a small, classic cinema scale premiere of said movie, before we made our own trip to the Canyon. Now if you thought that wasn't enough, on Broadway we manged to score tickets for a variety show...if by say score you mean pay three times as much in the 500 dollar region on (f###) StubHub for tickets to an event that raised money for injured American troops coming home from war. Whoever scalping profits off that truly needs to reevaluate how essential that is to them and although we didn't mind paying in respect, in retrospect we (or more I suggesting it) were complicit in this by buying into it all. But then again the way we saw it we were making our donation and the rest of the hundreds of dollars and who it went to could go f### themselves. Besides this was a once in a lifetime situation as we suited and booted in imposter syndrome weren't s### compared to the men of honor surrounding us. Barack Obama welcomed us to a night we'd never forget via live video (don't you just miss Presidents?). Tony Bennett...Tony Bennett people, days before we were about to leave our hearts and some socks in San Francisco. My hero, The Boss, Bruce Springsteen auctioning off his acoustic guitar to the millions in the audience for this charity event (I had to at least start the bidding at 5 dollars...hey it's all I had left StubHub). This whole night was compared by the Howard Cosell to Springsteen's Ali, Jon Stewart at the height of his pre-Noah 'Daily Show' days and years before I'd come back and wait outside all day to get a ticket for the taping of his swan song run, all whilst missing a free Springsteen concert in my Times Square walk hotel home of all places. The second funniest man on stage that night. Because who else was there? None other but Jerry Seinfeld.
'Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee' seems like the perfect show for an Englishman like me who loves tea, hates coffee and doesn't even know how to drive at almost 35 (I know, I know). But the 15 to 20 minute cup of a Netflix show has served me well each morning this year whilst being lost in translation away from the family, thousands of miles gone, living in Tokyo, Japan. From Jamie Foxx to Dave Chappelle. Kristen Wiig to Kate McKinnon. Jon Stewart to Trevor Noah. And Zach Galifianakis (segueing perfectly into his own 'Between Two Ferns' viral internet come Netflix movie sensation. "Counting crows feet"...genius), to the 'Don't F### This Up' of Kevin Hart (whose brilliant, witty and insightful book, 'I Can't Make This Up' is doing the same thing for me right now as 'Cars' and 'Coffee' in Yokohama). And of course Obama for some Presidential coffee in the Oval Office. The perfect one shot way to start each day in this binge culture, getting ready for work. So much so that when the last drive and sip came just a few weeks ago to my surprise it was also to the sad feeling of saying so long for now to an old friend (and I know what that's like right now, trust me)...but what a ride it was. Thanks for keeping me company and in good humour...I know your enthusiasm curbed reaction to this will be somewhere along the lines of Larry. So imagine (I know you don't care and that's OK...I do too...wait! Damn!) my delight when a new Jerry Seinfeld special '23 Hours To Kill' (that's hilarious it's just like James Bond. 'I Love You Man') came out of nowhere to my surprise. I guess I missed the hilarious laser sharp, "I expect you to laugh", 'Goldfinger' 007 riffing commercial complete with a supervillain eye patch for the man who starts his latest special jumping from a helicopter into the Hudson and sticking the landing almost like a Sully miracle. A day before the First Lady and one day your next President of the (will be) United (again) States, Michelle Obama's amazing autobiography tie-in documentary 'I Am Becoming' hit the streaming service again seemingly out of nowhere at least to this socially idiot abroad in Japan. Netflix are really stepping it up right now in this lockdown. Next you'll tell me there's a show about lions, tigers and Baskin's oh my.
Quarantined we need stand-up comedy right now more than ever. It's truly an art form and one that can genuinely elevate us during our lowest points being a comedy to the tragedy face of our troubled times. There's an anxiety that now months later seems terribly fitting to the way Jerry opens this show and this is all pre COVID 19 before he pumped the breaks on his 2020 stand-up run. Coming just days after he cameo appears on the fellow 90's big hit and quit of the Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls ESPN documentary 'The Last Dance' that is the new king tiger on Netflix right now that people that don't even like the game are tipping it off. The 'Seinfeld' sitcom hilarious actor in an equally as hilarious as such moment of the season, let alone episode, pointing to a play on the chalk board and telling a coach, "that isn't going to work" like only he'd know. Bringing those Broadway memories back like he has those retro style Bond posters in perfect promotion. His microphone the gun as he takes aim at everything from how much we need our phone to...erm...ahh damn sorry. That was my bad I was sending a tweet. But Seinfeld's latest special is more than a show about nothing like his Wale rap mixtape and album homage collaboration (which really was everything). Put this next to his 2017 'Jerry Before Seinfeld' recent addition and the 'I'm Telling You For The Last Time' classic that you really have to hear again. All as iconic as that maybe not so timeless big hair look of long sleeve shirts, no pockets, Springsteen jeans and Nike sneakers. We could listen to this man talk for 24 hours as he kills it. Shooting down everything from the postal service ("just email us") to Pop Tarts comparing their invention to Moses tablets which brings back great Ricky Gervais pizza boxes in 'The Invention Of Lying'. Killing it like Kevin Hart asks in his book why are there so many "bombing" and "annihilating" metaphors in good comedy. Jerry brings that old thing back like that Seinfeld canned bass lick or those classic, "it's so true" jokes like the time he wondered what cows do when it rains as it ruins jackets ("are you wearing suede?" "We are suede!"). And back to Hart like "Don't F### This Up' on Netflix for the 'Irresponsible' star, there's a moment in that series in a classic New York comedy bar where he holds fort with the likes of Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle (another thing I love about Jerry is he is still as hilarious as these two and the Pryor's he belongs on Rushmore with...but I still don't have to make my mum leave the room like she had to me back in the day when watching stand up). Which off Broadway right now helps us realize just how much we miss comics and that N.Y.C. scene. Even a 60 year old like Jerry Seinfeld's old trick that tells us that he can just dismiss people's social requests with a half assed waving hand gesture these days. I was like that at 30 Jerry. But I've got a hand gesture for anyone ready to write off a real G.O.A.T. like M.J. as I wait for the next coffee run. With nothing else to do right now, there's nothing better. There's no excuse to miss this killing over the next 23. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Filming: 'Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee', 'Jerry Before Seinfeld', 'Jerry Seinfeld: I'm Telling You For The Last Time'.
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