“That was a tough one”: Jerry Seinfeld is Still Troubled By a “mean” Heckler Who Ruined His “fantastic” Joke during a 1993 Standup
Jerry Seinfeld is widely known as the man behind the iconic TV sitcom Seinfeld. He gained recognition by playing a semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom, which he both wrote and created with Larry David. Known for his specialty in observational comedy, he is considered one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time.
From Comedians in Car Getting Coffee to The Marriage Ref, Seinfeld has made some great shows over the years. He has also done many stand-up comedy shows. Being a stand-up comedian is not as easy as it might seem and Seinfeld’s recent comments prove just that.
Jerry Seinfeld Still Thinks About That One Time a Heckler Interrupted His Comedy Set
Jerry Seinfeld discovered his interest in comedy through college productions and began appearing on open-mic nights at Budd Friedman’s Improv Club. Soon after he finished his graduation, he appeared in several open-mic nights and even shows like The Tonight Show and Late Show. Then came the sitcom Seinfeld and the comedian has since been nothing short of a trailblazer.
Recently, Seinfeld made an appearance in an interview with Graham Bensinger to promote his upcoming film, Unfrosted. During his conversation with Bensinger, he recalled one instance when he was heckled.
“I had this amazing bit about weddings. It was fantastic. It was so long. It covered everything. And I worked on it and worked on it and worked on it. It takes me forever. […] I start into the bit and somebody yells, ‘Heard it,’ And that was a tough one. I still think about it. It was mean. It was true.”
He explained how comedians often spend a lot of time – weeks, months, and at times, even years – improving jokes and trying them out until they feel perfect.
The fact that Seinfeld remembers the audience member’s interruption of his performance from 30 years ago is enough for one to understand how strong the impact must have been. After working so hard on a piece of work and then, not being able to perform must be very daunting for any artist, let alone Seinfeld.
Jerry Seinfeld Believes the Audience Might Be Better Now
As a successful stand-up comedian, Seinfeld has done countless comedy shows. Getting heckled at such shows is not unheard of. However, for an entertainer, it must not be any less of a disconcerting experience each time it happens.
The SeinLanguage author expressed his belief in the fact that heckling is not as prevalent nowadays. He said:
“I think now audiences are a little more sophisticated. These are pieces that we work on for months and months and months; you don’t do it once and works. Every scene you see in a movie, they did that 18 times – one time it was good. Same with comedy. I’ve done it 100 times, now I finally got it.”
Considering the amount of work that goes into such shows, it is quite unfair for an audience member to interrupt the artist when all they want is to deliver their best show.
