Seinfeld | 60 Minutes Archive

60 Minutes rewind when NBC began talking to Jerry Seinfeld about doing an offbeat television series he was a moderately successful stand-up comic and no one's expectations were very high today eight years in 151 episodes later his show is the top rated and most imitated comedy on television a 30-second commercial on the show sells for more than a half a million dollars just a few weeks ago Jerry Seinfeld and his three co-stars told NBC they'd love to do a ninth season if the price was right according to variety a million dollars a piece per episode and with its entire Thursday night schedule hanging in the balance everyone expects NBC to reach for its checkbook it's his name on The Sound Stage and on the Slate but he's the most relaxed man on the set in the history of Television only a handful of people have been as involved in a show or have gotten as Rich from a show as Jerry Seinfeld has from this one we can schedule him Monday and Tuesday nothing escapes his attention it's like a suggesting he's either writing a scene watching a scene or acting in a scene you get a check as a writer yeah you get a check as a actor right get it checked as a Creator right you get a check as an executive producer right and you get checks every time one of these episodes is shown anywhere in the world right and I get nothing for doing this in the show he plays a self-effacing straight man in the midst of hopeless neurotics and in real life he is a non-actor surrounded by one of the most talented casts ever to Grace a sitcom Jason Alexander Julia Louis Dreyfus and Michael Richards are all good enough to have their own series and now thanks in part to Jerry Seinfeld they're about to be paid like they do and they'll tell you in no uncertain terms that Jerry Seinfeld's character is the least interesting on the show the focus is really the three of us how did that evolve or has it been that way from the beginning we're just much better than he is I would say would you agree is there a difference between Jerry Seinfeld the character and Jerry Seinfeld in real life Jerry in real life has much more money than Jerry the character I'd say much more actually I think that he's very compulsive he wants to know where a pencil is he wants to know where the paper is here's his car keys my jacket and my whistle he just wants to know where everything is I don't know if that's a sign of insanity in short the real Jerry Seinfeld is very much like the television character at least before he got the sitcom even his mother calls him Mr Perfection he grew up in Massapequa Long Island his father ran a sign company and on the day he graduated from Queen's College he took the subway to his first stand-up gig it is still his first love although he performs now only on rare occasions last July we went with him to Atlanta Millions had come to see the Olympics but the hottest ticket in town carried you through the metal detectors at the Fox Theater to watch Jerry Seinfeld perform his best event yet backstage before the show he seemed very much the Wallflower at his own party what would you be doing if we weren't here just waiting one of the things you have to you must Master waiting as a comedian you must be able to just wait comfortably they say the show's gonna be delayed a half hour you just go fine the plane is going to be delayed two hours fine career is going to be delayed five years fine you got to be able to wait are you nervous now very very nervous because you're here and you're throwing me off would you normally are you nervous before you go out there Steve can I can I call you Steve I'm in this 20 years brother it's over what do you mean it's over oh the the uh the tension the the struggle I always wanted to be a comedian now my whole I wanted to be a comedian it's 20 years later I am a comedian ladies and gentlemen Jerry Seinfeld he is not just a comedian right now he is the comedian aside from waiting tables at a brewburger in New York and selling cheap jewelry and umbrellas outside Bloomingdale's this is the only job he's ever had making observations about life's little Mysteries like seedless watermelons they've been working on this for 20 years scientists devote es working on AIDS cancer heart disease these guys are going no I feel melon is my area yes I know the thousands of people are dying needlessly but this that's got to stop [Applause] at 42 he is at the top of the world and no one seems more surprised than Jerry Seinfeld I never thought I'd see it you know when you I've been doing comedy and 15 years 16 years I wasn't going anywhere you know this is it I got 45 minutes of observations about planes and cough syrup and that's it I get away with that I make a living and I thought even if I ever did manage to get on TV I'm not the kind of guy people get excited about you know I just do a nice I'm like a good Carpenter you know I do nice detail work you know to me Robin Williams that's a star you know I I'm just didn't think of myself as that kind of guy and I'm not that kind of guy NBC didn't think he was that kind of guy either they initially signed him because they were afraid some other network might hire him as a late night competitor for The Tonight Show they let him try a sitcom just to keep him busy and preview audiences hated it the research report hangs on the wall of his home in Los Angeles this is the audience test on the pilot back in 1989 pilot performance week week no segment of the audience was eager to watch the show again here's another great line viewers felt that Jerry needed a better backup ensemble can you imagine a better backup ensemble in the world than those three people in the end NBC stuck its neck out and ordered four episodes which is the smallest number of episodes ever ordered by a network four I mean six is a slap in the face four is like come quit your day job yeah he lives here in La most of the year out of necessity not Choice he gave us a tour of his two-bedroom home on one of his rare days off pining all the while for his native New York so you don't consider this home at all no no it's a giant hotel room I'm on the road I've been on the road here for uh 16 years the house itself gives away nothing he calls it a waste of money furnished by a decorator it speaks to the owner's lack of Interest or lack of time the couches look like they've never been denied it's more antiseptic than homie do you clean this yourself or do you have a crew from the hospital come in every day I spend half the day cleaning it really yeah and the other half doing the show you can make microchips in here hey it's Jerry hey hey Jerry hey how are you doing Alex Seinfeld seems most at home here in his Backlot office working with his Show's writers an elite mix of young television veterans who have worked in places like Letterman Conan O'Brien and Saturday Night Live do you feel pressure to put out a good product I mean this is the you know probably the best written show on television probably yeah probably they look as if they could be characters on their own show Seinfeld says his writers are the next generation of TV Executives and many have already left to develop or run shows of their own is there a town bad things happening to selfish people it's the easiest way to describe it you know they always preach this thing of likability on TV you've got to be likable there's nothing likeable about these characters no they're shallow they're shallow self-indulgent uh greedy greedy mean mean treacherous they will they will plot and plan against each other close friends for some short-term game they're despicable why do people like them they're funny the story will continue after this the show's Mean Streak comes in large part from this man its co-creator Larry David the neurotic model for the George Costanza character he began to whine about his bald spot and our camera angle even before the interview began the high overhead thing until this last season he was Jerry Seinfeld's partner and collaborator then burned out and anxious to try something new he quit leaving Seinfeld on his own Jerry David has his own theory on why the audience loves some of the unprincipled characters he helped create it's the actors because they're great actors and they can pull it off this material in the hands of of other actors with the show would be a disaster that material is included hilarious half hours on unspeakable subjects that have worked because they've never been mentioned by name what's the matter my mother caught me caught you doing what you know I was alone you've done episodes on masturbation and oral sex and you've been able to disguise all of it is family entertainment what a scam how do you do it how do we do it uh we're very good with language I think it's funny to be delicate with something that is explosive the challenge of of handling um kind of like uh you know driving the the Nitro truck of material down a dirt road became the the game for us do you guys live together I knew you look familiar take the Audi an episode on homosexuality because Jerry is thin single and neat a reporter assumes that he and George are more than just good friends everyone's gonna think we're gay not that there's anything wrong with that and I said that's the line that's going to enable us to do this show not that there's anything wrong with it if we say that every time it'll be it will be able to say something about political correctness and cover ourselves on the other side too so some of it is like figuring out the right way to take on some of these yeah that's fun that's part of the game it's like playing by the rules that's what makes a game fun is the rules without the rules it's not fun one of the rules that Seinfeld breaks is the one that says the star gets all the good lines and the Seinfeld cast Michael Richards Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jason Alexander have been the beneficiaries of Seinfeld's generosity I think one of the most amazing things he did from the beginning of the show is unlike a lot of comics who come into a series he was not hell-bent on making it a vehicle for himself you can see some people think I don't see him think right I see him it's almost like there's a machine going on back there you can kind of telling it's working but it doesn't reveal anything he's a very smart guy because he's a very smart guy because he's private and he keeps his privacy and it's separate it's mature and I think that's why he's um a stable person so my guess is you're not going to get to see the really private part what we saw of Seinfeld's private life is the part that's already very public it's long time relationship with shoshana lonstein a UCLA student half his age there's just a nice relationship going on we're happy we have a good time I think maybe it's because I'm so immature and she's so mature that we we meet in the middle you think you're immature oh yeah in what ways name one uh name one sexually yeah why yeah I don't know what do you mean I'm embarrassed huh I am not going to talk about being sexually immature on 60 Minutes but you think you are it's not 60 swinging minutes you know right right but you said name one and I named one okay well um well I'm 42 years old I'm not married that's not real mature that's nothing to be proud of you know I should have settled down by now are you going to get married yes to shashara I hope I don't know have you asked her no are you gonna I mean I'll get there you know what I'll get married I'll get married with somebody like John F Kennedy Jr gets married he got married really yeah are you married no you're used to talking to too many liars do you get up can we get some powder on my face I'm sweating um come in come in go ahead do you think um um God did the tabloids drive you crazy no I love it you do like it yeah feel about it uh it was hard at first but uh we got used to it can you use this sure the tabloids are are fine they make up stuff you know and that's fine too people that read tabloids I think deserve to be lied to what's the happiest you've ever been I guess now I guess I would have to say now I I never thought I could do what I'm doing now and I'm very proud of the fact that uh I believed in myself and that I uh turned out to have something because I didn't really know and so I the fact that I bet on myself and didn't lose is um is a pretty deep reward

Channel: 60 Minutes

Views: 388,842

Keywords: 60 Minutes, CBS News, jerry seinfeld, new york, seinfeld, comedian, television, entertainment

Id: 2togFepved8

Length: 14min 53sec (893 seconds)

Published: Fri May 12 2023