ALAN KING: INSIDE THE COMEDY MIND: JERRY SEINFELD (TV)
Summary
One in this series of talk shows in which host Alan King chats with professionals about the art of comedy. In this edition, King's interview with comedian Jerry Seinfeld alternates with clips from Seinfeld's 1989 appearance at the Montreal International Comedy Festival. Seinfeld begins by revealing his love of stand-up comedy and extols its purity and simplicity, with most elements controlled by the comedian himself. Seinfeld then talks about a number of topics, including his upcoming comedy series, inspired by the relationship between a comedian's life and his act; the sources of his material; his enjoyment of getting laughs as a child; and his general disdain for being the center of attention. He further explains the types of jobs at which he worked before becoming a professional comedian, the lack of "hooks" in his act, the importance of original material rather than performance value in today's comedy market, the drawbacks of obscenities in jokes, his reasons for writing his own material, his "Zen" comedy, and the transformation of items that affect his personal life into material for his act. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: Comedy Central
- DATE: November 30, 1989
- RUNNING TIME: 0:23:44
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:29706
- GENRE: Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: Biography; Comedy; Stand-up comedy
- SERIES RUN: Comedy Central - TV series, 1990-1993
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Alan King … Executive Producer
- Kiki Kazanas Steele … Supervising Producer
- Tom Werts … Producer, Director
- Frank Smiley … Segment Producer
- Alan King … Host, Interviewer
- Jerry Seinfeld … Guest
- Jack Benny