I wondered Saturday if I had not gotten sick way back in the early 90s would I be sitting with a friend in the Durham Performing Arts Center waiting for Jerry Seinfeld to offer his insights on everyday life.
That’s what it took for me to become hooked on the show he and Larry David created, a show that still makes me laugh when I see the reruns.
I was not a fan of the show at first for reasons that escape me now, I panned it unmercifully when I was news editor at the Herald when all along it was the show that summed up my sense of humor and my obsession with the banality of life.
Fortunately, a friend and co-worker loaned me her tapes of the show and over the course of my sickness, I watched it, relished it and was a fan ever since.
That’s why I was sitting at the DPAC Saturday night, waiting to hear the musings of the star of the most iconic American TV show of the modern era.
And guess what? Jerry is still master of his domain.
The show started with comedian Tom Papa warming up the audience and I thoroughly enjoyed his set, especially his comments on the Skechers performance shoes, the ones that make you look like you’re about to fall over. I would gladly pay to see his entire act.
Jerry, however, was the man of the hour, immediately launching into his observations about people wanting to go somewhere and their frenzied rush to get there and their even more frenzied desire to get back home.
He played to a North Carolina audience; discussing the almost religious devotion we have for our college basketball and how it’s useless to change our minds.
If anything, Jerry has become a bit more acidic in his comedy, perhaps attributable to a 58-year-old man who has seen too much of the world.
That came through in his act about the phone-stuck-in-their-faces crowd and the Twitter generation. Birds, he said, were the original tweeters.
The shining moment in the show, at least for me, was veneration and praise of the Pop Tart, possibly the finest creation of the 20th Century. How, he asked, did Battle Creek, Michigan become the world’s leader in cereal research?
His observations of the hydration culture and people feeling the need to express themselves by carrying a beverage with them killed and I’m thinking this man hasn’t missed a beat since the final episode of Seinfeld.
Those were the things running through my mind before the show. Does Jerry still have it and I was answered with a big and uproarious yes.
What also made this show great was the venue itself. My first time visiting there, I was impressed with the friendliness of the staff and the general ambiance of the facility.
The night was Jerry’s, however, playing two sold out shows that I was happy to be a part of.
Jerry took some time to field some questions from the audience, which was really cool.
“Do you like Mardi Gras?” One audience member asked.
“No, I can drink at home,” he replied.
“Will there be a Seinfeld reunion?” Another audience member asked.
“Maybe when the four of us are washed up,” he said.
Personally, I see no need for a reunion because the show made a long impact on pop culture, comedy and what we demand for television.
I’m just glad I got sick back in the early 90s and gave this show a chance, otherwise who knows what I would be doing Saturday night, possibly rushing to get somewhere and doing even more rushing to get back — Lance Martin
Lance Martin is editor and publisher of rrspin.com