Fin: What is the deal with the Jerry Seinfeld revisionism?

Plus: A Rotten Tomatoes petition, Instapaper trouble, Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise, and more in this week’s notes column.

As you may have heard, Jerry Seinfeld has a new movie, Unfrosted. As you might have guessed by its review embargo lifting at 10 p.m. last night, just hours before its arrival on Netflix, the movie isn't very good.

Seinfeld spent much of the press tour for this not-particularly controversial film, making extremely tiresome points about cancel culture and oversensitive comedy audiences. And has also made headlines in recent months for visiting Israel and expressing support for pro-Israel rallies. 

This has led to a backlash against the comedian, with many people expressing the opinion that Larry David must have been the true genius behind Seinfeld since Curb Your Enthusiasm was so much better than any of Jerry’s post-Seinfeld projects.  

“You ever notice that Jerry Seinfeld is a talentless prick?,” Drew Magary wrote this week in a representative sample. 

You believe this asshole? I know he was the star of “Seinfeld,” which was a great show back in the 1990s. But why didn’t he leave that decade? Doesn’t he know that we have streaming television now, and that he can watch “South Park” anytime he pleases if he’s worried that people aren’t getting their recommended daily allowance of “Hey! Look at that Black guy!” jokes? Doesn’t he know that Joe Rogan has a podcast where he can make fun of anyone he wants AND tout ginkgo biloba as a cure for HIV? What is this Seinfeld guy, 70 years old? What’s that? He actually IS 70 years old? Well my dad is older than that, and no one comes to arrest him anytime he makes an awkward joke about “the hip-hoppers” at the dinner table! And he makes those jokes a lot! I don’t even think my dad knows what hip-hop is! He might think it’s some kind of footracing league!

Look, I find the current version of Jerry Seinfeld a bit tiresome, and I’m not going to defend the Pop-Tart movie or any of his recent stand-up comedy. The anti-wokeness stuff is stupid, but it’s not too different from how just about every comedian feels (or, as Kliph Nesteroff has pointed out, how almost every comedian throughout history has felt.) 

As for his Israel comments, I’m not going to hold any artist’s views on the Israel/Hamas war against them unless they genuinely cross a line when it comes to extremism or obnoxiousness (congrats, Michael Rapaport, you made it!)  

But come on, let’s not pretend that Jerry Seinfeld is talentless or worthless. He created and starred in quite possibly the greatest sitcom in the medium's history, and I don’t think that was all Larry. And the show has held up quite well over 30+ years. 

He was also a highly influential stand-up comedian. Seinfeld’s appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm were always hilarious; that Marty Funkhouser joke scene doesn’t work without his reactions. And this incredible scene, too:

You can conclude that the age-70 version of Jerry Seinfeld in 2024 isn’t somebody who you like. But that doesn’t mean his whole career was worth nothing.