I have a lot of messages in my inbox asking me what I think about Jerry Seinfeld's complaints about "a creepy P.C. thing" that makes him not want to perform at colleges. What I think is that this is a non-issue which, since it's an exploitable topic, will probably fill zillions of Internet bytes to no constructive outcome.
I also think Seinfeld's complaints are too vague, anecdotal and hypothetical to discuss with any seriousness, not that this will stop anyone, myself included.
On Seth Meyers' show, he told a joke that referred to a "gay French king" that had gotten not laughter but a weird, critical reaction from one audience. Seth's audience laughed at it but not some other audience somewhere. This seems to me like too isolated an incident on which to build any kind of discussion. It's like "Oh, my God! Jerry didn't like the way one audience reacted once to one of his jokes." He complained about how he'd heard (not experienced himself but heard) that on college campuses, audiences are too quick to judge comedy and say "That's racist!" or "That's sexist!" But he didn't say it had happened to him.
We have a controversy based on that?
I don't think there has ever been a time when stand-up comedians enjoyed more unrestricted speech. There might be a valid case that some motion picture studios are getting timid about humor that might be branded racist or sexist. I hear people say that Warner Brothers would never make Blazing Saddles today and that might be so…but I'm not sure someone wouldn't. The thing with movies though is that they cost zillions of dollars to make so there are extra worries about crossing some line with (only) certain kinds of humor. There are huge investments involved and huge investments always make people nervous.
This financial concern doesn't really apply to stand-ups…or doesn't apply any more than it ever did. Those who book comics always fret about booking guys who won't bring in the audiences or will send them out prematurely. Nothing's changed there except what always changes: What audiences will pay to see.
Jerry Seinfeld may be right to shy from college-age audiences, not because they'll think his routines aren't "politically correct" but because some might think he's of the wrong generation. And again, this is nothing new. When I was at U.C.L.A. in 1970, I don't think anyone would have brought in Norm Crosby or Buddy Hackett to entertain the students. Those are two guys who killed in Vegas, killed in Miami, killed anywhere they had an audience in "their" age bracket. They just didn't seem to speak to people under the age of thirty. I think the subtext of Seinfeld's problem — and this is sure not a big one for a guy who can still charge $125 a seat in Vegas and fill the hall — is that he's starting to become Alan King for audiences of a certain age.
They used to say that Seinfeld's sitcom was about nothing. I'm not sure what he's complaining about is about anything, either. But if it is, it's about that.
One other point I want to make…
Once upon a time in comedy, it was hard to not get a laugh by dropping your pants. Now, it's hard to not get one by mentioning anal sex or using those words that George Carlin said you could never use on television but now in some places, you can. Still, bad comedians have managed both.
The thing that bothers me about Seinfeld's complaints is that too many comics blame the audience when the act doesn't evoke hysterical laughter. This "creepy P.C. thing" Seinfeld mentions may be so on some campuses, especially at places like Bob Jones University or the diploma mill that Jerry Falwell set up. But it sounds to me more like an excuse comics give when either their routine isn't good enough or they've simply misjudged the house and done the wrong kind of material for the occasion. Some comics these days who learn how to work one kind of comedy club don't have the material or chops to play before more than one kind of audience.
But let's get back to "not good enough" because comics are like pizzerias. A lot of them aren't all that good. I was around stand-up comedians a lot in the seventies and eighties. I saw great ones and lousy ones and I heard a lot of the latter kind blame the audience when things didn't go as desired. One guy used to say when he bombed, "It's my job to be funny and their job to laugh and they aren't doing their job." He was not being funny, either when he said that or when he went on stage.
One night at the Comedy Store, my date dragged me to see a comic who her sister knew and the guy was just awful. I never saw him again anywhere but that night, I saw enough to last me a lifetime. He was living proof of an old adage I made up during his act that scatalogical humor is not always funny. The act was just terrible and the less people laughed (or stayed), the more he dragged out the poop jokes…to no avail. After, when we saw him outside, he was railing against the "square, uptight" audience.
Yeah, but they'd laughed their asses off at the guy before him, who was Sam Kinison. Maybe the audience wasn't the problem.