Here's a brief interview with Jerry Seinfeld. It was conducted at John O'Groats restaurant over on Pico Boulevard — one of my favorite places to eat, especially when I absolutely have to have breakfast meetings. And while I don't usually have it for breakfast, that place serves the best fish and chips in Los Angeles.
Mr. Seinfeld speaks of his disappointment with late night talk shows these days. Tell me about it. A few years ago, my love of sweet things — cakes, cookies, candy, ice cream, etc. — mysteriously and suddenly disappeared. I can't stand them now…and I feel something similar happening with the late night shows which, as longtime readers of this blog know, I used to love. I gave up some time ago on Conan and the two Jimmies. Until recently, my TiVo was set to record Jay and Craig and I rarely watched either all the way through. I'd also occasionally record Dave if he had on someone special I wanted to see.
But as you may have heard, those of us with Time Warner Cable in L.A. cannot receive CBS while two mega-corporations duke it out over money…and I find myself not missing Dave or Craig one bit. When Mr. Ferguson comes back on my channel lineup, I doubt he'll return to my Season Pass list. I'll probably stick with Leno 'til the end though I usually just watch his monologue and the First Act comedy piece unless it's about embarrassing people in public.
Getting back to Mr. Seinfeld: Here's the latest installment (with Chris Rock) of his Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. I like this show for a simple reason: Jerry is talking to people Jerry wants to talk to. I don't get that Jay, Dave, Jimmy or Conan — any of them — care about two-thirds of their guests. Craig Ferguson may have the highest percentage in that regard because they don't book big stars and he sometimes brings on people with nothing to plug.
I don't think the lack of prearranged anecdotes is what makes Seinfeld's little show good. Yeah, he isn't working from notes but they also edit the hell out of the thing so it's far from spontaneous. I just think it's nice to see a host who's talking to someone he really likes…and who doesn't care if he's funny as long as they are.