thomas4cinema

A documentary following tv comedian Jerry Seinfeld when he was starting a revamp of his stage stand-up routine after the many years of successful tv sitcom.
I must admit … no: I am happy and lucky to admit that before that film, I would not have recognised Seinfeld if I had met him on the street. I watched two or three episodes of the tv show, and one soup nazi youtube clip some friend recommended to be the funniest clip ever. I don’t like the show, I don’t think he is a particularly gifted commedian, at least the tv show is not too interesting.
That made it all the more interesting to watch this documentary, just knowing that he is huge, but not being burdended by this feeling of awe if I was a fan. I can see him struggle on stage, hitting home some jokes, falling on the face with others. What is clear very soon that he has stage presence and dominance, that he is a real comedic personality, and it takes a lot to throw him off-track. But he is human, and so is his programme, flawed and in need of practising and permanent revision. The handicraft of stand-up comedy is actually presented from another angle, from the perspective of a young comedian who is on the verge of breakthrough, but who accepts this as a huge mountain of effort and work, but already equipped with arrogance and jealousy about the colleagues / competitors. While for Seinfeld it’s a game, for the other one (sorry, mate, forgot the name) it is the centre of existence and worth every bit of reflective capacity you have. Showing how they get mangled through the impro, stage and tv machinery makes this an interesting documentary, even though on a formal level of filmmaking, there is not too much originality.