WEBVTT - Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld - Summer Staff Picks 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:04.920 Hi, I'm Frank Imperial, the engineer at Here's the Thing. 0:00:05.519 --> 0:00:07.800 We're in the middle of our summer staff Pick series, 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:11.719 where we choose our favorite episodes from the archives. This week, 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.000 I wanted to share with you two interviews that are 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:18.120 among the most popular and funniest we've ever done, comedians 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:21.880 Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld. Chris Rock has always been 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:25.560 a boundary pushing comedian. The Emmy and Grammy winner is 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:28.479 well known for his work on Saturday Night Live, his 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:33.280 numerous comedy specials, films like Grown Ups and Madagascar, and 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:37.479 the sitcom based on his life, Everybody Loves Chris. In 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.400 recent years, the funny man has been pushing his own boundaries, 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:44.040 digging deeper into his acting. He starred in the fourth 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.560 season of Fargo on f X, but before that, Alec 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:49.959 met up with the comedian when he was on Broadway 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.720 in his very first play Here's Alex two thousand eleven 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:57.360 conversation with comedian and actor Chris Rock backstage at the 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:02.720 Showenfeld Theater. His dressing room in Broadway shown Field Theater 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:08.680 was five floors up, no elevator. Chris's show The Mother 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.400 with the Hat was about a group of dysfunctional friends 0:01:12.400 --> 0:01:18.280 and lovers, where every relationship had gone bad, really bad. Drugs, booze, cheating, 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:21.840 No one was loyal to anyone. Chris played a recovering 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:25.640 alcoholic who had first glance seems to be a good guy, 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.400 but after a few minutes it was clear he was 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:31.520 the most self serving of the bunch. Oh Man, you 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:32.960 do a great man, you want to press If this 0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.240 is something beautiful, come and stay with me and Vicky 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.880 Man get on a nutritional beverage program. Man. Before this 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:43.360 past spring, Chris might have been the last person you'd 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.080 expect to see starring in a Broadway show. I mean, 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.960 Chris can sell out Madison Square Garden, ps. They have 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:54.440 an elevator. Yet there he was between performances in his 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:57.560 attic dressing room at the Shoonefeld Theater. I wanted my 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:01.000 acting to grow. Do you have to see a huge 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.920 following black and white in your concerts? And yet when 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:07.440 you go out in this audience, how black is the audience? Well, 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:09.880 I mean put this way. In the old days, they 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:14.080 used to have signs up whites only, whites only. Now 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.480 I have a new thing. It's called prices. You know, 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.560 some nights it's darker than other nights. I buy tickets 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:27.359 every night when this play is over. Spent almost a 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:31.200 whole weekly paycheck on tickets as gifts for friends otherwise 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.760 couldn't come see the show. Otherwise could not afford to 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.560 see this show. I tour and I'm normally you know, 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:42.920 at the garden or whatever, like sixty thousand seats to 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:45.040 give away what I'm normally on tour, and people have 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.960 gotten used to this. My man takes care of us, 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.280 and you know, I don't. I can't take that away 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:55.799 from friends and family. You haven't done a lot of theater. Correct, 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:57.440 This is the first play I've ever done. This is 0:02:57.480 --> 0:02:59.760 the first play you've ever done. I didn't do a 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:01.760 play in high school. I didn't go to high school. 0:03:01.800 --> 0:03:06.840 So so not only your Broadway debut, but your first 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.840 play period. You're with a pretty cool group of people, 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.520 a lot of experience, you know what, and they have 0:03:13.680 --> 0:03:18.040 held me up. No one ever got frustrated at what 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.960 I didn't know. You know, this is a bunch of 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.840 little things that people take for grant. I have no idea. 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:29.320 You're never supposed to walk straight at somebody, supposed to loop. 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.239 Just all these weird little things My favorite is that 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:34.839 you don't give information to the person. So if you're 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.040 standing here telling them something, you tell it out. You said, 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:39.960 they're going to open, open, open to the audience as 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:43.040 much as possible. All that open, open, open, open open stuff. Yes, 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:45.400 even today, I'm working on it. The Chris Rock that 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.400 I know from your live shows, I don't see much 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.840 of him in this show because that Chris Rock is 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:56.960 like marauding the stage and as complete control over the audience. 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:59.040 This is a different Chris I see in the play. 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.840 I'm really try to act here, you know. Have you 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:08.480 enjoyed it? I'm enjoying it a lot. A lot. Is 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:11.840 the hardest thing I've ever gone through in my life. 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.080 I always tell people it's like having the Empire State 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.680 Building shoved up your one brick at a time and 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:21.920 to play. Can't believe there's ever gonna be a day 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.560 when you know these lines. What's been the surprise about 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.920 doing this for you? Honestly, I'm surprised I'm doing it. 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.359 I mean, I'm surprised that I'm not bored with it already. 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.320 Are you afraid of that? I'm really that that what's 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:41.200 the that's the biggest fear to actually be stuck doing anything. 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:44.480 Does this change for you night by night by day? 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:46.760 You know what's weird? I'm figuring out how to make 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.599 it change now. So I'm actually figuring out how to 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:55.680 add lib every night without saying words, how to work eat, 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.880 seeing a little different in each line, and try to 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:01.920 find laughs and places that I didn't find one the 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:06.400 night before. So yeah, so it's to answer your question, 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.360 it changes every night. Well, what I love about this plant? 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:15.120 By the way, everybody has loved someone, and not too 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:19.080 far into the relationship, you say to yourself, not only 0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:23.440 is this probably wrong, this is definitely wrong, but you 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.240 can't get out of it. How does this play resonate 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:29.880 with you in your personal life? I've been every person 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:37.320 in this place, a person betrayed everything, everything, and it's 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:40.240 the one who the other person in response to the betrayal, 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:46.440 the revenge every person. It's the kind of play you 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.720 can't watch without putting yourself in it. When you write 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:51.880 your material for stand up, how do the people in 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:56.560 your life react to how you fill at them on stage? 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:58.880 If you're you know what, I'm like a lawyer in 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.960 a sense. I mean that's it's almost like a legal document. 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.719 It's a word like it's all our wives and all 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:07.400 our you know what I mean. It's like like if 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:09.320 you if I gave you the transcript, he'd be like, 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:12.440 he hasn't talked about anybody. It's about your baby. It 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:17.240 would all hold up in court, you do. But you 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.680 never have anybody in your life? No, No, everybody's uncomfortable. 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.680 I remember I read a quote Tarantino said, if people 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:27.000 in your life aren't uncomfortable, you're not really writing, you're 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.880 not really hitting it. You know, somebody better be uncomfortable. 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:33.560 Did you grow up in a situation that was remotely 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:38.839 like this? And then emotionally and most turbulence my parents 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.839 place way My mother cursed a lot, screamed a lot. 0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:45.520 You know. My father, my mother beat us with a 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.560 curtain rod. Yeah, well we got beatings with curtain rods 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:53.800 and brooms and brushings and hangars or whatever. But me 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:57.640 and my father, it's weird. My father, his temper towards 0:06:57.680 --> 0:07:01.640 my mother was always controlled, right, what else he could 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:04.320 lose it? Why do you think it was you wanted 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:06.720 to protect that? I don't know. I mean, first of all, 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:11.040 I mean, guys from that era did not view women 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:15.120 as their equals. They did, and they were loving and 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.400 blah blah blah blah blah. But they did not view 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:23.640 women as their equals. Therefore they could actually deal with 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:29.280 the woman's emotional whatever swings way easier than a guy 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.600 in my age, because I view a woman as my equal. 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.960 So if I'm with a woman and she starts crying, 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.000 I look at her like I'm with you when you 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:41.560 start crying, don't go female on me. I'm like something, 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:43.200 I look at her life. I would look at a 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.720 guy that gets emotional. Yeah, I thought, if we were equal, 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:47.880 then you can't play that car. Don't play the female. 0:07:48.040 --> 0:07:52.000 So I'll just say my father and my grandfather's both 0:07:52.040 --> 0:07:59.160 of them were really delicate with their wives. You know, 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:03.240 not a child, but close to a child. How it's 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:07.520 different for you. My wife's my equal, and you know, 0:08:09.160 --> 0:08:14.320 you know, any budding of heads is because I I 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.360 want I'm dealing with you the same way I would 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:19.640 deal with myself, or I deal with any guy. And 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:22.320 we're both wrong. What are you gonna do when this 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:24.360 is over? Do you know how much sure I think 0:08:24.360 --> 0:08:27.640 I'm gonna direct a movie that sort I'm feeling. So 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:29.080 this is the time in your life, and you do 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.360 all the things you told yourself you'd never do. Play 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:35.280 on Broadway. Direct a movie. Why do you want to 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:39.160 direct a movie? I don't know. I put it away. 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:41.120 If I can get a great director to direct me, 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:44.320 I'll do it. But once, yeah, once you get to 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:45.920 the sea list, you might as well do it yourself. 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.240 That's what I say. Yeah, how picky are you about 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:50.920 the films you do? Because you don't do a lot 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:54.480 of films. Um, I don't know. I mean I turned 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:56.480 out a lot, but I don't have a list of 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.840 great films I've turned you turned down regardless of whether 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.800 they're great or not. Do you turn them down? Because 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:04.560 for you, you always have the stand up thing in 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.640 your pocket and the concert thing in your pocket. You're 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:08.280 not in any hurry to go out and make a living. 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:17.680 Most movies suck man, early suck. See. I'm I'm messed 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:20.640 up because I like to see something I haven't seen 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:23.520 or haven't seen with a black person. Black people in 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:27.040 film is still at its really at its infant stage. 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:31.720 And what do you think, I don't know? You know what, 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.200 here's the thing. You know, you hand a studio person 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:39.240 of script, and sometimes the studio people are good at 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:43.120 a time. When you hand somebody as script, they pick 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.679 a person in the movie that they identify with. So 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:48.360 if you hand a woman a script, if the woman's 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.040 got nine lines in the movie, the first person who 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:54.200 gives you notes about is the woman. And if you 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:57.559 hand the boss the script, he's gonna give you notes 0:09:57.600 --> 0:09:59.959 about the main character. And if you hand his assist 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.720 the script is gonna give you notes about some other 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:06.960 everybody figures out who they are in the movie. Now, 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:09.960 when you had somebody a black script, they don't relate 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:16.400 to anybody. That's a very good point. I'm serious, even 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:18.640 when it's and when you have any seconative who does 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:20.560 relate to a black person's script, what does that mean 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:25.640 to you? You You struck gold Well, Really, they just they're 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.480 making a product all of a sudden, That's what I've experienced. 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:35.920 And when you do, because i mean, there's no black 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:40.600 studios or whatever, so you end up you always end 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:45.320 up with just a person trying to make a piece 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.319 of product. They might as well, they might still be 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:53.120 making an iPads kind of a sustainable stateship business. But 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.520 you seem to me, because you're so smart and so 0:10:55.600 --> 0:10:57.680 clever that you have as much of a white audience 0:10:57.679 --> 0:10:59.240 as you do a black ondies, don't you think so 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:03.480 in spite of the fact your stand up can be 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:07.600 pretty tough on white people. Yeah, but I always say 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:11.600 my stand ups like Chinese food and what's Chinese food? Well, 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:15.960 Chinese food is one of the most popular foods in 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:20.439 all of America, and they don't put Americans on their menus. 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:24.840 People really want Chinese food. They don't put fries and 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:29.680 grilled cheese, grilled cheese on the menu of the most 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:33.720 popular Chinese food of people comedy. So I'm just saying, 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:37.240 when people see people come to Chris's restaurant, think about 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:43.480 Chris's menure. I'm talking with Chris Rock backstage at the 0:11:43.520 --> 0:11:47.679 Chaunfeld Theater on Street. This is Alec Baldwin and you're 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:52.280 listening to here's the thing. How old are you know? 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:59.720 I'm forty six forty six, which means you started and 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:03.280 you started. I started probably five seven years before I 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:05.240 got on S and O. But I always I haven't 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.400 been you know, I havn't been poor day since I 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:12.880 met Laura Michaels. I never broke a lot of his 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:15.040 stuff sticks with me. What thing he said to me 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:19.120 is like everybody loses their first money. Now if you're talented, 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:23.040 you'll make some more. That He's so right, he knows 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:25.200 more about Let's take a moment to talk about the 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:27.880 wisdom of Lord Michael. You know, he's always there to 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.440 remind you how you can lose perspective about this business. 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.600 At least in my case. He's very good. But how 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:37.640 much of things changed in your mind? And not just 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.160 for you but for you specifically, but in the business. 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:42.520 I don't know about you. I find a business a 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:50.840 lot smaller, less movies, less, I mean less stuff that 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:53.560 relates to me, you know what, Less stuff that relates 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.040 to me. I'll say that for the young people. You know, 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.480 this whole reality thing, I'm not going to dismiss it. 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:02.240 You know, sound like I'm some old person talking about 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.719 rap music. It's not gonna last, you know what I mean. 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.880 But do you think the same time I don't get it. 0:13:08.200 --> 0:13:10.120 Do you think you'd make it today if you came 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:12.720 in today? Yeah? Me and Sana, Well that's our little 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:15.319 tests with each other. We kinda we assessed the stand 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:19.360 ups we're gonna Yeah, we still got it. I still 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:21.760 got it. Yeah, I keep the weight off a little bit. 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:24.440 You know. That's what I'm trying to do it. Du 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:29.440 bon Jovi, still doing it, Still doing it, man, Just 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.439 look hot, Just trying to look hot to somebody. You 0:13:32.440 --> 0:13:34.040 don't have to lie. You're still got you still look 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.760 how many kids you have done to nine? Get ready 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.440 nine and get ready by seven? So what are you 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.439 worried about raising your kids in this world? I care 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:47.880 that they're good with money. I don't care if When 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.560 I say good with money, I just mean you've got 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:54.160 two dollars and you spend one and you put a dollar. 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:57.360 But I don't mean that they run Microsoft or they 0:13:57.520 --> 0:13:59.679 flip money and buy a house. I just mean, does 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.160 that come from your childhood? Yes, it comes from my childhood. 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:06.400 I just mean can they handle their own That's it? 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:10.000 Because to get out of it's a tough hole to 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:12.280 get out of, and it's a weird hole for a 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.920 pretty woman to get out of, and they end up 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.560 in relationships with guys they wouldn't have relationship with. There's 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:21.040 a great line that Anthony Quinn has in Lawrence of 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:24.280 Arabia where he says, I am a river to my people. Yeah, 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.920 I'm getting a lot of that now. Well, Hey, here's 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.760 the thing. You can only help. Like, I got some 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:35.680 family right now, guy wouldever losing his house whatever, I'm 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.560 gonna help him move in to wherever he's gonna move into. 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:44.080 I'm not buying his house because he's never gonna be 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:48.960 able to fold the house. So yeah, I my, I'm 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:53.680 a river. But it's a little river. It's a little 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.840 river because when you turn down somebody and they know 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:01.600 you have the money, this is one thing to go. 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:05.200 These kids are kicking or whatever, and you don't have 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.760 the money. They know you have the money. It's so 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.680 it's almost like a woman. It's like I know you 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:15.480 have vagina and you have sex, you just don't want 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:19.480 to have it with me. I remember I used to 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:21.880 do a movie and they'd say to me in whatever way, 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:24.640 what would come back was, Uh, we don't have the 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.080 money for that. And what they really were saying was, 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.960 we don't have the money for that for you, for you, 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:34.560 we don't we have the exactly for Leo, we're gonna 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:38.200 sell our houses. Remember, for you, we don't have the money. 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:40.320 And that's what you're saying to people in your life 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:41.600 is I don't have the money for you. I don't 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:45.480 have the money for you. You're not gonna be the 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:53.480 reason I'm doing some bad Kung Fu movie. Okay? Comedian 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.560 and actor Chris Rock. When we come back, we'll have 0:15:56.640 --> 0:16:13.800 Alex conversation with Jerry Seinfeld from two thousand thirteen. It's 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.480 an understatement to say that Jerry Seinfeld broke the mold. 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.400 His brand of observational comedy is universal and led to 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:23.560 his success as a stand up comic and in his 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:28.080 namesake sitcom, Seinfeld The Show About Nothing ran for nine 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:31.600 seasons and became one of the most memorable, acclaimed, and 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:36.720 influential series of all time. Following up one success with another, 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:41.120 Seinfeld then produced and hosted the roving talk show Comedians 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.840 in Cars Getting Coffee, which is exactly what it sounds like, 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.840 for eleven seasons, and he continues to do what he loves, 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.560 touring the nation performing stand up. Here's Alex two thousand 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:58.040 thirteen conversation with the legendary producer, actor, and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.720 Who makes it in comedy? Who are the ones that 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.080 make it? And it's a change in your lifetime? What 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.600 does it takes in show business? Let's answer that question, 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:08.480 because I haven't. I'll tell you who's in show business. 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:10.919 You know it's in show business? Like who wants to 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.960 be more than anyone else? Those are the people that 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.359 are in it. The people that just go, I want 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.720 to be in it. I'm going to be in it. 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:23.639 Do I have the skill set? Do I have a talent? 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.159 I have something to offer? We'll find out or not. 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.760 But it doesn't I may not take on that with 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:30.560 between Baccino, I said to him, what do you do 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.280 when you do a movie and the other person isn't 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.640 that good? Like you're doing a scene and I said, 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:37.280 do you go up to the director and give them notes? 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:40.040 Say tell them this other? And said, no, I never 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.840 do that. I never do that. No, no, no, I said, 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:45.280 I said, what do you do? I? I said, what 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:46.560 do you do when the people that you're working with 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.000 they just I mean, you're so talented, and it's like 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:50.600 tennis and you and you're and you're hitting the ball 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:52.480 with some and they're not that talented. And he said, 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.080 I like, like all of us in the business are talented. 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:00.679 Everybody's talented. Some of us are just more talented than others. 0:18:01.480 --> 0:18:04.000 But everybody in the room when you're working, they've got 0:18:04.040 --> 0:18:06.359 some kind of time, like you'd say he has a 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:11.520 talent for storytelling, he had a talent for this. But 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.320 you're saying that people who determination is a big part 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:16.919 of it. I'm saying it's most of the people we 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:22.760 see in in the arts are there not because they 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:26.080 had the most to offer, but because they wanted to 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.280 be there the most, you believe. So when you're in 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.400 clubs in your early years and you'd see people who 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:34.840 were working, did you have did you not? Not that 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:36.439 you cared about this or you were focused on this, 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:39.199 but would you Sometimes because my friends who were in 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.119 clubs and who were comics, there was a lot of 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:43.760 evaluating of each other in the competition. It was very competitive. 0:18:43.960 --> 0:18:45.600 And would you look at people and say, I think 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:47.280 he's got it or she's got and they're gonna make 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:49.800 it and they don't or this one doesn't and and 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:51.560 a big part of your saying is just the drive 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.480 as they wanted. They're a dog on a bone. You 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:58.480 see a lot of that, don't you think? I think so? Well? 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:01.240 In the in the movie business, you can see people 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:03.520 who they put it before everything else, you know, I mean, 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:07.000 they're not what business, what what field of endeavor? Has 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:13.480 the highest bullsh factor right in your opinion, Um, because 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:17.360 you've been in a number of different branches. Now, well, 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:21.600 I think, well, obviously a government is government higher than 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:25.480 I think entertainment. Did you enjoy the Anthony Weiner show 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:31.359 this season or not the show that he put on 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.960 for us when when that was going on? Did you 0:19:35.240 --> 0:19:38.280 were you disgusted? Were you going? I love this? I 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:41.040 I loved it because to me it was the visible man. 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:43.480 Let's take off the face of the clock and watch 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.320 the gears. And that's what that was. This is you know, 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.560 we're talking about people our ownership show business because they 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:54.000 want to be he wants to have he wants it 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:56.679 wants and most of most of them have all the 0:19:56.720 --> 0:20:00.959 guyses and veils and and you know, well they pretend 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:02.680 that what you just hit on a very important point, 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.440 which is that they pretend to some degree that it's selfless. 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:07.720 That well that also, yeah, that that they don't crave power. 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:11.560 But the other thing about Weener that I found unusual. 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:14.520 I mean, listen, this is I'm not going to say anything. 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:16.720 I don't think I'm capable of saying anything that hasn't 0:20:16.720 --> 0:20:19.760 been said before. But the idea that you want to 0:20:19.760 --> 0:20:22.200 take pictures of your genitalia and send it to women 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.200 that you barely know. I wonder if there's an unconscious 0:20:25.240 --> 0:20:27.679 part of him that's like, I'm gonna send pictures of 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.320 my genitalia to a couple of women who I don't 0:20:30.320 --> 0:20:32.760 even know that well, and let's see what happens. Let's 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:35.280 let's roll the dice here. I'm putting all my chips 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:40.000 on black. I'm all in. I got another pile, and 0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:42.240 I'm all in on sending this chicken picture of my 0:20:42.359 --> 0:20:47.160 you know what of my personality? I don't have that desire, right, 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.160 I'm not I'm not exacts. It's easier to understand than 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:53.480 his get off was. Ding. He looks at the phone, Ding, 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:59.440 let's it just press send? Where where's the thrill? Everybody 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:01.679 has as some component of them for what I call 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:05.119 negative excitement, like what's your thing? You want to do 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:07.680 that that you indulge some weakness of yours? You know 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:09.879 what I mean? Some people have food issues, they have 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:14.920 drinking your mind, what would be yours? Uh? I don't 0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:20.399 think I mean beyond tomato sauce. Maybe, yeah, that's not that. 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:24.560 Yeah you are. And for people who don't know you 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:27.879 see This is the thing that, in all honesty, I 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:30.720 always when I think about you, the list of things 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:34.840 I think about is, is how not just professional and 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:36.960 committed in all those other kind of lame were you know, 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:41.320 lazier words, but how you know, just just focused and 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:43.640 hard working. You are like a lot of people look 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:45.920 at you and view you as someone who is but 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:49.520 let's be very candid. You're someone people people view you 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:52.680 as someone who is this incredibly gifted person. I love 0:21:52.720 --> 0:21:54.600 this show, right, and no you are. But the point 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:58.639 is that you like you don't work like you do 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:01.040 things like like you going on a trip to go 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:03.679 do some gigs. It's kind of a thing. You're probably 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:07.600 just doing a favor for someone. I think that's more you. 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.560 I don't think that's the general perception. I think that's you. 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:15.800 I think your image of me or what you think. Yeah, 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.360 I think that's your sense I'm projecting. Yeah, I think 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.399 you're projecting. But you know that that's not me. No, no, 0:22:21.440 --> 0:22:23.480 not at all. You know that I love to work. 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:28.879 You've incredibly so, but but not um, I'm not driven 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.800 by anything very healthy healthy, I'm not driving by anything unwholesome. 0:22:32.840 --> 0:22:36.720 But you're healthier. But you are healthier than anybody else 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:40.360 I've ever met in your profession. Everybody else I've met 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:43.120 in your profession, it was you could do Saturday Night 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:45.480 Live and be roaming the hallways of that building. Yeah, 0:22:45.680 --> 0:22:47.880 for over the course of you know, it's really more 0:22:47.920 --> 0:22:50.199 like four days, not a full week. And you're around 0:22:50.240 --> 0:22:53.040 them other people. I did a sitcom with other people. 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:54.840 I've been around a lot of people who make their 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:57.399 living in comedy. I made films with them, and some 0:22:57.440 --> 0:22:59.680