If you haven’t taken the time to watch the series Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee starring Jerry Seinfeld, make an effort to do so as soon as you can. It’s not for everyone – there is adult humor on occasion. Here’s the episode most people have seen (Sorry, Crackle’s embed function doesn’t seem to be working today, you’ll have to follow the link above.)
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I like Jerry Seinfeld. He’s funny, smart, and not taking any guff from anyone else about his life. Jerry’s take on diversity is mine – the best make it into my universe, the others don’t. That means that you have an equal shot but you’re taken on your merits, not your color, sexual orientation, politics, or gender. I like that philosophy. You get a lot better quality of person surrounding you if you honor Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s philosophy as expressed in the I Have A Dream speech: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Not to digress too far from the purpose of this post, but we seem to spend an awful lot of time in the United States putting people into convenient boxes so that we can identify them and make sure that we have a full collection of Hummel figurines on our shelves. The value of people as individuals is greatly diminished when you check some box and say that they are filling that category. It means that you don’t need any more of that variety once you’ve reached your quota. It deprives you of a lot of quality people when you do that: I want more quality people, not fewer, in my life. Seinfeld gets that little bit of wisdom.
That’s one of the things that makes his web series so entertaining: all of the participants are zesty in their appearances. I don’t like the humor of some of them, nor their politics, but Jerry brings out their very best and turns these short vignettes into comedy gold. I can tolerate anyone if they’re good at what they do and bring pleasure to me in doing their job well. We settle, all too often, for performances that are safe. Or good enough. Or politically correct. I like to see things that break that boundary. Will Seinfeld have more diversity in his series in the future? I don’t care. That’s not the criteria I would choose to employ in screening guests in his place. I hope he just continues to find funny people to bring out for a spin and some coffee.
The concept of the series is that Jerry gets a vintage car of some sort (some are absolute loser cars but unique in some way) and then he drives to get coffee with the guest. They get coffee, eat, laugh, and then drive off. Sounds stupid on the surface but these 11-25 minute episodes are beautifully done and funny. The car antics alone are worth watching.
In the interest of pushing my linking skills, I will list the comedians on the series with a link to their episode. I do have one favor to ask: don’t blame me when you spend the next 3 hours laughing and ignoring your spouse. It’s Jerry’s fault, not mine.
The comedic talents:
Larry David, Ricky Gervais, Don Rickles, Chris Rock, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Louis C.K., Brian Regan, Joel Hodgson, Bob Einstein, Barry Marder (Ted L. Nancy), Colin Quinn and Mario Joyner, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, Michael Richards, Gad Elmaleh, David Letterman, Sarah Silverman, Seth Meyers, Todd Barry, Jay Leno, Patton Oswalt, Howard Stern, George Costanza (Jason Alexander).
Thanks for dropping by today. Please remember: people are people, not quotas. Deal with the best and forget the rest.
