Jerry Seinfeld Will Rage If This Comedian’s Name Is Muttered
The standup comic community is a small one. Feuds often go on for decades, splitting others to one side or the other. For Jerry Seinfeld, this is as true as his hit 1990s sitcom Seinfeld is successful. And, with success comes critique. There’s one comedian that puts Seinfeld in a fiery mood so don’t even say the name (you’ve been warned).
‘Seinfeld’ star made a living with ‘clean’ comedy
In the world of comedy, plenty of comedians lean toward edginess — and oftentimes obscenities — to construct their act. Seinfeld, however, has was only part of that crowd a short time. The star got his start swearing, but made his living, as a clean comic.
Seinfeld sees his clean comedy as a challenge, as opposed to something that gets “easy laughs.”
“A person who can defend themselves with a gun is just not very interesting. But a person who defends themselves through aikido or tai chi? Very interesting,” he told The Guardian.
“It’s so much easier when you’re talking about something that really is important. You’ve already got a better foundation than someone who’s bringing up something that does not need to be discussed.”
He continued: “I do a lot of material about the chair. I find the chair very funny. That excites me. No one’s really interested in that – but I’m going to get you interested! That, to me, is just a fun game to play. And it’s the entire basis of my career.”
It’s likely why his career has lasted as long as it has, with older material still referenced to this day. But that doesn’t mean everyone’s a fan.
Here’s Seinfeld’s real-life nemesis (and no, it’s not Newman)
In an episode of Seinfeld’s series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, cabaret performer Bridget Everett guest-starred. During their conversation, Everett mentions a comedian she’s friends with. At the time the episode aired, the name was bleeped out, leaving many to wonder why.
The name in question is Bobcat Goldthwait. He directed Everett’s Amazon TV pilot, Love You More, and cast her in the truTV series Misfits & Monsters.
“I don’t like him. At all,” Seinfeld said. “I had kind of forgotten about him and then there was a little article about him in the paper and even in that there was a veiled reference to his dislike of what I did. It didn’t have my name, of course.”
For two minutes, Seinfeld continued, using curse words to re-iterate his dislike of Goldthwait.
“He used to rail against me ’cause they weren’t as wild and dangerous as he was. ‘Cause he sucked,” Seinfeld said. “He wasn’t funny. And that’s why he didn’t get anywhere… ‘Cause in comedy, nobody gives a f*** if you’re cool, if you’re lame. If you’re funny, you win. If you’re not funny, you don’t.”
The comedian added a few more F-bombs saying Goldthwait used the voice he brands his comedy with because “he isn’t funny.”
“That’s why he didn’t like me, ‘cause I could actually do it. I can do it. I can do comedy. He can’t,” Seinfeld said. “Stupid [Bobcat]. You’re not scary or dangerous. You’re just weak on stage. You’re a weak act.”
“I love him,” Everett replied.
“You can love him. He’s gonna need the love because he’s not gonna get it from the public,” Seinfeld said.
The discomfort is evident through Everett, but eventually, they move on to other less heated topics.
The beef goes back a long time
Seinfeld’s rant over Goldthwait brings up an interesting question. Why do they dislike each other? The feud appears to go back a few years to when Seinfeld was romantically involved with Shoshanna Lonstein, who was 17 at the time.
“Here is this creepy Scientologist guy dating teenage girls, which I don’t care about one way or another,” Goldthwait said via the Spokesman-Review in 1995.
“What I find creepy is that people are convinced he lives in that apartment, and those are his wacky friends. They don’t like each other; they’re actors paid to pretend they like Jerry Seinfeld. He’s a weird guy. But everybody thinks he’s normal and I’m weird.”
Goldthwait’s opinion of Seinfeld didn’t change through the years. He spoke to The Baltimore Sun about Seinfeld’s 2002 comedy special Comedian.
“I don’t know, man. Sitting around with a bunch of guys, slaving over a new ‘clapper’ joke? For God’s sake. People are gonna think all comics are crazy, because here’s a guy with $450 million, bummed out because he can’t get laughs at an Improv,” he said. “Dude, if it bums you out, don’t go on stage. You’ve got $450 million. You can pay these people to clap.”
Neither comic has said much about each other as of late but maybe that’s a good thing. Regardless, if you ever run into Seinfeld, maybe leave Goldthwait’s name out of your conversation.
