I’m thankful for a lot of things and I’ve regretted a lot of things. First, I’m thankful that I managed to get my ass down to see George Carlin at his last performance in Portland just over a year ago now, not long before he passed away. On the other hand, I’ve regretted missing Jerry Seinfeld on at least one occasion. So freaked out was I over George Carlin’s passing that I vowed that I would buy tickets to every last damn A-list comedian performance for the rest of my days, bad economy or not – you only go around once.
Last night Sabrina Miller and I hit the first of two sold out Jerry Seinfeld shows at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. I’m a bit of a Seinfeld nut and consider the Seinfeld sitcom to be the half hour comedy by which all others are measured (followed closely by Curb Your Enthusiasm which is obviously more than just a little related). I knew pretty much what to expect going in, after all, Seinfeld has been called all of these nifty things like “the best comedian of our generation” and so on… Bottom line, I didn’t expect to be disappointed.
Well, I was. Just a little bit. But none of that is on Jerry himself. No, the greatest bummer of the evening really came in the form of the Schnitz itself – or maybe the damn sound guy. Sure, we were in the nosebleed section but c’mon, it’s just a one mic show here dude, turn up the fucking volume. Both Sabrina and I joined everyone seated next to us in straining to hear some of the material. It’s a comedy show, not fucking theatre … it’s not exactly visual, just a guy in a suit with a Shure in one hand and water in the other – we’re mostly all here for the audible part of the show, NOT to see if Seinfeld still has 90’s bachelor hair. I don’t know how much it would cost to get one lousy extra set of speakers a little further back but they really need to do something here, the sound was unacceptably awful.
With that out of the way, Seinfeld himself was great. It’s a little strange to hear him referring to more modern devices and our reliance on them, after all, the internet was just a toddler still when the Seinfeld show was at its height of popularity. “What’s the deal with this iPhone?” seems a little obvious when you think about it but it was handled with the same impeccable timing and wicked sharp observations we’ve all come to love. Jerry Seinfeld is also a dad now, something he wasn’t just a decade ago. While I’m always a little weary of “comedian parents”, here again all of it was funny-as-fuck. I’ve had a lot of friends over the years try to convince me that Seinfeld is something of a one trick pony, “What is with this?”, “What’s the deal with that?”, etc. – I say bullshit. This man clearly understands people on a level most of us can relate to and laugh along with for an hour or so and that’s really all that matters at the end of the day. None of this was more apparent to me than after we sat through opener Larry Miller – a good comedian, but not a great and timeless one.
End all rating? I give Jerry Seinfeld an enthusiastic A+. The shit sound at the Schnitz on the other hand gets a solid (and disappointing “give me my money back”) D-.
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Saw Seinfield in the early 80’s in folding chairs at One Main Place, yeah, the bar on 2nd Ave.which is now a hair salon for men, I was feeling quite adventurous and loved my new outfit including hat and gloves and heckled.
mr. seinfeld taught me two things that evening. He asked me to stand up and as I did he so eloquently referred to me as the ” young lady in the front row, front row doesn’t mean you are part of my show, please sit down”, I about died
Later I moved to Hollywood and wrote 5 minute monologues and knew I would never stand up again.