On Committing to a Career in Comedy

“Even if I could just make enough to buy a loaf of bread and not starve to death, [being a comedian] would be the greatest adventure that I could ever go on. That was my decision. I said, “I don’t give a damn what happens to me; I’m doing this.” That’s the only way to really do it. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was just like, as the poker players like to say, ‘all in.’ My parents thought, ‘Well, he’ll get a job; it’s just like something he’s investigating.’”



On Starting Seinfeld with Larry David

“Well, Larry runs into a guy like me who just expects to succeed at everything. There were two keys to the show. Our sense of humor is combustible together. There was no idea he would have that I couldn’t immediately get onto and say, ‘Yeah, then we’ll do that and then we’ll do that.’ We’re very combustible together. The other thing, equally as important to me, absolutely, if not more important, is we shared a relentless work ethic, both of us. There was no effort that was spared, no effort was too much, we were working Saturday, we were working Sunday, we were working Tuesday night… This thing is going to be right. This script is going to be right before we turn those cameras on. But he, of course, always expects disaster and I always expect glory. [LAUGHS]”



On His Martial Arts Training

“Aikido…I studied that for a while, the martial art. I love that. That’s a wonderful subject. Very good in marriage. I would suggest Aikido training for anyone thinking of getting married.”

On Studying Scientology

“I last really studied, oh, it’s almost 30 years ago. But what I did do, I really liked, in terms of it’s very…it was interesting. Believe it or not…it’s extremely intellectual and clinical in its approach to problem-solving, which really appealed to me. I actually got to it from my auto mechanics teacher in high school, who was into it, and he was telling me about it. In my early years of stand-up, it was very helpful. I took a couple of courses. One of them was in communication, and I learned some things about communication that really got my act going.”

“It was just things about understanding the communications cycle… Even the volume at which I’m speaking now is the right volume for where you’re sitting. I’m almost performing, in a way.”

“You would just understand that there’s this kind of voice, and then there’s this kind of voice, and then there’s this kind of voice. I wasn’t a natural performer at all, so I learned. I was always a pretty good writer in the beginning, but I really had to learn how to perform. Just a little thing like that, understanding that really helped me on stage to understand how you have to invade the space of the audience a little bit. I learned that early on. It was a very helpful thing to learn. You have to invade them just a little bit. Not too much, because then it’s obnoxious. But you can’t be short of them either, or you won’t control them.”

“They have a lot of very good technology. That’s what really appealed to me about it. It’s not faith-based. It’s all technology. And I’m obsessed with technology.”

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For more on Jerry Seinfeld, check out the October 21 issue of PARADE.

On Committing to a Career in Comedy

“Even if I could just make enough to buy a loaf of bread and not starve to death, [being a comedian] would be the greatest adventure that I could ever go on. That was my decision. I said, “I don’t give a damn what happens to me; I’m doing this.” That’s the only way to really do it. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was just like, as the poker players like to say, ‘all in.’ My parents thought, ‘Well, he’ll get a job; it’s just like something he’s investigating.’”



On Starting Seinfeld with Larry David

“Well, Larry runs into a guy like me who just expects to succeed at everything. There were two keys to the show. Our sense of humor is combustible together. There was no idea he would have that I couldn’t immediately get onto and say, ‘Yeah, then we’ll do that and then we’ll do that.’ We’re very combustible together. The other thing, equally as important to me, absolutely, if not more important, is we shared a relentless work ethic, both of us. There was no effort that was spared, no effort was too much, we were working Saturday, we were working Sunday, we were working Tuesday night… This thing is going to be right. This script is going to be right before we turn those cameras on. But he, of course, always expects disaster and I always expect glory. [LAUGHS]”



On His Martial Arts Training

“Aikido…I studied that for a while, the martial art. I love that. That’s a wonderful subject. Very good in marriage. I would suggest Aikido training for anyone thinking of getting married.”

On Studying Scientology

“I last really studied, oh, it’s almost 30 years ago. But what I did do, I really liked, in terms of it’s very…it was interesting. Believe it or not…it’s extremely intellectual and clinical in its approach to problem-solving, which really appealed to me. I actually got to it from my auto mechanics teacher in high school, who was into it, and he was telling me about it. In my early years of stand-up, it was very helpful. I took a couple of courses. One of them was in communication, and I learned some things about communication that really got my act going.”

“It was just things about understanding the communications cycle… Even the volume at which I’m speaking now is the right volume for where you’re sitting. I’m almost performing, in a way.”

“You would just understand that there’s this kind of voice, and then there’s this kind of voice, and then there’s this kind of voice. I wasn’t a natural performer at all, so I learned. I was always a pretty good writer in the beginning, but I really had to learn how to perform. Just a little thing like that, understanding that really helped me on stage to understand how you have to invade the space of the audience a little bit. I learned that early on. It was a very helpful thing to learn. You have to invade them just a little bit. Not too much, because then it’s obnoxious. But you can’t be short of them either, or you won’t control them.”

“They have a lot of very good technology. That’s what really appealed to me about it. It’s not faith-based. It’s all technology. And I’m obsessed with technology.”

<< PREVIOUS 1 2

For more on Jerry Seinfeld, check out the October 21 issue of PARADE.

