According to comedian Jerry Seinfield, TV sitcoms are struggling because of political correctness (P.C.). Offstage comedy remains healthy and important for people, but TV comedies suffer from what Seinfield calls “P.C. crap.” Seinfield suggests that the increasing attention to not offending people results in a lack of funny content. “The audience polices us,” he said. “We know when we’re off track. We know instantly and we adjust to it instantly. But when you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups — ‘Here’s our thought about this joke.’ Well, that’s the end of your comedy.”
Seinfield also suggested that he couldn’t get away with a controversial storyline from his Seinfeld days in today’s television climate. Calling out the extreme leftist ideas that lead to television’s lack of humor, Seinfield pointed out that stand-up comedy allows comedians to be more free to make risky jokes. He added that TV comedies have to pass through many stages of approval before content can be broadcast, leaving shows extremely watered down.
Seinfield’s sentiments are increasingly being revived in American media discourse. Later in the interview, he mentioned that no new sitcoms have been picked up by four major networks in the US for the upcoming fall season. But for stand-up comedians on stage, perceived boundary-pushing is met with laughter instead of backlash. According to Seinfield, people are having fun with the comedians stepping over the line and us all laughing about it.
Seinfield is set to star in the upcoming movie Unfrosted, which will release on Netflix on May 3. Netflix released Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy special, 23 Hours To Kill last year. It received a four-star review from NME‘s Paul Bradshaw, who wrote: “It’s true that he does seem like he’s from a completely different world to practically everyone else with a Netflix special. But then that’s all part of what makes Jerry, Jerry. He might have a lot more money, a bit more waffle and a few new things to moan about, but he’s still the same king of comedy he always was.”
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