Jerry Before Seinfeld

10/4/17. While I never really watched Seinfeld, I did catch bits and pieces when my kids watched it (they are die-hard fans). I decided to watch his stand up and it is pretty much like the series. He is funny, and clean, too. You will enjoy him more if you are native New Yorker. One hour of comedy that is definitely worth the watch.

People who are expecting new material will be disappointed. The title says it all. These are glimpses or insights into a part of Jerry before he became THE SEINFELD. It is shown in fragments of him on stage as well providing us reels of him as a child, how his family is, just a normal kid. Perhaps it will be easier for the new viewer not to take things too literally and get to know him a bit. Which is the purpose of this docuspecial anyways. It is interesting to take into account that Jerry the normal kid became such a megacomedian if say you want to compare him to other superstar comedians who came from the slums, poverty and the likes. His normalcy gave him an edge, clean cut you may say but a funny genius nonetheless.

American stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld revisits the Comic Strip club, a small nightclub where he cut his teeth as a comic in 1976 before going on to international success as actor, comedian, producer and director. The material is pleasingly nostalgic and funny and one gets the feeling that the secret to his success has been down to his sunny disposition and laid back persona.

I've been on a standup binge lately, both in English and Spanish. It is a breath of fresh air to hear an OG great comic do a whole set without talking about weed and jobs. I'm a Millennial and I'm burnt out going to garbage shows and watching trash specials that rely on weed and sex as their whole set. Love Jerry's light observational humor here. Nothing that will have you crying laughing, but a nice way to spend an hour.

Jerry Seinfeld's clearly a pro comes when it comes to comedy, and even if he's telling jokes that aren't among his strongest or best, I still find them entertaining (as is the case here). Most of Jerry Before Seinfeld shows Jerry telling jokes from throughout his career, while small sections where he reflects on his past and his beginnings in comedy are interspersed throughout his routine.

This special is a little on the short side, and likely won't blow anyone's expectations, but fans of Jerry Seinfeld will likely get something out of it. Most jokes worked for me personally, even if nothing really proved to be 'laugh out loud' funny.

There were only a couple of parts that I thought misfired. There's a short section where two of Jerry's friends reminisce with him about doing comedy in the 1970s, which felt a little awkward and forced, and then another part shortly after, where somebody in the audience calls out something related to baseball, which Jerry then springboards off and begins a lengthy joke about sports teams. If this was intended to feel spontaneous or unscripted, it didn't really.

Still, I can't be too negative about watching this, because it was enjoyable enough and, like I said, most of it worked fairly well. Also, I've always admired Jerry Seinfeld's ability to be funny without being raunchy or swearing a whole lot, even though I personally don't really have a problem with bad language in comedy (if I did, there wouldn't be too many comedians I could listen to!) I guess his relatively clean comedy serves as a nice change of pace, and maybe even adds to the casual, relaxed feeling of a comedy special such as this one.