“What’s the deal with societal shutdowns?”
Jerry Seinfeld, wearing a Mets cap and KN95 mask, was the first performer at New York’s re-opened Gotham Comedy Club on Friday night. The famed yukkery had been closed for over a year. The observational humorist drove himself, according to CBS New York.
“It felt like getting electrocuted — in a good way,” he told reporters outside the venue.
Tables were separated six feet apart and the stage had a plexiglass barrier around it, like a drummer in a recording studio. The club is operating at 33 percent capacity, as per state compliance regulations.
“He had new jokes!” a delighted patron told cameras after-the-fact. Another happy customer commented that he’d only seen Seinfeld pop-in as a surprise guest, a somewhat customary occurrence at New York City comedy clubs.
Seinfeld’s impromptu post-set press conference continued with some hometown pride. As quoted by TMZ, and perhaps aimed at those who bailed the five boroughs during the pandemic, he said “I’ve been in LA, I’ve been in Florida. There’s a lot of great places in this country but no place feels like this place. And, people who think they will get used to not living here … real New Yorkers will realize it doesn’t work. Only New York is New York.”
This reiterates much of what he said in a 60 Minutes interview from October, shot in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, in which he compared New York City to a an anthill. But, again, in a good way.
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