Jerry Seinfeld Says ‘SNL’ Sketch Making Fun of Him Was ‘A Thrill’
Funny is funny, Jerry Seinfeld often argues (sometimes in defense of some pretty cringe humor). But give the comedian credit. If the gag is good, Seinfeld will laugh hysterically — even if he is the butt of the joke.
Case in point: “The Standups,” a 1980s Saturday Night Live sketch that skewered Seinfeld’s stand-up style years before his titular sitcom debuted. Tom Hanks, Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller play comedians backstage at a club, all speaking in that familiar “What’s the deal with…?” rhythm.
“I just got back from eating Mexican,” jokes Miller in what has to be one of the earliest Jerry imitations. “And I’m thinking, Hey! What’s the deal with these refried beans? I mean, hey! Why do they have to fry them twice?”
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Former Seinfeld writer Spike Feresten played the bit for Seinfeld on a recent episode of his Spike’s Car Radio podcast, and Seinfeld couldn’t stop laughing. He reminisced about other Seinfeld spoofs with Feresten, declaring that he never took offense when his show or style was lampooned. “In fact, I was talking to Tom Hanks about it at SNL50. In 1985, I was a club comic. I had been on TV just a few times and Dana Carvey (it was Miller) and Lovitz and Tom Hanks did a sketch about me, people were talking like me. And they’re making fun of me, but I thought it was hilarious,” he explained. “One of the greatest thrills of my life.”
Did SNL at least give Seinfeld a courtesy call before airing the sketch? The comedian couldn’t remember, but Feresten, who got his start writing for SNL, claims to know the answer. “Here’s what happened,” he reminded Seinfeld. “In the sketch, there was one of your real jokes. And I think it was Tom who said, ‘You can’t do his real joke without his permission. We can write new jokes that sound like Jerry but if we’re going to do it…’ And that’s why they called you. You said, ‘Of course, yeah, go ahead.’”
Feresten confessed that the SNL staff “would always make fun of you in the writers’ room and say, ‘What’s the deal with half and half? It's half milk and half what?’”
The irony is that Seinfeld claims he’s never delivered an actual “What’s the deal?” joke. “Not once,” he maintained.
Then why does everyone think that he did? “It just sounds good,” the comic guessed.
Seinfeld got his chance to poke fun at his comedian persona when he hosted SNL in 1992. He played the host of a game show called “Stand-Up and Win,” where comedians played by Carvey (aha, this might have been what Seinfeld was remembering), Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider deliver hacky jokes in that sing-songy, observational style.
It sounds like he’d do it again, given the chance. “There is nothing sadder than a comedian that has no sense of humor about himself,” Seinfeld concluded. “It's just tragic.”
