Students walk out during Jerry Seinfeld’s commencement speech at Duke
Students walk out during Jerry Seinfeld’s commencement speech at Duke
www.independent.co.uk
Students walk out during Jerry Seinfeld’s commencement speech at Duke
129 comments
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I find it funny that everyone assumed they walked out over Gaza, while I assumed it was because Jerry Seinfeld isn't funny.
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Wow. Those protestors are so violent. Call the riot squad!
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Anti-semites!¡
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Also a pedophile
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He's never even been all that funny. I've always seen his entire shtick as making fun of bad comedians through imitation.
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The bee movie guy?
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I honestly never understood the attraction to Seinfeld.
There were a few good jokes in there but the whole show was about them being assholes and proud of it.
They're selfish, judgemental and entitled. They're constantly mocking and bullying other people and each other. The final episode even lays it out explicitly.
Shows like "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", "Married... With Children" or "Breaking Bad" have various unsavory characters but we're invited to reject these flaws or at least identify with them as flaws.
Seinfeld is shameless about being an asshole and pretends the rest of us are just too dumb to understand his genius.
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I think you're missing the point of these shows and that's okay.
The characters aren't role models, they are your intrusive thoughts manifest. If you didn't hear someone's name when they told you, any rational person would just say it was loud and they didn't hear you. They wouldnt go through lengths of introducing friends, finding out childhood taunts and rifling through your belongings in an attempt to save face.
The joke is in the breaking of social norms. A show about people being polite to each other doesn't make for very good comedy.
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That's exactly my point. None of the characters in these shows are role models. We can sympathize with the Bundy's or their neighbors but the show makes it obvious that nobody wants to emulate them. We can understand why Walther White did the things he does even if it's clear that he shouldn't have. The gang in Philly is all about showing us the worst possible decision in any given situation.
Seinfeld, on the other hand, celebrates their behavior. It canonizes our intrusive thoughts as though they were a more authentic form of expression.
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Archer. Archer is the perfect genius asshole protagonist.
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I found that the clowning/assholery in Seinfeld was just too close to plausible to clock as humor most of the time, while picking on small and petty things; it's a little too real. I don't think that comes from conceit, but rather, a generation gap and all the insensitivity that comes with it. Just add a little casual violence and it's peak boomer-era humor. That said, Seinfield was its best when the stories were less believable and cruel.
The other shows you cite put these humor beats way over the top which is far more paletteable, IMO.
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The bass theme is a banger than that's about it
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It was always played with a keyboard. No one is ever slaping a bass
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I think you have a fundamentally different view than I do on the characters. They are all fundamentally nice people. The difference is, they get fixated on small issues, and let it control their actions. Jerry dates a woman that only looks good in bright light? Only go on dates that have good lighting. It is something you would want to do too, but you would have the control to not let it run the relationship. Jerry doesn't have that control, and focuses on the good lighting at the expense of everything else.
The characters aren't mean. They didn't wish I'll on anyone. Many of the episodes are them trying to find a way to get out of a situation without being honest because they think the truth would hurt too. Idiots, yes, not not jerks.
For another example. There is an episode where a waiter accidentally puts a menu on a candle and it lights on fire. George points it out, puts the fire out, and casually mentions "I think the busboy put the menu too close to the candle." The manager overhears this, and fires the busboy. George then finds the busboy to try and help him get another job, but leaves the front door open, and the busboy's cat escapes. It is the perfect example of what the characters are. They don't want to hurt people, and go to extreme lengths to do it, even though it always backfires.
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I think you have a fundamentally different view than I do on the characters. That's clearly true :)
Even when the characters behave reasonably I always felt that they were motivated more by the potential for public embarrassment than by moral concern.
It's hard for me to think of George as a fundamentally nice. This is the guy who shoved children and elderly out of the way when he saw smoke, goaded an alcoholic into relapsing because he felt left out, constantly lied to get advantage in situations and even tried to kill a guy out of jealousy.
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You have to have grown up with it and gained an unconditional love of the characters. You don't care that they are an asshole to a character you don't like.
Look at Kramer he is so stupid he can't figure out a washing machine! Lol he's going to try to pour a bunch of detergent in next and act like he's drunk because he's that stupid! He's so funny!
Edit: Remembered it wrong. He was pouring concrete into the washing machine. Classic asshole
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The characters in Seinfeld are shameless, but like with IASIP, they usually get burned at the end of the episode. And that continued over Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry is petty and self-centered, he never learns, karma gets him in the last 30 seconds and then the Tuba drops - BUM BUM BUM.
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I can't help but notice all the comedians who complain about society being took woke for comedy are has-beens. John Stewart's back to crushing it at the Daily Show, is he complaining? No, it's only the guys who've run out of material and have nothing left to do but shake their canes at gen Z kids.
I challenge anyone to go to the "good old days" and find me a comedian who was actually funny and not just being an edgelord. You know who the most popular comedian was in the 80s? Andrew Dice Clay. That's right. That's was peak comedy, dirty nursery rhymes. Sure, I get that some people are nostalgic. But let's be serious for a minute - do we really wanna go back to that kind of comedic void?
Society hasn't gotten too woke, rather comedic standards have evolved to the point where merely being offensive in itself no longer counts as comedy.
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I challenge anyone to go to the "good old days" and find me a comedian who was actually funny and not just being an edgelord.
The master himself. George Carlin. We could debate whether he was an edge lord or not. But his comedy was timeless and remains hysterical to this day. And his funniest bits were based on observation of the human condition.
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Carlin was vulgar, but he never punched down. I firmly believe his comedy would be as accepted today as it was when he made it.
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Carlin also re-invented himself with the times. The comedy he did in the 60s was entirely different from the comedy he did in the 90s.
Jerry Seinfeld is still doing the same comedy he did in the 80s.
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Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy, and Jim Carrey all seemed like they had really good specials. I haven't watched them in a long time, but I don't recall them being edge lords. I'm sure there have to be others.
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This shit couldn't be more off base lmao.
Not only have many greats been listed in response to you, you also have relevant comedians today bitching about "woke" as you call it.
Is Bill Burr an edge lord has-been? Chapelle? Jon Stewart has mentioned this as well. Honestly, I think the meme of "YoU cAnT sAy tHiNgS aNyMoRe" is in over half of standups I watch.
A huge portion of comedians mention this at some point.
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Chappelle I'll grant you, but I'd put Chappelle in the category with Seinfeld of a once super-popular comedian who has passed his prime, and now just shakes his cane at Gen Z in frustration instead of creating new material.
As for Bill Burr and John Stewart:
Bill Burr Stuns Bill Maher by Declaring Cancel Culture ‘Over’
Jon Stewart Is "So Fucking Sick" of "Anti-Woke" Culture: "I've Lost Two Words in 35 Years"There's a difference between thinking cancel culture has gone too far and complaining endlessly that it has "ruined comedy". One is an opinion, the other is an excuse.
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Is George Carlin considered an edgelord?
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He was, back in the day, his anti-authoritarian bent was pretty edgy then
Tangentially: I tried getting into him a few years ago and it seemed tame and nothing I hadn’t heard before from so many other comedians. Then I realized that he was the vanguard of that style of comedy and of course it’s going to sound like retrodden ground if I’d heard all the people he’d influenced before I listened to him.
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Emo Philips
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Tomorrow he's going to complain about being "cancelled" and how he "can't say things anymore" while talking about the event where he was invited to speak in front of a college full of students.
You can say whatever you want, people don't have to listen.
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Exactly. Plus the right to free speech doesn't equate to being free from criticism, or as you said, general disinterest.
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The supreme Court has described it as freedom of speech not being freedom from speech.
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tomorrow he
no he's not, this is a nothing burger that has nothing at all to do with his comedy
invited
be mad at the people who invited him if you're going to be outraged at something.
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Love his TV show but unfortunately he's a dick IRL.
https://consequence.net/2024/05/jerry-seinfeld-pro-palestine-students-duke/
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Ever since be took Leno‘s side in the Tonight Show feud between Leno and Conan, he became non redeemable to me.
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That's like the least bad thing he's done.
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Nothing is obligating you to respond this way other than some amount of respect you have for this bigot. DONT sugar coat your ability to look the other way in the face of bigotry.
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Confusiong riches and fame for brains. Classic mistake
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CoMeDy Is DeAd.
No. We’re just through with your bigotry disguised as humor.
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That wasn't it at all.
The only people who left were pro-palestine nutjobs and there weren't even that many of them
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"The people doing this boycott are just anti-Rhodesia nutjobs and there aren't even that many." -some jackass in 1975
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Weird choice of quotes and headlines:
From the OP article:
"He has been “uncharacteristically vocal” about his support during press calls for his new film, Unfrosted, The New York Times reported."
From the NYT link in the quote:
"As Mr. Seinfeld, who has recently been vocal about his support for Israel, received an honorary degree, dozens of students walked out and chanted, “Free, free Palestine,” while the comedian looked on and smiled tensely"
But when you go to the link to the NY Times article that references Mr. Seinfeld as being recently vocal about his support of Israel, one of the concluding comments in the article is:
Surely, Mr. Seinfeld sees it differently. His public comments have largely avoided geopolitical specifics, dwelling little on the choices of the Netanyahu government or prospective conditions for a cease-fire.
And he can still sound hesitant even in recent discussions about the Jewishness of “Seinfeld” — which an NBC executive once described as “too New York, too Jewish.”
Nothing about this makes me think Seinfield is a a strong supported of the war. Support for Israel after the attack can be a lot of things and does not mean pro Netanyahu war machine.
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Alum, maybe?
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In 2010 or so I went to Cornell for the graduation ceremony of a family member of mine from their business school. The keynote speaker was Rudy Giuliani. His speech about living life with integrity really aged well lol.
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What did he say?
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It wasn’t about the commencement speech
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literally nothing. the only people who walked out were pro palestine
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I read that one of the Charities he donates to is actively engaging in the suffering of the Palestenians.
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The suffering? That puts it lightly. He has aided in killing the mothers and children of Gaza.
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Fuck that motherfucker
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Not as many as Harvard, but it's something.
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Who are all these people Jerry?
129 comments
In case you're wondering what the argument is. You should still read the story though.
That's the biggest part of the reason, but there's also the fact that he's been complaining about how the 'woke left' has destroyed comedy. That's not exactly going to endear him to young adults either.
Also, the whole reason he's complaining about comedy being destroyed is that he hasn't been relevant in over 25 years. So even ignoring everything, he's some boring old dude that hasn't been that relevant the entire life of most of the graduates. They selected someone that the staff might be impressed by, but not someone that is vaguely interesting for the actual graduates.
Seriously. His recent comments are vile.
And the point of a lot of old comedy was based on shitting on other people. The "woke left" is the kids calling us out on being assholes for no reason.
Let's not forget he's literally a fucking pedophile too
Seinfelds wife also donated to the riot mob throwing fireworks into the UCLA pro palestine camp
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/jessica-seinfeld-bill-ackman-fund-200308497.html
His wife also donated to and promoted a GoFundMe to fund the violent counterprotestors at UCLA
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jessica-seinfeld-and-bill-ackman-fund-pro-israel-counterprotests-at-ucla