Last night Kish and I watched the new Jerry Seinfeld special, 23 Hours To Kill, on Netflix. It was a great way to end a nice Mother’s Day, at a time when just about everyone can use a hearty laugh.
In the new special, filmed before the coronavirus consumed New York City, Seinfeld touches upon some familiar Seinfeld topics — such as breakfast foods, how we communicate with each other, and relationships — and some new topics, like how the decade where you are in your 60s is his favorite decade of life so far. As always, it’s a treat to watch a real comedic pro at work, as he combines facial gestures, careful language choices, coordinated body movements, vocal inflections, and deft timing to wring every ounce of humor out of his observations. This is a person who obviously has worked very hard at his craft and isn’t resting on his laurels.
And he clearly hasn’t lost his touch, either. Some of the pieces — like those about the invention of Pop Tarts, and how marriage is different from dating — had me laughing helplessly, while other observational bits about things like why people like to text and why they should change the name of “email” had me smiling, chuckling, and nodding, just as with Seinfeld humor of the past.
The special was filmed at a packed theater before the advent of social distancing, but there is one bit — about why New Yorkers would want to live packed together, rather that in the beautiful surrounding green countryside — that reminded us that we’re in the midst of a pandemic and densely packed Manhattan is once again ground zero. For the most part, though, it was nice to enjoy something that didn’t focus on COVID-19 and was simply intended to be funny. The special is well worth a watch — and maybe a rewatch, too. This Seinfeld special seemed to come in the nick of time, to give a much-needed laugh to a bored, homebound world.
As always, Jerry Seinfeld’s sense of comedic timing is impeccable.
Webner House 