Seinfeld on why Trump won’t be riding in his car
NEW YORK— Rev your engines, comedy fans: Jerry Seinfeld is hitting the road again.
The TV legend is back behind the wheel for a 10th season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, which began streaming on Netflix Friday. The show, which moves from Sony Crackle, centres on lively conversations between Seinfeld and fellow comedians as they drive around in classic vehicles and stop for cups of java.
The new batch of 12 episodes, which range from 15 to 20 minutes, features a star-studded guest roster including Dave Chappelle, John Mulaney, Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan.
Seinfeld, 64, chatted about his favourite guests, politics and why he won’t have U.S. President Donald Trump on the show.
Who were you most excited to invite on the show this season? Jerry Lewis, who was an idol of mine from childhood. Kate McKinnon, who I’m kind of obsessed with, because she’s an incredibly talented person. Zach Galifianakis and I collided: We took his show, Between Two Ferns, and my show and crashed them together, so that was really fun. It was like The Munsters go visit The Addams Family.
Which make better guests: good friends or comedians you’re less familiar with but get to know? They’re both good. I had Ellen DeGeneres, who I knew in the early ’80s and hadn’t seen in many years, so it was great to see her again. It’s fun to see somebody that you knew from the early knockaround days and go, “Hey, congratulations. You made it.”
Who’s on your wish list? I really want to have Jamie Foxx on the show next season. I’m a huge fan of his; he started as a standup. I bumped into him at this event the other night and was reminded of how incredibly funny he is. He does so many other things that you forget he’s really a comic.
You’ve said many times that you don’t like getting political in your comedy. I’m not good at it. And I don’t like “we agree” applause. As a comedian, I don’t think that’s fun to get. I like it when people just laugh.
Who do you think does smart political humour now? I was watching Michelle Wolf’s new show (Netflix’s The Break) yesterday. She was breaking down conversations from some of the political shows and I liked that. It’s kind of like diagramming a sentence from school. I like when comedians break things down: they go, “Here’s the way it was presented to you. Now let’s take this watch apart.”
A few years ago, you called Trump “God’s gift to comedy.” Do you still agree? Absolutely, there’s so much material. Can you imagine how bad SNL would be without Trump? It’s so much more fun now.
Would you ever invite him on your show? You have to be a comedian (to be on my show). You can’t be someone who’s made fun of — you actually have to be funny yourself. So far, we haven’t really seen that, but we’re watching closely. You got to show up at the White House Correspondents Dinner. (Former president Barack) Obama got on the show. Remember his monologues at the Correspondents’ dinners? Very funny stuff.