WE DIDN’T get cable installed in our house until I was 12 years old. Some might say this is a good thing, because it limited my television options, thus forcing me to focus on school. That would be the case, but after I came home from school, my mission was to avoid homework until someone came home and made me do it. So, in those years between cartoons and responsibility, I rotted my brain on the only junk available to me—afternoon talk shows. I also rotted my brain on reruns of Seinfeld. I shudder to think of how I might have turned out had I not counteracted the talk-show sewage with some seriously smart comedy. He’s been lying pretty low since Seinfeld wrapped, but his influence is all over. It only fits that his new reality show follows The Office and 30 Rock, two shows that owe a huge debt to his sense of humor. Don’t call it a comeback. Seinfeld’s been here for years.
JERRY SEINFELD performs Friday (March 26) at 7 and 9:30pm at Flint Center, 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino. Tickets are $47–$77. (408.864.8820)
