Jerry Seinfeld is the world’s first billionaire comedian, according to financial journalists at Forbes. Turning 71 this week, Seinfeld has reigned supreme as the king of stand-up longer than Matt Rife has been alive, with no pretenders to or serious contenders for the throne. Other comedians, some of whom he’s directly influenced, are popular enough to play Caesars Palace, but few stand the chance of breaking his record for most performances inside the Colosseum.
“I just like to work as hard as I can and assume that if I don’t look at what I’m spending, then I’ll be OK,” Seinfeld said to hosts Matt Farah and Zack Klapman of The Smoking Tire Podcast on their April 1 show, the same day Forbes published its billionaires list. Seinfeld joins Bruce Springsteen and Arnold Schwarzenegger as entertainment’s newest ambassadors to the 10-figure income club that counts Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos in the Top Three.
Seinfeld prefers rare automobiles to rockets, stoicism to social media. Everything to him is about work, focus, Transcendental Meditation, not sweating the small stuff. He’s interested in the philosophical writings of Marcus Aurelius like a pre-career Seinfeld was interested in reading about the lives of comics like Richard Pryor and Lily Tomlin in author Phil Berger’s book The Last Laugh: The World of Stand-Up Comics or catching cutting-edge British sketch satirists during the theatrical run of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
For Seinfeld, born and raised on Long Island’s suburban hamlet of Massapequa, the grail was Manhattan’s Catch a Rising Star comedy club. He’d meet future collaborators Carol Leifer and Larry David during his formative years, and be part of a stand-up generation that included Jay Leno, Bill Maher, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer and Eddie Murphy.
Rodney Dangerfield gave him his first national exposure on an HBO special, shortly followed in May 1981 by the first of 31 guest appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Once Seinfeld had momentum, there was no steering off track. His work ethic, lack of energy-diverting vices and low- to no-controversy private life allowed fans to focus on his eponymous television series, movies about bees and toaster pastries, and a successful talk show in which he picks up fellow comedians in rare automobiles and takes them out for java.
One of those comedians was Jim Gaffigan, a costar in Seinfeld’s breakfast-food comedy Unfrosted. Seinfeld comes to Las Vegas hot on the heels of a tour with Gaffigan, who was able to recommend a favorite food for every city they stopped in. It’s safe to say that without Seinfeld conquering the open-mic nights of New York’s comedy clubs, Gaffigan’s comedy may not have been the same, and both comedians are cognizant of this.
Sebastian Maniscalco’s comedy may not have been the same either, or Brian Regan’s, or John Mulaney’s, or Mark Normand’s. Observational humor, and comedy in general, would not have been the same. Seinfeld affected and changed popular culture with jokes, never settling for anything less than excellence in his contributions to his chosen profession.
Caesars Palace, 8 p.m. May 2-3, starting at $84 plus tax and fee. ticketmaster.com
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