MELBOURNE – Few comedians have the ability to turn the mundane into outright hilarity like one of the kings of stand-up, Jerry Seinfeld.
His show at the King Center for the Performing Arts in Melbourne, Fla. on Jan. 11, left no doubt that he’s still sharp as ever with his keen observations about life. He remains the definition of a natural comedian.
“Everyone’s life sucks and that’s OK, don’t ever feel bad that your life sucks,” said Seinfeld near the start of his comedy set. “I think the greatest lesson you can learn in life that I’ve learned is ‘that sucks’ and ‘great’ are pretty close.”
He says that this is the secret to life, that things can go from great to ‘sucks’ and vice versa in an instant and learning to look on the bright side makes the difference. Someone can recommend a “great” restaurant to you that for several different reasons and leaves you feeling terrible, while something you know “sucks” like a cheap hotdog at the ballpark ends up tasting great.
Everything Seinfeld jokes about brilliantly reflects all of our inherent connections to everyday life and makes his brand of humor so relatable.
Topics ranged from relations in life to dealing with death, while everything flowed effortlessly from one concept to another.
And most people who are married or in long term relationship know about the love and hate compromises they have to endure just to leave the house to see a live show, as Seinfeld pointed out while gently jesting at his captive audience.
“He tells it like it is, if you don’t like it too bad,” said Tani Corthell, a long time fan of Seinfeld that was thrilled to finally see him perform live.
Seinfeld is best known for the nine years from 1989 to 1998 that he spent playing himself on the widely successful comedy show that shares his name. He and his fellow cast-members used the same common observational humor to craft a show that remains in syndication around the world to this day, over 14 years after its final episode.
“We were planning our vacation and we knew that Seinfeld was going to be here, so we arranged the dates to match so we could come here and see him perform,” said Marcello Costa. He was with a small group of friends that traveled from Brazil and pointed out that Seinfeld’s show is on every night in their home country.
One of the fans sitting in the front row was even a “Newman,” who portrays the antagonizing neighbor to Seinfeld throughout the sitcom series. This individual interrupted Seinfeld on-stage by calling out unannounced several times near the opening, which Seinfeld easily navigated as he subdued his heckler throughout the rest of the night.
This heckler inevitably got the final word of the evening as Seinfeld concluded his set by taking questions from the audience. He got Seinfeld’s attention one last time and asked why he decided to come back to stand-up after the success of his television show.
Seinfeld pointed out that after the show ended he could have retired or done anything he wanted to do, but nothing quite matched the love and joy he feels by connecting with people and making them laugh, a skill that he has refined over 36 years of doing stand-up comedy.
He is now set to bring his classic comedic style to two sold-out performances at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando on Saturday, Jan. 19. If you are lucky enough to have a ticket for these upcoming shows, you’re in for a “great” evening that most likely won’t “suck.”
