By S. Ohanesian:
Jerry Seinfeld performed stand up comedy Friday night, on stage at Shea’s Buffalo Theater, entertaining the crowd as if he were one of Buffalo’s very own.
Seinfeld thanked the crowd for coming out, acknowledging that going out per se, is not always an easy thing to do. He descriptively appreciated what each and every one of the attendees that night had pondered and thought about as we planned and mentally mapped out the little to do’s on our lists throughout the day yesterday, leading up to our plans to watch Jerry Seinfeld perform live, at Shea’s. He talked about the impossible task of husbands and wives leaving the house together on time. He explored the grand decision making process, of whether to grab a bite to eat before the show or whether to have dinner afterwards, when to go and who with. He brought up the thought of us having to fork out $20 for parking and he even referenced all things Buffalo, like the Bills, the Bisons, hot dogs and wings. He understood, empathized and analyzed what we all go through… warming the crowd up, preparing us to be enlightened by his Seinfeldology.
Quite possibly the most successful comedian in history, the New York native dove into his stand up, with the cliched topic about Buffalo… the weather, but in an endearing way. He related to those of us who live in Buffalo, through the extremely harsh winters, like the one we had experienced this year. He talked about how much he loved real weather and how much he had hated California weather, “It’s not real…when I’m experiencing real weather I feel like I”m living an honest life”. He also talked about the joys of being married or, as he put it jokingly, “For those of you who aren’t married, you’ll see! It’s not joy!”. He compared life as a husband to being a contestant in a game show like Jeopardy where every round is the “Lightening Round” and you’re being fired with question after question, even hypothetical ones, expected to respond –with answers–, quickly. “Wives are always talking! Talking, talking, talking!” he mused.
What was good about the show, was that Seinfeld delivered exactly what you expected him to, his unique point of view on everyday mundane activities. Watching Jerry Seinfeld on stage though, is nothing like watching Seinfeld reruns because on stage, he is able to elaborate on various things (or ‘nothings’), connecting the dots between his trains of thought, all with an active animated gestured humor.
For instance, some of his points of views that he shared with us last night, happened to be about: “Sitting.. life is all about sitting. Why else would we be born with an ass? We have cushion seats attached to our bodies people! Do you think that just happened by chance?“, and about: “Going to bed…it’s is the ultimate. Sitting is good, but being in bed, tops sitting.”, then onto: deathbeds, cremation and burials, the crazy thoughts that run through your mind during funerals, then onward to cell phone obsessions, texting, Tweeting and Facebook. On Twitter: “Why should I tell the most amount of people something using the least amount of words, when I can say in one word, nothing to everyone!”. On Facebook: ” I am 57 years old and I am not on Facebook. Everyone on Facebook is young and stupid!”. He continued by dissecting today’s growing coffee culture too: “What is the deal with coffee drinkers? No! Coffee havers, because you don’t actually drink coffee, you have coffee…”.
Hopefully, you’re getting the idea of the theme here. Despite going on and on about his observations as a voyeur on earth, Seinfeld did interact with the audience throughout the show as well, giving people a chance to chime in with their own comments. When Jerry was sharing his like of email, “I do use email and I like it, but I don’t like the fact that it’s called e-mail, because there is – no – mailman!”. An audience member shouted out “Newman!” on point, referring to Wayne Knight’s character in Seinfeld, the sitcom. Jerry embraced the comment and said with excitement, “Yes! Like Newman from the show! Newman was a mailman… but we’re not doing that now.” With sarcasm he said, “That was 13 years ago… We’ve moved on!” zing! He volleyed every comment that was thrown out at him with his sharp wit. A woman yelled out and asked him for his autograph, for her daughter. Seinfeld happily replied, “Sure! But there are three thousand people here with us, so I wouldn’t be able to do that right now…” trailing off, just to add while shaking his head in comic form: “You gotta love these people with their copernicus complexes, thinking that the whole universe revolves around, them!” zing! Everyone was laughing, even the one’s getting zinged. After all, who doesn’t want to get playfully burned from Jerry Seinfeld every now and again… it kind of makes you feel like you’re George Castanza, the character played by Jason Alexander, Jerry’s best friend on the sitcom (even if it is 13 years later).
In ending his show, Jerry Seinfeld returned to stage for an encore after receiving a standing ovation, which he seemed sincerely thankful for. He shared with us, that after being on stage for 33 years as a comedian making people laugh in different cities throughout the world, it is not often that one receives a standing ovation! He said, “This is what I do, it’s all about this, being here together, experiencing and connecting in this way, with humor.”
He asked the audience if there was anything else they wanted to ask him, he had just enough time for a last question.
“Jerry!” a woman called out, “What’s your favorite thing about being married?” she asked. Seinfeld responded only as a self described, dutiful Jeopardy contestant-like husband with all the proper replies would have responded, “Listening, of course!” Are you married?” he quickly retorted.
“I am!” she replied.
Jerry then rhetorically stated , “What’s your favorite thing about being married…talking?” zing!
Off the stage Seinfeld went, leaving on a high note and all of his fans in the audience laughing …all the way home.