It has been broadly disseminated that “Seinfeld” is “a present about nothing.” Creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David famously demanded that the collection function an anti-sitcom, undercutting the morals and treacly classes that had come to dominate the style. As an alternative, David and Seinfeld needed the principle characters of their present to be shallow, petty, and terrible, roughly assuring that they might by no means study something by the tip of an episode. One of many present’s mandates was “no hugging, no studying.” There can be no teary reconciliation, no heat, and no progress from previous errors. By the tip of “Seinfeld,” the principle characters (as performed by Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Michael Richards, however not David) can be simply as petty and shallow as they had been within the first episode.
Commercial
The “‘Seinfeld’ is a present about nothing” descriptor has turn out to be so well-known that the particular options on the “Seinfeld” DVD field units had been referred to as “Notes About Nothing.” There was even a meta-commentary in an episode of “Seinfeld” itself whereby the fictional model of Jerry Seinfeld — who can also be a standup comic just like the real-life Jerry Seinfeld — was approached about starring in his very personal sitcom-within-the-sitcom referred to as “Jerry.” That meta-sitcom was described by a number of “Seinfeld” characters as “a present about nothing” as properly. It is a nothing inside a nothing. Seinfeld-ception.
However then, the “nothing” descriptor does not maintain as much as a lot scrutiny. Not solely has David famous (on the DVD commentaries) that there’s certainly a theme to “Seinfeld,” however Seinfeld himself (the true one) as soon as took to Reddit to disclose the true pitch to the collection. As famous, each the fictional and real-life variations of Seinfeld had been comedians, and plenty of episodes started and/or ended with him riffing on one thing that was about to occur (or had occurred) to the present’s foremost characters. Nonetheless, it appears that evidently “Seinfeld” was an explorative essay about the place he will get his materials.
Commercial
Seinfeld is about the place standup comedians get their materials
In a approach, “Seinfeld” is a dramatized model of the tales that standup comedians inform. In comedians’ tales, they often exaggerate or inform tales of their bizarre, quirky, petty pals. “Seinfeld” merely imagines what the world can be like if the petty weirdos in a standup story had been actual. That was angle, it appears, to take into the NBC studio and pitch to its execs approach again in 1988. Seinfeld and David, in any case, could not lead their pitch with “It is a present about nothing,” so Seinfeld got here up with an angle. Certainly, the “it is about nothing” angle wasn’t even initially meant. As Seinfeld wrote on Reddit:
Commercial
“The pitch for the present — the true pitch — when Larry and I went to NBC in 1988, was: we need to present how a comic will get his materials. The ‘present about nothing’ was only a joke in an episode a few years later, and Larry and I, to this present day, are stunned that it caught on as a approach that individuals describe the present, as a result of to us, it is the alternative of that.”
On the “Seinfeld” DVDs, David (who finally left the collection) expounded on the precise texture and thematic thrust of the present, saying that it was a collection concerning the fashionable city-dweller’s pettiest impulses. David imagined that every one beings have bleak, egocentric, petty ideas on a regular basis, and imagined a world — by means of Seinfeld’s standup comedy — the place folks indulged in these impulses. As he put it:
Commercial
“I like taking the worst qualities that an individual has and making an attempt to make one thing humorous out of it. Would not all people do horrible issues and have horrible ideas? Simply by making an attempt to be as humorous, you are going to take care of loads of issues which might be actual, so the present’s actually about one thing. The entire thing concerning the present being about nothing is ridiculous.”
So, “Seinfeld” is about one thing and impacted the world of comedy endlessly. It is solely the characters on “Seinfeld” who would suppose it is about nothing.
