Name: Norm Macdonald on Seinfeld (the sitcom)
Uploaded: 2022-05-23T15:13:39.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Norm Macdonald on Seinfeld (the sitcom)' from I'm not Norm on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-05-23. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Norm Macdonald on Seinfeld (the sitcom)' from I'm not Norm on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-05-23. Transcript available.

I know like uh for notes there are people that that's what they do for a living
they give notes
you know for people at home you know they give notes for the studio people give
notes the network
people give notes they're required to they're required why a lot of them don't
make sense
that's their job job and when you think about it what's a note that's always
going to be negative
like you know if you just go I liked everything right that's then you're an
idiot apparently
even though why wouldn't that be the case sometimes so when Seinfeld came
around Seinfeld came
under the aegis of Rick Ludwin in late night because they had um they had him
signed to a
holding deal in case he replaced Johnny Carson so uh Seinfeld's sort of a guy
that thinks he should
earn his money you know has that Protestant work ethic and he's like well I'm
being paid a million
dollars I'll make a show you know and uh everybody you know in the world I
remember had always thought
what about a show about being a comic you know right and that was what
everybody wanted to do
and then when you thought about it you're like no that's not a good idea at all
so uh he did that
with Larry David as a summer show in the summer so called the Seinfeld Chronicles
and uh it didn't do
well and uh and then when it became a hit and then um Larry David and both of
them but especially Larry
David is very hard-headed as it was willing to walk you know uh Jerry Seinfeld
was willing to walk
because he was making so much money as a stand-up comedian right he was
probably the biggest biggest
comedian at the time so they wouldn't take notes especially when the show
became a hit
so you know I'd hear stories about from the writers about how you know they in
after the
dress or whatever they'd be in Larry's office and Larry would be putting you
know a little putting
thing and Jerry would be sitting on the couch and then the guy would give a
note like you know I think
what about I was thinking if a lane uh you know didn't uh uh didn't act uh so
surprised at that
moment uh in the third act and then Larry would go I don't know I kind of liked
it what about you
Jerry yeah I liked it and the guy go oh so uh so uh and then I had a show at
the same time and I was
like um I pitched them on and uh I go well they do that on Larry's show yeah I
mean then uh on Seinfeld
and they go well that's Seinfeld like some different thing you know and I
thought well now after
after Seinfeld was such a success well now they'll go to that paradigm right
you know a great comedian
and then a guy he chooses and then two guys write the show which was also the
interesting thing about
Seinfeld is they had a room full of writers none of which wrote the show you
know uh the idea was you
would go to Jerry or Larry and tell them a story from your life right but it
had to be a real story
real story yeah which I was a brilliant idea and then they would write it you
know and uh I remember
Spike Ferristine telling me uh that he wrote the soup Nazi episode and the
entire story he told them
was that there was a guy in New York there was a soup Nazi and you know that
was it you know
that he was a real mean guy and so um he told me like years later he goes does
it ever bother you
like I won an Emmy for that uh soup Nazi episode even though you wrote the
entire thing and he said
Larry said uh Larry said oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah he had forgot it
Do you ever look at the fluke that uh there's um or do you think that doesn't
exist as much do you think it's hard work more
if you really want to be funny and you don't really care what the consequences
of you think it's hard work more
Do you ever look at the fluke that uh there's um or do you think that doesn't
exist as much do you think it's hard work more
if you really want to be funny and you don't really care what the consequences
are but you want to do this thing that you think is funny
and and you have a good sense of that that that's what makes or breaks it like
Larry and I together had a very solid idea of what we were would not do
but uh to answer your question was it a fluke yeah there's always luck yes but
when when you don't
care if the people are attractive uh-huh you know if you and I sit in a room
and they say we're gonna send in
five people to play this part how hard is it for you and I to go well that that's
the funny guy right there
right how hard is that that's very simple it's very simple but because we're
comics