• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    That’s the biggest part of the reason, but there’s also the fact that he’s been complaining about how the ‘woke left’ has destroyed comedy. That’s not exactly going to endear him to young adults either.

    • jj4211@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Also, the whole reason he’s complaining about comedy being destroyed is that he hasn’t been relevant in over 25 years. So even ignoring everything, he’s some boring old dude that hasn’t been that relevant the entire life of most of the graduates. They selected someone that the staff might be impressed by, but not someone that is vaguely interesting for the actual graduates.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Exactly. I enjoyed his stand-up comedy back in the 80s and 90s. I enjoyed his sitcom (although that was mostly down to Larry David), but the world has moved on. Comedy evolves. If you can’t evolve with it, you end up being Don Rickles in the world of George Carlin.

        • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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          6 months ago

          It’s sort of laughable to have him give a commencement speech. Who the hell cares about this old dude.

        • ADonkeyBrainedFog@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          6 months ago

          Curb Your Enthusiasm is hilarious and modern while the most popular thing Seinfeld has put out since Seinfeld was the Bee Movie. I think that shows where the talent is. Even when Jerry was in Curb, he was awkward as he’s not a great on-your-feet type comedian. All the other members of the Seinfeld cast fit in far better than him.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        As a 24 year old who spent way too much time watching 90s reruns, Seinfeld was just kinda meh. 3rd rock and married with children were better IMO, also the married with children lingerie scene was my sexual awakening.

        • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Funny, at the time, I thought Seinfeld was better (and more innovative) than either of those. Married With Children was mostly just about being as crass as possible, which has been topped significantly since by shows like South Park and Always Sunny, which broadened their shows to not make it just about “how trashy can we get” and Third Rock… eh. Mostly just weird for weirdness’ sake.

          Seinfeld had some pretty decent ideas for a sitcom like the episode taking place entirely while waiting in the restaurant entrance for Chinese take-out or the episode which is entirely set in a parking garage. There just wasn’t TV like that back then.

      • Vespair@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        Also, the whole reason he’s complaining about comedy being destroyed is that he hasn’t been relevant in over 25 years.

        YouTuber MovieBob absolutely nailed it when he said in his recent review of the new stupid Seinfeld movie that at this point going “anti-woke” is just a marketing move for older washed up comedians. Most of them probably don’t even give a shit but it’s vastly easier to pander to the crowd so desperate for any validation of their hateful rhetoric than it is to write new insightful jokes that resonate with a culture you’re quickly aging out of.

        Of course none of this is to defend Seinfeld; if anything being a manipulative conman willing to pander to the worst appetites in America is arguably even worse than genuinely believing the bullshit in the first place.

        • jj4211@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Seinfeld is a Billionaire. If I ever had 1% of that, I’d never try to force myself to be relevant and happily accept I’m not relevant anymore.

          I’d expect that’s in fact the natural trajectory of being in pop culture, that your time of relevance is fleeting, and plan accordingly. No hurt feelings that no one is lining up for your material anymore, it happens to almost every single person in that field. You only can make your legacy worse by trying to force things, exit on a high note.

    • slurpeesoforion@startrek.website
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      6 months ago

      And the point of a lot of old comedy was based on shitting on other people. The “woke left” is the kids calling us out on being assholes for no reason.

      • TurtleJoe@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        The ironic thing is that the show Seinfeld was more like IASIP than Friends, in that the characters were mostly shitty people, and the joke was usually on them (even though they similarly often destroyed the lives of people around them.)