VHS Vault: Jerry Seinfeld

With the news that Jerry Seinfeld is coming to town in August, I thought I'd treat you to a little vintage Seinfeld. This is pre-Seinfeld Seinfeld. The sitcom started in 1989; this appearance by Jerry on Seattle's Almost Live! was probably 1984. Ross Shafer was still hosting the show he created and the format was still typical talk show before it became primarily a sketch show under the leadership of John Keister. Shafer went on to national fame (for about a season, anyway) when he became the last host of Fox TV's The Late Show in 1988. But this is classic Seinfeld, doing some of his early bits sitting down on the panel. I used to love his Robert Hughes material, which you can see here. It still holds up.

Jerry!

Just got word that Jerry Seinfeld will be playing the Queen E Theatre here in Vancouver on August 20. Two shows, 7:00 and 9:30. It's been six years since he was here last and he put on a masterful show. Seinfeld's style of comedy may be on the outs, but I think that's more a case of the pale imitators than his work. He's always been a top notch joke writer. And his observations are only obvious after the fact. That is, as soon as he broaches a subject you immediately recognize it as being true without ever having thought of it yourself. Ticket prices are $79, $99 and $125. Yowza. Not sure anyone's worth that much, but if anyone is, it's Seinfeld. Tickets go on sale on Monday, May 17 at 10 a.m.

If he holds to form, he won't be doing any interviews but rest assured I'll be doing my utmost in bugging the good folks at Just For Laughs, who are bringing him to town, to get one. I won't hold my breath but you never know.

Which brings me to a problem I've been having with this blogger page. Recently I've been going through old VHS tapes I have and converting some of them to DVD. But for some reason I can't post any videos to this blog. Don't know why. One of the clips I was going to post, and would be perfect here, is a very old appearance of Seinfeld on the Ross Shafer version of Almost Live! Jerry does panel only and goes through some of his classic bits, my favourite being the Robert Hughes (aka World's Fattest Man) material. If anyone has any tips on posting video to this clunker of a site, let me know. I've done it before but can't do it anymore.