Cynical

So last night, Jerry Seinfeld was on The Daily Show. Which you’d expect would be excellent — two funny guys together, should be good, right? Well, no. The interactions between the Jon Stewart & Seinfeld were strangely antagonistic. I wonder if it’s part because, while Stewart professed to be a huge fan of Seinfeld’s comedy, their comedic styles are quite different, and they clashed terribly last night.

However, I wonder if Jon Steward felt icky about the whole thing. Why would he feel icky? Because Jerry Seinfeld’s reason for being on the show was to promote his new AMEX commerical. That’s right. A commercial. Now, talk show appearances are always just commercials for whatever the person appearing is selling — normally a movie, book, cd or tv show. But last night, Seinfeld was selling a commercial — selling an act of selling, if you will. And that just struck me as horrible and cynical. Yes, this commerical is a little different in that it’s online-only, and about 5 minutes long, so like a little movie, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that it’s nothing but a commerical. And going on a talk show to promote your new commercial just seems terribly, horribly, cynical.

10 Replies to “Cynical”

  1. Seinfeld always comes across like a really cocky guy, and compared to Stewart’s “I’m a moron” routine it does clash. I also don’t think that Seinfeld wanted to be there in the first place, he seemed to be bored and the statement about how he was only there because the audience was a technical one pretty much summed it up.
    Did you watch the commercial? I did a few days ago and although it was interesting overall I was a bit bored by it. It did make me wonder how long it will be before commercials and tv shows are simply one and the same because with the advent of TIVO and other recording devices ads might go the way of the dodo.

  2. Seinfeld always comes across like a really cocky guy, and compared to Stewart’s “I’m a moron” routine it does clash. I also don’t think that Seinfeld wanted to be there in the first place, he seemed to be bored and the statement about how he was only there because the audience was a technical one pretty much summed it up.
    Did you watch the commercial? I did a few days ago and although it was interesting overall I was a bit bored by it. It did make me wonder how long it will be before commercials and tv shows are simply one and the same because with the advent of TIVO and other recording devices ads might go the way of the dodo.

  3. no, it was definitely Seinfeld. if you’ve ever seen him on Letterman or Leno, he’s the same way. quietly smug and generally acting like he doesn’t want to be there.

  4. no, it was definitely Seinfeld. if you’ve ever seen him on Letterman or Leno, he’s the same way. quietly smug and generally acting like he doesn’t want to be there.

  5. As long as their are small businesses that can’t afford producing programming advertisments, their will be ads. But I think we’re already seeing what you suggest as far as big corps.

    I wonder what shifts this will cause for the TV broadcasters. I mean, they make their money through ads. When a company like Mini-cooper produces a movie to promote their new car, and a TV station airs it, does Mini-cooper pay the TV station?

  6. As long as their are small businesses that can’t afford producing programming advertisments, their will be ads. But I think we’re already seeing what you suggest as far as big corps.

    I wonder what shifts this will cause for the TV broadcasters. I mean, they make their money through ads. When a company like Mini-cooper produces a movie to promote their new car, and a TV station airs it, does Mini-cooper pay the TV station?

  7. If you watch TV shows from the 50s, you’ll see that entire shows existed simply to pimp products like Carnation Evaporated Milk. A half hour or more of TV with a number of live ads for the product that the show is named after, brought to you by, etc etc. BMW has been doing internet films for a while now, and AMEX doing it is not that far-fetched. Frankly, if one sponsor wants to provide entertainment shows that it alone sponsors, I’m all for it so long as it’s low-key.

    I’m not a fan of Seinfeld in the least; I find him boring and two dimensional. I suppose being bored by this film from AMEX isn’t something unexpected for me.

  8. If you watch TV shows from the 50s, you’ll see that entire shows existed simply to pimp products like Carnation Evaporated Milk. A half hour or more of TV with a number of live ads for the product that the show is named after, brought to you by, etc etc. BMW has been doing internet films for a while now, and AMEX doing it is not that far-fetched. Frankly, if one sponsor wants to provide entertainment shows that it alone sponsors, I’m all for it so long as it’s low-key.

    I’m not a fan of Seinfeld in the least; I find him boring and two dimensional. I suppose being bored by this film from AMEX isn’t something unexpected for me.

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