I did standup ten years ago, and I have another friend who was also doing standup ten years ago (and was much, much more talented than I am). Neither of us would perform the material we did in 2005 today, just owing to the shift in what some people would consider inappropriate. And this isn’t even “sensitive”…

I agree to an extent, but being a bit older, I don’t think that’s the entire story. I’m in my mid-30s, and while my sensibilities have changed quite a bit since my college years, they haven’t changed that much in the last five years. And to be clear — I’m not saying I’ve stopped finding the same things funny. I still…

Easy choice. I wouldn’t go play college campuses, and to be clear, I’m fine with 99% of what he said, where he’s clearly saying this is what his comedian colleagues have told him. We all do that, give anecdotal evidence based on what friends have told us from what they’ve experienced.

I actually agree with just about everything you’re saying. My point was that he’s making pronouncements that are based on second hand information. Then he offers his 14 yr old as validation. Talk about your false equivalency. What I’m saying is if he’s going to make pronouncements about the college comedy experience,…

I don’t agree. You really can’t work the clubs to any extent without interacting with newcomers to some extent. People doing open mic nights? Probably not. But people who at the beginning of their careers who are at the “playing colleges” level? Almost certainly.

Not really. Seinfeld is basically the antithesis of someone who wants to say asshole things. He wants to make jokes about spoons.

But that’s why I said that Seinfeld isn’t motivated by self-interest here. I’ve said this elsewhere at this point but Seinfeld plays insanely lucrative corporate gigs and giant theatres. He’s not looking to play student centers. This isn’t about “his” jokes. It’s not about his career(because, as established, Seinfeld…

Except I don’t get how you could imagine that the limits on what comedy the TV world will support and let people make a living doesn’t therefore shape the comedy that people sees and shapes the attitudes towards what “good” or “bad” comedy is. You’re free to argue that the world’s a better place if Bill Hicks isn’t a…

I don’t think it’s a fair question though. Nobody is arguing(not even Seinfeld if you read the quotes as opposed to the headline) that the attitudes on campuses are killing all comedy that doesn’t conform to what they want. Just that it’s fostering an attitude that’s anti-comedy.

Well, I think that might be where we’re at odds. You’re talking about a comedian’s ability to make a living and just generate content, which I agree TV fosters. I’m more talking about Comedy as a..I don’t want to say art form because that sounds pretentious but...concept.

Ok but that’s where I’d get back to this not being self-interest on his part. Like Seinfeld isn’t talking about this because he desperately wants to give up the outrageously lucrative corporate gigs he does to go play Gudger College’s Student Center.

I wonder how many people up in arms here are even familiar with his work, specifically his early standup and the more current Comedians In Cars? This isn’t Jeff Dunham and his dipshit puppets, or anything else in the niche Blue Collar Comedy Tour. This isn’t even an old white dude on a ‘why can’t a say offensive stuff…

Well, except I think there’s a significant difference between “Academia” and the process of booking comedians to play colleges where a relatively small group of outraged students can make a lot of disproportionate noise.

Chris Rock is a better example, and he’s come to the same conclusion Seinfeld has. What matters is that this isn’t just a Seinfeld viewpoint; the consensus among a lot of comedians is that college gigs suck because of the audience, and they used to be highlights for them.

True. It’s not a universal thing and that’s why I’m happy to say that, in addition to having gravitas his status affords him, I think he’s got a point even if “PC” is a loaded term that probably acts as a dog whistle to a lot of peopel.

Exactly. Is where we are right now where we want to discourage the next Chris Rock? Boy, I think that’d be a shame.

I’m 100% sure one of the comedians he’s spoken about this with is his good friend Chris Rock. Rock’s been saying that he won’t play colleges anymore due to rampant political correctness for about 2 years now.

Except Dunham’s audience is very conservative. I’ve seen the people who go to his shows, and it’s basically the Larry The Cable Guy demographic.

Well, not to be overly semantic but I said “successful” and not “highest grossing” which is a broad enough word to contain both critical and commercial success. His sitcom is pretty universally hailed as being one of the best of all time by TV critics and he’s super well respected within the comedy world in a way that…

To be fair, I don’t think he’s got any interest whatsoever in playing colleges so I think that’s more or less a moot point. He does a ton of corporate gigs and can sell out big venues with high ticket prices and has Porsches to collect.