Was Seinfeld's stand-up supposed to be funny?

Yes. You have to remember that comedy has changed a lot since the mid-90’s. While Seinfeld’s old material is outdated today, it was near revolutionary at the time. The reason why saying “And what’s the deal with…” has become a cliche is because Seinfeld popularized that brand of comedy. People imitated it so much that it’s become old hat.

@Ivan Ok. That’s what I thought. What about it was revolutionary?

No, it wasn’t supposed to be funny. He stood there on stage with a determined goal to not make people laugh, actually. If he saw so much as a smile, he considered the performance a failure.~

It was supposed to be funny, and it still is IMO. I assume what @Ivan meant by “revolutionary” was that Seinfeld made us laugh at the mundane, everyday things that we accepted as normal or routine. He portrayed them in a light of absurdity. Now, I suppose comedians who do that are dubbed as unoriginal and boring. As Ivan said, it’s now cliche.

@le_inferno

Precisely.

@le_inferno Was he the first observational comedian or something?

@papayalily

You could say that Seinfeld was the first to popularize observational comedy and bring it to the mainstream. Some comedy purists might argue with me there, though.

@Ivan: Yeah. Pretty sure people like George Carlin were decades ahead of Seinfeld. And actually funny, to boot.

Ugh. George Carlin is not funny.

@MacBean Do you not think Seinfeld was funny?

Heh, comedy preferences vary from person to person; no need to argue them here.

I love seinfeld, however I find the other 3 a lot more amusing then Jerry in any given episode

I agree with the first answer, Seinfeld was great.

Carlin was definitely an ‘observational comedian’, but he was more over-the-top. He was quite funny in his day.Seinfeld was also an ‘observational comedian’, but not really in an outlandish way. More subtle. He was quite funny in his day, too, IMO.

At least with the TV show the best part is how some random and strange thing happens in your life and you think, “Seinfeld had a episode about this.”

I loved the show but his stand-up never really did anything for me.

^ absolutely.

@augustlan So what about his comedy is no longer funny today? Was it too topical? Too many have copied his style for it to be unique anymore?

@johnpowell I’m enjoying watching the show (for the first time) but the stand-up just doesn’t do it for me. Actually, I kinda hate the stand-up…

@papayalily I think Jerry Seinfeld is one of the least funny people ever to call himself a comedian. I’ve never laughed at him, have rarely even cracked a smile, and have often been annoyed by him. Also, I couldn’t finish watching Bee Movie with my nephew because I just couldn’t stand the man’s stupid, grating voice.

I come from a generation who loved and laughed at the gentle, non-snarky, f-word free humor of people like Sid Caesar, Milton Berle, Red Skelton and Bob Hope. I daresay few on this thread would find any of those guys funny, but as someone above pointed out, it’s a waste of time to argue about who’s funny and who’s not. It’s strictly personal opinion based on one’s age, background, taste, and many other factors.

@Austinlad I love old-time comedy. I could watch The Marx Brothers every day (and there was a year and a half in which I did.) I’ll have to add those guys to my Netflix list.

I don’t find Seinfield funny at all. He is corny.

What made the show unique.
Was the concept of a show about nothing.

@ChazMaz No, I got the concept of the show, and I got that it was unique. That doesn’t mean it’s funny.