FLASH! SEINFELD & GAFFIGAN: A COMEDIC LOVE STORY ON TOUR STOP THE PRESSES!
Comedy’s dynamic duo is back in action! The dapper Don of observational humor, Jerry Seinfeld (70, still sharp as ever) and the affable everyman Jim Gaffigan (58, still hungry) have turned their chuckle-fueled camaraderie into a bona fide box office bonanza.
DATELINE: MANHATTAN, NINE YEARS AGO! The world first caught a glimpse of this comedic courtship over towering pastrami sandwiches and bottomless cups of Joe at the legendary 2nd Avenue Deli. Cameras rolled, jokes flew, and before you could say “extra mustard,” these two went from casual colleagues to laugh-track lifers.
FAST FORWARD TO 2024! Seinfeld and Gaffigan weren’t just swapping punchlines over pastrami—they were forging a friendship that would stand the test of time. Texts, club meet-ups, and even a shared screen in Seinfeld’s latest flick Unfrosted! Now, they’re hitting the road together on a 10-city tour New York, Hollywood, and the open road—two of comedy’s cleanest cut-ups are taking their bromance from the screen to the stage, and America is eating it up like a double-decker pastrami on rye.
Fast-forward to today: Seinfeld and Gaffigan are swapping deli booths for arena stages on a 10-city laugh fest that lands at San Diego’s Pechanga Arena on March 27. The formula? Two powerhouse solo sets, then a joint finale that’s got audiences howling coast to coast.
And while these funnymen seem to hail from different galaxies—Seinfeld, the Jewish, acerbic king of observational wit, and Gaffigan, the self-deprecating, Midwestern Catholic with an appetite for laughs (and Hot Pockets)—they’re bonded by a love of clean comedy, a knack for seeing the absurd in the everyday, and a mutual admiration that extends far beyond the footlights.
Jerry Seinfeld and Jim Gaffigan on Life, Comedy, and Everything in Between
We know we’re spoiled babies, Gaffigan said. It would be wildly inappropriate to complain about some of the things we complain about.
(Seinfeld laughing) “Will you look at the weave of this carpet?”
(Gaffigan laughing) “People are dealing with real crises and … I don’t like that. It’s very strange … the lobby of this hotel.”
Comedians live in this odd little bubble. Jerry’s said it before—being around non-comedians is a struggle. There’s this constant performance mode, like you’re wearing an “I’m normal” suit just to get through interactions. When comedians get together, that’s when we take it off. Finally, we can just be.
“There’s an absolute struggle when you’re put into a normal environment,” Gaffigan adds. “Comedians like to embrace our cynicism without someone being offended or thinking we’re suicidal.”
Jerry knows it too well. He has a summer house in the Hamptons and once invited Jim out. The first thing Jim asked? “Wouldn’t people invite me to dinners and parties?” He wasn’t worried about being left out—he was worried about being included.
“I think Jim is one of the best at functioning normally,” Jerry insists.
Jim isn’t buying it. “I’ve got you fooled. It’s a great act. Comedians go onstage, talk, and give the impression they’re these social people. But we’re really just actors who can’t deal with change or rejection. And we put ourselves in rejection’s way every night.”
Success hasn’t changed that. Jerry and Jim both still tour constantly, though neither of them has to. “We do need to work,” Jerry jokes. “It’s not hard to spend money. We’re both just hanging on financially.”
Jim laughs, but there’s truth to it. “The fulfillment is in the process. Writing, editing, performing—those are the only things I like in life. If I go a couple of days without performing, I get a little grumpy. I need that endorphin rush.”
Jerry gets it. “I never felt at home on Earth until I walked into a comedy club.”
Jim chuckles, but there’s an honesty in his words. “The best part is just doing it. Writing, tweaking, performing—that’s the only stuff I truly enjoy. If I go more than a couple of days without performing, I start feeling off. It’s like an endorphin withdrawal.”
Jerry nods. “I never felt at home in the world until I stepped onto a comedy stage.”
I’ve been thinking about the number of different fake identities I assume to be a husband and father, Jerry says..
I actually had a chameleon, and the cute little lizard asks me, “How were you able to transform yourself like that?” And I said to the lizard, “Coming from you, that’s a real compliment.” (Gaffigan laughs)
“I have learned (audiences) really think that I’m this person who is thoughtful and empathetic to their problems and interested in their day, and they’re buying it.”
“I went to the premiere of Amy Schumer’s new movie Kinda Pregnant last night and sat in a packed movie theater and everybody laughed their heads off from start to finish.”
“This is what a comedy show is. You’re enjoying the movie, but also 50 percent of the fun is being around people who are laughing, and everybody forgets what they were upset about. What an amazing feeling it was to sit in an audience. It’s like Jurassic Park with dinosaur rides.”
Jim laughs. “We live in such a 24-hour news cycle. I like to give these people credit that they are mourning whatever crisis, man-made or natural, but (at the shows) they go out of their way not to acknowledge that. I’d say that after 9/11 it was weird performing, but otherwise, humans are always looking to embrace denial.”
If your father showed up at everything you did, you’d think “what’s wrong with him,” Jerry said.” Is Dad OK?”
Gaffigan finished up the convo. “My dad came to a couple football games but it would be weird if he came to everything. Now if you don’t go to a game, you’re considered the great Satan.”
Jerry Seinfeld & Jim Gaffigan
When: 7:30 p.m. March 27
Where: Pechanga Arena, 3500 Sports Arena Blvd., San Diego
Tickets: $86.50-$1,092
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