Comedian Jerry Seinfeld recently took to the stage to debut some new material. Unfortunately, he wasn’t met with the usual laughs and cheers, but instead, polite sympathy laughs from the crowd.
“What’s the deal with airplane food?” Seinfeld began, attempting to make the crowd laugh. “It’s always so bad. Even the food in first class is terrible!”
But the audience remained silent.
“Okay, how about this one?” Seinfeld continued. “Why don’t scientists trust atoms? ‘Cause they make up everything!“
Again, the crowd remained quiet.
“Ugh, come on,” Seinfeld said. “What’s the deal with the tooth fairy? She’s always leaving money under your pillow and never taking it away when you need it.“
This time, the crowd finally gave him a few polite chuckles.
It seemed as if Seinfeld was struggling with his new jokes, and it showed. He tried a few more with similar results.
“Why don’t farmers trust chickens? ‘Cause they lay eggs!“
“What’s the deal with policemen? They never seem to be around when you need them.”
At one point, Seinfeld even resorted to telling knock-knock jokes, which received a few laughs but seemed more out of pity than anything else.
“Knock knock,” Seinfeld said.
“Who’s there?” the crowd asked.
“Boo.”
“Boo who?“
“Don’t cry, it’s just a joke.“
The audience groaned as some got up from their seats and left. One man was seen spitting on the floor as he walked out. But Jerry wasn’t done just yet. The absolute low point of his set came when he made a joke about Ukraine that drew the loudest jeering of the night.
“I don’t understand why Ukraine is always in the news. I mean, it’s like the Kardashians of world politics – everyone knows their name, but nobody really knows why they’re famous. If I wanted to follow a confusing soap opera, I’d tune into ‘Days of Our Lives.’“
It seems as if Jerry Seinfeld’s new material needs a bit of work, but hopefully, he’ll be able to fine-tune it soon. We hope the audience will be kind enough to give him a few more sympathy laughs.