Jerry Seinfeld, Meryl Strep, and Intellectual Sophistication

Jerry Seinfeld, Meryl Strep, and Intellectual Sophistication

The Jerry Seinfeld Show is perhaps the most popular rerun comic show on TV. I suspect that I have seen every episode of that show at least twice. The four characters Jerry, George, Crammer, and Elaine work together marvelously.

I have seen each of these individuals play other parts in other shows and I must say I have been disappointed each time. Together they are great but apart, in other roles, they just do no work nearly as well.

Many decades ago I decided I wanted to learn to act. I took a late evening course in acting at a local College; upon completion I auditioned for parts in plays being produced by our city production group that put on plays in our local “In the Round Play House”. This was, of course, just amateur productions for local audiences.

I did get a few acting parts and served as an understudy a few times and had a great time performing and going to various performances. One particular actor in one play I saw just “blew me away” with his great performance. I was especially impressed upon learning that he was playing his very first part in a play. I thought to myself that this guy is a natural in that he was able to do such a great job with such little preparation.

I later met the guy, his name was Jimmy, and quickly realize that Jimmy was not performing in the play that I saw but was just being his natural self. In the flesh this guy was just as he appeared in the play that I saw him perform.

Jerry, George, Crammer, and Elaine in the “Seinfeld Show” and Jimmy in his first play were all just doing pretty much what they can do naturally. Each could play one type of role very well but could not often play any other role.

Whereas you take someone like Meryl Strep and she can play any role in any kind of situation. Therein we can see what sophistication is all about. Meryl was a very sophisticated actress.

There are many definitions and synonyms of the word “sophistication” but my choice for synonym here is “cultivation”, which means “to improve by labor, care, or study”. Depending upon the unique natural talents that we each have, we can, through the cultivation of those talents become intellectually sophisticated; thereby we can become more Meryl-like in all of our actions throughout our entire life.

[b]Do not allow the anti-intellectualism that is pervasive across our culture deter you in your quest for intellectual sophistication. Many who make policy decisions in our (USA) nation wish us to remain unsophisticated and docile so that they can better realize their selfish goals by manipulating our behavior. Our present economic Waterloo is an ‘eye opening’ example of what can happen to us as a result of these selfish goals, which we, through our lack of sophistication, have allowed to happen.

Our problems are not due to lousy politicians and CEOs but our problems are due to our lack of intellectual sophistication.

“We have met the enemy and it is us.” Pogo

“Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Edison

“Intellectual sophistication is 1% inspiration and 99% the study of the books written by great minds.” coberst[/b]

Gladwell, is that you?

You can’t beat good comedy, of which there are few and far between, but when they are good: they are bloody brilliant!

Intellectual sophistication is destructive if it’s not coupled with intellectual integrity. The backlash you see against the intellectual elite is based on a failure of the latter, not the former. When the intellectual elite use their knowledge as a tool to belittle and oppress the common man, don’t be surprised when the common man rebels. The object is truth, not crafty arguments. Academic culture is no different than corporate culture, and teachers and professors tend to be just as ruthless and small-minded as corporate CEOs. The only difference is that knowledge, not wealth, is their weapon of oppression and selfishness.

Seinfeld was hilarious because it so artfully captured the zeitgeist of its time. My favorite sitcom now is “30 Rock” which attempts an up-to-date take on similar territory.

Who’s Gladwell?

I think there are two schools of comedy-appreciation: the intellectual and the mundane (and a grey fuzzy area in-between) :laughing:

felix, you took the words out of my fingers. 30 Rock has entered the Ingenium Hall of Fame, along with past winners Seinfeld and the classic, Northern Exposure.

And I’m not even a TV watcher, but I’ll tune in for 30 Rock if I can (mostly I watch episodes on the Net)

I must say, also, there’s a couple of others I’ve seen on WGN that are nominees for the Most Eccentric Characters category: Reno 911 and Corner Gas.

Honorable mention for at least occasionally reaching the pinnacle goes to The Office and Boston Legal.

Oh, and I agree with the OP about the two types of actors: the ones who, even when they’re great, still pretty much play themselves regardless of the role (like Nicholson and Eastwood) and the ones who are chameleons (like Streep and Sean Penn).

Seinfeld is horrible, what’s wrong with you people?

Are you kidding? It’s a show about nothing. How can that not be great?

Atlhough admittedly, I haven’t seen it for a long time. Maybe you had to see it in the '90’s first to appreciate it, lol.

I might have missed the zeitgeist. I didn’t watch tv that decade. I sincerely hope you mean the british Office by the way.

I found the humour in The Office too slow for me, but it was very popular here none-the-less - it just wasn’t humourous enough for me… oh I kill me, I really do! :laughing-rolling:

Well it was waaay funnier even if you do add random letters to some words.

I don’t even have a TV hooked up to watch. I rented the DVD for 30 Rock. I liked the other shows you mentioned too. Tina Fey is so smart and funny. The whole cast is brilliant. Alec Baldwin’s gift for comedy is a delight. Of course, I’m not referring to the current season when for all I know the whole thing has gone to shit. :laughing:

I agree the original British version was better. I watched “Extras” too. It’s a painful brand of humor.

Anon
I was laughing at my play on words (humour/humorous) :smiley: note my use of the correct spelling of homorous - thanks for pointing that out… :wink:

Felix
I guess Gervais just isn’t my bag!

guardian.co.uk/books/2008/no … e-outliers

Magsj

The “Brit Coms” are popular here on public television. Part of the appeal is the contrast to the Hollywood sitcoms that are so formulaic. “The Office” originally seemed to be unscripted and extemporaneous. That would be far too risky for American primetime network TV where so much money is at stake. Gervais is so unlike any American comedic actor that he is refreshing.