Jerry Seinfeld's classic sitcom "Seinfeld" may have ostensibly been about "nothing," but he had a lot of somethings to share when he did an online "Ask Me Anything" chat on Reddit Monday. But most notably, he hinted at a new collaboration with Larry David.
As he was about to wrap up his Q&A session, Seinfeld teased a "big, huge, gigantic" project with his "Seinfeld" co-creator (and star of "Curb Your Enthusiasm") David.
"We never obsess over anything that isn't mundane," Seinfeld quipped without giving real details. "We wrote this script for this thing that you will eventually see but I can't reveal what it is at this time."
According to the comedian, this new project is going to be "even bigger than that Amazon package," referring to a popular Reddit photo.
OK then. So about those more mundane details: Seinfeld revealed he's a fan of the oft-reviled laugh track when used sparingly. "We had real laughs on the scenes that were shot in front of an audience (on "Seinfeld"), but then we would shoot other scenes that were not in front of the audience (and so had no laughs) but then it felt like a bit of a mismatch, so we tried to compromise and put in a subtle laugh track," he explained. "I have to say I like some sitcoms with them and some without."
His ever-present white sneakers? An homage to some of his heroes. "It started out with wanting to be Joe Namath of the 1969 New York Jets, who at the time was one of the only football players to wear white shoes," he said. "I wanted to be like him, so I always wore white sneakers. Also, Bill Cosby on 'I Spy' always wore white sneakers. And they were my fashion icons."
Seinfeld feels movie franchises overstay their welcome and sabotage their legacy. While talking about how the "Seinfeld" show would have evolved if it were still on today (the series went off the air in 1998), he said, "I still think everything has its life cycle and if you respect it, people enjoy it longer. ... Look at 'The Hangover.' If you made just one, the movie would be a comedy legend. Because they made three, it isn't."
And as for calling his series about "nothing"? Well, stop it. "The real pitch, when Larry and I went to NBC in 1988, was we want to show how a comedian gets his material," he said. "The show about nothing was just a joke in an episode many years later, and Larry and I to this day are surprised that it caught on as a way that people describe the show, because to us it's the opposite of that."