LAS VEGAS – After an hour and six minutes of jokes, Jerry Seinfeld walked off the stage at Caesars Palace Friday night to a standing ovation.
It’s a sound he’s been hearing a lot lately. Five years after the end of a sitcom that made him rich enough to be set for several lifetimes, the comedian is working harder than ever.
Last night, it was Las Vegas. Then it’s Oakland on Jan. 9 and 10. Austin, Texas, on the 16th and 17th. San Bernardino, Calif., on the 23rd. And he’s booked all the way through September.
Seinfeld loves to perform, and he’s constantly working on his act. The proof is in the jokes:
* On America and war: “We’re going to drop some bombs on you, but we’re going to drop some food on you, too. It’s going to be a war-tossed salad. Certain things will be exploding, other things will be delicious.”
* On TV pharmaceutical ads that don’t say what the drugs do: “Why do they show you ads of people just climbing on rocks? ‘I’m on the purple pill.’ Why are you on the purple pill? Does it make your hands sticky so you can climb the rocks?”
* On wives saying to their husbands “You better change your tone”: “I thought it was a marriage. I guess it’s a musical.”
For the past few years, Seinfeld has been performing stand-up almost every weekend in a different city across the country. He’s been playing everything from small clubs to historic theaters – all sold out.
“Most guys, when they get to that level, want to do more television and film,” said New York comedian John Priest. “He chose to go back to a job that had the least amount of exposure and the least amount of money and the most amount of work. It’s noble that he’s true to the art form.”
For a guy who helped create, write and produce the famous television show about nothing, he now has everything – a beautiful wife, two beautiful young kids, dozens of beautiful Porsches, and money like Scrooge McDuck.
He could have easily rested on his laurels and relaxed to the end of his days in his massive Central Park West apartment and palatial Hamptons mansion. But those close to Jerry say he could never do that.
“After nine fantastic years working on the show ‘Seinfeld,’ Jerry decided to return to stand-up because it is really what he loves to do,” said spokeswoman Elizabeth Clark.
After Seinfeld said goodbye to his eponymous NBC show in 1998, he did an HBO special that summer and then took a brief break. He married Jessica Sklar in late December 1999, and became a daddy the following year.
In 2001, as seen in the documentary “Comedian,” Seinfeld chucked all his old material – every joke he ever uttered – and crafted an entirely new routine. He never looked back.
“Now he’s got the act, he’s having fun. He’s having the best time of his life,” said manager George Shapiro, who, together with Howard West, has looked after the funnyman since 1980.
But after his last set every Saturday night, Seinfeld flies back to New York to spend time with his family and continue writing through the week, Clark said.
And if the crowd this weekend at Caesars Palace is any indication, his work is paying off.
Pricey seats, ranging from $75 to $150, were quickly snapped up for Seinfeld’s two-night, three-show stand at The Colosseum.
“This is my favorite thing in the world – to come to Vegas and swing,” Seinfeld joked, in Rat Pack style, during his 7:30 p.m. performance Friday. “And we’re going to be out there. Check me out at the tables. Never won – ever. I don’t care. I’m here to swing.”
Wearing a sharp suit, the comedian delivered loads of new material – some playing off his newfound domestic situation.
Discussing how he didn’t get married until he was 45, he cracks: “Clearly there were some issues.”
The personal revelations are a hit with the fans.
“We all felt like he was a family member tonight,” said Pam Trank, 45, a preschool teacher from Beverly Hills who took in the show. “We’re all happy for him. He grew up.”
After his act, Seinfeld took a few questions from the audience.
Would the TV show ever come back?
When “all four careers are definitely in the toilet,” Seinfeld cracks.
What about a DVD set?
“They haven’t made a DVD because they’re still making money from the Tee-Vee.”
Then he told the crowd about a CGI-animated comedy called “Bee Movie,” which he’s developing for DreamWorks, and a new American Express spot – with Superman, his favorite superhero.
Lucien Hold, the talent coordinator at the Comic Strip, first met Seinfeld in 1976 less than a month after the Upper East Side comedy club first opened.
“Jerry is proud to be a stand-up comic,” Hold said. “It’s a reaffirmation of his essence, of who and what he is. He’s a comic. He’s a stand-up comic.”
1.On Saddam’s capture: “This is the first person I haveever seen you can literally say to him, ‘You don’tknow your ass from a hole in the ground.'”
2.On his 89-year-old mother who still drives: “I had hercar fitted with a cataract windshield . . . Everyone’shead in the car looks huge. People think it’s a car ofsports mascots coming down the street.”
3.On the delirium caused by cellphones: “‘You’rebreaking up! I’m losing you!’ What is this Apollo 13?You’re at the mall. Take it easy.”