Jerry Seinfeld performing in S'pore thanks to Ronny Chieng

It was US-based Malaysian comic Ronny Chieng who influenced Jerry Seinfeld to perform in Singapore.

The American actor-comedian’s stand-up show at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on June 14 is his first in the Republic and will be his only stop in Asia.

Seinfeld, 70, says in a Zoom call with The Straits Times: “I’ve become good friends with Ronny, who is from Malaysia and performs in Singapore.”

In the course of planning the Australia and New Zealand legs of his current tour, Seinfeld adds that Chieng – a correspondent on American late-night talk show The Daily Show from 2015, who has starred in films like Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (2021) – gave his take on the crowd here.

“He told me I should go to Singapore, and we’d have great audiences and a great show. So I decided to do it,” he says.

In the past, Seinfeld admits the concern that audiences here lacked familiarity with his work had caused him to skip this area.

“Ronny told me I had absolutely nothing to worry about. I have performed in a lot of places – Ireland, Sweden, Finland. Other comedians will always tell you if your show will work there in English,” he says.

“I was a little surprised. You never know. It’s kind of hit-and-miss. Different cultures and different countries gravitate to different comedians and I had no idea I was known there, so it was exciting,” says Seinfeld.

His Singapore fan base comes from the hit sitcom Seinfeld (1989 to 1998), talk show Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee (2012 to 2019) and stand-up specials such as 23 Hours To Kill (2020). The shows are available on Netflix.

He also stars in upcoming comedy film Unfrosted, which marks his feature directorial debut. Loosely based on the true story of the creation of Pop-Tarts toaster pastries, it premieres on Netflix on May 3 and features an ensemble cast including Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan and Amy Schumer. 

Seinfeld has a deep collection of jokes on which he draws based on audience reaction, so his show in Singapore might differ from those in other countries, he says.

“My job is to find what is working for the audience and make it happen in the moment. That is the exciting part of a live show. Nobody knows what will happen when the curtain comes up,” he says.

The New York native’s comedic style has stayed largely unchanged since the 1980s. In a world that has embraced the harder-edged, confessional styles of stand-ups such as Dave Chappelle, Kevin Hart, Ricky Gervais and Bill Burr, Seinfeld’s mildly grumpy observations about pretentious food or the irritations of air travel seem out of place.

But he says he will stick with what he knows.

“I don’t care about the times. I care about the laughs. I listen to the laughs, and I know if they are laughing hard and having a good time. As for being confessional, I talk a lot about my life,” he adds.

If a comic is not funny, it does not matter if he is painfully honest, he says.

“I don’t think people go to see a comedian because they want to know who he is. I still believe that what they want is to go out for a night and laugh.”

There is a caveat that has to be applied to his jokes about himself, his marriage and his family, though.

“Some of it is not true. Some of it is true. And you can’t tell which is which,” says Seinfeld, who has been married to former public relations executive Jessica Sklar, 52, since 1999. They have a 23-year-old daughter and two sons aged 21 and 18.

In the years since the cultural phenomenon that was the Seinfeld sitcom aired, critical reappraisals have led to the belief that, ironically, for a show named after the comedian playing a fictionalised version of himself, Seinfeld was the least memorable character.

Without the indelible acting of castmates Julia Louis-Dreyfus, playing former girlfriend Elaine; Michael Richards as kooky neighbour Kramer; and Jason Alexander as best friend George, “the show about nothing” – to use a catchphrase coined by the series – would never have been the hit that it was.

Seinfeld understandably disagrees with the opinion about him being the least valuable player. Besides acting in the series, he was also its co-creator alongside American actor-comedian Larry David. Seinfeld, David and other writers penned the scripts.

“Somebody had to write those scripts, all those things for everyone to say. The package had to come together, to make the character relationships work. It was a collaboration between the five of us, with Larry David included.

“It was the team that made the show, and you couldn’t remove any piece of the puzzle and have it be as good.”

Jerry Seinfeld Live

Where: Singapore Indoor Stadium, 2 Stadium Walk
When: June 14, 9pm
Admission: From $138, go to bit.ly/jerry-sg