As you probably already know, funnyman Jerry Seinfeld hosts a web series called Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. As you might not know, white men have been the guests on 20 of the 24 episodes that have aired so far: Seinfeld has made the java run with female comedians Tina Fey and Sarah Silverman and black comedians Mario Joyner and Chris Rock. The question is: does it matter? And if it does matter, why?
During an interview on BuzzFeed Brews, host Peter Lauria asked Seinfeld about the predominance of white male guests on the show, having noted the Internet commentary about it and been asked by his Twitter followers to pose the question. Seinfeld responded first with a softball, "People think it's the census or something, that it's got to represent the actual pie chart of America - who cares? Funny is the world that I live in." Then he went further, saying, "I have no interest in gender or race or anything like that," and that he feels the positions of those who have watched his show and commented on the race and gender breakdown of his guests are "anti comedy" and "more about PC nonsense than 'Are you making us laugh or not?'"
Can you guess what happens next? If you said "Brouhaha!" and "Talking heads go nuts!", you can claim your prize at the door. It led to BuzzFeed, the very site that interviewed him, running this headline: "Jerry Seinfeld On Diversity In Comedy: 'Who Cares? Are You Making Us Laugh Or Not?'" But Jerry wasn't speaking about diversity in the global institution of comedy, Jerry was talking about how he feels about his show – the one that's only 24 episodes old and will, in the beginning, focus on comedians Jerry knows, likes and can have a comical on-camera rapport with. But the Internet will not be stopped, and the distortions only get worse - much worse - from there.
You can check out the video that got the whole thing started below. And this writer, who is black, says "kudos" to Seinfeld for not saying anything like, "I had Chris Rock on..."
During an interview on BuzzFeed Brews, host Peter Lauria asked Seinfeld about the predominance of white male guests on the show, having noted the Internet commentary about it and been asked by his Twitter followers to pose the question. Seinfeld responded first with a softball, "People think it's the census or something, that it's got to represent the actual pie chart of America - who cares? Funny is the world that I live in." Then he went further, saying, "I have no interest in gender or race or anything like that," and that he feels the positions of those who have watched his show and commented on the race and gender breakdown of his guests are "anti comedy" and "more about PC nonsense than 'Are you making us laugh or not?'"
Can you guess what happens next? If you said "Brouhaha!" and "Talking heads go nuts!", you can claim your prize at the door. It led to BuzzFeed, the very site that interviewed him, running this headline: "Jerry Seinfeld On Diversity In Comedy: 'Who Cares? Are You Making Us Laugh Or Not?'" But Jerry wasn't speaking about diversity in the global institution of comedy, Jerry was talking about how he feels about his show – the one that's only 24 episodes old and will, in the beginning, focus on comedians Jerry knows, likes and can have a comical on-camera rapport with. But the Internet will not be stopped, and the distortions only get worse - much worse - from there.
You can check out the video that got the whole thing started below. And this writer, who is black, says "kudos" to Seinfeld for not saying anything like, "I had Chris Rock on..."
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