Jerry Seinfeld Tour Dates 2011

Review: Daily Collegian
by Robin Tilley and Matt D'Ippolito

Seinfeld entertains with stand-up gig

Jerry Seinfeld may make a living out of joking about things that "suck," but he said he's probably not as bad off as his audience.

"The truth is, our lives pretty much suck -- though I'm sure my life doesn't suck as much as yours," he said.

Seinfeld performed on Friday night at Eisenhower Auditorium. The show lasted about an hour and a half and included an opening performance by comic Mario Joyner. Though his 2007 performance sold out, Seinfeld's second appearance drew a slightly smaller crowd, with several back rows remaining empty.

That didn't hamper his audience's enjoyment.

"It was amazing -- I really didn't think it was going to be that funny," said Kavon Farvardin, a Penn State Abington student.

Farvardin (freshman-computer science) said Friday was the first time he saw Seinfeld live, though he owns the complete Seinfeld television series on DVD.

Some parts of the live performance brought him to tears -- Seinfeld was "very lively" and used a lot of hand motions, he said.

Karl Koerner also drove from Penn State Abington and said it was definitely worth the trip.

"I couldn't stop smiling -- it was all amazing," Koerner (freshman-engineering) said. "I watched a lot of his show as a kid, and I kind of made it a goal to see him live."

Seinfeld joked about various topics like garbage, weather forecasts, marriage and technology. Voicemail recordings drew his ire -- nobody needs a reminder nowadays to leave their message after the beep, he said.

"All technology sucks," Seinfeld said. "It's the 21st goddamn century -- aren't we all up to speed on the beep?"

Seinfeld also discussed the attention demanded by the iPhone and Blackberry.

"The Blackberry people are here, I can sense it," he said. "I'm surprised you're even paying attention to this."

Seinfeld joked about cell phone batteries dying. He collapsed on the stage, saying that when someone's phone battery dies, their energy dies, too.

Austin Nuschke (junior-biology) said he liked that Seinfeld told many new, original jokes.

"He used some jokes from his show ... and he led into stuff that was completely new," Nuschke said.

He even used his wife and their marriage for 10 years to make the audience laugh. He said now that he's married, he gets to play the "Does This Make Me Look Fat?" game and "Do You Think My Friend is Pretty?" roulette.

"That's not even Russian roulette -- there's a bullet in every chamber," he said.

Seinfeld finished his performance with a question-and-answer session with the audience.

One student asked if he would be attending the football game on Saturday.

"You know, I was going to come to the game and then I remembered -- I don't care," he said.

Audience members asked Seinfeld about his television show and the lives of the other cast members. He said the whole cast will reunite on one episode of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm this season.

When asked if he would make another TV series, Seinfeld said, "I'm old, I'm rich and I'm tired."

He received a standing ovation at the end of his performance and thanked the audience for enduring the hassle of trekking through State College to see him perform.

"He's one of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time," Nuschke said. "It was really cool seeing him."