Jerry Seinfeld says he was wrong about the “extreme left” killing comedy

Jerry Seinfeld has said he regrets saying that the “extreme left” is killing comedy.

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Earlier this year, the comic and actor spoke about the current state of comedy and claimed that it had been killed by “extreme left and P.C. crap” and “people worrying so much about offending other people”.

“When you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups –  ‘Here’s our thought about this joke.’ Well, that’s the end of your comedy,” he added at the time.

In a new interview on Tom Papa’s Breaking Bread podcast, Seinfeld said he now regrets his comments.

“I said that the ‘extreme left’ has suppressed the art of comedy. I did say that. That’s not true,” he said. “It’s not true. If you’re a champion skier, you can put the gates anywhere you want on the mountain and you’re going to make the gate. That’s comedy.

“Whatever the culture is, we make the gate. You don’t make the gate, you’re out of the game. The game is where is the gate and how do I make the gate to get down the hill.”

He continued: “Does culture change and are their things that I use to say that [I can’t because] people are always moving [the gate]? Yes, but that’s the biggest and easiest target.

“You can’t say certain words about groups. So what? The accuracy of your observation has to be 100 times finer than that just to be a comedian…So I don’t think, as I said, the ‘extreme left’ has done anything to inhibit the art of comedy.”

Seinfeld also refuted claims that he once said he would never perform at colleges because the students have become so P.C., now saying: “First of all, I never said it, but if you think I said it, it’s not true. I play colleges all the time. I have no problem with kids, performing for them. I was just at the University of Indiana. I do colleges all the time.”

Following his previous comments, a number of comedians and actors including Rob McElhenney and Seinfeld’s longtime co-star Julia Louis-Dreyfus pushed back.

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