Many comedians quit comedy. Few retire.
As a rule, most comedians have second jobs to support their passion. And nearly all never get successful enough at stand-up to amass a large enough nest egg to retire.
That’s what makes Jerry Seinfeld’s inclusion in a Yahoo! series about retirement so intriguing.
As part of the series Yahoo! dug into an old interview Seinfeld did with Howard Stern in which the comedian discussed ending his self-named TV series on-top.
Seinfeld explained that he’d always been blessed with good timing – and he applied that timing to this decision.
Today’s Stand-Up Spotlight offers a Seinfeld double feature. The second piece provides some Jerry Seinfeld trivia.
There’s a second double feature in the Spotlight. Matt Rife is getting a Netflix special. Will he soon get a wife?
There’s something funny going on. Be a part of it.
STAND-UP SPOTLIGHT – September 11, 2023
‘I have a sense of timing’: Jerry Seinfeld turned down more than $100M to make one more season of ‘Seinfeld’ — here’s why and how you can tell when it’s time to retire
Unlike the punchlines in his stand-up comedy sets, Jerry Seinfeld’s decision to end the iconic sitcom bearing his name in 1998 was no joke. In fact, the comedian was offered more than $100 million to film one more season of the show — but he turned down that huge pile of cash to ensure the series ended on a high note.
“The love affair between the people that were making the show and the audience was so intense — it was so white hot — I had to respect that,” he said in a June 2013 interview on the The Howard Stern Show, which recently resurfaced on social media.
Before seeing Jerry Seinfeld in Minneapolis, take our ultimate fan test
Minnesotans love Jerry Seinfeld. The comedian will do four shows this weekend at the Orpheum Theatre; most cities on his current tour are lucky to get half that number. Part of the reason for the fervor is that the 69-year-old comic hasn’t performed in the Twin Cities since 2017, an unusually long gap for someone constantly on the road.
But just being among the thousands planning to see him in downtown Minneapolis on Friday and Saturday doesn’t automatically make you a superfan.
After Selling 600K Tickets In 2 Days For His World Tour, Comedian Matt Rife Sets First Netflix Standup Special
Comedian Matt Rife has had an astronomical rise.
Last summer, the 27-year-old from North Lewisburg, Ohio struggled to sell a hundred tickets a show. But earlier this year, when he announced his ProbleMATTic World Tour, he sold around 600,000 tickets over the span of just 48 hours.
Now, after two self-released specials, he has scored his own Netflix special.
Breaking It DownIs Matt Rife Single? Details on the Comedian’s Dating Life, Relationship Updates and More
He’s quickly becoming the internet’s biggest heartthrob! Matt Rife has taken TikTok — and comedy clubs everywhere — by storm with his humor and good looks.
“When the TikTok stuff and social media stuff started to blow up, [my audience] was definitely, I’d say, 95% women from 16 to 25, which is a very, very powerful fan base,” he told Elite Daily in June 2023. “And I’m so thankful for it. They’re very online. They’re not always the best stand-up comedy audience members. A lot of the time they like my face a lot more than my jokes, which is fine. It gets them in the door, and then hopefully you keep them with the comedy.”
