Jerry Seinfeld Says He Still Thinks About Being Heckled at a Stand-Up Set 30 Years Ago: “It Was Mean”

Jerry Seinfeld revealed he still thinks about a heckler who called him out for one of his jokes during a comedy set over 30 years ago.

The comedian stopped by In Depth With Graham Bensinger to promote his upcoming film, Unfrosted. During the conversation, he looked back on a heckler getting under his skin at a 1993 Boston show, where Adam Sandler served as his opening act.

“I had this amazing bit about weddings,” he told Graham Bensinger. “It was fantastic. It was so long. It covered everything. And I worked on it and worked on it and worked on it. It takes me forever.”

He explained that a lot of the time, comedians will spend several years improving jokes and testing out bits until they feel like they’ve finally made it perfect. “I start into the bit and somebody yells, ‘Heard it,’” he said. “And that was a tough one. I still think about it. It was mean. It was true.”

Looking back, the Unfrosted star, director and co-writer doesn’t think that would happen at a show today because he feels like audiences may be more aware today of what goes into a set than they were then.

“I think now audiences are a little more sophisticated,” he said. “These are pieces that we work on for months and months and months; you don’t do it once and works. Every scene you see in a movie, they did that 18 times — one time it was good. Same with comedy. I’ve done it 100 times, now I finally got it.”

Throughout the conversation, the men discussed Seinfeld’s writing process, his love for stand-up and Unfrosted, which follows cereal rivals Kellogg’s and Post in 1963, as they race to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast forever. The full episode airs in broadcast syndication this weekend.

THR Newsletters