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Comment by endorphine | Hacker News Reader

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Jerry Seinfeld many times seems to be smiling in a "this scene is so funny I can't hold on not to laugh" way?

I mean, some scenes would be more convincing/funny if he looked more serious.

This still strikes me as weird. Has this been discussed somewhere (I would surprised if not, perhaps I should ask GPT4)? Do we know why this happens?

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I’ve always felt jerry is the worst part of Seinfeld. Larry David is the brains as evidenced by CYE and the other actors outshined Jerry.

Larry David is a little too neurotic to be mainstream. Curb is hilarious but it’s a little too abrasive to hit 70M viewers.

Larry David needs a Seinfeld to rein him in.

Sometimes, genius needs moderation. Always felt Seinfeld was that moderating influence.

> Curb is hilarious but it’s a little too abrasive to hit 70M viewers.

My ex could barely watch more than one episode a day because she felt overwhelmed by the Fremdscham. I otoh thrive on that. It also helps that I seriously feel that Larry is actually acting totally reasonable, though clumsy.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Fremdscham

What a fantastic word - thanks for sharing.

The Germans really have some great words for complex ideas.

Jerry's not much of an actor and that's why he's the straight man. IIRC he has said he chose this role on purpose.

That’s a fair point. I can accept that he does a good job in that role.

I dislike Jerry, I don't like scenes or episodes with too much Jerry (especially about his love life), and think his character is unfunny and unlikable in a way that none of the big 3 are, even George. He was even outshone by many of the minor recurring characters even: George's parents, Newman, Peterman, Susan, etc.

But I don't know if the show would have been as good without him. His boring normalness and bemused reaction to the chaos unfolding around him. Even his breaking of the fourth wall. Maybe he's a grounding rod that serves to contrast everything else against, maybe he's the character we can see ourselves as.

You must hate Curb where they just laugh at the improv.

Right. It did bother me. Jerry is just NOT a good actor, but the rest of the cast carried it.

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