HUMOR

Jerry Seinfeld explains how he writes comedy

The comedian dissects his joke about Pop Tarts

Published December 20, 2012 10:00PM (EST)

Analyzing comedy is a lot less funny than hearing it. But if you want to gain some insight into what goes into writing stand-up, legendary comic Jerry Seinfeld breaks it down for you in a video put out today by  the New York Times (and it's actually kind of funny, too).

Seinfeld talks about how he constructed a joke about Pop Tarts and, of course, his trademark "nothing." "In my world, the wronger something feels, the righter it is," he says. "So to waste so much time on something this stupid--that felt good to me."

Here's the Pop Tart joke from a 2010 performance on David Letterman's "Late Show" (at 1:19)--which is still a work in progress:


By Prachi Gupta

Prachi Gupta is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on pop culture. Follow her on Twitter at @prachigu or email her at pgupta@salon.com.

MORE FROM Prachi Gupta


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