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Jerry Seinfeld Enjoyed the Anthony Weiner Show

‘Let’s take off the face of the clock and watch the gears’

by
Stephanie Butnick
October 17, 2013
Jerry Seinfeld. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
Jerry Seinfeld. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images)

Jerry Seinfeld was a guest on Alec Baldwin’s WNYC radio show “Here’s the Thing” this week, and in addition to explaining in detail his morning routine (splash water on face, listen to sports radio, eat oatmeal; very military, Baldwin admires), the stand-up comedian sounded off on a variety of topics. One thing he really wanted to talk about was Anthony Weiner.

“Did you enjoy the Anthony Weiner show this season?” Seinfeld asked Baldwin, who sounds confused by the question (you can almost hear the wheels turning in Jack Donaghy’s brain for a new pilot).

“When that was going on, were you disgusted? Were you going, ‘I love this?’” Seinfeld prodded. “I loved it, because to me it was the visible man. Let’s take off the face of the clock and watch the gears and that’s what that was. You know, we’re talking about people are in show business because they want to be. He wants to have power. He just wants it.”

“He wants it,” Baldwin agreed.

“Most of them have all the guises and veils and polish,” Seinfeld responded. It’s an almost psychoanalytic assessment, one that deftly encapsulates why we as a public were so captivated by the scandal. It’s more complicated psychologically than an affair or a predilection for prostitutes. “Sex is easy to understand,” Seinfeld said. This sexting thing, not so much.

Here’s the full segment, in which Baldwin tells Seinfeld he’s one of the least messed up people in comedy and Seinfeld explains his theories about Yom Kippur and repentance:

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.