From a New York Times “By the Book” interview headlined “Jerry Seinfeld Rarely Laughs When He’s Reading”:
“It’s pretty hard to laugh when you’re reading — the written word is tough,” says the comedian and author of “Is This Anything?” But he makes an exception for John Updike: “You know, describing the circles of water under someone’s toes when they get out of the pool. That makes me laugh more than anything, that he would zero in on that.”
What books are on your night stand?
I only have one book on the night stand at a time, because I’m a very slow reader and I really enjoy making a book last. If I’m going to bother to read a book I don’t want it to end quickly. I don’t binge. I like to sip. If I like the world, I want to stay in the world. . . .So the book that’s on my stand right now that I’m really, really enjoying is called “Four of the Three Musketeers,” by Robert Bader, and it’s a very, very long, detailed history of the Marx Brothers.
What’s the last great book you read?
Since I can’t go onstage and hang around other comedians, I read about them. So there’s this other book I just found on my bookshelf — I bought it, and never read it — it’s called “Seriously Funny,” by Gerald Nachman. This is another incredibly well-researched history, of comedians from the ’50s and ’60s. They really invented the form of stand-up comedy that I do. So that’s another fantastic book. It goes comedian by comedian. It’s fun to just be there with Mort Sahl and Woody Allen and Dick Gregory and these guys when they were starting out.
Who are your favorite comic writers? Your favorite memoir by a comedian?
My favorite memoir is Steve Martin’s “Born Standing Up.” I think that’s the best book about being a comedian, written by a comedian, ever done.
Do you read much fiction?
When I used to read more, I really loved John Updike and John Irving. Updike, to me, was insane. I love microscopic acuity and I thought he was untouchable in that: the fineness, and the smallness of things that he would describe so well.
What book would you most like to see turned into a TV show or movie that hasn’t already been adapted?
My manager, George Shapiro, says trying to get someone to act like a comedian is like trying to get them to act like a baseball player. It’s almost impossible. There’s so many tiny polished movements they have that the best actors struggle to replicate. I mean, Dustin Hoffman is a wonderful actor, I love him. But he can’t do stand-up. Because actors are acting. Comedians are talking to a group of people as if they are an individual. They are locked in on those people. They’re not really thinking about performing. The focus is who they’re talking to. There’s a certain obsessed psychotic energy that all stand-ups have. It’s very hard to manufacture. They’re nuts. They’re just nuts.
What’s the last book you read that made you laugh?
I don’t really laugh reading books. It’s pretty hard to laugh when you’re reading — the written word is tough. I mean, the Updike stuff is funny to me. You know, describing the circles of water under someone’s toes when they get out of the pool. That makes me laugh more than anything, that he would zero in on that.
Do you have a favorite New York book?
I guess “Bonfire of the Vanities.”
Do you count any books as comfort reads or guilty pleasures?
I don’t feel guilt to begin with. I guess a little bit of a guilty pleasure for me was a book called “Thinking Small,” about the beginning of the Volkswagen Beetle, by Andrea Hiott. She did a great job telling the story of New York advertising, the Nazis and Ferdinand Porsche colliding to create this amazing car which people take for granted because it’s so common, but it was such an insanely brilliant invention as a car. I read car magazines. I guess that would be my guilty pleasure. And sometimes old Superman comics.
Were you a big reader as a child?
No. In my 20s and 30s is the most reading I ever did. Then when the business got much more demanding and I was spending hours a day writing, that’s when I stopped reading a lot. I couldn’t spend half my day writing and then the other half reading. I was like, I’m going to go nuts here.
You’re organizing a literary dinner party. Which three writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
Well, Updike I mentioned. I think David Halberstam would be a great dinner guest. And I’m into this Marx Brothers thing now, so I would like to sit with this guy Bader for dinner. And Lincoln! I consider him to be a great writer.
What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift?
“Born Standing Up” someone gave me. I thought that book was a great accomplishment, in the little area of interest I have.
Has a book ever brought you closer to another person, or come between you?
I’ve been forcing a lot of comedians to read this “Seriously Funny” book, because comedians always need to be lifted up. They tend to get depressed and discouraged. It’s a very discouraging profession. So when you read this book and you see the struggles of other comedians, these iconic names, you had no idea what a difficult time they had and how they actually didn’t even do that well, most of them. You think of them as these great legends and you find out they only had five or six good years and then kind of hit the skids. That’s very encouraging. So I forced a lot of comedians to get into that book. Success is not encouraging. Failure is.
What do you plan to read next?
I’m out of stuff, but along the same lines as John Updike I might give Nicholson Baker a shot.
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