Jerry Seinfeld's new book celebrates 10 years of "Comedians in...

Jerry Seinfeld's new book celebrates 10 years of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." Credit: Getty Images for Netflix/Emma McIntyre

"Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee'' is officially 10 years old but will this Jerry Seinfeld kaffeeklatsch on four wheels ever turn 11?

And why were there so many Long Island comedians on the show, which streamed for five seasons on Crackle before moving to Netflix in 2015?

And did the Massapequa-raised Seinfeld ever run out of things to say when he was driving around with his (funny) guests?

Since we're on the subject of questions with no easy or apparent answers, why is there suddenly a coffee-table book on the show — titled, reasonably enough, "The Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Book" (Simon & Schuster, $35) — which is out just in time for the holidays?

This handsome (also funny) compilation of 10 years (and 11 seasons) of outtakes appears to be both comprehensive and democratic. To read this leaves the impression that each of the 90-or-so people in the passenger seat had something witty, wise or whimsical to say en route to that first cup of coffee. 

Newsday spoke with Seinfeld, 68, about all this — and a little bit more.

The book has an unexpected elegiac quality which suggests that a) the series is officially over, and b) this is a parting tribute to those 11 seasons. Can you discuss? 

No, but I really enjoyed the use of the word "elegiac." That makes my day when I hear that word. But obviously, when we started we were just playing with the internet — how do you do something on the internet and how long should it be, and what even is a show on the internet, where there are no rigid portion sizes to anything like television has. And it was funny that Netflix didn't know either until they got my show. [But] podcasts' popularity has grown, and this show is an edited video podcast. My friends say it's like you're getting people outside the packaging. 

OK, but is the show over?

All I'm saying is that I have a movie coming out next year ['Unfrosted: The Pop Tart Story"] and once I get through that phase, I might think about the future of this.

In the book's forward, Netflix chief Ted Sarandos hinted that you might take the show overseas?

To talk with English-speaking comics [if the show goes to the 12th season] which most comics seem to be.

Did the pandemic make you realize — time to move on to other projects?

I was always writing new stand-up stuff, just in case, and that's what I like to do. Also, my friends had an idea for a movie which we wrote and spent the last six months shooting. [In fact] today, Netflix is seeing my first cut of it today.

Eddie Murphy is on the book's cover and I do believe Long Island comics are represented more than those from any other region of the country. A coincidence or — as you said to Bill Burr, another of your guests — "everybody on Long Island is funny or wants to be."

You don't know when you grow up there how special a place it is. The talent level! When I had factory jobs [as a teen], the comedic talent level of people who just work in factories was unbelievably high and you don't know that until you leave Long Island. Long Island just has the funniest people, and I don't know why.

In many of the book's outtakes, so often the topic does get around to LI — from Judd Apatow's "Escape From Syosset" episode to even the episode with President Barack Obama who said his favorite president was Teddy Roosevelt. Why is LI so much a part of the worldview of the show?

You know how cars have radiators and how they have the overflow tank when they get overheated? If you look at New York City as the radiator, Long Island is where the coolant explodes out to — when the coolant gets overheated, it explodes out to Long Island. I once asked my mother, when you decided to leave Brooklyn, did you ever consider going to New Jersey? She said, "no way!"

Which was the hardest episode to shoot? I see that Fred Armisen's shoot took five hours. Did you guys get lost on the way to the deli? 

Oh no. I just can't get enough of Fred [who's from Valley Stream]. There are certain people that — if you were sentenced to prison and walked in and saw that he was going to be your cellmate — you'd go, this is going to be great. 

Ever get intimidated by a personality like Obama or run out of things to say on the way to coffee?

Never. With the other comics, I would just say any stupid thing but with him I prepared some questions. I had limited time — the only guest where I had 45 minutes — and didn't want to waste any of it.



Some of the best episodes were with you and your friend Barry Marder [esteemed comedian who co-wrote the monologues on "Seinfeld"]. Seems like they could be a series in themselves.

Barry and I came up with the whole idea of ['Comedians'] — it came out of my friendship with him. One time I was out in San Antonio and bought a VW Bug and we drove it to Long Island. He had a video camera with him, and that's where I said, 'I think this could be a show.' "


 

Finally, the "what next" question. What's next? 

I'm just getting back on stage now with a new set [for his Beacon Theatre residency], and figuring out all that takes a long time for me. 

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