The Seinfeld Scripts: The First and Second Seasons

Yes, Seinfeld is always funny. Here's what he said about his comedic inspiration: "[Lois Nettleton] was married to Jean Shepherd. He's the guy who invented talk radio and really formed my entire comedic sensibility. Yes. I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." He said this in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on the sitcom's DVD set, sixth season. Who is Jean Shepherd? See the book EXCELSIOR, YOU FATHEAD! THE ART AND ENIGMA OF JEAN SHEPHERD.

Here's the book that partly answers why Seinfeld (and I Love Lucy and All in the Family and Married With Children and The Simpsons) is so funny: Great sit-com comedy doesn't just happen because you get a talented performer. It also depends HEAVILY on the writing guiding the performance.Any Seinfed fan (or student or lover of comedy) MUST own this book. My only regret is that it only gives you scripts for the first and second seasons (which, actually, many consider among the best). It shows you the solid comedic, consistently witty, and highly ironic foundations behind the cast's classic performances.The good news: this book READS funny. Unless you just don't like reading drama/comedy in script form, you'll howl almost as much (since you are missing actual facial expressions, timing and body language) as you read these. Quite a few of these episodes were written by Seinfeld and collaborator (who how has a critically acclaimed HBO comedy series) Larry David. The many episodes include "The Jacket," "The Pony Remark," "The Deal," "The Chinese Restaurant," (one of my favorites) and "The Revenge."According to published accounts, Seinfeld and David were absolutely adamant that there would be "no hugging" on THEIR show and that they would do the show their way or not do the show at all. They stuck to their guns. This book contains highly original sitcom comedy which holds up exceedingly well in script form. Keep the importance of solid writing in mind as you see former cast members from his show (or even Jerry himself or former cast members of other big hits) try to clone their earlier success: without a solid comedic foundation -- which is funny on paper -- all the talent in the world won't create a hit sitcom.

Cannot help but reminisce about those classic early episodes. Really fun to drop on the couch after a long day and read through the old scripts. If you are a Seinfeld fan, you will love to have this book.This book is on the bookshelf in our living room with 100 other books, lots of great novels and coffee table books, but enevitably this is the book that almost EVERYONE grabs. At minimum gets a big smile, usually gets a good laugh.Highly recommended.

If you watched Seinfeld regularly, you probably wished you could go back and review favorite episodes and see why they worked so well. I know I did. Sure, I COULD videotape episodes and rewatch them (and I often did) but I found this book provided additional advantages. I could linger over certain phrases, note how well the script flowed in certain sections and gain a deeper understanding of why certain bits were funny. Plus, it was much easier rereading certain sections of this book than it would have been to rewind a tape, find the section and replay it. When it comes to television shows and comedic writing, books definitely have their advantages over videotapes. On the other hand, if you like to see how the characters interact, their facial expressions and mannerisms, you may still want to have a tape of each show, using this book as an excellent supplement to the tapes. If you have tapes AND this book of Seinfeld, I'd say you'd have a mini-course in good comedy writing.