Here’s The Joke Jerry Seinfeld Punched Up For David Byrne’s American Utopia
What’s the deal with that one joke in David Byrne’s American Utopia? One can never be certain, but that’s presumably what Jerry Seinfeld said when he was giving Byrne unsolicited advice on how to punch up one of the jokes in his Broadway show, which is supposed to return for a second run in the fall (assuming any shows are back on Broadway and society hasn’t crumbled by then).
As Vulture reports, Byrne told the story about getting a note from the comedian during an appearance on the 3 Girls, 1 Keith podcast from Amy Schumer, who says she saw American Utopia six times. “One of the nights you guys came, you brought Jerry Seinfeld and we had some drinks after, and he said, ‘That one joke. You gotta fix it,’” Byrne recalled. “This guy knows how this machine works. I’ve never met him before and he’s given me a note. But it turned out to be a good note.”
“Before I would say, ‘The firemen don’t want you to dance in the aisles, because the dancers in the aisles have an unfair advantage in the event of a fire,’” Byrne said, explaining a few lines of stage banter he’d say to the audience in between songs. “And Jerry said, ‘Uh-huh. The joke is unfair advantage. Always put the joke at the end, ‘cause otherwise you’re jumping on top of your own joke.’ You leave them on the funny line. So I did that and it worked.”
You can listen to the full conversation, which starts about eight minutes in, here:
Spike Lee’s film version of America Utopia is set to arrive later this year.
