I only watched the first clip on his MySpace page, but I never even smiled. For the record, Shapiro does "observational humor," too, just like Seinfeld (and just about every other comic since Lenny Bruce). He just does it from a different perspective than Seinfeld. "White parents let their kids get away with everything and black parents are strict." Hmmm, I never heard that before. How very original.

"Stereotype" humor sprinkled with obscenity, spoken thru a mushmouth...of course nobody's gonna give this clown a show. Maybe if you look at life thru the eyes of somebody who sucked cock for drugs, the guy's a riot. I'm afraid I'm missing the joke.

I realize attacking Jerry Seinfeld is the new, hip thing to do. He's a completely safe target, so I find the venom with which some attack him to be kinda disingenuous. Personally, I was never a big fan of his stand-up, and I wasn't a faithful fan of the show. But I have seen some pretty fuckin' funny episodes. Nothing I saw in that clip of Shapiro's even approaches funny.

This article reminds me of that friend who, every couple of weeks introduces me to his new favorite band that nobody's ever heard of...and when I listen to them, I can understand why.

Totally agree. BTW, Seinfeld's standup since his show ended is a lot funnier than his earlier stuff.

Lono, thanks for putting it down so well. I totally agree. Slate really needs to do a bit more vetting when it comes to which stories get the top of the page and the little illustrations that catch our attention so well. I was genuinely curious to see how Jerry Seinfeld had ruined comedy in America. Of course it didn't take much reading to see that I had been duped. What a total waste of time this article was.

This is very funny - <link> click on the link and enjoy yourself.

Yeah, after watching a couple clips, I can't quite under stand the rave review in the article. He isn't all that funny. I mean, he's funnier than me, but so are most people.

what a hilarious bit about date rate in the link sent in this thread. such deep truths shapiro reveals.

please.

i love the sentence about how he's asking "fundament-al" questions. there's a hint there that schapiro's raising profound questions while acknowledging, in the same word no less, that no, in fact, it's toilet humor. how can you disagree with an argument that so neatly contradicts itself?

yeah, the article is a joke (no pun intended). I really consider humor to be a one of the more objective arts, laughter is laughter. One day people may let go of the fact that obscenity isn't necessarily art, and we won't have Mind of Mencia on the air. that'll be great.

why is it a crime to make comedy that the majority of America can watch? I remember even laughing at Seinfeld as a kid. I can appreciate it more now definitely. It almost seems like the reviewer confused Seinfeld with Ray Romano, those criticisms would have been a lot more spot on about his work.

And whoever mentioned the Indie band comparison, you're spot on. Dissing Seinfeld is like dissing the Beatles. Sure they are the most popular and for the most part safe, but that doesn't mean they aren't good.

Thanks for this post. I agree; if these clips are representative, Shapiro's nothing special. The "do you ever feel like a fuck-up who fucks up . . . etc" routine honestly reminded me of Bob Saget's recent HBO special. The word "fuck" just isn't funny or shocking anymore.

An older (much older) friend of mine recently played a Lenny Bruce album for me. Three observations: 1) It was surprisingly unfunny. (When Richard Pryor did Important material, it was usually hilarious, and if it wasn't hilarious, it was, at least, upsetting; Lenny Bruce in Important mode is just dull.) 2) It wasn't remotely offensive or risky when judged against a contemporary standard. I'm not saying Bruce's material wasn't edgy back in the day (although I'm not conceding that he was; Boomers have a way of mis-remembering their sacred youth culture), just that it doesn't seem dangerous in 2007. (Compare, again, Richard Pryor, Bill Hicks, or even Andy Kaufman; their routines still work -- still provoke -- today.) 3) The social commentary was pretty blah.

I'm certainly not a big Seinfeld fan, although I have found the show amusing, and even his worst stand-ups have a few funny moments. I think this critic misunderstands the function of comedy, or of any art for that matter. That Seinfeld works with the inane materials of our culture doesn't make him responsible for that culture.

I bristle a little at the way this piece tethers Seinfeld's work to his suburban upbringing. No, Seinfeld wasn't a crack whore. What, then, should he be doing: impersonating a crack whore (as rock bands like the Strokes -- millionaires' children reared in Swiss boarding schools -- impersonate street toughs)? Or should he just be quiet? I'm guessing that this is the correct answer: that Seinfeld shouldn't express his viewpoint, because his work doesn't remind aging boomers of Important and Relevant comics like Lenny Bruce and -- er -- Steve Martin?

I've written too much. What I really mean to say is: if Jerry Seinfeld's bitching about cell phones and ballpark hot dogs is pointless, this sort of article is even more pointless. And Shapiro -- like Carlos Mencia -- isn't funny. (Black-people-white-people jokes, fag jokes, STARBUCKS jokes . . . this is the dangerous firebrand who's shaking up American comedy?) Shapiro cusses, and he's mean-spirited and depressing, but there's more to comedy than that. As better comics like Dave Chappelle and the late, lamented Pryor illustrate, even "edgy" comedy is better with a dollop of humanity. (And if, like Sarah Silverman, you're heartless -- and have to work sans-humanity-dollop -- you'd better be as smart as Silverman. Shapiro clearly isn't.)