Jerry Seinfeld on Art & Creativity

WHEN YOU’RE FLIPPING CHANNELS AND YOU COME ACROSS A “SEINFELD” RERUN, DO YOU FLIP RIGHT PAST IT OR LINGER?

Right past it. I think there’s a level of focus you need to get something to a certain point creatively, and you pay a price for that, which is you can’t ever look at it again.

YOU TURNED DOWN AN OFFER FROM NBC OF $5 MILLION AN EPISODE TO DO ONE MORE SEASON OF “SEINFELD.” NOBODY IN TV HAS EVER MADE EVEN CLOSE TO THAT MONEY BEFORE OR SINCE. DID YOU EVER SECOND-GUESS THAT DECISION?

No. It was the perfect moment, and the proof that it was the right moment is the number of questions you’re still asking me about it. The most important word in art is “proportion.” How much? How long is this joke going to be? How many words? How many minutes? And getting that right is what makes it art or what makes it mediocre.

From a conversation with Jerry Seinfeld by Dan Amira for the New York Times

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