Jerry Seinfeld appeared on the “Honestly With Bari Weiss” podcast and said he’s always found his bad reviews to be funny. The comedian recently released his first feature directorial effort, the Pop-Tart movie “Unfrosted,” on Netflix to largely negative critical reviews. “Unfrosted” boasts a weak 43% on Rotten Tomatoes from 120 reviews. But Seinfeld appears to be unbothered by the critical reception, as he never intended to make something that would be liked by everyone anyway.
“The only thing I want to read are the absolute worst reviews the movie received because there is nothing funnier to me than people complaining that [they] didn’t laugh,” Seinfeld said. “They want to laugh. I related to it. I get it. I think it’s funny that you hated it because you wanted to laugh and you didn’t laugh.”
“It’s funny! It doesn’t matter what you think of me,” Seinfeld continued. “Why would I think that I’m going to make something that everyone will like? What sense does that make? You have to be insane to think like that.”
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Seinfeld said that bad reviews have never really gotten under his skin throughout his skin, and he credits his start as a stand-up comedian as the reason why.
“If you’re built right as a stand-up comic you don’t care what people think of [you],” he said. “I’m doing my gig, I’m getting the laughs and getting the money and getting the hell out of here. When your review comes out, I’m in another city doing the same thing.”
Seinfeld’s “Unfrosted” fictionalizes the true story of the creation of the Pop-Tart, as Kellogg’s and Post compete to make a successful breakfast pastry in the 1960s. On the podcast, Seinfeld expressed some nostalgia for that era as there was “an agreed upon hierarchy” then that is “absolutely vaporized in today’s moment.”
“We have no sense of hierarchy,” Seinfeld said about the present day. “As humans, we don’t really feel comfortable with that. That is part of what…if you want to talk about nostalgia, that is part of what makes [the 1960s] attractive looking back.”
“Another thing, as a man… I always wanted to be a real man,” Seinfeld added. “When I was in that era, it was JFK, Muhammad Ali, Sean Connery, Howard Cosell. That’s a real man! I wanted to be like that someday. Well, no. I never really grew up. You don’t want to as a comedian because it’s a childish pursuit. I miss a dominant masculinity. I get the toxic thing… but still I like a real man.”
“Unfrosted” is now available to stream on Netflix.
