Jerry Seinfeld says Howard Stern has been ‘outflanked’ comedically

What’s the deal with comedy podcasting?

Jerry Seinfeld pulled no punches when sharing his opinions on comedy radio and podcasts in a new interview with Dana Carvey and David Spade on their Fly on the Wall podcast. “Howard Stern invented this, right?” Seinfeld said of the format. “But we’re better than him now. Howard is interesting. Howard is a great interviewer, but comedy chops, I mean, can we speak candidly?”

Spade said “Sure,” while Carvey said, “No!” as both laughed nervously. “Well, he got Robin, and Robin is a big part of how he’s funny,” Carvey said of Stern’s cohost Robin Quivers. 

Seinfeld said that he prefers Fly on the Wall to The Howard Stern Show. “Yeah, they’re all great but let’s face it, he’s been outflanked by some very, and yourselves, I mean absolutely, this show, comedy podcasts? This is the best one on the air,” he said. “Because you guys play nice together, it’s smooth, you’re not jumping on each other, which is annoying to listen to.”

The Unfrosted star is puzzled by the comedian podcast boom. “Who knew there was a market?” he asked. “Who knew people wanted to get to know us? Who gets the credit for figuring it out?”

Later, Seinfeld decried podcasts hosted by comedians that focus on going deep into personal matters instead of prioritizing humor. “Jesus Christ, make us laugh, how interesting do you think you are?” he said. “You’re not that interesting, okay? You’re not. When you’re funny, you’re worth it. This is my line, which you know me, you know me, no but you know that I draw that line. If you’re not that funny, we’re not that interested in you.”

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Last week, Seinfeld told Entertainment Weekly about the difficulties of directing his first movie with a seemingly unlimited budget from Netflix. “The thing that’s harder is when you’re making a movie for Netflix and they give you a healthy budget, which they did; there’s nothing you can’t do. The technology enables you to do absolutely anything you can think of, and that can kind of stall your brain out because if you can do anything, there’s no way to make a choice of what do we do.”

Seinfeld also told EW why he chose to direct the movie himself. “It’s just easier when you’re in the writers’ room, like on a TV series, and then you walk down to the set with the script,” he said. “Having a director interpret what the writers were trying to do is such a waste of time and it goes wrong. The writer knows what he wants. The reason writers don’t direct is because they’re usually not able to communicate with other humans. They can just write. But luckily, I’ve developed those skills over many years of trying, and I can talk to other people and say, ‘No, the idea of this joke is you say it this way,’ and that’s all directing is.”

Later Wednesday evening, a representative for Mr. Seinfeld contacted Entertainment Weekly with a statement from the comedian apologizing for the comments and offering further clarification.

The statement reads: “I really feel bad for what I said about my friend Howard Stern in a conversation with David Spade and Dana Carvey, talking about the glut of comedy podcasts. I meant to say he must feel surrounded but I said “outflanked” which sounded terrible and insulting. And of course, none of these little shows are any threat to his giant show. Anyway, it was bad and I’m sorry, Howie. I still love you. Please forgive me.”

Listen to the full Fly on the Wall interview with Jerry Seinfeld above.

This story has been updated to include a statement from Jerry Seinfeld