Before Jerry Seinfeld played London's O2 (charging about a million pounds a ticket), before he turned up for a warm up gig at London's Comedy Store (for which he charged nothing), before he even placed a foot in this country whose Royal Family he considers a little ridiculous... he called me at home.
It was a little weird.
I've interviewed big names in the past. Often face to face. Occasionally down the line. But the strangeness of having a household global superstar chatting away to you while you are sitting in your living room/study/garden or wherever never fully goes away.
And this was Seinfeld. I mean, Seinfeld. That guy from the Really Great TV Show. OK, who cares if no one in Britain really got Seinfeld.... (oh how they all fell in love with Friends, but Seinfeld was too weird, apparently...) Seinfeld was always a superstar to me.
I introduced my kids to him about two years ago. I wasn't sure at first if they'd get it, but now my nine year old reproduces slabs of his I'm Telling You This For The Last Time stand up show while my son affects in depth knowledge of the TV programme he has only seen a few episodes of. When I told them that Jerry was calling our house they didn't quite believe me.
The interview of course didn't amount to much. It was a junket. Jerry was probably doing a dozen of these back to back. It was on the phone. It was only 16 minutes long. But I packed it in as much as I could and The Big Issue were happy with the resulting feature which you can read by clicking this link. But you really should have read it already, shouldn't you, because it was out on the streets being sold by vendors. Still the best way to read one of the best news and feature magazines in Britain today. Honestly.
Incidentally, after I filed the piece I fell to wondering about the 'relaxed' 'do nothing' Jerry of the show I referred to. One of the quirky things about his character was that while apparently a loafer he was also uptight. An uptight loafer. Very New York.
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