After Jerry Seinfeld first found success as a comedian, he co-created Seinfeld with his friend Larry David. Jerry Seinfeld would go on to oversee the show's writing, which allowed Seinfeld to become such a huge success that made the cast very rich.
Since Seinfeld ended, Jerry Seinfeld has mostly focused on writing standup comedy bits. Then, one of Jerry Seinfeld's standup bits, which he analyzed deeply for The New York Times, inspired him to co-write and direct his movie Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story.
This article will reveal the joke that inspired Jerry Seinfeld to make his movie Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story. Then, the article will look at how COVID-19 played a pivotal role in the movie getting made.
Jerry Seinfeld Deeply Analyzed The Pop Tart Joke That Inspired His Movie Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story
In December 2011, Jerry Seinfeld sat down in front of cameras for The New York Times' YouTube channel. Seinfeld then spent several minutes explaining how he wrote a joke about Pop-Tarts that he has delivered many times since then.
A decade later while talking to Deadline in June 2021, Seinfeld explained to the outlet how that Pop-Tarts bit inspired him to make a movie.
“So we took my Pop-Tart stand-up bit from my last Netflix special and exploded it into a giant, crazy comedy movie.”
On May 3, 2024, Netflix subscribers get to watch Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story, a Jerry Seinfeld movie about Pop-Tarts. Alongside Seinfeld, the movie features a long list of famous performers. Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story's cast includes Melissa McCarthy, Hugh Grant, Amy Schumer, Max Greenfield, Peter Dinklage, Christian Slater, Bill Burr, and Dan Levy.
Amazingly enough, Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story is the first fictional movie Seinfeld starred in after 2007's Bee Movie. That begs an obvious question. Why did Seinfeld choose to headline a Pop-Tarts movie after not starring in a film for more than fifteen years?
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Rosie O'Donnell auditioned for Seinfeld and got rejected years after her career in standup that was in part inspired by Jerry Seinfeld started.In the New York Times video about that bit, Seinfeld can be seen assuring someone behind the camera that nobody will care how he wrote the Pop-Tarts joke. "I know you think people are going to be interested in this. But, they're not." Despite Seinfeld's assurance, the video has nearly three million views on YouTube.
In 2021, Lit Hub published an article about why Jerry Seinfeld is one of the most successful standup comedians of all time . The article argued that Seinfeld's work ethic, which is on display in the New York Times video, is the key to his success. "Jerry Seinfeld is an example of the most-skilled comic—his standup is impeccable and he’s on the road all the time."
For anyone who thinks that Jerry Seinfeld just goes up on stage and thinks of jokes on the fly, this video proves that's not the case. Instead, Seinfeld told the camera that he usually writes a comedy bit in a couple of days before he spends time crafting it.
However, Seinfeld told The New York Times' cameras that he spent two years working on his Pop-Tarts joke. Seinfeld then admitted that seems like a long time to work on a bit about Pop-Tarts.
In one particularly revealing section of the video, Seinfeld analyzed one sentence of the Pop-Tarts bit that he tells onstage. Seinfeld then proceeded to list how many of the words in that sentence sound funny to listeners.
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Harvey Weinstein destroyed the careers of many people but the fact that the cheated Patrick Warburton is likely to take most by surprise."So, in the midst of that dark and hopeless moment, the Pop-Tarts suddenly appeared in the supermarket. And we just stared at it like an alien spacecraft and we were like chimps in the dirt playing with sticks. What makes that jokes is you got chimps, dirt, playing, and sticks. In seven words, four of them are funny."
The rest of The New York Times' video goes into Seinfeld's writing process in greater detail. One perfect example of that is Seinfeld explaining what paper and pens he always uses to write and why he won't use computers. Seinfeld doesn't like the cursor flashing at him since he feels like it is challenging him to write.
In March 2024, Seinfeld spoke to People about his decision to make a movie about Pop-Tarts. While talking to the outlet, Seinfeld stated that he's "been obsessed with Pop-Tarts [his] whole life".
Who is Jerry Seinfeld, according to Britannica?
Birthday: | April 29, 1954 |
Birthplace: | Brooklyn, New York |
Age as of March 2024: | 69 years old |
That makes perfect sense since he has spent so much time writing a standup bit and a movie about Pop-Tarts.
Jerry Seinfeld's Movie Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story Was Also Inspired By COVID-19
During Jerry Seinfeld's aforementioned 2021 Deadline interview, he spoke about what he wanted to accomplish with his Pop-Tarts movie. As Seinfeld explained, he wanted to make a movie that was silly and fun.
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When Jerry Seinfeld was starring in Seinfeld, he got involved with a famous star who appeared in an episode of the show.Of course, it is admirable for Seinfeld to want to bring happiness into the world at any time. However, Seinfeld also told Deadline that he was inspired to make a fun movie when the world was grappling with COVID-19.
“Stuck at home watching endless sad faces on TV, I thought this would be a good time to make something based on pure silliness.”
When Seinfeld spoke to People a few years later in 2024, he also revealed that he wasn't the only one who thought a silly Pop-Tarts movie was a good idea. As it turns out, Jerry Seinfeld decided to make his Pop-Tarts movie partly because of a former writer for his sitcom Seinfeld.
"My friend Spike Feresten, who was a writer on my show and is still a good friend of mine, thought we should make a movie out of the story, the real story, which we did. There are elements of truth, obviously quite a bit is also fabricated."
Seinfeld continued, "I would say 99% is fabricated, which was the fun of it. But I love the idea of serious people working on cereal and with suits and ties and talking about Pop-Tarts and cereal and eating cereal. I've always loved cereal."
