Jerry Before Seinfeld

It was such a pleasure to sink down into these jokes with Seinfeld, such a treat to be carried along by such a confident professional. It’s rare to be treated this way by any piece of current entertainment; enjoy his achievement here.

I laughed a lot during Jerry Before Seinfeld. ... It's an interesting and novel approach for a comedian, something like when singers in their later years--Frank Sinatra or Joni Mitchell or Elvis Costello--revisit songs recorded in younger ones to find different shadings in a different register.

There's always another bon mot, and the occasional dud humor in Jerry Before Seinfeld in no way detracts from the larger pleasures of watching this peerless comedian pay tribute to his roots.

Jerry Before Seinfeld sees the comic deliver a crowd-pleasing set (to a vocally pleased crowd) of the intimately familiar observational shtick that made him into the very megastar he and Bowie goofed on almost 20 years ago. ... [But] Jerry Before Seinfeld forms an unsatisfying portrait of the artist as a young comic.

Watching Seinfeld knock out the oldies-but-goldies is indeed watching someone do what they were born to do. He’s a master technician who cuts through the material at a high rate of speed, while using pantomime to fill in the blanks or give the punchline a steroid boost.

Its packaging notwithstanding, Jerry Before Seinfeld doesn’t feel much different than any other Seinfeld concert or talk-show appearance, except for the old photos, Seinfeld family home movies, and archival footage of young Seinfeld doing stand-up. ... Luckily, it’s a good collection of jokes and stories.

That might be the crux of the problem with Jerry Before Seinfeld. It’s certainly pleasant, and anyone who is a fan of his will chuckle their way through it. But it’s unclear what we’re being sold here.