Don’t fret, young comics: Even Jerry Seinfeld bombs — or at least he has in the past.
Seinfeld joined Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” Tuesday, perfectly timed to Festivus — a faux holiday celebrated by “Seinfeld” fans every Dec. 23. The non-commercial holiday was invented by Frank Costanza (Jerry Stiller) on the former NBC sitcom, much to the chagrin of TV-son George (Jason Alexander). The episode, “The Strike,” aired in 1997.
But this Dec. 23 on NBC, Seinfeld hit the “Tonight Show” trifecta: He performed stand-up, did panel and appeared in pre-taped segment “The Worst I Ever Bombed.”
For his final bow, the legendary comic shared a story from New Year’s Eve 1977, when he was “kinda OK” as a stand-up.
“I got approached by an owner of a disco in Queens — on Queens Boulevard,” Seinfeld started. “If you’re not from New York, this is not a good gig … Queens Boulevard, on New Year’s Eve — a disco in 1977 is an insane place.”
Aside from the insanity, the main problem was the club’s refusal to turn down the music. That, coupled with the fact that the microphone didn’t have a long enough cord to even face the crowd, and Seinfeld’s 20-minutes of material fell on deaf ears.
“Disco music … you feel like you’re inside a human heart,” he recalled. “Nobody even knew I was on.”
It was the roughest $100 he ever earned.