news from me – ARCHIVES
Larry King used to brag a lot that he did zero preparation for his interviews…as if that was a good thing. It usually turns out to be a great way to make sure that you only ask the obvious, predictable questions that your guests have answered everywhere else and for which they have stock replies. Or sometimes, you just look clumsy, as in this brief exchange the other night with Jerry Seinfeld…

Larry King indeed does not like to prepare and prefers to ask questions from a public perspective. I’ve worked with him and to me this approach actually works well. I use it myself. I have a laundry list of reasons why this approach is superior to being too prepared. The problem with the concept, though, shows here in this vid. If you are somehow totally unaware of something that everyone else knows, then it creates odd moments.

found by Jay Huber



  1. Dave says:

    Wow! never knew Seinfeld was so arrogant!

  2. doug says:

    I don’t know if that constitutes ‘freaking.’ But I can see how Jerry would be somewhat vexed – it was WELL established that ‘Seinfeld’ was going out on top. One could even say that they set the precedent for not waiting until a series jumped the shark before calling it quits.

    If he had prepped, maybe Larry could have asked why the series finale was so damn weak.

  3. mark says:

    Hmmm. Larry King. Shouldn’t he be retired and driving aound in an RV?

  4. Greymoon says:

    Lighten up, Seinfeld is joking.

  5. Awake says:

    Seinfeld had just finished reading some early reviews of his new Bee-Movie, and realized that his future is ‘cancelled’.

  6. JuryDuty says:

    Larry looks pretty miffed when Seinfeld started cutting up about his resume at the end. That was a silly question any way you look at it.

  7. pjakobs says:

    who is that asshole there on the right?

    pj

  8. Gary Marks says:

    Maybe Seinfeld was taken so aback because he hadn’t watched Larry King before and didn’t know how unprepared King is for interviews. Wouldn’t that be ironic — both people in the interview oblivious about the other 😉

  9. NappyHeadedHo says:

    Both are assholes. I expect Larry to start drooling any moment. Seinfeld is use to everyone sucking up to him.

  10. JimR says:

    Seinfeld was exaggerating being astounded (to get some laughs, which he did) that Larry king would ask such a dumb… no, idiotic question of a legend in his own right. It’s like asking the Pope if he is Catholic.

  11. bobbo says:

    Larry King – – – news for people who don’t know anything and won’t retain anything by the same.

    CNN’s news leader in fact.

  12. Rich says:

    The difference between being cancelled and having the producers voluntarily stop production is pretty subtle IMO and only an arrogant, cradle-robbing gasbag like Seinfeld would care about that. I have no problem with Larry King except that he looks like a troll what lives under a bridge and eats schoolchildren.

  13. Mister Mustard says:

    Gee, I wouldn’t have known if Seinfeld was cancelled or went out on top either. I watched it once, and that was enough.

    Get ahold of yourself, Jerry, you’re not all that. Not everybody lives and dies by sitcom ratings.

  14. dweller says:

    John, I have to agree with you 100% that working prepared is not the best way to handle interviews which is why i enjoy watching your Cranky Geeks shows– your spontaneity is as close to Reality that I’ve seen in the mainstream media. kudos John.

    Also, Awake is right on with Seinfeld’s career being ‘cancelled’. I read the front cover story in this week’s New York Press where the author rips Jerry apart claiming Jerry’s greed for more money has destroyed his creativity. Frankly, I never found him funny. And more so, I think Larry David was responsible for 80% of the share of laughs from the series “Seinfeld”.

    I think Seinfeld has got to get back to his roots to discover funny again. That means leaving his good life behind and getting on the road. And getting new love, if you know what I mean…

  15. Derek says:

    Wow, surprise surprise!
    Yet again another item that appeared 24 hours previously on the front page of digg.

  16. Glenn E says:

    Well then how about 10% prepared? I think that being 100 or 99% unprepared is just another way of saying, “too lazy to bother earning one’s keep”. Is Larry just a media icon, that only needs to be seen?

  17. tom says:

    Larry said “You cancelled them, right?” which would imply that he knew the story. I don’t know if Seinfeld was going for a laugh or if he was truly insulted, but it didn’t come off as funny.

    I enjoyed the series but didn’t watch it religiously. The fact that the final episode had 75 million viewers or that the series was still #1 at the time was not something I remembered. I do remember that the last episode was not being particularly entertaining.

    The world does not revolve around a sitcom that’s been off the air for several years.

  18. 888 says:

    who is seinfeld?
    who is larry king?

    LOL
    I have never watch neither on tv… must be some local US crap tv…

  19. 15. Digg Wow, surprise surprise!
    Yet again another item that appeared 24 hours previously on the front page of digg.

    Are we having a race? Who can get it up first?

  20. Roosta says:

    Seinfeld Rules…Larry King is a tool

  21. Seinfeld the show was funny, the individual always seems to come across as an arrogant anally retentive narcissistic nut bar!

  22. Gordon Liddy says:

    Harry Shearer does some hilarious parodies of Larry King. Here he is getting a call from OJ (RealPlayer audio):

    http://play.rbn.com/foo.ram?url=livecon/kcrw/g2demand/ls/ls050807le_Show.rm&start=30:10&proto=rtsp

    Good to finally learn why Dvorak is the Larry King of nerddom.

  23. Greg Allen says:

    >>Lighten up, Seinfeld is joking.

    True … but he’s joking like a jerk.

    The original blog entry makes a good point. Larry King does seem like an idiot the way he asked that.

  24. Daniel Siddall says:

    Larry King is the King of Softball Interviewing. He asks obvious, easy-to-answer questions. He throws a question out there just to get the guest talking. He was just trying to get Seinfeld talking and asking the question on behalf of the viewers that didn’t know about the show.

    Yes, there are people in the world that never watched Seinfeld. I can’t fathom it myself as a HUGE fan of the show, but I was surprised at his level of arrogance. He then tried to make it look like he was joking, but my opinion of Jerry Seinfeld has changed forever.

  25. Darin says:

    Tom is right on point when he notes that the way Larry asked the question implies he knew the answer. The discussion from there, had Seinfeld not reacted so ignorantly, would likely have been about the choice to go out on top. Nothing wrong with that discussion. Maybe it’s lightweight, maybe it’s all been said before but watching Larry King interview is all about the cult of personality. Who can ask Jerry a question he hasn’t been asked before anyway? Bottom line: Jerry behaved like a jerk. I used to stay up late to watch him on the Tonight Show when he was making a name for himself and I was one of the biggest boosters of his show before it took off but I don’t recognize him now. He seems to enjoy throwing his weight around, now. It’s funny if you say so. Right Jerry? Sorry Jerry. A bully is a bully and a jerk is a jerk no matter how famous he or she is.

  26. Janey says:

    Seinfeld definitely comes accross as an arrogant creep. I’m not so sure the question wasn’t a serious one, though, judging by the captioning at the bottom of the screen that said “Seinfeld canceled?”

    Either way, Seinfeld’s reaction was ungracious and unfunny. (even if Larry King is out to lunch)


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