Jerry Seinfeld: How to write a joke

Did you guys read the recent New York Times Magazine interview with Jerry Seinfeld? What surprised me was how obsessive Seinfeld is when writing his jokes. His stand-up feels effortless, but actually "Seinfeld will nurse a single joke for years, amending, abridging and reworking it incrementally, to get the thing just so," writes Jonah Weiner in the article. Seinfeld looks for funny words ("chimps," "dirt, "playing" and "sticks" are all funny, he explains). The joke can't be too long or too short; he'll go so far as to shave off letters or syllables from a sentence to pare it down. Seinfeld also avoids four-letter words, which he thinks are a crutch: "Guys that can use any word they want—if I had that weapon, I’ll give you a new hour in a week," he says.

Here, Seinfeld dissects a Pop Tarts joke he's been working on for two years...It reminds you just how hard it is to make something look easy.

P.S. Have you heard of Seinfeld's online series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee? Including Alec Baldwin!

Which foods DON’T you like?

We've talked about delicious meals, but what foods don't you like? Spill the beans...

My list:
bananas
raisins
oysters
salami
licorice
walnuts
cilantro

Apparently, some people are genetically predisposed to dislike cilantro, says the New York Times. To my taste buds, cilantro taste like soap. (Julia Child couldn't stand it, either.)

P.S. My all-time favorite food, and 10 handy table manners.

(Photo by Jamie Beck for Gilt Taste. Cartoon by Peter C. Vey for the New Yorker)

Made me laugh.

I'm looking at you, two-year-olds.

P.S. More comics.