Seinfeld is back doing what got him started: stand-up comedy

Web posted on: Wednesday, August 05, 1998 5:08:14 PM

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Jerry Seinfeld returns to what he loves best on Wednesday night -- stand-up comedy.

The hottest ticket on Broadway is one that will get fans in the door of one of Seinfeld's 10 shows at the Broadhurst Theater. Even at $75 a ticket, all 10 shows sold out in one day, and now, as Manhattan hotel concierges say they've been flooded with requests for tickets from guests, scalpers are reportedly asking for anywhere from $300 to $1,500 a ticket.

The New York State Attorney General is investigating the high ticket prices as part of a larger probe of ticket scalping on Broadway.

Meanwhile, Seinfeld said at a news conference on Tuesday that he is donating his earnings from the concerts to programs benefitting public school students.

A sneak-peek snippet of Seinfeld at the Broadhurst: Video clip: 650k QuickTime File format info Please enable JavaScript

'Stand-up is not like work'

"I wanted to thank New York because this is where I got my start," Seinfeld says.

The comedian who entertained fans for nine years with his TV sitcom "Seinfeld" says doing stand-up is a pleasure.

"Stand-up is not like work," he says. "It is a very liberating type of performance."

He used humor to try to explain what it feels like to leave behind his hit sitcom, which ended this past May.

"Did you ever take a dog into a park and take his leash off, and he just kind of looks up at you for a second and bolts off like a maniac?" he said. "It's something like that."

On the success of "Seinfeld," Seinfeld says that "only an idiot could think that I would be that lucky again"

'Only an idiot'

Seinfeld's concert features material he plans to retire from his act, hence the title, "I'm Telling You For the Last Time." He said it would take him up to a year to come up with new material he feels comfortable performing.

His final stand-up show at the Broadhurst will be televised on HBO. It will also be recorded and released on CD later this year.

"Stand-up was the best way for me to actually feel free, to feel relaxed," he said. "To be before an audience, that's the most fun I can have. I've been on beaches, I've been on boats. It's pleasant, but it's not exactly fun."

DISCUSSION:

Would you be willing to buy tickets from a scalper -- for Jerry Seinfeld or for any other show? Do you consider scalpers a problem?  Go to the boards!

He also said being famous was "fun."

"For many years of my life I was an anonymous person," he said. "It's pleasant. But it's not really fun. Being famous is much more fun."

Despite the fame his TV show brought him, however, he doesn't plan to try another television series.

"I couldn't imagine that I was as lucky as I was, and only an idiot could think that I would be that lucky again," he said.

Correspondent Cynthia Tornquist and Reuters contributed to this report.