Jerry Seinfeld says coronavirus pandemic is like ‘the whole planet getting detention’

‘Hopefully, you’re gonna learn to appreciate things a little better’

Jerry Seinfeld has compared the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to “getting detention” at school.

The comedian and Seinfeld star made the comment while appearing on The Late Show on Tuesday (6 October).

Speaking to Stephen Colbert about the release of his new book, Is This Anything?, Seinfeld said of coronavirus: “It’s really like the whole planet getting detention.”

“And when you get out of detention, you’re really gonna see things a little different. Hopefully, you’re gonna learn to appreciate a little better. That’s what we have to do. But we probably won’t,” he added.

The comedian known for his observational material also described recently visiting a restaurant for the first time since February.

“It was the most exciting, odd, strange thing,” he said, before launching into a thorough retelling of the dining experience.

In a foreword his new book, Seinfeld revealed that he did not enjoy writing the storylines for classic Seinfeld episodes, and would only engage with the writing process when it came to writing “funny dialogue”.

“Even in the early years of Seinfeld I had difficulty focusing on the story aspects of the show,” he wrote. “I would only perk up when Larry and I got to writing the dialogue and we needed funny lines for the characters to say.”

“I got better at story structure as the years went on but still find that kind of work a bit dreary,” he added.