Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is performing stand-up comedy at the Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center this week.
Brenna Swanston
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World-renowned comedian Jerry Seinfeld will take the Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center (PAC) stage Thursday night, performing stand-up comedy which draws from even the most mundane details of daily life.
Fruit science senior Leah Van der Heide has been a fan of NBC’s television show “Seinfeld” her whole life and is excited to finally see Seinfeld perform in person, she said.
“I grew up watching Seinfeld with my family every night,” Van der Heide said. “I can’t believe that I’m actually going to see him do stand-up comedy.”
Van der Heide also enjoys Seinfeld’s current project, “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.” The show’s premise is exactly how it sounds: Seinfeld drives with a variety of guest comedians, candidly chatting on their way to a coffee shop.
“I think it’s really funny,” Van der Heide said. “I’m excited to see how much of his stand-up is going to be new stuff like that, and how much is going to be old stuff.”
Van der Heide has her fingers crossed for the relatability of Seinfeld’s comedy, she said. At 59 years old, some of his jokes might go over college students’ heads.
“I know that he’s older,” Van der Heide said. “I’ll get a lot of it, but I hope that it’s not totally unrelatable to a college student.”
A comedian herself, Van der Heide has performed with Smile and Nod, Cal Poly’s improvisational comedy team, since her freshman year. Seinfeld has played a hand in Van der Heide’s comedic influences, and she hopes to learn even more from seeing him live, she said.
“When I watch stand-up, I take a lot of notes in my head,” she said. “I note how he transitions into stuff and his topics. I’m currently writing my own stand-up, so it’s cool to see it as a viewer, but also as a student.”
Aerospace engineering sophomore Garrett Klunk will also attend Seinfeld’s performance. Having bonded with his dad over the television show “Seinfeld,” it will be a memorable experience to see the show’s star in person, Klunk said.
“While some children were raised on ‘Teletubbies’ and other kids’ shows, I grew up watching ‘Seinfeld’ every night with my dad,” Klunk said.
The inter-character relationships in “Seinfeld” were the show’s big selling point for Klunk, he said.
“I think what entertained me most about the show as a kid were the characters,” Klunk said. “Kramer was off the wall, and I thought the rivalry between Jerry and Newman was absolutely hilarious.”
Most of Klunk’s familiarity with Seinfeld’s stand-up comes from the clips of it which show throughout each “Seinfeld” episode, he said. His favorite part of the humor is its simplicity and relevance to everyday life.
“My attraction to Jerry’s humor specifically is that it’s a simple observation of life’s stupid little things,” Klunk said.
Klunk hopes Seinfeld’s routine lives up to the reputation his dad has given it.
“My dad always told me that the funniest live comedy he’s ever seen has been Jerry Seinfeld,” he said. “I really hope that’s still true.”
San Luis Obispo will welcome Seinfeld’s only California show Jan. 23 at 7 and 9:30 p.m.