Freshly brewed: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

Eddie Murphy and Jerry Seinfeld share a good laugh
in a 2004 Porsche Carrera GT

Freshly brewed episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s talk show that combines good laughs, great coffee and colorful vintage cars into a series of quirky but likable “caffeine-fueled adventures” with the sharpest minds in comedy, rolled out last week on Netflix.

The latest batch of 12 episodes of  Comedians ... features 11 comedians, 11 different cars, endless pots of coffee – especially prominently-featured Lavaazza Italian espresso – and lots of laughs. Among the featured guests this season are: Ricky Gervais (in back-to-back episodes), Eddie Murphy, Seth Rogen, Matthew Broderick, SNL’s Melissa Villaseñor and Martin Short. As for the cars, let’s see, they include: a 2004 Porsche Carrera GT, a 1976 Dodge Monaco, a 1969 Maserati Mistral and a 2018 Lamborghini Huracán Performante.

Each episode is touching in its own way, and thanks to Seinfeld – still curious at age 65 – the art of conversation remains alive and well. Seinfeld is one of the best when it comes to the art of observational humor, whether talking about personal relationships or the nuances of uncomfortable social obligations. It’s what we loved about the New York native in Seinfeld, which spanned 180 episodes over nine seasons from 1989-98 on NBC. The series remains a fixture in reruns across the country.

Now, having successfully transitioned from broadcast TV to an internet series, Seinfeld has taken an offbeat approach that shows another side of the comedy world. It’s something the comedian feels talk shows and interviews can’t or don’t let you see. The web-based comedy series he created, directs and stars in debuted in 2012 and is shot using DSLR and interior-mounted Go-Pro cameras.

“It’s a show about trust,” said former Daily Show host Jon Stewart.

Nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series or Special, in Comedians ... Seinfeld connects with those whom he admires the most and the show shines in its ability to go inside the minds of some of the word’s funniest people. A who’s who of contemporary A-list comedians, including Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman and Amy Schumer as well as iconic ones Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Don Rickles and Jerry Lewis, have been coffee companions of Seinfeld’s. So have present and past late night TV hosts Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman and Jay Leno. Seinfeld co-stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards have also made appearances.

Each 12-to-20-minute episode of Comedians ... follows a premise of Seinfeld introducing a vintage car such as a 1983 Mercedes Benz station wagon or a 1991 Nissan Figaro, then picking up his guest comedian in that vintage car, driving around and sharing conversation, and, finally, stopping for coffee and more conversation. Seinfeld films most episodes in New York and Los Angeles, but has also ventured to New Jersey and Massassuchetts – even Portland, Ore.

In this season’s episode with Broderick, for instance, the two drive around the actor’s childhood Manhattan neighborhood, reminisce about their mutual love for Mel Brooks and share laughs about Brook’s original film version of The Producers. (Broderick co-starred as Leo Bloom in the Broadway musical adaptation as well as a 2005 remake of the film.) They also live out a baseball fantasy of being New York Mets ball players at Citi Field. The camera captures them walking into the clubhouse to don their Mets jerseys, then follows them out on the diamond hitting and fielding. Finally, we see the two sitting in box seats eating hot dogs while discussing Broderick’s 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which prominently includes the central character driving around Chicago in a sporty fire engine-red Ferrari and spending an afternoon in the bleacher seats at Chicago’s Wrigley Field cheering for the Cubs.

Meanwhile, when Seinfeld meets up with Short in L.A., not only do we get to re-live some of the best of Jiminy Glick, Short’s fictional Comedy Central talk show host character, but the former SNL and SCTV star also shares how appearing in a Canadian production of Godspell helped launch his comedy career and those of Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy and Paul Shaffer.

Whether meaningful or meandering, silly or deep, the unscripted conversations between Seinfeld and his Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee companions are hardly a show about nothing.

Cover photo: Courtesy of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee website. Video: Courtesy of YouTube.