Jerry Before Seinfeld

Jerry Before Seinfeld is a 2017 stand-up comedy film that follows comedian Jerry Seinfeld as he returns for a stand-up routine at the New York City comedy club, Comic Strip Live, which started his career. The album of the special was nominated for a 2018 Grammy Award for Best [Comedy Album]. This is his third special and his first with Netflix.

Influences

In the Netflix comedy special, Jerry Before Seinfeld, Jerry displayed his personal comedy album collection from when he was a teenager.
These albums include:

Lenny Bruce – Thank You Masked Man
Bill Cosby – I Started Out as a Child
George Carlin – Class Clown
Steve Martin – Let's [Get Small]
Bob Newhart – The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart
Mike Nichols and Elaine May – Improvisations to Music
Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner – 2000 and One Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks

There is also a brief montage of comedians who Seinfeld admired: Bruce, Richard Pryor, and Jonathan Winters. Seinfeld also talks about the influence Mad Magazine had on him.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 95% based on 19 reviews, with an average rating of 7.35/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Jerry Before Seinfeld finds its star revisiting his earliest material on his hometown stage, offering appropriately familiar – yet still abundant – laughs along the way."

Formats

In addition to streaming, the audio was released as a double-vinyl record on September 29, 2017.