One of the many joys of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is that you end up learning far more about both Jerry and his comedian guests (including comedian-in-chief Barack Obama this season) than you would in most other environments
The man who famously fronted the sitcom about “nothing” has expertly crafted a show that feels as easy and casual as a amazing conversation with a good friend over coffee, and yet the editing, production, and mastery in the art of conversation that Seinfeld displays is all meticulously crafted.
Will Ferrell is a perfect guest for this season’s finale, and a clothes doppelganger to boot as both he and Jerry don black sports jackets and pink shirts. Both are easily and breezily relaxed and hilarious throughout.
As with all episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry kicks off the show by introducing the car that he’s driving during the episode. In this episode, it’s a wild 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner Superbird, a five-feet tall racing monster that’s leavened by the Roadrunner cartoon character displayed on the side and a funny out-of-Saturday-morning-from-your-childhood horn noise.
The episode, entitled, “Mr. Ferrell, For the Last Time, We’re Going To Ask You To Put the Cigar Out,” gets into the swing of things as Jerry approaches Ferrell, who is in fact on a playground swing. “Hey little boy, you like candy?” Jerry asks.
Among a torrent of observations we hear throughout the episode, Ferrell says of the Roadrunner Superbird, “Cars don’t smell like this anymore.”
One of the better themes throughout the episode is Seinfeld and Ferrell riffing on movies. Jerry decides, for instance, that if you take the words “film,” “picture,” and “movie,” “Movie is undeniably the least pretentious.” They then move onto iconic movie stars and first names. “Robert DeNiro. No one’s calling him Robert… he’s got to be Bob,” Jerry concludes.
One of the funnier moments has the two asking each other if they’ve seen some recent popular movies. It turns out that Ferrell hasn’t seen many as Jerry quizzes him to the tune of things like, “Tom Hanks in the hijack boat movie.” When Ferrell tells him that he hasn’t seen Gravity, Seinfeld retorts, “I would like to be the one person who didn’t see Gravity.”
Later, Ferrell explains that while he loves most of the things involved with making films, er, movies, he can’t sit through the focus groups for the flicks he stars in. He then gets into an extended bit where he’s playing the role of the eager focus group leader. “How many people liked it when Will put on the funny hat? Okay, 16 out of 20.”
If you get home from work after a long day and want to throw on an 18 minute episode about “nothing” that’s really like listening in on the very best moments of a conversation and day of hanging out with two of the world’s best comedy minds, you can’t beat it.