If you’re efficient, you’re doing it the wrong way. The right way is the hard way. The show was successful because I micromanaged it—every word, every line, every take, every edit, every casting. That’s my way of life.

Daniel McGinn • Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian, Innovator, Micromanager

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Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian, Innovator, Micromanager

Jerry Seinfeld hbr.org

The right way is the hard way

Daniel McGinn • Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian, Innovator, Micromanager

Jerry Seinfeld started performing stand-up comedy in 1976. Since then and to this day, every day he sits with a yellow legal pad and writes jokes. Given that he’s been honing his craft for 47 years, he was asked, “How do you know a joke is going to work on stage?” Seinfeld said, "You don’t." “You just trust yourself?” the interviewer asked. “No you... See more

Takeaways from Jerry Seinfeld on Tim Ferriss:

To survive in comedy you have to be a writer
“As any writer can tell you it’s 95% re-write”
“I think I could solve just about anyone’s life, I don’t care what you do, with weight training and transcendental meditation” Jerry Seinfeld
“If you could take your experiences and ask to trade them in, the las

Making work easier. This is the problem. So obsessed with getting to the answer, completing the project, producing a result which are all valid things, but not where the richness of the human experience lies.

Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian, Innovator, Micromanager

Daniel McGinn • Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian, Innovator, Micromanager

Jerry Seinfeld's Speech At Duke's 2024 Commencement (Transcript)