Seinfeld hits the road

First, the name of Jerry Seinfeld’s self-explanatory web series is a bit clunky: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

Really, Jerry? What’s next? Humorists in Hummers Getting Hummus?

But for a show that you don’t have to pay a cent to watch online, Seinfeld’s pet project, now in its fifth season, comes pretty close to the inconsequential joys we recall from watching his eponymous ‘90s sitcom.

After all, there are appearances from Seinfeld alum Jason Alexander (George) and Michael Richards (Kramer), not to mention show co-creator Larry David. And there’s an atmosphere of pure, undirected gab — the kind of “nothing” that Seinfeld got away with so well.

The title tells you what’s in store. Seinfeld rings up some of his dear comedic pals — Louis CK, Chris Rock, Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, David Letterman — and takes them out for a spin in the car du jour to get coffee somewhere.

Seinfeld’s a bit of car snob, and his chosen rides range from a ’67 Lamborghini to a teeny, weeny Italian Fiat Jolly that resembles a golf cart with wicker seats. Who needs comedy when you drive cars like that around?

But the show — each episode running from 12 to 20 minutes — is a fun ride, from the pickup to the sitdown. The coffee is really a pretext for hanging out and talking — and that’s where Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee has a leg up on most talk shows. Rather than the couch and the desk, Seinfeld and pals chew the fat at random coffee shops around New York, New Jersey and California. The subjects free-range wherever they will, and for once, you don’t feel the constraints of a studio audience or a script. Jerry scares the hell out of guest Ricky Gervais, driving his borrowed Austin-Healey at white-knuckle speed on the Jersey Turnpike. He hops aboard Louis CK’s boat for a cappuccino, the better to sit down and talk about comedy, raising daughters, and the joys of tooling around the Hudson River (“There’s no one out here!” enthuses Captain Louis).

What makes the show work is a behind-the-scenes honesty that allows us to see the way, say, Chris Rock is away from the stage. A couple things have changed in Rock’s life, he says, since getting famous. “People just ask me for five thousand dollars like they’re asking for the time” is one; the other is, “Whenever there’s a microphone around, people expect you to go up and say something funny.” Yup, it’s tough being a successful comedian.

The subject of comedy is endlessly fascinating to comics. Seinfeld will coax his guests about their first time doing standup (“No laughs, not one,” admits Letterman) or try out material, such as: Which modern invention would you like to bring back in time?

Sometimes it seems like Seinfeld is field-testing his own upcoming jokes, and that’s okay, because every comic on the show does it, too. Some guests are laid-back and down to earth, such as Tina Fey, some are slightly sociopathic, such as Sarah Silverman. The show owes a little to British series like Carpool and Top Gear (always a bit of car talk at the opening for gearheads), and like Steve Coogan’s The Trip, food (or coffee in this case) is a setup for folks to just sit around, trying to amuse one another and themselves.

It works because Seinfeld has an easy rapport with his guests. (So far, that is. Perhaps less so if he has to drive around with people a little outside his comfort zone.)

It also works because you get a sense of comedians as real people, as careerists whose lives change as they have kids, prepare for shows and tours. The Michael Richards episode takes a somewhat sad detour when you realize the comic actor has retired from standup since his racist outburst during a performance in 2007. Meanwhile, Seinfeld and Rock commiserate over being married, about the need to make “the call” when you’re going to be late coming home. Jerry bonds with Letterman over having a son and the universal smell of hardware stores. It’s that kind of show.

Since Seinfeld voluntarily ended its run, the comedian himself has come to seem somewhat irrelevant, at times. His syndication deal means the old show will continue to live forever on television, and Seinfeld probably doesn’t need to ever work again. So he’s gone back to basics: doing standup comedy here and there, popping up on Louis, sitting down on Late Night with Dave Letterman. Networking with other comics, mostly. So something like Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is kind of a refreshing curveball: it’s low and outside, but still connects.

Jerry Seinfeld doesn’t own all the cars featured on the show, but he probably could afford to. And that’s another aspect of watching Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: you realize that Seinfeld and his pals have reached the pinnacle of comedy: they’re all bloody rich, and hanging out like this, in scruffy beard (like Letterman) or ordinary black V-neck (like Gervais) is partly to show how ordinary and regular they can be. On the other hand, no one has made as much off TV comedy as Seinfeld, with his syndication deal (Seinfeld reruns will continue to feed his children, his children’s children, and their children’s children). He doesn’t need to do a show as low-key and under the radar as Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

And that, perhaps, is the genius of why it works. It’s not about anything in particular; we learn that Jerry likes his coffee with cream and sugar, others prefer it black; we learn a little about his automotive preferences; but not much else in the way of plot threads. Like Seinfeld, it’s a show ostensibly about nothing. And with the pressure off, the comedian seems to relax a little behind the wheel.

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Visit http://comediansincarsgettingcoffee.com to watch episodes.