WATCH: That Time Seth Rogen Had to Follow Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedy Set
Image by Getty
By Thea Glassman August 9, 2016
Poor, poor teenage Seth Rogen. The actor revealed on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” that as a young comic he once had to be Jerry Seinfeld’s follow up act.
The then 14-year-old Rogen had flown out to Los Angeles to audition for Montreal’s “Just For Laughs” Festival, and was told right before his set that Seinfeld would be arriving shortly.
“They were like, he’s coming and if he gets here before your time, he’s going to go up and then you’ll go up.” Rogen said, laughing. “I was like, ‘No man. Tell him no.’”
The actor recalled Seinfeld pulling up in a porsche (“His Jewish parents should be ashamed.” Rogen quipped) and proceeded to kill his set.
“He talks about missing socks, what’s the deal with airplane food, it’s the hits.” Rogen said. “The whole time I’m just standing there like, ‘I hate you Jerry Seinfeld.’”
What followed was what Rogen deemed the most comedically traumatizing experience of his entire life.
“Never has a roomful of people been so silent.” he recalled. “To this day, I personally dislike Jerry Seinfeld.”
Thea Glassman is the Forward’s multimedia fellow. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @theakglassman
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
