Jerry Seinfeld Goes on Record
Jerry Seinfeld, King of All Media? It sure looks that way. Already
in 1998 thefunnyman has signed off his sitcom, one of the most
successful shows in TVhistory. Then, in a nano-second, he sold out
ten dates on Broadway where he’lldo his stand-up act. Along the way
he banged out a reported $10 million dealwith Home Box Office to
broadcast one of those ten nights live. But thatwasn’t enough for
Seinfeld … the Nineties smart aleck wants it all. That’swhy he’s
just signed a deal with Universal Records to put out the first
stand-up album of his superstar career.
Like Seinfeld’s upcoming August 9th HBO special, the album will be
dubbedI’m Telling You For the Last Time and is tentatively
scheduled forrelease on September 8th. Oddly enough, even though
HBO is part of the TimeWarner entertainment family, it was
Universal, not Warner Bros., that scoopedup the sure-fire record.
According to a Universal source, HBO operatesrelatively independent
from its parent company, and that’s why Time Warnermissed out on
the synergy opportunity.
Following a chart lull in stand-up hits, the Nineties have seen a
handful ofbig comedy sellers. Country comedian Jeff Foxworthy’s
Games RednecksPlay has sold nearly two million copies,
according to SoundScan, whileAdam Sandler’s’ What the Hell
Happened To Me has sold 1.4 million.Chris Rock’s Roll With
the New, which was also based on an HBO special,has sold
206,000 copies to date. Seinfeld will almost certainly join that
listof hits. Retailers are so excited about the album they’ve
already placedorders for more than a million copies.