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Jerry Seinfeld enjoyed Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s sick burn on Letterman’s final show

Julia Louis-Dreyfus can dish out an insult, and Jerry Seinfeld can take it.

Photo of Josh Katzowitz

Josh Katzowitz

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The best joke from David Letterman‘s final Top Ten list had to be Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ perfect slam on her former co-worker, Jerry Seinfeld. It wasn’t one of the two Top Ten jokes written by a 22-year-old intern, but it was just about perfect nonetheless.

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Now, we have the explanation from Seinfeld himself on how the joke was born and given its extraordinary life. First, the gag.

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And then what made the joke truly great: Seinfeld’s reaction to the slam.

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Here’s how it all came together, via Seinfeld at this weekend’s Vulture Festival

“I like all jokes. There’s really nothing else I care about except jokes, I don’t care who has them, whose feelings have to be hurt — if it’s a good joke I’m into it. And we actually fought hard for that particular joke; the writers had a different joke that Julia and I did not like and she came to me and she said, ‘I don’t know if this joke works,’ and I read the joke and I go, ‘No, that’s a bad joke.’ She had flown from L.A. to New York just to do the one line — we were really excited to be on that show. It was a really cool experience to be on Dave’s last show and I didn’t want her to go out there and tank. I’ve been at this awhile; you don’t always know 100 percent, but in this case I knew this is a loser, and so we went to the writers and it was quite a long negotiation and then they came up with this other line, which was sensational. I wonder actually now, I was thinking, Did they have that, or did they write that? Maybe they didn’t want to hurt my feelings. That’s what it may have been: that they had that joke and they didn’t want to hurt my feelings and then, of course, they don’t know I don’t have feelings.”

Personally, I never understood the hate for Seinfeld’s series finale. I thought it was funny and well-done and I enjoyed seeing all the past characters come back to slam the four main characters.

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But it’s deemed by the masses as a colossal failure, enough so that it still bothers co-creator Larry David.

At least Seinfeld can laugh about it 17 years later, even if he has to take a great burn from his former co-star.

H/T Vulture | Screengrab via Late Show with David Letterman/YouTube

 
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