Jerry Seinfeld never needs to do anything else. He made Seinfeld. He’s good. And to be fair, he’s basically never attempted a proper Seinfeld follow-up. Instead he does small things. He still does stand-up. He’ll do fun, lightweight shows, like Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. He’s done one big movie, 2007’s Bee Movie, but that’s it. And now, 15 years later, he’s finally about to make another film. And it’s about pastry.
According to Deadline, the legendary performer has signed with Netflix to star in Unfrosted, which he co-wrote and will direct as well as produce. What is Unfrosted? It’s about the creation of the Pop-Tart, the sugary toaster favorite first introduced by the Kellogg Company in 1964. Is there even a thrilling (or at least funny) story there? Apparently, or Jerry Seinfeld wouldn’t have convinced the streaming giant to fund it.
A couple of things, though. One: Seinfeld, as proven by the show that bears his name, is a master of making the mundane hilarious. If he can milk a half-hour of first-rate comedy about people waiting for a table at a Chinese restaurant, surely he can make gold out of those calorie breakfast bombs kids eat before they learn the joys of dry multigrain toast. (Besides, there’s already Eva Longoria’s forthcoming Flamin’ Hot Cheetos movie, so foodstuff origin stories are clearly having a moment.)
Two: Seinfeld already turned Pop-Tarts into a bit in his 2020 Netflix stand-up special 23 Hours to Kill. This is an expansion on that, and one that was borne out of his experiences waiting out the pandemic. “Stuck at home watching endless sad faces on TV, I thought this would be a good time to make something based on pure silliness,” Seinfeld told Deadline. “So we took my Pop-Tart stand-up bit from my last Netflix special and exploded it into a giant, crazy comedy movie.”
The story goes that William Shakespeare wrote King Lear while quarantining during a plague. Many artists made their own King Lears during our era’s own pandemic, and for Jerry Seinfeld, his King Lear is about Pop-Tarts.
In the meantime, you can watch Seinfeld break down his Pop-Tart stand-up bit for The New York Times in the video below.
(Via Deadline)
