{"id":176194,"date":"2018-08-11T03:59:38","date_gmt":"2018-08-11T07:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=176194"},"modified":"2018-08-11T03:59:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T07:59:38","slug":"jerry-seinfelds-comedians-cars-take-road-trip-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/08\/11\/jerry-seinfelds-comedians-cars-take-road-trip-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Jerry Seinfeld’s ‘Comedians in Cars’ should take a road trip to Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
There’s your reason to come north, Jerry Seinfeld. (File Photo<\/a>: Jerry Seinfeld\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 Dear Jerry Seinfeld,<\/p>\n

Your series \u201cComedians in Cars Getting Coffee,\u201d where you pick up other comedians and drive them in cool, vintage automobiles to coffee bars across America, used to be considered by some the best 15 minutes on television.<\/p>\n

You’ve taken all of us along for the ride, allowing viewers in on conversations with David Letterman, Tina Fey, Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Mel Brooks and Steve Martin. It was fun watching you unite with your former \u201cSeinfeld\u201d pals, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The vintage Mercedes, Jaguars, Porsches and even one AMC Pacer were all sweet rides. Your outing with the late, great comedy innovator Garry Shandling reminded those watching about the importance of friendship.<\/p>\n

The 10th season, which started streaming in July on Netflix, also boasts big names. The episode in Las Vegas with your comedy hero Jerry Lewis was sweet and poignant, especially since it was the 91-year-old comedy legend’s last television appearance. You graciously allowed Zach Galifianakis to trick you into appearing on his savage little showbiz satire \u201cBetween Two Ferns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other episodes, however, seemed to stall and run out of gas. \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d headliner Kate McKinnon should have been more fun. John Mulaney’s side trip to buy a rug just didn’t cut it. The episode featuring Ellen DeGeneres made you seem especially unfeeling, particularly when talk turned to today’s volatile times.<\/p>\n

After 10 seasons and 72 episodes, perhaps a little high-performance additive might help. So, here’s a friendly suggestion: take a road trip. Come to Canada.<\/p>\n

You’ve featured Canadians on the show before. You went to Jim Carrey’s private art space and huddled with the most powerful Canuck on American television, \u201cSNL\u201d icon Lorne Michaels.<\/p>\n

Neither of those visits, however, truly tested a vintage defroster or a heating system. Cross the border during winter months and set out for a double-double at Timmies.<\/p>\n

You haven’t truly gripped the road until you’ve ridden with the Trailer Park Boys. Try your luck behind the wheel of their infamous, beyond-beat-up 1975 Chrysler New Yorker.<\/p>\n

You’ll have plenty to talk about with \u201cTrailer\u201d stars John Paul Tremblay and Robb Wells, both of whom have collected classic cars.<\/p>\n

Or, just as you did one episode with then-U.S. president Barrack Obama, come visit our Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. You can ride in his dad Pierre’s classic, silver, 1960 Mercedes-Benz 300SL convertible.<\/p>\n

As for our comedians, Canada’s road warrior, Ron James, has his ride all picked out.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad drove a 1969 Plymouth Fury 2
\nDetroit-built-gas-guzzling-land-boat,\u201d says James. \u201cJust a
\nBismarck of the highway! Every time he filled up the gas tank, Saudi
\nArabia dropped three feet!\u201d<\/p>\n

James, a fan of Seinfeld’s 2002 documentary \u201cComedian,\u201d would love to trade war stories, including \u201csome of my hellish drives across the Rockies in blizzards a Yeti wouldn’t wander,\u201d and \u201cthe importance of knowing this career is a calling and not a means to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the coffee shop, James knows \u201can excellent funky spot\u201d near his summer home in Nova Scotia called The LaHave Bakery. His second choice, near his condo in Toronto, is Rooster Coffee House. \u201cThey have a super-charged coffee that will get you speaking in Biblical tongues of the prophets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brent Butt, busy working on a second season of \u201cCorner Gas Animated,\u201d was asked about \u201cComedians in Cars\u201d last month at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. The Saskatchewan native says he gets a similar charge talking comedy with fellow comedians on his \u201cButtPod\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n

Where \u201cComedians in Cars\u201d strays off the road, for him, however, is when the show veers past true club-comedians and gives rides to wealthy TV stars. That’s when it turns into, as Butt’s American colleague Dave Attell calls it, \u201cMillionaires in Cars Wearing Seatbelts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d do it just to sit down and talk to Jerry Seinfeld,\u201d says \u201cLetterkenny\u201d comedian K. Trevor Wilson, who suggests there would be a unique perspective that comes with crafting one’s career in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s not opportunity around every corner for a Canadian comedian,\u201d says Wilson, also a headliner this summer at Just for Laughs. \u201cYou really do this because you love it, because you’re going to spend most of your career playing the middle of nowhere for okay money in the middle of winter.\u201d<\/p>\n

So why do it, Wilson was asked. \u201cBecause you want to do it, because you love it; because you love making people laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

There’s your reason to come north, Jerry Seinfeld.<\/p>\n

We’ll provide the coffee, the cars and the comedians. Russell Peters and Rick Mercer, Mark Critch and Shaun Majumder, or legends such as Eugene Levy and Mary Walsh are ready to show you a good time. Do it for the laughs, Jerry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Dear Jerry Seinfeld, Your series \u201cComedians in Cars Getting Coffee,\u201d where you pick up other comedians and drive …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":176195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-bill-brioux","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}