Early Seinfeld Comedy and Writer Ed Solomon join Chris Hobbs for a Night of Comedy

On this episode of Standup Comedy “Your Host & MC”, we feature the multi-talented Ed Solomon—writer of many hit movies, and Jerry Seinfeld from the  iconic TV show Seinfeld—alongside comedian Chris Hobbs for a fun and engaging comedy showcase.

Ed Solomon brings a unique perspective from both the writing room and the stage, sharing his creative journey through television, music, and comedy. Paired with the sharp and entertaining Chris Hobbs, this episode delivers a great mix of humor, storytelling, and behind-the-scenes insight into the world of stand-up and television comedy.

The comedy material from a young Jerry Seinfeld really shows how even in the beginning he had great relatable material.

If you enjoy comedy with depth, creativity, and a touch of TV history, this is an episode you won’t want to miss!

Hosted by: R. Scott Edwards

Transcript

Announcer 0:04

This is another episode of Stand Up Comedy, your host and MC, celebrating 40 plus years on the fringe of show business. Stories, interviews, and comedy sets from the famous and not so famous. Here's your host and MC, Scott Edwards.

Scott Edwards 0:22

Hi, thanks for joining this week's show. I've put together another great series of comedy entertainers coming up to you as opening act, feature act, and headliner, much like you would experience at a professional comedy club. This show is going to feature headliner Jerry Seinfeld, who you've all heard of, who is a regular at my club, Laughs Unlimited. The featured act is Ed Solomon, very special guy. I'll tell you more about him later. And our first act for this week's show features a very talented young comic who used to hang around the club a lot back in the 80s. He uh started in Sacramento, ended up working out of San Francisco a lot, and now is a very talented musician out of Los Angeles, California. We really liked him as a great guy and a very funny guy. Please enjoy the set from Chris Hobbs.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Please, a nice big round of applause. Our first entertainer this afternoon with one of the House MCs with Lance Unlimited in Old Sacramento. A local favorite. A big round of applause, Mr. Chris Hobbs, right here at Christmas.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

You look like a good group. You do. But I noticed there's a lot of studs that I look around and you're seeing the guys with their shirts on. I see you guys. I mean, I mean, it looks good and everything. It's just I can't do it myself. Like, it's not that I'm fat. It's just that I've got like this really skinny body and then like the belly, you know. And when I try to cover up, you may have seen me earlier. I was a guy wearing like a speedo and a cumber bun. Yeah. I know he looks like a good guy. I'm not I mean anyone from downtown for the downtown area. Anyone from downtown area? I have to admit it's kind of scary uh because there's a lot of gangs and stuff, and uh I have to tell you, I'm afraid of gangs. I am. I'm afraid of the uh the Crips gang, and I'm afraid of the Blessed gang. You know, but then again, I'm even afraid of the Roseville gang, so I've always been afraid of stuff my entire life. I can remember being 16 years old trying to get into an R-rated movie, and my heart would just be pumping like this, you know. And I turned 20, and I was trying to buy beer, and I was just really freaking out. I mean, what's gonna happen when I'm only 59? I'm trying to get that senior citizen special at Denny's, you know. A lot of people say the reason I'm like this is because of the fact that, well, I was kind of raised in an overprotective environment. Well, I was raised by old people. Um not like a whole village of old people, just like two. And it was really boring, especially when my grandma's friends would come over. Because every time my grandma's friends come over, it's like the same conversation every time. You know, it's like, my Chris, are you grown? Boy, you're handsome. I tell you, if I was 30 years younger. They're always so honest and sincere. I feel like I'd have to be honest and sincere back. It's kind of like, gee, Mabel, you sure have kind of shriveled up. But you're still really pretty, I tell you. If I was about a hundred years older, my grandma's a sweetheart. She related to the fact last week was her birthday. I saved all the money I made in comedy so far, and I got her a blue velour shirt. She was so excited that she walked around the house all day going, Dark blue! Light blue! I got so excited, I like ran up to her hair and went, dark blue, light blue, dark blue. My grandma is a Sware, she's originally from Germany, and then why she traveled. I mean, she's originally Germany people over to America, because it's kind of an interesting story. But if you know any older German people, I know there's some older people. Is there any older German people here? Don't be afraid. No, the thing about older German people, they all have this strong German attitude. They think they know everything. My grandma, 70-year-old German, like she even thinks she knows about baseball? She knows nothing about baseball. I can hear her last weekend, and we'll listen to the baseball game in the room. Once I hear is and like ten seconds later. It's like, grandpa, you better go in there and explain instant replay again. Anyway, you guys like music? I brought a guitar. Would you like to hear a song? Scott Edwards, he handed me my guitar. I think that's a beautiful thing. How about a big round of applause for Mr. Scott Edwards? Just get it out of your system right now, all those John Denver comparisons. Just get it out of your system right now. This is a little song I wrote, and I hope you enjoy it. It's uh I wanted to write a song that was meaningful, something that meant a lot to me, and hopefully to you. It's a song I wrote, and I call it the Carl's Jr. song.

SPEAKER_05 5:21

When I was a teen hung out at the skating ring, I'm a mummy.

SPEAKER_06 5:34

What will I be? You're gonna be a cost junior booty slipper. I have your brown shoes. I even make a bed, you're gonna wear a head and always be a look. Just don't stop acting like you can do anything. You can do anything when you can't even get a job at Burger, Burger, Burger, Burger King. Thanks on I've been Chris.

SPEAKER_03 6:20

Enjoy the rest of the show. I even done Mr. Chris Hum. Oh my hands Dr. Tomato, let's do it.

Scott Edwards 6:34

Well, I hope you enjoyed that set from Chris. He was a very funny guy and did a lot of work for us as both an MC and an opening act, and uh he's moved on and is doing music now in Southern California, but it was great to uh be able to showcase his comedy from back in the eighties. We have a very special featured act for you on this week's show. Originally from Los Angeles, he now lives in Laguna Beach, same general area, is a very talented young writer. Back in the eighties, he was also doing some stand-up comedy. And what's interesting is I would talk to him several times after the show and compliment him on his quality writing, but he was struggling with the performance. And I actually suggested to him, not that it had any bearing on his future, that he was a really good writer and maybe focused that way. Well, I'm sure I had nothing to do with it, but this gentleman did continue writing and has written such movies as Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. He was the writer for Men in Black. He also did a lot of the writing on Charlie's Angels, and in the late 80s was a regular head writer for the Gary Shanling show. Ladies and gentlemen, I think you'll enjoy hearing his comedy. Ed Solomon.

SPEAKER_02 7:53

Anyone get trivial pursuit? Oh, there's a good there's a good game. Like how come it's like every question you get is like uh like geography. What is the exact latitude and longitude of Bengal? And then like your opponent always gets questions like geography. What planet are we on? Oh man. Did everyone have Christmas dinner at home and all that stuff? Anyone have the same thing as like Thanksgiving dinner at home? It's always the same thing. Now, is it is it just me? I don't think so. I'm 24 now. When I go home for like Thanksgiving dinner and stuff, they still stick me at the kitty table. Do you know what I'm talking about? It's like the aluminum card table. Throw a sheet over it, like you put your elbow on it, everything like slides down to what and every year they tell you when you grow up, you move up from the kitty table to the adult table. When you grow up, yeah, that's bullshit. Okay. Let's face it, folks. The only way you move up from the kitty table to the adult table is if someone at the adult table dies. Dad but true. I'm sitting there going, Grandpa, boo! And my mom's there, my mom's drinking, like my you know people like this? Like she won't drink from the same glass someone else uses. But like she will French kiss the dog. Like, it's like I'd say, right, mom, while the dog was in the house using the water pick, okay. I I was outside eating dog shit, okay? So uh so we're at the table, we're at the dinner table, right? And and it like when I was a kid, it was like the the adults would drink like wine and champagne, and they'd give the kids sparkling cider. Did you ever hear sparkling cider? Like, this is supposed to think we're really drinking wine, right? Have like four or five glasses to go out and drive our big wheel off a cliff or something. Does anyone uh who drinks and drives here? Anyone? You do drinking and driving is a problem. Oh, I mean it's not a problem if you're drunk, because like if you're drunk, hell, you know you can drive. The problem comes with the person who has to basically convince you that you're too drunk to drive. You always end up with something like uh Dave. Dave, you're a little messed up right now. Maybe I should drive you home. Dave says, No, no, I'm fine, I'm fine. Just let me adjust the seat. Uh Dave, you're sitting on the fucking hood of the car right now. Uh I actually have a solution for the drunk driving problem that would eradicate it 100% from the freeway. And I don't know why they have an instigate iet. Why don't we simply do this? Why don't we simply put on the freeway a drunk lane? You know. Thank you. Sort of a padded lane, sort of shaped like this. Cars just kind of I'm gonna read you an honest to God question from the California driver's test, and I want you to tell me if you think this is not possibly one of the most difficult things you've you've ever seen. Question number one honest question. What does this sign mean? No right turn. A no right turn. B deer crossing. C turn left into the oncoming traffic. I I miss this one. Um I put none of the above. I was like Some of these are incredible. Like what do you think? Okay. Number two, pedest uh no, all right, that's three. Pedest two. Driving under the influence of any drug which makes you drive unsafely is a fun. B okay on weekends. But watch out for those roadblocks. And of course, C, okay, but you must be willing to share it with everyone on the freeway. Yeah, okay. Uh how about this one? Number three, pedestrians using guide dogs are carrying white canes. A. Should be ignored, they're just trying to attract attention. B should be considered armed and extremely dangerous. And of course, C, are blind, drive by and yell, how many fingers am I holding up?

Scott Edwards 12:35

Well, Ed was a very funny guy. He uh may have been a little weak in the presentation part of the uh comedy set, but when it came to his writing, he was genius, as was proven by his many very successful movies coming in the late 80s and through the nineties, and continues today. He is still one of the most successful television and movie writers in Hollywood today. I hope you enjoyed his comedy. And now, coming up, our headliner, a gentleman that really doesn't need any introduction. He is world famous for his TV show, Seinfeld. That's right. Jerry Seinfeld was a regular at Laughs Unlimited for many years, and then he started his series in conjunction with Larry David. You may not know, but he was also the head writer and starred in the B movie, an animated piece that was really popular in the early 2000s. Now he's got a TV series on Netflix called Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. I've had a chance to see many of the episodes, and Jerry continues to be one of the funniest men in the universe. Before we get to his comedy set, I wanted to share a little background information on my relationship with Jerry. We met through a mutual friend, George Wallace. Jerry had just come out from New York and was doing small guest appearances on TV shows, talk shows, and was a semi-regular on the TV show Benson. He was always very funny, clean, easy to work with, and one of the best late-night comedy guys in the business. But what really impressed me about Jerry was that after the first season of the Seinfeld Chronicles, later known as Seinfeld, he was really starting to take off, but he had to cancel the gig because of production. It was very special because many acts cancel for bigger events and shows, but they don't usually do makeups, and especially when hitting it so big. But not Jerry Seinfeld. After he had a hiatus on the first season of The Seinfeld Chronicles, Jerry gave me a call and said he owed me a weekend, and he came up and worked a special three-day weekend. It was really exciting for the club, the audience, and I really appreciated the effort on his part. He's a stand-up guy in many ways. What's great about Jerry is he has a natural ability to see funny things in our normal life and point out what's exceptional about it and what makes it funny. Anyway, we hope you enjoyed that little piece of background. Now let's hear some great stand-up comedy from the star of this week's show, Jerry Seinfeld.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Thank you, thank you very much. Well, this is very exciting for me here in because I was just visiting my parents. They live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I just ran it here. I love my parents, I really do. I have a great time when I see them. I'll give you an idea of the kind of home I came from. In my house, in my mother's bathroom, on top of the toilet, there was an extra roll of toilet paper. And it had a little knit hat with a pom-pom on it. She didn't want people to see we had an extra roll of she didn't want them to see we had an extra hat. Of course, now I have my own apartment. My own toilet. I think you want those blue things. You also have to know about cleaning. You know, when I first moved into my problem when I didn't know anything about it. But I watched television, I got very heavy. Dirt, green, flood, grime, no problem now. But I'm not worried about it. Because grime always smells itself. You also have to know about apartment security. Locks and things. I'm not going to even get one of these locks that was called a police lock. Has anybody ever heard of this? It's like a uh it's a bar that actually braces in between the door and the floor of the apartment. And it's supposed to be like the best lock you can get. And it is very efficient. Because once the breaks into your apartment, this gives him something to beat you with. He's done sooner. You're home earlier. Everyone seems to think it's best. I tried plants. I couldn't really get it going with plants. Now, the best I could do is to get plants to die slowly. You know, I had a plant committed suicide on. Came home, I found him hanging from a macrame noose. Kicked out from underneath. He left me a little note, too. I hate you and your albums. But then when you go back to visit your parents, you have to readjust again. I had to buy pajamas. Pajamas are pretty funny clothes. Have you noticed how they style pajamas? They're very funny. They always make pajamas look like a tiny suit. They give you a little collar button down. Breast pocket. Now that is a useful item. Anybody using the breast pockets on your pajamas? You put a pen in there in the middle of the night, you kill yourself. The only problem I ever had with uh my mother, though, was she would she would disguise food on me when I was a kid, you know, to get me to eat things that she wants. Did you ever have this? I mean, it never works. Look, mom, I know it's lift. I don't know how you got it to look like Coco Puffs. You did some good work there, I'll give you that. But you didn't get past me. You've been very nice. Thank you. Good night.

Scott Edwards 18:46

Jerry uh always was and continues to be one of the funniest men on the planet, and I'm sure you're aware of all his many credits and successes over the last several decades. But not only was he the star and head writer for Seinfeld and is currently doing comedians in cars getting coffee, but he continues to do stand-up comedy around the country and the world. In fact, he's still doing regular stand-up sets in concerts from coast to coast each and every month. So keep an eye out. Maybe Jerry Seinfeld will be at a theater near you soon. Well, thanks for listening to this week's podcast. We hope you enjoyed these last three comics Chris Hobbs, Ed Solomon, and Jerry Seinfeld. Please share this podcast with your family and friends. Check out our website, WW StandUp, your host and mc dot com for more information, another podcast. Thanks again. Be sure to share and rate. We'll see you next week. Bye.

Announcer 19:50

We hope you enjoyed this episode of Stand Up Comedy, your host and MC. For information on the show, merchandise, and our sponsors, or to send comments to Scott, visit our website at www.standupyourhost and mc dot com. Look for more episodes soon and enjoy the world of stand up comedy. Visit a comedy showroom near you.