Jerry Seinfeld - Australian Stand Up Tour

[Booney]

The master of observational comedy will perform Down Under for the first time in almost 20 years next August. But don't expect any cracks at Melbourne's expense.

Comedy legend Jerry Seinfeld will tour Australia next year for his first stand-up shows in this country since 1998.

"Australia may be far in miles but I feel very close to the people because of our mutual comedy connection," the 62-year-old New Yorker said in a statement issued through the tour's promoter, TEG Dainty. "I couldn't be more excited about seeing everyone there again."

Seinfeld, who currently presents the web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, has been performing live comedy since 1976, but became an international superstar with the success of his eponymous TV series, co-created with Larry David in 1989.

The show ran for nine seasons before a burnt-out Seinfeld called it quits, turning down an offer of $5 million a show for one more season. The finale aired in May 1998 to an audience of 76 million viewers in the US, with 30-second advertising slots selling for $1 million apiece.

The following month, and reportedly in part to escape media attention, Seinfeld flew to Australia for stand-up shows in Sydney and Melbourne.

While here, he inadvertently sparked a minor furore with a geographical joke that suggested if the planet were a body, Melbourne would be its anus.

It wasn't the first bum rap Australia had had from the man frequently referred to as "the comedians' comedian". In one Seinfeld episode, Jerry and Kramer (Michael Richards) had an exchange about petty criminals, in which Kramer suggested they should be sent to Australia.

"Australia?" asked a dumbfounded Jerry.

"That's where England used to send their convicts," said Kramer.

"But not any more."

"No."

Awkward pause.

Since then, we've fared better, with Seinfeld calling Australia his "comedy home away from home" during a 2007 promotional tour for his animated Bee Movie. "If I was ever deported or exiled," he added, "this is where I would have to live".

Speaking to Andrew Denton on Enough Rope the same year, he said "all comedians that I know love Australia because of the humour in the culture … the people are funny and like to have fun and their laughter is always very near the surface".

In 2009, Seinfeld shot a TV commercial for the Greater Bank, which services northern NSW and south-east Queensland. "We don't think about money too much these days," he told the Newcastle Herald, explaining why he'd agreed to do the spot. "I like to do things because they feel right."

It appears the same is true of this upcoming tour.

"People always ask me the stupid question, 'you don't have to work'," Seinfeld recently told Fairfax's Andrew Purcell in New York for a story to appear in this Saturday's Spectrum. "I don't care about work: I care about laughing."

Jerry Seinfeld will play Perth Arena on August 4, 2017; Adelaide Entertainment Centre August 5, HiSense Arena Melbourne August 6, Brisbane Entertainment Centre August 9 and ICC Sydney Theatre August 11. Telstra thanks tickets on sale midday November 8. General tickets on sale November 14 via www.ticketek.com.au

[Footy Chick]

Whaddya reckon tickets will be worth? I'd be tipping close to $200

[Booney]

Whaddya reckon tickets will be worth? I'd be tipping close to $200

Agreed, $150+ I'd say.

[Booney]

Looks like the ticketing for this couldn't be more of a fiasco if they tried.

Adelaide ticket sales are exhausted, however, on Ebay and other sites there are vendors selling tickets up to 5 times the face value and one vendor on EBay has around 60 tickets for sale to the Adelaide event, starting at $299 for seats that were $155 through Ticketek.

[Mic]

I tried less than 5 minutes after tickets were on sale. Not one ticket was available.