Mets fan Jerry Seinfeld in the SNY booth at Citi Field, on “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee,” Keith Hernandez’s “Seinfeld” episode and more

Louis C.K. will be on Jerry Seinfeld’s third season of “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee,” even though they spent the day Tuesday on C.K.’s boat, and Seinfeld doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with that — or with the fact that he’s devoting time to yet another white male comedian.

Seinfeld made light of that, joking that his perceived political incorrectness might prompt people to make him do “Al Sharpton’s show,” during a stint on live TV Tuesday night on SNY.

Seinfeld, a lifelong New York Mets fan before he ever was a stand-up comedian, joined the SNY broadcast team in their Citi Field booth before and during Tuesday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants. Seinfeld joined play-by-play man Gary Cohen and former Mets Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling from the second through fifth innings (full disclosure: I also happened to attend this ballgame, and my goofy head appeared on the JumboTron during the seventh-inning stretch). Although Seinfeld didn’t mention The Comic’s Comic, he did talk aplenty about his love for the Mets, why Citi Field beats Yankee Stadium, his webseries “Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee” and political correctness, and his early classic episodes of Seinfeld from 20 years ago that featured Hernandez as himself.

“Gary, Keith and Ron, this is one of the most exciting moments of my life,” Seinfeld joked as they welcomed him to the booth. “If only that were true.”

If you’d like to watch video highlights of Seinfeld’s time broadcasting the Mets-Giants game, Major League Baseball has made that possible. Roll the clip.

Seinfeld took to self-deprecation early, identifying as a true Mets fan, wondering aloud: “One home run beats us. Is that where we’re at now? Geez.” He said he watches the Mets “every night” in person or on TV, replying to Hernandez’s query: “Keith, you know, unlike you, who’s in it for the money and the fame and the glory, I love baseball! And this is baseball. And this is my team. I’ll sit there, it’s 5-nothing. I know we’re not going to win. I don’t care.”

He already has passed Mets fandom down to his three children, too. “Oh, yeah, big Met fans. We come to watch the games. They wear the gear. My son, Julian, very fine baseball player, playing short and second on the Little League team now.” But you won’t see Seinfeld coaching Little League. “No, I don’t coach,” he said. “I couldn’t. I wouldn’t know what to do.”

Seinfeld also joked about the old car that brought relief pitchers from the bullpen, about the proliferation of advertising for every “moment” and how that compares to the old days, the current Mets who have two players — Travis d’Arnaud and Matt den Dekker — with a lowercase d in their surname, Josh Satin’s eyebrows, and how players wear protective pads on their elbows and legs, but not typically on their feet despite fouling balls off there.

Eventually the discussion turned away from baseball to comedy, and the 1992 episodes of Seinfeld that featured Hernandez as himself, dating Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).

“I really can remember that like it was yesterday, Keith,” Seinfeld said. “You and her in that car, and you having to do that make-out scene.”

Hernandez replied: “Eight takes!” “I remember it well. I felt like Maurice Chevalier.”

Seinfeld: “I really was so excited when you walked out on that set…but you know, we weren’t a hit show at that time.”

Hernandez: “I understand.”

Seinfeld: “It was ’93. The show didn’t really take off until ’94, and that was the biggest thrill that we had had up to that time. Keith Hernandez came by.”

Later during the ballgame, Seinfeld was surprised to hear that ballplayers today might show up as early as noon for a night game. Hernandez asked if comedians arrive that early at comedy clubs.

“It’s different when you’re young and you’re single. For me, I just go for the stage and go home,” Seinfeld said.

Do you still do dates in clubs, Cohen asked? “I don’t do dates, but I’ll just drop in at certain places and try out a joke here and there. I like to go to Gotham on 23rd Street. That’s my favorite club in New York.”

Seinfeld also plugged his current project, Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. And by current, I mean and he means current.

“Yeah, I did one today with Louis C.K.” Seinfeld said on Tuesday. “We went out on his boat…We had a car and a boat.”

Pressed on a next project post-Seinfeld, he said, “I’m really obsessed with this Comedians In Cars thing, because it’s the Internet. And I’m kinda breaking in something new here, in terms of people sitting and watching a program made for their phone, on their phone. And you get all this data now that you can see exactly what people are doing. It’s been fun. People seem to like it. And so I’m enjoying playing with their attention span in this weird medium, you know? It’s a new game. I can’t play the old game. I’ve got to play a new game.”

The broadcast team felt the new game includes political correctness.

“Not (for) me,” Seinfeld said. “But I see it affect other people. For example, the first season I did of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, I just asked comedians I liked, which happen to be white men. Most comedians are male. Most of my friends are white. I have a few black friends. Most of them are white. It’s just the way the country breaks down. And there was such a thing about, ‘Where are the women? Where are the women?’ All of a sudden, they get, people get very upset. It’s like, that I don’t have the exact demographic breakdown of the population at-large in my group of friends. That’s political correctness run amok. Who cares?”

Later, Seinfeld joked about confusing Giants players Angel Pagan with Brandon Crawford because of similar beards, and that someone might accuse him of being racist for that. After a crack on Mets player Josh Satin’s eyebrows, Seinfeld called back that line: “Was that racist? Do I have to go on Al Sharpton’s show?”

You’d be more likely to see Seinfeld on Alec Baldwin’s new MSNBC talk show, though, don’t you think?

You’ll definitely more likely see Seinfeld at Citi Field than at Yankee Stadium. Even if Citi Field isn’t the same as Shea Stadium.

“I have an affinity for old Shea but I prefer this stadium,” Seinfeld said. “It’s fantastic. We were just talking as we were coming in, let’s be honest: Yankee Stadium is impressive. This is a much better place to come to a ballgame. Even Yankee fans will admit it. So, that’s another one for us.”

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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