Jerry Seinfeld

Jerry Seinfeld Returns to the Stage at Comedy Club Reopening: ‘I Just Felt So at Home'

The 66-year-old actor and comedian was the headliner at Gotham Comedy Club's reopening show in New York on Friday night

In this July 17, 2019, file photo, Jerry Seinfeld attends the LA Tastemaker event for Comedians in Cars at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills City.
Emma McIntyre | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Jerry Seinfeld isn't going to let a global pandemic ruin the city he loves.

The 66-year-old comedy icon was the first on stage at the Gotham Comedy Club for its reopening show on Friday night. The venue, which was allowed to reopen with limited capacity, is a well-known hotspot for laughs in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. According to Deadline, the performance was sold out.

After his set, Seinfeld spoke with reporters outside, opening up about his experience returning to the stage.

"It felt like getting electrocuted in a good way,” he recalled, according to the New York Post. “The audience was great, and I was actually feeling like: can I still do this? You wonder if you remember. It’s like not playing tennis for a year.

“And so, as soon as I got up, the audience exploded and I just felt so at home,” he continued. “And I love this club — I love performing in New York. I didn’t want to get emotional but I’m really excited to be helping to bring it back."

In video captured by TMZ, Seinfeld was also asked about his family's health amid the coronavirus pandemic. "We're all good, everyone's good," he replied.

"New York is going to come back. I've been in L.A., I've been in Florida," the "Seinfeld" alum added. "There's a lot of great places in this country but no place feels like this place. And, people who think they will get used to not living here ... real New Yorkers will realize it doesn't work. Only New York is New York."

Last August, Seinfeld went viral after penning an op-ed for the New York Times about the Big Apple. In this column, the "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" star responded to people who said the city would never return from the economic devastation brought on by the pandemic.

"Real, live, inspiring human energy exists when we coagulate together in crazy places like New York City," he wrote. "Feeling sorry for yourself because you can’t go to the theater for a while is not the essential element of character that made New York the brilliant diamond of activity it will one day be again."

He concluded, "We’re going to keep going with New York City if that’s all right with you. And it will sure as hell be back. Because of all the real, tough New Yorkers who, unlike you, loved it and understood it, stayed and rebuilt it.

"See you at the club."

The comedy great certainly kept his word!

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