Seinfeld's 'J. Peterman' scorns woke culture for ruining comedy: 'We've lost our ability to be silly'

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While his loquacious J. Peterman retail-catalog-magnate character on NBC's "Seinfeld" was known for lighthearted but occasionally off-color jokes in the 1990s, actor John O'Hurley told Fox News this week that he understands where his former showrunner was coming from when he lamented the effects of wokeness on comedy.

In a recent interview, "Seinfeld" star and co-creator Jerry Seinfeld said it has become difficult to find funny television shows, calling it "the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people."

O'Hurley told Fox News he feels similarly, saying today's comedy is all about criticism and mockery instead of true humor. He alluded to some of "Seinfeld's" most memorable episodes, which are often such because they pushed the envelope the proverbial "woke" crowd might complain about today.

O'Hurley pointed to the 1998 episode "The Puerto Rican Day," which is premised in-part on Michael Richards' "Kramer" accidentally setting a Puerto Rican flag on fire — and then stomping on it to try to extinguish the blaze — while New York City is holding its parade, which leads to Jerry's unattended car being overtaken by a mob of angry revelers.

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John O'Hurley as J. Peterman, Keith Hernandez as himself, Wayne Knight as Newman and Patrick Warburton as David Puddy in the 1998 'Seinfeld' finale ((Joseph Del Valle/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images))

"'The Puerto Rican Flag Day'… I was in that actually, I don't remember what I did — but I do remember that never showing up again," he said.

At the time, then-Bronx Democratic Borough President Fernando Ferrer said the episode "crossed the line" into bigotry, and criticism led NBC brass to apologize for the episode. O'Hurley told "Jesse Watters Primetime" it initially did not appear in syndication.

O'Hurley also reacted to a clip of "J. Peterman" offering a "toast" at a gala during 1998's "The Bookstore" in which he invoked a phrase made up of obstruents he claimed to be the Papua New Guineans' native language.

Host Jesse Watters quipped that such humor is controversial today, alluding to President Biden being ridiculed for appearing to suggest his "Uncle Bosie" was consumed by cannibals there after his plane was shot down during World War II.

"Well, somebody can [make those jokes], but they have to have been real," said O'Hurley, who has also hosted "Family Feud" and been the voice of Philadelphia's "BEN-FM" variety hits radio station.

Watters added that many of the other gags in "Seinfeld" would be taboo today, including when Kramer and Wayne Knight's Newman enlisted homeless men to operate a rickshaw-for-hire.

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SEINFELD -- "The Bookstore" Episode 17 -- Pictured: (l-r) John O'Hurley as J. Peterman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Elaine Benes (Photo by Joey Delvalle/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images) (Joey Delvalle/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

Another early episode, "The Contest," focused on the four main characters competing to see who could go the longest without being sexually active, while making no explicit references to such behavior.

"The Outing" from 1993 featured Jerry and Jason Alexander's George being wrongly identified by a news reporter as being a gay couple. The two characters do not want to be seen as a couple, but also do not want to appear homophobic, leading to the famous tagline from the episode, "Not that there's anything wrong with that."

The episode, however, ended up winning a media award from GLAAD — the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

O'Hurley said it seems the country has "lost our ability to be silly."

"That's a sad thing when you think about it."

As for Seinfeld's comments about wokeness and comedy, O'Hurley said his former co-star is likely the most "accessible" comedian in terms of his bits.

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"There wasn't a cleaner comic in the business in the last 50 years of our laughs, and for him to say that — and he said this about 10 years ago, when he said, 'I no longer am doing college campuses.' He says they're they're mean-spirited," O'Hurley said.

The actor said he continues that tradition of accessible humor by making his one-man show primarily one of self-deprecation.

"Historically, ethnic groups would be searching to be included in the comic repertoire of our culture," he said. "And now — no, no, no — we can't. And it's not that they don't want it, it's that there's a select group of those who know better who feel as though they should be deprived of it," he said.

"Our comedy is no longer silly. It's not about that. It's mocking and it's sarcasm, and that's not comedy," he said.

In response, Watters quipped, "We have to Make America Silly Again."

Charles Creitz is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.

Charles covers media, politics and culture for Fox News Digital.

Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.

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