Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee


Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is an American web series talk show directed and hosted by comedian Jerry Seinfeld, distributed for the first nine seasons by digital network Crackle, then moving to Netflix for season ten. The series premiered on July 19, 2012.
Episodes feature Seinfeld introducing a vintage car selected for a guest comedian, followed by a drive to a pre-selected café or restaurant for coffee. Episodes diverge from the format spontaneously, as when Michael Richards implores Seinfeld to take a side street, when Seinfeld returns after coffee with Carl Reiner to join him for dinner with Mel Brooks—to when Seinfeld joins Louis C.K. on his boat or when car trouble arises. As of May 2015, the series has been streamed nearly 100 million times.
In January 2017, it was announced that Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee would migrate from Crackle to Netflix starting with the show's tenth season. In January 2018, most of the show's previous episodes became available on Netflix. The series' eleventh season premiered on July 19, 2019.

Production

Development

Seinfeld has stated that the roots of the concept traced to a DVD extra he made for his 2002 documentary Comedian along with a later trip he made after purchasing an old VW Beetle in New Mexico, subsequently filming the return trip to the east coast with a friend. Later, describing the birth of the series, Seinfeld said the series birth was "an experiment"—as "kind of a guess."
Prior to development of the series, Seinfeld was told by leading social network advisers, including those at Facebook and Yahoo, that a show length exceeding five minutes had little chance of success on the web. Howard Schultz, coffee magnate and Chairman of Starbucks, turned down the opportunity to sponsor the show. Acura eventually sponsored the show, giving Seinfeld creative license with creating the commercials and product placements.

Format

Episodes are estimated to cost roughly $100,000, with guests being paid in cash and the initial raw shoot lasting on average three-and-a-half hours, which is then edited over a two-week period down to a 12–20 minute episode. The process uses a lean production staff, involves a minimum of network interaction and is designed as an edited and unscripted talk show without an audience that can be comfortably watched on a smart phone.
The show's format around the car drive and "movement," specifically because "when attempting to show the meandering, silly and sometimes deep conversations that comedians share, you have to remove the audience to keep the participants from dropping into their acts," adding that "part of what makes the show watchable is that it's always moving. There's no narrative drive the story. We know what happens. We know they're going to get coffee. You need a kinetic energy to move it along, moving people around keeps them awake."
The format is similar to Robert Llewellyn's Carpool which ran for over 100 episodes between 2009 and 2011. In July 2019, Seinfeld apologized to Llewellyn for the similarity and for not being previously aware of his series.
Bob Einstein became the first repeat guest on the show, appearing in the first season and again in the ninth season. Two guests have had their appearances split into two episodes: Jimmy Fallon in the fifth season and Ricky Gervais in the eleventh season. Several episodes have featured multiple guests appearing together including: Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, Colin Quinn and Mario Joyner and Kathleen Madigan and Chuck Martin. Colleen Ballinger appeared in character as Miranda Sings as a guest on an episode and Jason Alexander reprised the role of George Costanza from Seinfeld for an episode.

Episodes

Season 1 (2012)

Season 2 (2013)

Season 3 (2014)

Season 4 (2014)

Season 5 (2014)

A serialized yet separate storyline started this season, featuring Michael Richards as Crackle President Dick Corcoran.
Joan Rivers had been asked by Seinfeld to be the fifth season's first guest, however, she postponed the appearance due to a scheduled medical procedure. Rivers died as a result of that procedure.

Season 6 (2015)

Season 7 (2015–16)

Season 8 (2016)

Season 9 (2017)

Season 10 (2018)

Season 11 (2019)

Reception

Brian Lowry of Variety said that the series is the kind of short-form concept that feels stretched, even at 18 minutes. David Hinckley of The New York Daily News gave the series 3 out of 5 stars. Mike Hale of The New York Times said: "The ... are presented in a clean, elegant template with a studiously casual pencil-drawn logo. And the filming and editing are, if you break them down, impressively complex and artful for a Web series."
The New York Timess Anand Giridharadas critiqued the show as being out of touch with the everyman and more of a showcase of Seinfeld's wealth. Giridharadas wrote: "The democracy of observational humor has become, in Mr. Seinfeld's reincarnation, an oligarchy of mutual admiration". Other publications have been more positive in their opinion. The New York Daily News wrote of the show's format and first three seasons that, "It all sounds random, which it is and trivial, which it is and isn’t. In the end, the fun is contagious." Newsday then graded season four of the series with an "A".
Among one of the show's highlights was the episode with then President Barack Obama. The episode begins with Seinfeld knocking on the White House windows, which he later would say "was the peak of my entire existence". Critics and audiences alike praised the episode for "what could have easily come off as stilted, manufactured dribble miraculously contains a comedic spark", and for its "charming and relaxed natural moments of playfulness", as well as the chemistry between the two.

Awards and nominations

The show has earned numerous Primetime Emmy Award nominations and has won several Producers Guild awards.
YearAwardCategoryRecipientsResultRef.
2013Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Special Class – Short-Format Nonfiction ProgramJerry Seinfeld
2014Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Short-Format Nonfiction ProgramJerry Seinfeld
2015Producers Guild of America AwardOutstanding Digital Series
2016Producers Guild of America AwardOutstanding Digital Series
2016Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Variety Talk SeriesJerry Seinfeld, Melissa Miller, Tammy Johnston, Denis Jensen, George Shapiro, Howard West
2017Producers Guild of America AwardOutstanding Digital Series
2019Producers Guild of America AwardOutstanding Short-Form Program
2019Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Informational Series or SpecialJerry Seinfeld, George Shapiro, Tammy Johnston, Melissa Miller
2020Producers Guild of America AwardOutstanding Short-Form Program