Jerry Seinfeld has a joke in his standup routine where he asks “what’s up with Pop Tarts?”
It’s a very Jerry Seinfeld bit, and it’s pretty funny because a good comedian knows how to spot these little weird cultural things and make the most out of them. In this case, the Pop Tart—a breakfast treat that I’ve never found at all satisfying, but something that “can never go stale because it’s never been fresh.”
There’s an absurdity to the Pop Tart. A bowl of cereal is tastier and just as easy to prepare. There’s far more variety when it comes to breakfast cereals than Pop Tarts. But for whatever reason, the Pop Tart was a hit, and that’s what Seinfeld’s new Netflix show Unfrosted explores.
Before we go further, here’s the standup bit Seinfeld essentially based this entire show off of:
Seinfeld is not only the star of Unfrosted but the creator and director and he’s gathered around him a pretty stellar all-star cast including Melissa McCarthy, Bill Burr, James Marsden, Dan Levy, Hugh Grant, Jim Gaffigan, Christian Slater, Jack McBrayer, Sarah Cooper, Adrian Martinez and many, many more. The “one thing” I’m griping about is Amy Schumer, who I still find absolutely puzzling. Schumer just never comes off as particularly funny to me. She was a blight on Season 2 of Only Murders In The Building. She’s just not a very good comedian. She’s one of those celebrities that somehow made it despite being truly bad at the thing she’s supposed to be famous for. Either that or I just don’t click with her particular brand of humor.
Still, Unfrosted looks like a fun 1960s’ comedy about the intersection of breakfast and capitalism, and how a pretty mediocre, undeniably bland food item became a massive hit—kind of like most of the biggest pop artists out there. Pop Tart feels very apropos when you think about it.
Here’s the trailer:
Unfrosted pops onto Netflix on May 3rd.
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