Today I have another valuable story for you about personal positioning.
So let me take you back to 2007, when Jerry Seinfeld went on Larry King Live, and when green-colored sparks started flying.
For reference:
Larry King hosted a massively popular live interview show on CNN, which ran from 1985 to 2010. Over a million people tuned in each night.
King had a habit of friendly and conversational interviews. He did over 50,000 of them — fifty thousand. He never did any research or prep.
For more reference:
Jerry Seinfeld is a comedian. He was the biggest television star of 1990s, thanks to his hit sitcom Seinfeld, which wrapped up in 1998.
Larry: You gave it up [the show]. They didn’t cancel you, you canceled them?
Seinfeld: [pauses, then shakes his head for a split second] You’re not aware of this?
Larry: I’m asking you.
Seinfeld: You think I got cancelled? You’re under the impression I got cancelled?
Larry: Have I hurt you Jerry?
Seinfeld: I thought this was pretty well documented. [Looking around] Is this still CNN?
Larry: Don’t most shows go down a little?
Seinfeld: Most people do also. When I went off the air, it was the number one show in television. Larry, do you know who I am???
Larry: Jewish guy, Brooklyn.
Seinfeld: 75 million viewers!
Theories online say this exchange was all a joke, a good gag between pals.
I don’t think so. I think if you look, you can tell Jerry is first stunned and then annoyed at Larry King’s uninformed questions.
”Do you know who I am???” was a genuine, irritated, ego-led outburst.
And yet, it didn’t sound arrogant or repulsive in the actual live interview.
That’s because it was delivered with a smile, and with a bit of exasperation in Seinfeld’s voice. This was the stage persona Seinfeld had practiced over thousands of standup appearances and thousands of hours of shooting Seinfeld episodes.
I did a bit of research on how the mass mind reacted to this video. Some of the top comments read like this:
“i feel like seinfelds a real cunt irl.”
“He’s a classic narcissist. He is undoubtedly profoundly insecure about himself.”
“i loved Seinfeld. but i find Jerry very uncharismatic. he comes off as a douche sometimes.”
I don’t know whether Jerry Seinfeld is a narcissist or a cunt in real life. I do find it very possible.
Still, I love watching Seinfeld. And I personally like Jerry — at least the Jerry on the TV show.
So that’s my point for you for today.
If you want personal positioning that can win you an audience of millions, then you won’t do better than what I call “perfect neighbor positioning.”
Think Jerry Seinfeld. A smile, a bit of self-deprecating exasperation. But that’s just the start.
It’s worth studying Jerry Seinfeld, and fellow 90s sitcom stars like Ellen DeGeneres, Tim Allen, Jennifer Aniston, to see how they got to appear so likable, even if they’re not likable in real life.
I’ll write more about this. As I mentioned in earlier emails, I am working, slowly but shakily, on a little book about personal positioning.
In the meantime, I’d like to remind you of my Most Valuable Email training. It’s not about personal positioning, but—
If you write about persuasion or marketing, it can show you how to make your emails fun and even likable — without you investing your personality in the email at all. For more info: