Why Did Jerry Seinfeld Insist on Playing Himself?

Ben Gilbert says Jerry Seinfeld decided that whatever format the project took, he would play himself. He would bring his own sensibilities and his observational humor about the world, and he would not cast himself as a character super different from him. Ben Gilbert says Jerry Seinfeld was not acting, because everyone already knew Jerry Seinfeld could not act.

David Rosenthal says Roseanne Barr, the comic behind Roseanne, did the opposite. On Roseanne she played a sitcom character, not Roseanne Barr. Ben Gilbert says Jerry Seinfeld on the show lived in a little shoebox apartment, while the real Jerry Seinfeld was making a million dollars a year and flying around. The lives did not match, but the personality on the show stayed pretty true to him.

David Rosenthal says the project took that shape because nobody was building a sitcom. It was a one-off special.