How Jerry Seinfeld makes "charm bracelets"
When you notice a commonality between two or more things, when one thing “reminds you” of another thing, Seinfeld said, “You say, ‘Oh, there’s something there.’"
Jerry Seinfeld was once thinking about golf announcers whispering. He then found something in his notebook about how people whisper when they talk about tipping. “Now we make what’s called a charm bracelet,” Seinfeld said, explaining his creative process. When you notice a commonality between two or more things, when one thing “reminds you” of another thing, Seinfeld said, “You say, ‘Oh, there’s something there.’ And now we make what’s called a charm bracelet: You take these things and you find a way to associate them.” “So that’s the whole process: I’m thinking about this [one] thing and then remember this [other] thing, and then you go, ‘Oh there’s something there—let me connect those things.’” (You can watch how the “whispering” joke came together here).
“Creativity equals connecting previously unrelated experiences and insights that others don’t see.”
-Steve Jobs
Above is Jerry telling the joke on Fallon.
It started with whispering when it comes to golf and tipping. By the time it was a finished bit, it also included these things that make folks whisper: rich people, black people, cancer, and hotness. And then he ties it all up in the end with a bow…