Jerry Seinfeld Courts Death Over Croisette!

...just to promote a dumb movie.

Well, actually, Bee Movie, the Dreamworks animated feature he's promoting, looks pretty damn funny based on the half-hour's worth of clips we saw before this stunt. It also appears to lack a heartstring-tugging element, which I find refreshing. And while it's packed with celebrity cameos, these seem more in the spirit of, say, Howard Cosell's bits in Woody Allen's Bananas than anything else.

Now, onto the stunt.

Yes, Seinfeld flew down from the top of the Carlton in Cannes, on wires, to a platform on the beach, in a big bee suit. And he did it twice.

I was pretty much able to get the fabulous shot of the comedian in mid-flight through the good graces of my Close Personal Friend Roger Friedman of Fox 411 fame. Roger gets a lot of smack from some quarters (and I'm sure he wouldn't have it any other way), but I'm glad to know him, not just because of his encyclopedic knowledge of and appreciation for American R&B music. In any case, after the screening of clips Roger invited me to tag along with him, a phalanx of high-powered publicists, and the very gracious and graceful Mrs. Seinfeld, Jessica (who was particularly pleased to have Roger around). Hence, I got a very good spot on the pier Seinfeld landed on.

Here's the platform on the roof of the Carlton.

Apparently Seinfeld rehearsed the jump this morning at 4. Apparently Dreamworks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg did a leap himself, just for fun. The ubiquitous question: "How much was it to insure this stunt?" Nobody had an answer.

Here's Access Hollywood's Billy Bush, of "Naomi Watts!?! Watt's up?!?" fame, chatting up Jessica Seinfeld, who claimed she wasn't terribly nervous about this: "I'm married to a comedian," she said; but she got a little tense as the moment approached. Understandably.

I overheard Bush talking about the production of Bee Movie; at one point he said, "When you're making that kinda jack to do voiceover you'd think you could get 'em all in the same room." That's right, folks: Billy Bush uses the word "jack" to denote "money." Because that's just how he ROLLS, MUTHAFERCKERS. You GOT A PROBLEM wid dat?

Billy should know, as all of you already know, that I kid. And I kid because...well, I kid because I'm arrogant, and I think I'm better than everyone else.

So where were we? Okay. Seinfeld executed the first leap flawlessly, wowing the crowd (many of whom watched his prepping on one of those meta giant vid screens we mentioned yesterday).

Then they hoisted him up to the roof again to do the jump a second time. This one did not go as well—he seemed to trip off the platform and a couple of people went to grab him, but down he went again. He was clearly pretty rattled when he took his bow.

"Borat just showed up in his underwear," Seinfeld pal and Bee Movie costar Chris Rock noted. I don't think any promo stunt is gonna top this one. Then again, it's only day two here at Cannes...

Comments

[WP]

Never mind the bee hijinks--do we know how Jessica Seinfeld gets her hair to do that?

[Aaron Aradillas]

Any word on how the French reacted to Rock's remake of Love in the Afternoon?

I prefer "bones" instead of "jack" to denote money, honey. Dead Prez also works.

And, Mr. Kenny, you ARE better than everyone else.

[Josh]

I wouldn't think it's really necessary to backpedal after mocking the inconsequential yet still loathesome Billy Bush.

But then, you are a nice guy, a lot of people read you, and you will probably run into him again.

I don't have any of those problems.

[SAM]

I think Jessica has a hair dresser with her or she has a hair clip band to match her color. That is not hard to do, believe it or not.