Jerry Seinfeld got parenting inspiration from the mob

“I’ve found I have started to use small-time mob-boss tactics in my house. I figure out things that they like, and then threaten to hurt those things.”
— Jerry Seinfeld

In November 2006, Jerry Seinfeld was a guest on Late Night with David Letterman. It was a much-watch episode, because he had hoped Michael Richards (who had spewed racist bile at a meltdown of a performance) would appear by satellite.

Everyone tuned in to see Richards try to salvage his reputation; in the interim, Seinfeld and Letterman had a pleasant, witty chat.

One of the topics was about parenting, and Seinfeld described how he was handling being the dad to three kids under six. Here’s that part of the conversation, cued up.

I’ve been posting a quote every day on the blog since I revived Dot Dot Dot in January; you can read the lot of them here. (I’ve also done a bunch of posts, like this one, tagged for comedy.)