Seinfeld Masters Comic Domain

Mon., Nov. 21, 2005 4:20 PM PST by Charlie Amter

"They're all stupid," he joked Saturday during a 15-minute stand-up routine that doubled as an acceptance speech for HBO's inaugural Comedian Award.

"Your whole career as a comedian is about making fun of pretentious, high-minded, self-congratulatory events like this one," the 51-year-old said of the prize, which goes to performers who have most influenced and furthered the art of comedy.

"Every real estate office has some framed kind of award...every car salesman is some kind of platinum jubilee winner," he continued before a crowd of more than 500 fans and industry players in attendance at Caesar's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

"I really don't want to be up here," he joked.

Before collecting the hardware, Seinfeld was feted via a retrospective of his career.

After audience members were treated to clips of his 2002 documentary Comedian, he was joined onstage by Chris Rock, Garry Shandling and Robert Klein for a panel discussion musing on the art of comedy (CNN's Anderson Cooper played the straight man-moderator).

Rock (whom Seinfeld credits with inspiring him to get back into stand-up after the end of his eponymous sitcom) marveled at Seinfeld's sense of timing, likening the comic's craft to that of a musician.

Shandling praised Seinfeld's mastery of words during the discussion and described the comic's dedication to his craft as "meticulous."

"I'm really enjoying this," Seinfeld said of the attention. "Could this be a weekly series?"

The presentation capped HBO's first Comedy Festival, which ran over three days in multiple Las Vegas venues and featured a who's-who of comedy, including Dave Chappelle, Larry David, Ray Romano and, in a rare stand-up appearance, Jon Stewart.

Lewis Black and Dave Attell coheadlined a show at the Palace, where Dane Cook and George Lopez held their own shows.

Bill Maher hosted a late-night "For Adults Only" show, with Gilbert Gottfried and Sarah Silverman appearing as guests, while Dennis Miller taped an hourlong special for the premium cable channel.

For his part, Seinfeld lavished praise on sponsor HBO, which gave him one of his first big breaks by airing Jerry Seinfeld: Stand-Up Confidential in 1987.

"HBO has done it so right for so many years," he said. "They were the first people who thought I should be on TV for more than six minutes."

The award coincides with the DVD release this week of season four and five of Seinfeld. The comedian also took the opportunity to talk about his upcoming computer-animated cartoon feature for DreamWorks, Bees, due in 2007.

"I've always been fascinated by bees," he said. "Their society is actually superior to human society. There's no drugs, no crime and no rape...okay, maybe a little rape."