Jerry Seinfeld Tells Showtime His Sitcom Made Him Uncomfortable

Success making an artist uncomfortable isn't necessarily unusual.

It's well documented that Andy Kauffman pretty openly didn't enjoy "Taxi," feeling that it was creatively beneath him. Author and playwright Anthony Burgess admitted years after its publishing that he felt he'd written better works than "A Clockwork Orange."

But what must it be like having an unpleasant feeling associated with something named after you, though?

In a recent sit-down with Showtime's new documentary show "Inside Comedy," Jerry Seinfeld reveals that he often felt out of his element and uncomfortable during the nine seasons "Seinfeld" spent dominating NBC's primetime lineup and sucking up Emmy nominations and critical acclaim like a vacuum picks up stray nickels.

Having a noted hand in bringing the primetime game show "The Marriage Ref" to NBC, Seinfeld has spent the years since the 1998 "Seinfeld" finale keeping a lower profile than would usually be expected of someone who became a TV icon. If, as he explains, success can kill comedy, that nine years on NBC must have felt like a Happy Hour of strychnine shooters.

"There's nothing better for a comedian than being penned in, closed off, shut out, not welcome, that's nutrition," Seinfeld explained. "That what you want as a comedian. Acceptance is a very dangerous thing for a comedian. Standup is a loud desperation."

And truly, he has a point. One can't name too many comedians who can charm laughs from millions by spending an hour talking non-stop about how great life has been. The essence of comedy is in the failure's charms.

"I left L.A. and I tried to break back into the middle . . . and that's made me feel comfortable," Seinfeld said. "To be honest with you, I never felt great being at that pinnacle. There was a point where the show was really at a very high level of, it was a thing. It was the thing for a period of time. And I thought, this is not good, because it's not where I belong. This is not comedy. I always thought comedy and star are mutually exclusive."

Check out this "Inside Clip" and let us know what you think below of the legendary standup's candid insecurity about his most famous achievement.