Jerry Seinfeld Explains How He Ended Up in a Strip Club for Chris Rock's 'Top Five'

Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock

Memo to Jerry Seinfeld’s pals: If you want the iconic stand-up comic and former must-see TV star to appear in your scrappy independent movie, all you gotta do is ask. That’s what Chris Rock discovered when he reached out to Seinfeld about making a cameo in his riotously funny new comedy, Top Five (in theaters now).“We’re good friends and he asked me if I would be in it and I just said yes,” Seinfeld tells Yahoo Movies about how he nabbed a small part as himself in Rock’s semi-autobiographical film, which follows a particularly eventful day in the life of New York comic, Andre Allen (Rock). “I didn’t even know what the scene was — I just said, ‘Tell me where and when and I’m there.’”

Considering that the scene involves Seinfeld (flanked by another top-secret Top Five cameo) paying a visit to a strip club, it’s probably just as well that Rock didn’t clue him into the details ahead of time. Not that Seinfeld would have backed out anyway. “I didn’t care; I told him, ‘If its your thing, I’m in.’” Ever the good buddy, Seinfeld has also refrained from seeing the movie for free in any pre-release screenings, preferring to buy a ticket this weekend. “I want my ticket to be part of the opening weekend grosses.”

While Seinfeld was happy to do his friend a favor, he says that seeing Rock in action on set didn’t really inspire him to write and direct his own indie feature. “I think the only reason to make a movie is that you’re desperate to tell a particular story,” says the comic, whose previous forays into feature filmmaking have been limited to the 2002 documentary Comedian and the 2007 animated comedy, Bee Movie. “I’ve never really been hit by that inspiration. I could make a movie to say I’m making a movie, but I don’t want to do that. I’m having so much fun with my stand-up tour and making my [web series] Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. That keeps me plenty busy.” Should he ever decide to scratch that filmmaking itch, though, at least he knows he can score a cameo from Chris Rock as payback.

For more on Jerry Seinfeld and Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, check out our Q&A at Yahoo TV.

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Photo credit: Photo by Steve Sands/Getty Images