Ads were pulled but Seinfeld fans can see him at Stambaugh

the vindicator

Jerry Seinfeld was seen last month in a somewhat bizarre TV ad campaign for Microsoft Corp. that also featured Bill Gates, chairman of the software giant.

The ads showed Gates and Seinfeld trading banter at a mall shoe store and while living with a suburban family, trying to get in touch with regular people. Seinfeld asks Gates nonsensical questions about the future of computing, and Gates responds with “signs” that he’s on the right track, including “adjusting his shorts,” as Seinfeld called the awkward hip shake, and doing “the robot,” a dance move.

The ads were pulled within a few weeks, prompting bloggers to suggest Microsoft yanked them because they were poorly received. Microsoft responded by insisting that the Seinfeld-Gates ads were always intended to be short-lived ice-breakers that would pave the way for ads that focus on Windows.

We might never know whether that is the whole truth. But it was a very Seinfeld-ian episode, in its own surreal way.

Youngstowners can see Seinfeld in a more traditional way Friday when the comedy giant returns to Stambaugh Auditorium. Unlike past trips to Youngstown, Seinfeld is only doing one show, at 7 p.m. and tickets remain available at the box office; by phone at (330) 259-0555; and online at stambaughonline.com.