-On any day that the world continues to turn... and we wake up the next day and it's a functioning world... you have to know one thing.

There's a ton more good people on this planet working for the light than there are not.

And there's the hope.

♪♪ ♪♪ My birth name, my God-given-- "God-given name," which I always find is a strange phrase because it's really my mom.

Uh, although my mom and God, very close.

I was, uh, born as Jay-- not Jason-- Jay Scott Greenspan.

I am still Jay Scott Greenspan.

Um, and, uh, if you do know me, you probably know me as Jason Alexander, uh, because when I was 14, uh, I joined my first acting union.

And it wasn't about, you know, hide the Jewishness of "Greenspan."

It was about playground trauma.

I was "Green" fill in the blank with any horrible thing you wanted.

Um, so when I went to get a stage name, they said, "Would you like a stage name?"

I said, "Yes, I would."

My mom named me Jay but always called me Jason.

So I was used to Jason, and I said, "Okay.

I'm gonna be Jason Scott."

And the woman at the AFTRA counter said, "We have 11 of them in every spelling you can come up with, so you can't have it."

And I-- And I-- In a blind-- I never thought about another name.

In that moment, I went, "Ohh.

Bet my dad doesn't feel great about me wanting to lose his name, so I'll just... How about Jason Alexander?"

Because my dad was Alex Greenspan.

And, uh, they said, "Yeah, you can have that."

[ Laughs ] So it was-- It was a barely a full thought in the blink of a moment.

-And out of necessity.

-Always born out of necessity.

I don't do anything if it isn't a necessity.

[ Laughs ] -I've known a lot of people who have had the experience of fame.

You didn't, when you started out doing this, know it would have that longevity and that range and reach.

How has that impacted your ability to tell stories?

People are looking to you and listening to you.

They'll come up to you.

Now, obviously, they'll come up to you at some point as your character.

-Mm-hmm.

-But that also opens a door for you to be heard in other ways as, uh, you know, Jay, not Jason.

-Right.

-Uh, talk about that, that opportunity.

-So, most celebrities, for some reason or another, seem to be an object of fascination and attention for people.

I assume with someone like me that... ...it is because the audience and I have shared an experience together or it's perceived that we've shared it together.

Um, in my particular case, through the "Seinfeld" show specifically... ♪♪ ...the most resonant thing that I hear about that shared experience are people who come up to tell me about some very challenging time they were going through in their life, anything from the loss of a child or a parent to a personal illness to serving overseas in the military, you name it.

Um, a period of time where, uh, joy was elusive.

And they approach me to thank me for helping them to laugh, helping them to reconnect to some kind of, uh, happiness, joy, laughter, and how therapeutic and appreciated it was.

So there's that bond.

It is the only kind of compliment that I can take easily because I understand-- And I tell this to my fellow actors all the time.

We are not powerful.

This idea that, "We are celebrities.

We are powerful.

Look at this powerful thing we can do."

I began performing as a magician.

I was always well aware I didn't have any powers.

The illusion has the power.

The illusion is what's powerful for people, not the person.

So, um, the event, the connection, the result of what our work does for the audience, that is powerful.

We're just a cog in the works.

I, as truly a shy, "more introverted than anyone would believe" person, I kind of can't take that in as readily as someone going, "That thing you did really helped me."

The reason that I... ...kind of relish that is my mom, who was a nurse and a nurse educator all her life, the one disappointment... if there was any disappointment because, you know, Jewish mother cannot be disappointed in her child.

The one disappointment that she had was she felt that because of the direction I was taking, that it would be harder for me to live a life of service.

And that was the thing she would always talk about.

If you can live a life of service to this world, to other people, it's a good life.

And she certainly-- That was her life.

And when I went into acting, I could not imagine it as a life of service.

I did it-- First of all, I fell into it.

Second of all, I... I was attracted to it because it seemed to be serving me.

I was a kid without a community.

I was a kid without a real sense of self.

I was a kid who was quite frightened and not terribly good at a lot of things.

And suddenly I had community and I had, um, encouragement, and I seemed to have had an ability.

So it was all good for me.

[ Laughs ] It was very, very good for me.

And then they started paying me, and then they said, "You can make a living at this."

And at the end of every stage performance, they'd go, "Yay!

You're so great!

Thank you!

:" And all of that is just an ego trip.

But it didn't seem to be serving much of anybody other than myself.

But when I am able to meet and hear people say, "No, no, no, no, no, that thing you did, that thing you were part of... ♪♪ ...helped me.

Helped me.

Hot me through something.

Got me over something.

Reconnected me to myself."

That then becomes, "Oh, maybe I... Maybe, Mom, I stumbled into that life of service after all."

-Making your mother proud.

Did she get to see how much of your impact?

And did you ever have that discussion where, "I've now seen what my work can do and help affect people"?

-Both my parents, uh, were blessed with longevity, and both of them lived many, many years in the meat of my success in this chosen field, so they got to see it.

They got to breathe a sigh of relief that it would all seemingly work out.

My father actually stopped wishing I would be an orthodontist, which was-- That was huge.

That was a-- That was a big get.

Um, and, yes, my-- my-- I would talk to my mother frequently about very specific occasions that were, um, uniquely striking, where this sense of service by doing just what I do seemed to prevail.

Uh, and she loved those stories, absolutely loved them.

-This is part of our tradition, the Jewish tradition of... And I always bollocks my, uh... I was not bar mitzvahed.

You were?

-I was bar mitzvahed, yes.

And that was-- that was about the last time Judaism and I shook hands.

Or religion, I should say.

Religion and I shook hands.

-Do you feel that connection to that-- the culture of Judaism?

Does that connect at all to you?

-Certainly.

I do feel the connection, uh, you know, very specifically to the culture of Judaism.

Um, and I have no particular-- You know, if I was a religious person, I'd be very happy to be a religious Jew.

I think it's a very-- in many ways, a very friendly religion.

Um, I am, uh, intensely spiritual.

I'm just not terribly religious.

But the... Well, you know, I think it is, unfortunately and fortunately, part of the human condition that we have an affinity for our tribe, whatever our tribe may be.

So I... I am very warmed by the feeling of the-- of the cultural landscape that is Judaism, the values that it contains, the history that it contains, the ideals it tries to uphold and work for, um, its sense of humor.

Um...are all-- You know, I have them on a cellular level.

I couldn't walk away from it if I wanted to.

So, yeah, it is-- it's a deep connection.

-As you look at life now... and we're gonna talk about some of the context of America, what makes you hopeful?

Does anything make you hopeful?

-[ Sighs ] Yes.

I think there is reason for hope... um, globally.

What we-- The narrative that we are being fed right now in this year of our Lord 2023 is of desperation and division.

And a lot of the division perhaps being a byproduct of desperation.

There's... I mean, there's a lot of people struggling.

Just a lot of people struggling.

And, um... When you're struggling like that, you are living in a state of fear, and, um, any-- any, you know... ...grade-C scientist will tell you when any animal is living in a state of fear long enough that fear will turn to rage.

You cannot sustain living in fear.

I have a theory about why we are so divided.

It's just mine.

I haven't heard it from anywhere else.

But it all comes from Y2K.

[ Chuckles ] So, if you recall, the story we were told about the change of the century, Y2K, was that our computer systems, our technological systems couldn't handle the calendar change and they would collapse, which meant worldwide technology would collapse.

And then January 2 showed up, and everybody went, "Uh, still here.

Um, and so we dismissed that idea that we were coming into a cataclysmic new century and we went, "Oh, it's just a turn of the calendar page."

It was not just a turn of the calendar page.

The 21st century in these 23 years barely resembles the 20th century.

It is such a radical shift.

And it happened so fast.

So now let's look at the two political values in the world.

Progressive.

Conservative.

If you're a progressive, change excites you.

It interests you.

You're not fearful of change.

You may be a little bit wary.

You may be overwhelmed.

But you're not fearful of change.

New technology shows up, you go, "Oh, that's interesting.

Let's explore that.

New possibilities.

Let's explore that."

New communities, new cultures, new powers.

You go-- No fear in that.

But if you are a conservative, change is a frightening thing.

Conservatives believe in tradition.

They believe in stability.

They-- They-- They cherish the history.

And change, especially fast change, radical change, is frightening because they-- they don't see themselves being a part of it.

They-- They fear, perhaps that they can't keep up with it, that they're going to get lost and that somehow they're going to suffer.

♪♪ Well, those two ideologies to me are is ingrained in your system as your sexual preference.

You know?

You don't choose to be a progressive.

You don't choose to be a conservative.

It's kind of wired in.

And so you have the entire movement of the earth being pulled in two different directions.

And what we are experiencing, I believe, is the seam.

It's all that stress and tension on the seam.

And everybody is going from both sides, "It's gonna rip!

It's going to rip if we don't stop this."

And as I tell my younger son Noah, who is a little bit of a fatalist... And, you know, he's convinced we ain't gonna make it.

And I go, um... "On any day that the world continues to turn... and we wake up the next day and it's a functioning world, you have to know one thing.

There's a ton more good people on this planet than bad.

When that changes, you'll know it.

But with all the stuff you see, all the negativity, all the anger, the rage, the hate, the violence, the everything else... there's a ton more good people on this planet working for the light than there are not.

And there's the hope.

The worst thing we could do right now is for good people to abandon the dialogue, abandon the hope.

-One of the things our culture is not terribly good about is venerating our elders and listening to them.

Talk to me-- You now have a grandson.

As you see this, do you think about mortality?

Do you think about what you want to accomplish?

How does that inform your thinking about what's ahead for you?

-I've become more jealous of time as I get older.

Because I know there's less of it.

There's nothing left that I need to do, although there's a lot of things I'd like to do.

There-- I-- Again, going back to my mom, I find these days more and more opportunity to be of service, to use the mind-boggling and certainly disproportionate blessings that I've been given in my life and somehow pay it back and pay it forward.

♪♪ The only thing I'm greedy of when it comes to time is I want to see...things.

I want to see my grandson as an adult.

I want to know what he thinks, what he chooses to do with his life.

I am very curious as to see what's going to happen.

Um, and-- and you just want to-- A lot of the time I spend these days is teaching and talking.

I think that younger people are actually, for the most part, they're kind of fascinated.

But it's not about tell my story.

I'm not a big fan of telling my story.

I'm a big fan of going, "Tell me your story.

And let me see if there's anything I can give you that may help you."

That's why I do the Q&A's.

That's why I do the teaching.

That's why I do any of that-- this kind of stuff.

I could care-- My sons once said to me-- Um, Julia Louis-Dreyfus was getting her star on the Walk of Fame, and she asked me if I would be part of that ceremony.

I was thrilled to do it.

And I came home, and my boys said to me, "Um, Dad, do you have one of those?"

I said, "No."

They said, "Do you want one?"

I said, "Well, I never really thought about it.

Um, I said, "If they threw it at me, I'd probably take it.

But, you know, I could take you guys up there and we could walk three blocks, you won't know a single name on that floor.

And they were all important people in their day."

And they were kind of perplexed by that.

And I said, "Guys, here's the truth, as far as I can tell you.

When I'm gone... there's only two people on the planet that I care about if and how they remember me, and I'm looking at both of them.

And the rest of it doesn't matter to me."

So none of-- none of what I want to do with the rest of my time is about "tell my story."

But I am really interested in hearing yours and seeing if my story can be inf-- What am I?

A storyteller.

Can my story enlighten, entertain, educate... ...you know, uplift?

If it can, there's a reason to tell my story.

Without it, I'm your-- I'm your best audience.

-I want to ask you, why is storytelling important in our culture and in life?

-I don't know why storytelling is so... ...um, intrinsically a part of the human experience, but I do know it is.

Um... We know that, going back to prehistoric time, from as early as humans could stand upright, there was some effort to share our experiences.

And whether that was with a spoken language or whether that was depicted with paintings on a wall, um, or movement, there was always some desire to reenact our experience for each other.

Sometimes it is about, um... The experience resonates with us in such a powerful way that the only way to contain it in ourselves is to share it with others, to sort of give pieces of it away.

Other times, there's an excitement or a call to educate or inform somebody else through an experience that you've had.

Sometimes-- and I don't know why human beings are drawn to this... ...we have an innate desire to entertain and amuse each other, to share laughter.

I have recently learned we're not the only creatures on this planet that are capable of laughing, but we seem to have mastered the art and we seem to require it.

And we-- we really seem to require it at times of great stress or challenge.

Um, when they-- when they came up with that great phrase, "laughter is the best medicine," there is truth to that.

Um, so I think we are called to storytelling for all of those reasons, to literally try and divest ourselves a little bit of something that is so overwhelming, we can't contain it, or to help inform each other and educate each other or this strange calling we seem to have to entertain and amuse each other as, I assume, a way of bonding and holding our mutual humanity.

But it is ancient, and I hope it is eternal.

If we lose it, um... I think we essentially lose our humanity itself.

-And joy for you.

I've asked this of everyone.

I want to ask it of you.

What do you listen to that gives you pleasure musically?

-Oh, you know, music.

So... The reason why I always stall when somebody goes, "What's your favorite song?"

I go, "What am I feeling?

Where am I?"

There is no-- Music is, to me, one of the easiest ways to tell you exactly where you are.

at any given moment.

It is the window into your soul.

So if I said to you, "Don't think.

Stop right now.

Just close your eyes.

Some song's gonna come into your head.

What is that song?

It's gonna tell you a lot about who you are, where you are in this moment in time, um, and what you need.

Do I need to hear, you know, the Bangles, Billy Joel, Stephen Sondheim, or Rachmaninoff?

You know?

It-- The-- What I love about music more than anything else, think about how much music there is.

There's 7 notes.

14 actually.

I'd say 14.

13.

13 notes.

No.

12.

What am I talking about?

[ Hums scale ] 12, 13 notes.

Whatever it is.

That's how much of a moron I am right now.

But that's all there is.

Look at how it has been used over and over and over and over and over.

Is it infinite?

Is music infinite?

Is that-- Is that the voice of God?

Is music the voice of God?

Because... It never stops creating.

It never stops.

It's one of the most fascinating-- It's magic.

It's magic.

Especially people who are so good that they go... [ Scatting ] And that immediately comes out in their fingers.

There's no interpreter.

They go... [ Scatting ] I go, "What is happening right now?"

It is... And Alzheimer's patients.

Don't know who they are.

They don't know who you are.

They remember the songs.

There's something, um... If I was gonna be a really big philosopher, I'd say the day the... As, you know, Don McLean wrote, the day the music dies, humanity dies.

♪♪ -Can't top that, but the song that's in my head right now is "Do You Believe in Magic?"

-[ Laughs ] Well, there you go.

♪♪ ♪♪