Jerry Seinfeld Apologizes After 'Insulting' Howard Stern Comments

Jerry Seinfeld is walking back his comments that groundbreaking shock jock and media personality Howard Stern isn't funny anymore.

The 70-year-old comedian made the remarks during an appearance on David Spade and Dana Carvey's Fly on the Wall podcast on Wednesday. Waxing poetic about podcasting in general, Seinfeld said, "Howard Stern invented this right? But we're better than him now."

"Because Howard is interesting. Howard is a great interviewer," he continued, "But you know, comedy chops, I mean, can we speak candidly? Let's face it, he's been outflanked. And yourselves, I would say, absolutely, this show, comedy podcast? This is the best one on the air?"

Seinfeld added that he enjoys listening to Spade and Carvey because they're not jumping all over each other, which he says he finds annoying to listen to; in another apparent dig at Stern's sometimes adversarial hosting style.

However, after his remarks got picked up by the media, Seinfeld seemed to have a change of heart.

"I really feel bad for what I said about my friend Howard Stern in a conversation with David Spade and Dana Carvey, talking about the glut of comedy podcasts,” Seinfeld told Page Six late Wednesday. "I meant to say he must feel surrounded but I said 'outflanked' which sounded terrible and insulting. And of course, none of these little shows are any threat to his giant show."

"Anyway, it was bad and I’m sorry, Howie. I still love you. Please forgive me," he added.

This latest faux pas comes on the heels of another controversy the beloved sitcom star stirred up during his press tour for his new Netflix comedy, Unfrosted. In an April 28 interview with the New Yorker, Seinfeld lamented that television isn't funny anymore either, reminiscing for the golden days of the classic sitcom.

"It used to be, you would go home at the end of the day, most people would go, 'Oh, Cheers is on. Oh, m*a*s*h is on. Oh, [The Mary Tyler Moore Show] is on. All in the Family is on," he told the magazine. "You just expected, There’ll be some funny stuff we can watch on TV tonight. Well, guess what—where is it?"

"This is the result of the extreme left and P.C. crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people," he continued. "Now they’re going to see standup comics because we are not policed by anyone."

Seinfeld's Unfrosted, out now, currently holds a 39 percent critic rating and 57 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.