The Jerry Seinfeld-Al Dukes connection
Al Dukes produces WFAN's morning show with Boomer and Carton on Wednesday, October 15, 2014. Credit: Charles Eckert
Jerry Seinfeld has more than 2.5 million followers on Twitter but follows a mere 68 accounts, many of them with a connection to baseball in general and the Mets in particular.
Not an easy lineup to crack.
So it was that several years ago when Al Dukes, producer of WFAN's "Boomer & Carton" morning show, saw that Seinfeld had begun following him, it was a thrill for a longtime fan.
"I was very excited about it; my heart was beating," Dukes recalled Wednesday, shortly after Seinfeld had called into the show. "It was like 3 o'clock in the morning and I was in Jersey City waiting for [update man] Jerry [Recco] when we were carpooling in and I saw it and I was like, 'My God!' "
Seinfeld for many years has been an avowed fan of WFAN's Steve Somers, periodically calling into his show. Now he has adopted the morning show, as well.
"I know he loves sports radio and he listens to the show when he's in town," Dukes said. "He had called a couple of times. Craig [Carton] was goofing on his show 'The Marriage Ref' one time and he just called in after hearing that to defend the show. He's called in a couple of times out of the blue and he's been great to me on Twitter."
In July, Dukes suddenly noticed a spike in his followers count. "It was crazy," he said. "I started getting all these followers and I was like, what did I do? It's either good or bad."
It turned out Seinfeld had been asked in a USA Today interview to recommend a Twitter follow and said this:
"I really like a guy who produces a sports talk radio show in New York called 'Boomer & Carton.' His Twitter handle is @alsboringtweets. I think he's just about the best tweet artist. He's just a regular guy, but he talks about regular things in a way that, to me, is what tweeting should be."
Dukes met Seinfeld last year at a benefit Carton hosted at Gotham Comedy Club when Carton brought him on stage to introduce the comedian. "He knew I was such a huge fan, so it was pretty cool," Dukes said.
When Seinfeld called in Wednesday of this week, he agreed to appear at a fundraising comedy show Carton was hosting that night for his "Tic Toc Stop Foundation."
Dukes spent some time with Seinfeld before his set. Mostly, they talked about coffee, one of the centerpieces of Seinfeld's current web series, "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."
"He's really into coffee," said Dukes, who discussed with him everything from Keurig machines to French press systems. "I asked him about what is his feeling on the French press -- not a fan."
The two also discussed the local sports teams, but not Seinfeld's eponymous TV program.
"I never talk to him about the TV show," Dukes said.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
