Jerry Seinfeld Performs First Time Since Pandemic at Gotham Comedy Club

Jerry Seinfeld looked like a man who was cooped up for a year Friday night as he christened the coming-out-of-the-pandemic Gotham Comedy Club in NYC, and the audience "exploded!"

Jerry stopped to talk on his way home, saying the energy inside was so intense he felt like he had gotten electrocuted.

It's kinda funny ... Jerry said -- believably -- he worried he might have forgotten to do stand up it had been so long, but turns out it was just like riding a bike, or in Jerry's case, playing tennis.

And, the most interesting comment came when someone asked how comedy has changed in the last year amid cancel culture. He shot back ... "Comedy never changes. It's funny or it's not."

He makes a solid point -- comedy uplifts people and lets them shelve their problems for a few hours, and mental health may be our biggest challenge coming out of COVID.

Jerry: "We're all good, everyone's good. New York is going to come back. I've been in LA, I've been in Florida. There's a lot of great places in this country but no place feels like this place. And, people who think they will get used to not living here ... real New Yorkers will realize it doesn't work. Only New York is New York."

Jerry, a die-hard New Yorker who railed on a comedy club owner last fall for declaring New York dead, said anyone who bailed on the City is now filled with regret.