Maraú Península: Jerry Seinfeld, the Scholar of Comedy

In today’s newsletter, David Remnick in conversation with Jerry Seinfeld, and then:
• Trump’s sleepy, sleazy hush-money trial
• Is a bagel renaissance upon us?
• The good vanilla

Black-and-white portrait of Jerry Seinfeld in the early nineteen-nineties. Seinfeld has both hands on his face.

The New Yorker Interview

The Scholar of Comedy

Jerry Seinfeld on how to write jokes, the ending of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and the world-historical struggle to invent the Pop-Tart.

By David Remnick

An illustration of a book with leggings that are running.

From the News Desk

Donald Trump appears in court with his attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 26, 2024, in New York City.

Comment

Donald Trump’s Sleepy, Sleazy Criminal Trial

The most striking aspect of the former President’s hush-money trial so far has been that, for the first time in a decade, Trump is struggling to command attention.

By Benjamin Wallace-Wells

An illustration of a book with a knife sliced through the spine, with fallen paper shavings.

Editor’s Pick

Illustration of bagels reimagined as teen-agers.

Annals of Gastronomy

Are We Living Through a Bagel Renaissance?

A new wave of shops has made its mark across the country—and shaken New York’s bagel scene out of complacency.

By Hannah Goldfield

Secrets from the Food Issue

Illustration of a giant hand holding vanilla beans.

Secret Ingredients

The Most Treasured Jar in My Pantry

There is nothing “plain” about vanilla when your extract is home-brewed.

By Ina Garten

Illustration of a giant hand holding a pepper grinder.

Secret Ingredients

How to Season Your Food Like the French

I didn’t really know what black pepper was until I lived in Lyon.

By Bill Buford

Illustration of a giant hand holding a tamarind pod.

Secret Ingredients

A Tamarind Tree’s Sweet and Sour Inheritance

My ancestor was gifted a huge orchard just outside Delhi. The fruits it produced were the taste of my childhood.

By Madhur Jaffrey

Illustration of a giant hand holding a bowl of buckwheat.

Secret Ingredients

The Unexpected Hero of My Baking Repertoire

Cakes that usually come at you two-fisted—pure butter and sugar—begin to relax when you swap some of the usual white-wheat flour for buckwheat.

By Ruby Tandoh

A shirt with a bunny on a clothes hanger, promoting The New Yorker Store.

New in The New Yorker Store! Check out limited-edition tote bags and more, featuring art by celebrated contributors including Saul Steinberg and George Booth. Visit the Store »

An illustration of a crossword puzzle wrapped around the arms of a person.

Fun & Games Dept.

Three apostles carrying a cross with Trump sitting on it.

Shouts & Murmurs

Stories from the Trump Bible

And Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, “This trial is very unfair. You are a corrupt judge, and your wife is a very nasty woman.”

By Bruce Headlam and Stephen Sherrill

A top hat with long legs on a beige background.

Name Drop: Can you guess the identity of a notable person—contemporary or historical—in six clues? Play our trivia game »

P.S. What would whales say, if they knew we could understand them? In this fascinating piece, Elizabeth Kolbert investigates how artificial intelligence might allow us to speak to nonhuman beings. In the course of her reporting, she experiments with ChatGPT and witnesses a sperm whale being born. It was like “something out of a marine-mammal ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ” she writes. “Out of nowhere, more than forty Fraser’s dolphins arrived on the scene. Had they come to participate in the melee or just to rubberneck?”