On Wednesday afternoon, The Palm in Beverly Hills was teeming with comics, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Judd Apatow, Kevin Hart, Jason Bateman and Dax Shepard were all there because Jerry Seinfeld was hosting a lunch.
It was a serious lunch for a serious cause. Seinfeld was shilling for his wife Jessica’s Baby Buggy organization, which last year expanded to get more fathers involved in its mission to help needy families.
Though he was not wearing the puffy shirt made famous by one of his sitcom’s more well-known episodes, Seinfeld was in full pledge drive mode before a crowd that also included former costars Jason Alexander and Michael Richards.
“When the father’s involved in the kid’s life, the kid tends to do well. If not, the kids tend to go to jail. So it’s not good. It’s that simple,” Seinfeld said. “Especially if you’re in a challenged economic environment, it’s even harder to figure out ‘What am I supposed to do.’ Our hearts go out to these guys who were trying to figure this out.” After Dwyane Wade served more cold facts as the narrator of a sincere PSA video, Seinfeld encouraged the celebrities in the room to pose for pictures and help get the charity’s name out. And what about him, has he grown as a father since he became involved?
“I don’t know,” he told WWD. “Maybe you can answer that one. Do I seem like I’ve grown? If you can’t tell then I probably haven’t.”