Comedian Jerry Seinfeld's Mumbai tour cancelled

Parking concerns deflate plans for the artist's weekend performance

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s scheduled performances in Mumbai were cancelled following concerns raised over parking and traffic plans, said the event’s organisers Only Much Louder (OML), announcing the decision on Twitter. The stand-up comedy star was set to perform at the NSCI stadium in Worli on March 14 and 15 and tickets had reportedly sold out.

Earlier in the week, the Mumbai traffic cops said they would allow the show to continue provided the organisers showed they have enough parking space for about 5,000 people. The artist’s travel arrangements were cancelled pending resolution of these issues, said OML, which had made additional plans for parking at a local mall. “But in spite of our best efforts to resolve these issues with the authorities quickly, which resulted in suitable alternate parking and traffic plans being arranged, this was not in time to reorganise the required artist travel logistics,” OML said in a statement.

Mumbai is grappling with a parking problem. According to the traffic police, quoted in a report by Indian Express last year, only 3.3 lakh of the roughly 22 lakh four-wheel drives registered in the city can be accommodated in day parking. With that figure growing by some 50,000 cars each year, in addition to other vehicles, the jostle for parking spots could worsen.

Interestingly, parking was at the centre of several jokes in the 90s' sitcom, which Seinfeld himself starred in and co-wrote. One episode, for instance, had his friend George Costanza sparring with someone over an empty spot for an entire evening, while in another his neighbour Kramer gets creative and gently knocks the cars on either side to fit his own sedan in a rather inadequate space. Full ticket fees for the cancelled performances, ranging from Rs. 7,500-12,500, are expected to be refunded by March 25.