Jerry Seinfeld apologizes to British comedian Robert Llewellyn, whose Carpool web series predates Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

Chortle

On Tuesday, Netflix released a Comedians in Cars trailer showing Seinfeld complaining about other shows, real and fake, ripping off his show. "You can't beat an original," Netflix tweeted in plugging the trailer. Yet British actor and comedian Robert Llewellyn launched his own comedians-in-cars interview show, titled Carpool, in 2009 -- three years before Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars debut in 2012. Llewellyn -- who's best known for starring on the BBC sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf -- responded to the Netflix trailer on Tuesday, tweeting: "Started a full 3 years BEFORE Jerry and his pals copied it. LOL." On Carpool, Llewellyn would go on drives in a Prius with everybody from Patrick Stewart to Stephen Fry. Seinfeld didn't mention Llewellyn's Carpool in his Netflix trailer. "Apology to Robert Llewelyn Car Pool. Had not heard of it," Seinfeld tweeted this morning. "That's very kind of you sir," Llewellyn responded. "I've moved on since the Carpool days but the series is still up on YouTube." In his trailer, Seinfeld did jokingly accuse James Corden's "Carpool Karaoke" of ripping him off. Yet Corden's "Carpool Karaoke" prototype with George Michael aired in 2011, also predating Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars.