Howard Stern insists Jerry Seinfeld mocking him for lacking “comedy chops” isn’t a “big deal”.

The shock jock, 70, was targeted by the ‘Seinfeld’ comic, 70, during a recent appearance on his friends’ Dana Carvey and David Spade’s ‘Fly on the Wall’ podcast – and has said he was immediately filled with regret for taking a swipe at his old friend ‘Howie’.

Nearly a week after Jerry’s dig was reported, Howard has now said: “Jerry is a personal friend of ours. Especially his wife, Jessica, is really good friends with (my wife) Beth.”

Page Six said Howard did say he initially thought Jerry’s mockery was “weird”, but added he was going to cut him slack as he thought the comedian had a “really bad week” in the wake of the comments emerging.

He added: “(Jerry) called me immediately and was like, ‘Oh, f***, I f***** up, and I want to apologise.

“He goes, ‘You know when you’re on the air, and s*** just comes out wrong?’”

Howard said he told Jerry on the call: “You don’t even have to (say sorry.) Please. This is embarrassing. I’m the king of going on the air and having millions of regrets afterward. Apology accepted, I don’t care, and you know what? If I’m not a comedian, I’m an interviewer, I don’t know what I am. I always considered myself a bit of a comedian, but whatever it is, don’t worry about it.”

Jerry – who “apologised for a really long time” – then asked to come on the ‘Howard Stern Show’ to explain his comment.

But Howard added: “I said, ‘Not necessary, I don’t wanna get into it. It’s awkward, it’s fine.’

“I said, ‘I’ve had to apologise to you for s*** I’ve said. I’ve had to call up people and apologize for s*** I’ve done on the air when I’m a huge fan of these people. I don’t know what gets into me, I f*** up sometimes… (I) didn’t really think much about it.”

Jerry issued an apology to Howard on 8 May straight after appearing on Dana and David’s podcast.

He said: “I really feel bad for what I said about my friend Howard Stern… talking about the glut of comedy podcasts.

“It was bad and I’m sorry, Howie. I still love you. Please forgive me.”

While discussing the popularity of podcasting with Dana and David, Jerry had asked his two fellow comedians: “Howard Stern invented this, right? But we’re better than him now.

“Howard is interesting. Howard is a great interviewer, but comedy chops, I mean, can we speak candidly?… let’s face it, he’s been outflanked by some very, and yourselves, I mean absolutely, this show, comedy podcast.

“This is the best one on the air. Because you guys play nice together, it’s smooth, you’re not jumping on each other, which is annoying to listen to.”