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Jerry Seinfeld

Jerome Allen Seinfeld (/ˈsnfɛld/ SYNE-feld; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. From 1989 to 1998, he played a semi-fictionalized version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld, which he created and wrote with Larry David. The show aired on NBC from 1989 until 1998, becoming one of the most acclaimed and popular sitcoms of all time. As a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy. In 2004, Comedy Central named him the 12th-greatest stand-up comedian of all time.[1]

For the character, see Jerry Seinfeld (character).

Seinfeld co-produced, co-wrote, and starred in the 2007 film Bee Movie, which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. In 2010, he premiered a reality series called The Marriage Ref, which aired for two seasons on NBC. Seinfeld is the creator and host of the web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (2012–2019). He is married to author and philanthropist Jessica Seinfeld, with whom he has three children. Seinfeld has received twenty Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on Seinfeld and Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee as well as four Grammy Award nominations for his comedy albums.

Early life and education[edit]

Seinfeld was born on April 29, 1954,[2] in Brooklyn, New York City.[3] His father, Kálmán Seinfeld,[4] a sign painter, was Jewish and collected jokes that he heard while serving in World War II.[3] His mother, Betty (née Hosni)[5][6] and her parents, Selim and Salha Hosni,[7] were Mizrahi Jews from Aleppo, Syria.[8] Their nationality was stated as Turkish when they immigrated in 1917, as Syria was under the Ottoman Empire.[9][10] Seinfeld has an older sister, Carolyn.[11] Salha's mother Garez Dayan, Seinfeld's great-grandmother, was a member of the Dayan rabbinic family, who claim ancestry back to the Medieval Exilarchs, and from the Exilarchs back to the Biblical King David.[12] Seinfeld's second cousin is musician and actor Evan Seinfeld.[13] Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York, and attended Massapequa High School on Long Island.[14][15] At 16, he spent time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel.[16] He attended the State University of New York at Oswego, and transferred after his second year to Queens College, City University of New York, from which he graduated in 1976 with a degree in communications and theater.[17][18]

Career[edit]

1976–1987: Rise to prominence[edit]

Seinfeld developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. He appeared on open-mic nights at Budd Friedman's Improv Club while attending Queens College.[19] After graduation in 1976, he tried out at an open-mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.[20] In 1980, he had a small recurring role on the sitcom Benson, playing Frankie, a mail-delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear. Seinfeld was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences.[20] Seinfeld said that he was not told he had been fired until he arrived for a read-through session and found that there was no script for him.[21] In January 1981, he performed stand-up on An Evening at the Improv.[22] In May, Seinfeld made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience, leading to frequent appearances on that show and others, including Late Night with David Letterman.[20] On September 5, 1987, his first one-hour special Stand-Up Confidential aired live on HBO.[23]

Books[edit]

Seinfeld wrote the book SeinLanguage, released in 1993. Written as his television show was first rising in popularity, it is primarily an adaptation of his stand-up material. The title comes from an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the numerous catchphrases for which the show was responsible.[55] In 2002, he wrote the children's book Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett.[56] Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron.[57] Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook. In October 2020, Seinfeld released his new book Is This Anything?. The book chronicles Seinfeld's 45 years working in comedy and contains many of his best bits that span from various decades.[58]

Thank You Masked Man (1972)

Lenny Bruce

Class Clown (1972)

George Carlin

Let's Get Small (1977)

Steve Martin

The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart (1960)

Bob Newhart

and Elaine MayImprovisations to Music (1958)

Mike Nichols

Seinfeld has stated, "On the Mount Rushmore of stand-up comedy, there are four faces, in my opinion: Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Cosby, and Don Rickles."[59] Seinfeld has also cited as his influences Jean Shepherd,[60] Mad Magazine,[61] Jonathan Winters, Jerry Lewis, Robert Klein, and Abbott and Costello.[62][63] He stated, "Monty Python was a gigantic influence on me. They were just about silly, funny things that meant nothing, and that’s the stuff I love. There’s a wonderful childlike freedom in those kinds of things."[64]


In the Netflix comedy special, Jerry Before Seinfeld, he displayed his personal comedy albums collection from when he was a teenager.[65] These albums included:


In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Seinfeld stated his five favorite films are The Heartbreak Kid (1972), The Graduate (1967), The In-Laws (1979), A Night at the Opera (1935), and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992).[66]


Those influenced by Seinfeld include John Mulaney, Jim Gaffigan, Judd Apatow, Ellen DeGeneres, and Issa Rae.[67][68][69][70][71]

(1993)

SeinLanguage

(2002)

Halloween

(2020)

Is This Anything?

(1992)

American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series

American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1993)

Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1996)

Nominated – American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1999)

Official website

at IMDb

Jerry Seinfeld

on Twitter

Jerry Seinfeld

on Instagram

Jerry Seinfeld

at the Internet Broadway Database

Jerry Seinfeld

at Curlie

Jerry Seinfeld

collected news and commentary at The New York Times

Jerry Seinfeld