| Birth Name: | Jerome Allen Seinfeld | ||
| Birth Date: | 29 April 1954 | ||
| Birth Place: | New York City, U.S. | ||
| Alma Mater: | State University of New York at Oswego Queens College, City University of New York (BA) | ||
| Active: | 1976–present | ||
| Genre: |
| ||
| Children: | 3 | ||
| Signature: | Seinfeldsignature.svg |
Jerome Allen Seinfeld (; born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. As a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy. Seinfeld has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for four Grammy Awards. In 2004, Comedy Central named him the 12th-greatest stand-up comedian of all time.[1] In 2017, Rolling Stone named him the 7th-greatest stand-up comedian of all time.[2]
Seinfeld gained stardom playing a semi-fictionalized version of himself in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and wrote with Larry David. Seinfeld earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1995. The show is one of the most acclaimed and popular sitcoms of all time.[3] [4] [5] He has since created and produced the reality series The Marriage Ref (2010–2011), and created and hosted the web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (2012–2019), the latter of which earned him three Webby Awards. He also co-produced, co-wrote, and starred in the DreamWorks animated film Bee Movie (2007) and the Netflix comedy Unfrosted (2024).
He has released four standup specials his first being Stand-Up Confidential (1987) followed by I'm Telling You for the Last Time (1998), Jerry Before Seinfeld (2017) and 23 Hours to Kill (2020). Seinfeld has also written three books starting with SeinLanguage (1993), followed by the children's book Halloween (2002), and the comedic compilation book Is This Anything? (2020). He is an avid fan of coffee and automobiles. He practices transcendental meditation. He is married to author and philanthropist Jessica Seinfeld, with whom he has three children.
Seinfeld was born on April 29, 1954,[6] to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York City.[7] His father, Kalmen Seinfeld,[8] a sign painter, was from Hungary and collected jokes that he heard while serving in World War II. His mother, Betty (née Hosni)[9] [10] and her parents, Selim and Salha Hosni,[11] were Mizrahi Jews from Aleppo, Syria. Their nationality was stated as Turkish when they immigrated in 1917, as Syria was under the Ottoman Empire.[12] [13] Seinfeld has an older sister, Carolyn.[14] 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.[15] Seinfeld's second cousin is musician and actor Evan Seinfeld.[16] Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York, and attended Massapequa High School on Long Island.[17] [18] At 16, he spent time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel.[19] 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.[20] [21]
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.[22] 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.[23] 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. 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.[24] In January 1981, he performed stand-up on An Evening at the Improv.[25] 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. On September 5, 1987, his first one-hour special Stand-Up Confidential aired live on HBO.[26]
Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1988 for NBC. It was renamed Seinfeld to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles. By its third season, Seinfeld had become the most watched sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998, and the show has been a popular syndicated re-run ever since. NBC offered Seinfeld $110 million—a record $5 million an episode for a 22-episode tenth season—but he declined.[27] Along with Seinfeld, the show starred Saturday Night Live alumna Julia Louis-Dreyfus and established actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. Alexander played George, a caricature of Larry David. Seinfeld is the only actor to appear in every episode.[28]
After he ended his sitcom, Seinfeld moved back to New York City and returned to stand-up comedy instead of staying in Los Angeles and furthering his acting career. In 1998, he went on tour and recorded a comedy special, titled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, which also featured fellow comic Orny Adams and was directed by Christian Charles. Seinfeld has written several books, mostly archives of past routines. In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with the advertising slogan "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan. This commercial showed people who were able to "think differently," such as Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and many others. It was later cut short to 30 seconds and altered such that Seinfeld was included at the end, although he had not been in the original cut. This shorter version of the commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.[29]
In 2004, Seinfeld appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, titled The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman.[30] In these, Seinfeld appeared with a cartoon rendering of Superman, to whom reference was made in numerous episodes of Seinfeld as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton (character David Puddy on Seinfeld). The webisodes were directed by Barry Levinson and aired briefly on television. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially recorded interview for the Today show. On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "puffy shirt" he wore in the Seinfeld episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "puffy shirt," saying humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life." On May 13, 2006, Seinfeld had a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live as host Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus in her opening monologue mentioned the "Seinfeld curse." While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage where Seinfeld was standing, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Damn it!" upset that it did not hit her. Louis-Dreyfus continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.
On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary." Before announcing the nominations, he did a monologue about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons.[31] On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a guest appearance as himself in the 30 Rock episode "SeinfeldVision."[32] On February 24, 2008, at the 80th Academy Awards, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his Bee Movie animated character Barry, presenting Best Animated Short Film. Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, saying that they were some of his early work (as Barry).
On June 2, 2008, amidst his spring 2008 tour, Seinfeld performed in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only show at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In August 2008, the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300-million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The ads, which were intended to create interest for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" advertisements, began airing in mid-September 2008. They were cut from television after three installments; Microsoft opted to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements[33] and run the Seinfeld ads on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.[34] In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. The fictional reunion took place in the seventh season's finale and starred most of the original cast, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, in a multiple-episode arc.[35] Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series Head Case. As was the case in many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms, he played himself.
In Australia, Seinfeld appeared on a series of advertisements for the Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and southeastern Queensland.[36] His appearance in these ads was highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial.[37] The advertisements were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located.[38] Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the 15 advertisements that were filmed. The ads largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches. Seinfeld was the first guest on Jay Leno's talk show The Jay Leno Show, which premiered on September 14, 2009. Seinfeld was featured on Saturday Night Lives Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. He executive produced and regularly appeared as a panelist in The Marriage Ref. On August 30, 2010, Seinfeld made a surprise guest appearance on The Howard Stern Show, ending the feud the two had in the early 1990s.
Seinfeld toured the U.S. in 2011 and made his first stand-up appearance in the United Kingdom in 11 years. In July 2011, he was a surprise guest on The Daily Show, helping Jon Stewart to suppress his urge to tell "cheap" "Michele Bachmann's husband acts gay" jokes.[39] Seinfeld also launched a personal archives website at JerrySeinfeld.com and appeared in the HBO special Talking Funny with fellow comedians Chris Rock, Louis C.K., and Ricky Gervais in the same year.
See main article: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. In 2012, Seinfeld started a web series titled Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, in which he would pick up a fellow comedian in a different car each episode and take them out for coffee and conversation. The show originally aired on the Crackle streaming service and then was bought by Netflix. The initial series consisted of ten episodes lasting from 7 to 25 minutes each. The show has continued to get high-profile guests such as Alec Baldwin, Mel Brooks, Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle, Louis C.K., Larry David, Ellen DeGeneres, Tina Fey, David Letterman, Jerry Lewis, Steve Martin, John Mulaney, Eddie Murphy, Carl Reiner, Don Rickles, Chris Rock, Howard Stern, and Jon Stewart.[40] The show has also hosted Seinfeld alums Larry David, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Michael Richards. Season seven featured its most high-profile guest, then-President Barack Obama.[41] In a farewell tribute video for the Obamas before the President left office, Seinfeld stated, "That knocking on the Oval Office window. That probably was the peak of my entire existence."[42]
In 2014, Seinfeld told David Letterman he invited Woody Allen to be on the show but hadn't heard back.[43] That same year he also revealed Joan Rivers was supposed to be a guest on the show before she died due to a botched medical procedure.[44] Seinfeld signed a deal with Netflix in January 2017 that included placing Seinfeld and Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee on their streaming service as well as two new Seinfeld stand-up specials and the development of scripted and non-scripted comedy programming.[45] [46] As part of the deal, all episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee were made available on the streaming service, in addition to a new 24-episode season.[47] The series was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards and won three Webby Awards.[48]
In June 2013, Seinfeld appeared on rapper Wale's album The Gifted, on the song "Outro About Nothing."[49] Seinfeld received coverage for his speech at the 2014 Clio Awards ceremony, where he received an honorary award, as media reporters said that he "mocked" and "ripped apart" the advertising industry; his statement that "I love advertising because I love lying" received particular attention.[50] [51] In 2014, Seinfeld hosted the special Don Rickles: One Night Only at the Apollo Theatre. The event celebrated Don Rickles and his career, but also served as a roast among friends. Those who participated in the event included Jon Stewart, David Letterman, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Nathan Lane, Regis Philbin, Robert De Niro, and Martin Scorsese.[52] On February 15, 2015, Seinfeld made a guest appearance on the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special, where he hosted the "Questions from the Audience" segment, which included cameos from Michael Douglas, John Goodman, James Franco, Larry David, Ellen Cleghorne, Dakota Johnson, Tim Meadows, Bob Odenkirk, and Sarah Palin (who Seinfeld initially mistook for Tina Fey).[53] On May 20, 2015, Seinfeld made a guest appearance on David Letterman's final Late Show episode. Seinfeld joined guests including Alec Baldwin, Barbara Walters, Steve Martin, Jim Carrey, Chris Rock, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Peyton Manning, Tina Fey, and Bill Murray who all participated in The Top Ten List segment, "Things I've Always Wanted to Say to Dave."[54]
In January 2017, Seinfeld went on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and joined Dave Chappelle and Jimmy Fallon in honoring outgoing First Lady Michelle Obama, and played a game of Catchphrase, which Obama and Fallon won to Seinfeld's dismay.[55] On September 19, 2017, Netflix released the stand-up comedy special Jerry Before Seinfeld. It follows Seinfeld as he returns for a stand-up routine at the New York City comedy club, Comic Strip Live, which started his career.[56] It is intercut with documentary clips and his stand-up special. It was later released as an LP, CD and download album, and was nominated for a 2018 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.[57] In 2020, it was announced that Netflix would be releasing Seinfeld's first original stand-up special in 22 years, 23 Hours to Kill. The special premiered on May 5.[58] In October 2020, Seinfeld joined Steve Martin in a discussion about comedy at The New Yorker Festival. They discussed subjects ranging from the creative process, Netflix, and The Oscars, to their comedy backgrounds, and the future of comedy during the COVID-19 pandemic.[59]
In 2024 he directed, co-wrote, and produced in the Netflix comedy film Unfrosted, a satirical spoof about the creation of Pop-Tarts. Seinfeld also starred in the film alongside Melissa McCarthy, Jim Gaffigan, and Hugh Grant. The film earned mixed reviews with The Hollywood Reporter writing the film received a "sharply divided reaction from critics".[60] The New York Times labeled it a "Critic's Pick" with Anne Nicholson describing it as a "full-fledged, fully ridiculous feature comedy targeted to the audience’s sweet-and-salty dopamine receptors".[61] David Ehrlich of IndieWire wrote that the "comedy never heats up" and "it’s a movie about so many different things at once that it comes to feel like a movie about nothing".[62] Seinfeld appeared as a guest on where he joked that it was "the weirdest talk show I've ever been on in my life".[63] He also embarked on a new tour starting with his first show in Singapore in June 2024[64] followed by a number of stops in Australia and North America.[65] Seinfeld returned to Curb Your Enthusiasm in its final season reuniting with Larry David where they poked fun at the controversial ending of Seinfeld. Ben Travers of IndieWire wrote, "If the Curb finale is meant to rewrite the Seinfeld ending in any way, it’s during that first scene between Jerry and Larry. They’re playing out the kind of scene they used to write for Jerry and George, and getting that silly, joyful spark between two TV legends — even for a moment — is pure bliss".[66]
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.[67] In 2002, he wrote the children's book Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett.[68] Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron.[69] 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.[70]
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."[71] Seinfeld has also cited as his influences Jean Shepherd, Mad Magazine,[72] Jonathan Winters, Jerry Lewis, Robert Klein, and Abbott and Costello.[73] [74] 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."[75]
In the Netflix comedy special, Jerry Before Seinfeld, he displayed his personal comedy albums collection from when he was a teenager.[76] 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).[77]
Those influenced by Seinfeld include John Mulaney,[78] Ellen DeGeneres,[79] Jim Gaffigan,[80] Judd Apatow,[81] Issa Rae,[82] Nate Bargatze,[83] andMark Normand.[84] On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Steve Martin described Seinfeld as one of his "retro heroes" saying "[He's] a guy who came up behind me and is better than I am. I think he's fantastic, I love to listen to him, he almost puts me at peace. I love to listen to him talk".[85]
Seinfeld is a fan of the New York Mets, and periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens."[86] Seinfeld called four innings of a Mets game on SportsNet New York on June 23, 2010, reuniting with analyst Keith Hernandez, who appeared in the Seinfeld two-part episode entitled "The Boyfriend."[87] According to Seinfeld, he thinks about baseball "all day" and has said "when I think of retirement, all I would think of is going to a baseball game every day."[88]
Seinfeld is left-handed and the first joke he ever wrote was about the topic.[89] In a 2014 interview with NBC News, he made statements suggesting that he believed he was on the autism spectrum.[90] However, following criticism for his alleged self-diagnosis, he later clarified that he is not autistic and had been commenting on a play about the condition that he "related to [...] on some level."[91] [92]
Seinfeld has made several political contributions, including to George W. Bush's and Al Gore's presidential campaigns in 2000, and subsequently to four Democratic Party primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.[93]
Years before Seinfeld was created, Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer.[94] [95] She was a fellow comedian, and one of the inspirations for the Seinfeld character Elaine Benes.[96] [97] On national television with sex therapist and talk show host Dr. Ruth Westheimer, he mentioned that he was engaged in 1984 but called it off.[98]
In May 1993, days after his 38th birthday, Seinfeld met 17-year-old Shoshanna Lonstein in Central Park.[99] After a brief conversation, Lonstein gave Seinfeld her phone number.[100] Lonstein was still a senior in high school and would turn 18 at the end of that month.[99] Seinfeld and Lonstein dated for approximately four years, until 1997.[99] She transferred from George Washington University to UCLA, in part to be with him, and cited constant press coverage and missing New York City as reasons for the relationship ending.[99]
The age difference led to intense media scrutiny. While Seinfeld was a guest on Howard Stern's talk show, Stern said, "so, you sit in Central Park and have a candy bar on a string and pull it when the girls come?" at which point Seinfeld replied, "she's not 17, definitely not."[101] A few months later, in his second Howard Stern interview, Seinfeld insisted, "I didn't realize she was so young. This is the only girl I ever went out with who was that young. I wasn't dating her. We just went to a restaurant, and that was it." Early in their relationship, Spy magazine referred to Lonstein as "a legal voter".[102]
In an October 1993 Playboy interview, Seinfeld described the reactions to the relationship as ranging "from horrified to just busting buttons with pride that they know me", noting that his female acquaintances had overall reacted more negatively than his male ones. He said that his assistant "was so mad" she punched him, whereas his mother was "thrilled". He concluded, "if she's 18, if she's intelligent, that's fine".[103] In March 1994, Seinfeld again defended their age difference in an interview with People, stating that "Shoshanna is a person, not an age." Julia Louis-Dreyfus said in a 1998 New York interview that she was in favor of the relationship, as "it was a happy one for him", and added that she did not believe there was anything wrong with it.[104]
In August 1998, while at a Reebok Sports Club, Seinfeld met Jessica Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger who had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with then-husband Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Unaware of Sklar's marital status, Seinfeld invited her out. When Sklar eventually told Seinfeld about her relationship situation, she said, "I told him I didn't think this was the right time for me to be involved with anybody." Two months later, Sklar filed for divorce and continued dating Seinfeld. The pair married on December 25, 1999.[105] [106] [107] Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding.[108] After the nuptials, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's house in Amagansett, Long Island, for US$32 million after news of the couple's interest in the property became public in 2000.[109] [110] The Seinfelds have a daughter and two sons.[111]
In 1999, Seinfeld auctioned a Breitling Chronomat watch as part of the "Famous Faces, Watch Auction For Charity" event in New York City. This watch sold for $11,000.[112] In 2001, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld created the charitable organization The Good+Foundation after their first child was born. Good+Foundation grants donations of products and services to programs that have demonstrated a capacity to address family poverty in three focus areas: supporting new mothers, investing in early childhood, and engaging fathers. GOOD+ Foundation has donated over $42M worth of items through its partner network across the United States.[113] Seinfeld has also participated in Jon Stewart's charity event, Night of Too Many Stars.[114]
According to Forbes magazine, Seinfeld's cumulative earnings from Seinfeld as of 2004 was $267 million, placing him at the top of the celebrity earnings list that year.[115] He turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show for a 10th season.[116] Seinfeld earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up performances in 2004, and $60 million in 2006.[117] [118] He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 advertisements for Windows.[119] Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the world's highest-paid comedian during those 12 months.[120] In 2013, Forbes documented Seinfeld's annual income as $32 million.[121] In mid-2013, Seinfeld disputed Forbes claims regarding his income and net worth on The Howard Stern Show.[122] Seinfeld was ranked by Forbes the highest-paid comedian for 2015, the second-highest-paid in 2016, and the highest-paid again in 2017.[123] [124] Seinfeld's income between June 2016 and June 2017 was $69 million.
In 2024, Bloomberg declared Seinfeld a billionaire, with a net worth standing at more than $1 billion, thanks to various syndication deals his sitcom signed, with $465 million coming from those deals.[125]
Seinfeld is an automobile enthusiast and collector, and he owns a collection of about 150 cars, including a large Porsche collection.[126] He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period during the 1990s for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection.[127] In 2002, Seinfeld purchased property on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City where he built a $1.4 million two-story garage to store part of his Porsche collection on the East Coast.[128] [129] One tally has Seinfeld owning 43 Porsches.[130] Paul Bannister has written that Seinfeld's collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color, and the 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean had been driving before he crashed that car and subsequently died.
The Discovery Channel television show Chasing Classic Cars claimed that Seinfeld owns the first and last produced air-cooled Porsche 911s. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 built. He was originally not allowed to drive it, because the car was "not street legal." U.S. emissions and crash tests had not been performed for the model because Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests. Seinfeld imported the car "for exhibition purposes," on the stipulation that it may never be driven on U.S. roads.[131] The car was made U.S. street legal in 1999 under the "Show or Display" federal law.[132] [133] Seinfeld wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of Automobile, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT.[134]
In 2008, Seinfeld was involved in a car accident when the brakes on his 1967 Fiat 500 failed and, to avoid an intersection, he pulled the emergency brake while turning sharply, ultimately causing the car to flip onto its side. No one was hurt.[135]
A coffee aficionado, Seinfeld owns multiple espresso machines, including the $17,000 Elektra Belle Epoque[136] and two machines manufactured by Slayer and Breville.[137] Seinfeld described his single-group Slayer machine, which costs upwards of $8,500, as a "beautiful machine."[138] When NPR asked him about the influence of coffee culture in the U.S., Seinfeld responded in 2013:
I never liked [coffee] and I didn't understand it and I used to do a lot of stuff in my stand-up set in the '80s and '90s about how I don't 'get' coffee. And then something happened about five years ago. I started touring a lot, and we would have these great big, fun breakfasts in the hotel and [coffee] just seemed to go really well [with breakfast]. [Now], I've just started this espresso thing.[139]
In a May 2024 GQ interview titled "10 Things Jerry Seinfeld Can't Live Without", Seinfeld revealed that a Bialetti moka pot is one of his must-haves. He described the process of making coffee with a moka pot as complex and time-consuming, but a pleasurable way to "waste time".[140]
Seinfeld is Jewish and has incorporated elements of his Jewish identity in his work.[141] Although he shared that his mother was born into a large family of Syrian Orthodox Jews, he admitted to being non-religious himself.[142] Seinfeld stated that he took a Scientology course when he was in his 20s; he said that he found it interesting but that he did not pursue it any further.[143]
Seinfeld expressed support for Israel during the Israel–Hamas war, saying "I will always stand with Israel and the Jewish people."[144] Seinfeld and his family previously drew criticism, travelling to the occupied West Bank in 2018 to participate in a terrorism simulation camp. [145] [146] Seinfeld also visited the headquarters of Abducted and Missing Families Forum where he met with representatives of the families and with abductees who returned from Hamas captivity, and listened to their stories.[147] On May 12, 2024, Seinfeld gave a commencement address and received an honorary degree at Duke University. During his speech, a number of students booed, waved Palestinian flags and walked out in protest.[148] [149] [150] [151] In June 2024, Seinfeld was heckled by protesters during a comedy show in Sydney, Australia. Seinfeld responded joking, "You’re really influencing everyone here. We’re all on your side now, because you’ve made your point so well, and in the right venue, you’ve come to the right place for a political conversation".[152] [153]
Seinfeld has expressed his distaste for political correctness and woke culture. In 2015, Seinfeld stated that he avoids performing on college campuses because students have become too easily offended by his comedic routines.[154] In a 2024 interview with The New Yorker, Seinfeld claimed political correctness was destroying comedy, saying, “This is the result of the extreme left and PC crap, and people worrying so much about offending other people. When you write a script and it goes into four or five different hands, committees, groups — 'Here's our thought about this joke' — well, that's the end of your comedy.”[155]
In December 2012, Seinfeld said that he had been practicing Transcendental Meditation for 40 years. He promoted the use of the technique in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder with Bob Roth of the David Lynch Foundation in December 2012 on Good Morning America,[156] and also appeared at a 2009 David Lynch Foundation benefit for TM, at which Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr appeared.[157] On November 5, 2015, the David Lynch Foundation organized a benefit concert at New York City's Carnegie Hall called "Change Begins Within" to promote transcendental meditation for stress control. "It's been the greatest companion technique of living that I've ever come across, and I'm thrilled to be part of this movement that seems to have really been reinvigorated by Bob [Roth] and David Lynch," Seinfeld said. "I would do anything that I could to promote it in the world, because I think it's the greatest thing as a life tool, as a work tool and just making things make sense."[158]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Eddie | Himself | Cameo | |
| Good Money | ||||
| 1999 | Pros & Cons | Prison Man #2 | ||
| 2002 | Comedian | Himself | Documentary; also executive producer | |
| 2005 | The Thing About My Folks | Cameo | ||
| 2007 | Bee Movie | Barry B. Benson | Voice; also co-writer and producer | |
| 2013 | Quality Balls: The David Steinberg Story | Himself | Documentary | |
| 2014 | Top Five | Uncredited cameo | ||
| Tom's Restaurant – A Documentary About Everything | Documentary | |||
| 2016 | Robert Klein Still Can't Stop His Leg | |||
| Dying Laughing | ||||
| 2017 | If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast | |||
| 2022 | George Carlin's American Dream | |||
| 2024 | Unfrosted | Bob Cabana | Also director, co-writer and producer[159] [160] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Benson | Frankie | 3 episodes |
| 1981 | An Evening at the Improv | Himself | Season 1, Episode 3 |
| 1982 | Square Pegs | Bat Mitzvah Guest | Episode: "Muffy's Bat Mitzvah" |
| An Evening at the Improv | Himself | Stand-up special | |
| 1984 | The Ratings Game | Network Rep | Television film |
| 1986 | Rodney Dangerfield It's Not Easy Bein' Me | Himself | Stand-up special. Released on DVD in 2006. |
| 1987 | Stand-Up Confidential | Stand-up special. Released on VHS in 1993. | |
| 1989–1998 | Seinfeld | Jerry Seinfeld | 180 episodes; also co-creator, writer and executive producer |
| 1992 | Carol Leifer: Gaudy, Bawdy & Blue | Himself | Television film |
| 1992, 1999 | Saturday Night Live | Himself (host) | 2 episodes |
| 1993 | Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher | Panel Guest | First episode |
| Love & War | Jerry Seinfeld | Episode: "Let's Not Call it Love" | |
| 1993–1998 | The Larry Sanders Show | Himself | 2 episodes |
| 1994 | Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld | Host | TV special; released on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray |
| 1997 | NewsRadio | Himself | Episode: "The Real Deal" |
| 1998 | I'm Telling You for the Last Time | Comedy special | |
| Mad About You | Uncredited; Episode: "Season Opener" | ||
| 1999 | Television special | ||
| 2000 | Dilbert | Comp-U-Comp | Voice; Episode: "The Return" |
| 2004–2024 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Himself | 7 episodes |
| 2007 | 30 Rock | Episode: "SeinfeldVision" | |
| 2010–2011 | The Marriage Ref | 9 episodes; also creator and executive producer | |
| 2011 | Talking Funny | Television special, HBO | |
| 2012–2014 | Louie | 2 episodes | |
| 2012–2019 | Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee | Himself (host) | 72 episodes; also creator and executive producer |
| 2014 | Television special | ||
| 2015 | Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special | Himself | |
| Inside Amy Schumer | Episode: "80s Ladies" | ||
| 2016 | The Jim Gaffigan Show | Episode: "The Calling" | |
| Maya & Marty | Episode #1.5 | ||
| 2017 | Mystery Science Theater 3000 | Freak Masterstroke | Episode: "Starcrash" |
| Jerry Before Seinfeld | Himself | ||
| 2018 | My Next Guest Needs No Introduction | Himself (host) | Episode: "You're David Letterman, You Idiot" |
| 2019 | Huge in France | Himself | Episode: "Épisode Quatre"[161] |
| 2020 | 23 Hours to Kill | Netflix comedy special | |
| 2024 | Episode: "Coyotes"[162] |
| Year | Title | Studio |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Colin Quinn Long Story Short | HBO |
| 2016 | Colin Quinn: The New York Story | Netflix |
| 2024 | Unfrosted | Netflix |
Writing credits for Seinfeld
The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he (and Larry David in Seasons 1 through 7) rewrote the drafts for each episode.
| Season | Episode | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | "The Seinfeld Chronicles" | with Larry David | |
| "Male Unbonding" | with Larry David | ||
| "The Stake Out" | with Larry David | ||
| "The Stock Tip" | with Larry David | ||
| Season 2 | "The Ex-Girlfriend" | with Larry David | |
| "The Pony Remark" | with Larry David | ||
| "The Busboy" | with Larry David | ||
| "The Jacket" | with Larry David | ||
| "The Chinese Restaurant" | with Larry David | ||
| "The Phone Message" | with Larry David | ||
| Season 3 | "The Stranded" | with Larry David and Matt Goldman | |
| Season 4 | "The Shoes" | with Larry David | |
| Season 5 | "The Sniffing Accountant" | with Larry David | |
| "The Raincoats" | with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross | ||
| "The Opposite" | with Larry David and Andy Cowan | ||
| Season 6 | "The Kiss Hello" | with Larry David | |
| Season 7 | "The Cadillac" | with Larry David |
| Year | Title | Studio | Format | class=unsortable | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Stand-Up Confidential | HBO | [165] | ||
| 1998 | I'm Telling You for the Last Time | HBO | Broadcast/streaming/VHS/DVD | [166] | |
| 2017 | Jerry Before Seinfeld | Netflix | Streaming | [167] | |
| 2020 | 23 Hours to Kill | Netflix | Streaming | [168] | |
| Year | Title | Studio | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | "Laughing Out Loud: America's Funniest Comedians" | Madacy Entertainment | VHS/DVD |
| 2003 | "Best of The Improv, Vol. 4" | Koch Vision | DVD |
| 2007 | "Comedy Club Greats" | Lionsgate | |
| 2010 | "Lafflink Presents: The Platinum Comedy Series Vol. 1: Jerry Seinfeld" | Lafflink | DVD/streaming |
| 2014 | "Classic Comedy from An Evening at the Improv" | Somerville House | |
| 2015 | "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Featuring Jerry Seinfeld" | Carson Entertainment | |
See main article: List of awards and nominations received by Jerry Seinfeld. Over the his career he has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for four Grammy Awards. Seinfeld has received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Queens College (1994)[170] [171] as well as an Honorary Doctor of Arts from Duke University (2024)[172]