Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld, born April 29, 1954, is an American stand-up comedian,
actor, writer, producer, and director. He is widely known for playing himself
in the sitcom Seinfeld, which he created and wrote with Larry David. As
a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy; in 2005,
Comedy Central named Seinfeld the "12th Greatest Stand-up Comedian of All
Time.”
Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York City. His father, Kalman Seinfeld was of Hungarian
Jewish descent, and collected jokes that he heard while serving in World War II.
His mother, Betty was of Syrian Jewish descent. He holds a degree in
communications and theater.
Seinfeld developed an interest in standup comedy after brief stints in
college productions. In 1976, he tried out at an open-microphone night at New
York City's “Catch a Rising Star”, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield
HBO special. In May 1981, Seinfeld made a successful appearance on The
Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience and
leading to frequent appearances on that show and others, including Late
Night with David Letterman. In 1988, Seinfeld created The Seinfeld
Chronicles with Larry David for NBC. The show was later renamed Seinfeld
to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles.
Along with Seinfeld, the show starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia
Louis-Dreyfus and experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander.
Alexander played George, a caricature of Larry David. Seinfeld holds the
distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show.
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 catch-phrases for which the show was
responsible. By its fourth season, Seinfeld had become the most popular and
successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998, and
the show has been a popular syndicated re-run. After he ended his sitcom,
Seinfeld returned to New York City to make a comeback with his stand-up comedy
rather than stay in Los Angeles and continue 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. Seinfeld was
the first guest on Jay Leno's talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which
premiered on September 14, 2009.
Link to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about the storms on the night of the show here
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