AUGUST 2018 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 17
KING OF COMEDY KEEPS US LAUGHING
Zach Galifianakis and Jerry Seinfeld appear in a Jurassic Park-themed version of Comedians in Cars Getting
Coffee.
writers. We were cooking up ideas
all day every day; that is all we did.
Of all the episodes, which was
was your favorite that still makes
you laugh? I really loved the marine
biologist one when Kramer hit the
golf ball in the blowhole of the whale
and George found it trying to save
the whale pretending to be a marine
biologist. I thought that was the best
bit we ever came up with. That was a
funny bit.
Changing gears, how was it
growing up in Massapequa? I wish
I had realized how great it was at the
time. Now that I am a parent I see that
I had the greatest possible childhood
in Massapequa. Just being able to
jump on my Schwinn Stingray and
ride all day long and visit my friends
and hang out and go up and down the
streets. Nobody knew where I was. It
was total freedom and safety. I didn’t
realize how great that was because
kids don’t do that anymore.
When you were a student at
Massapequa High School were you
known for being funny? Yes, I was
very funny, but I didn’t think I was
funny enough to be a comedian. I
remember everybody was funny.
Do you still have family on Long
Island? No, just me. I am out on the
East End of Long Island now. I love
it. Everyday, I remember the sound
of those birds and those trees. There
is just a light on Long Island that is
unique and I have been all over the
world, but there is just something
about the light on Long Island. I love
to hear those birds and I remember
those birds and I am like, there are
those birds again that I remember
when I was a kid. And I get kind of
lost, as I guess a lot of people do when
reminiscing about their childhood.
Are there any favorite places you
went to as a kid? Mister Donut was
the place we used to go to on Sunrise
Highway. They don’t exist anymore.
Massapequa Diner and Pizza Supreme
in the Bar Harbour Shopping
Center and their snack bar.
Do you ever go back to the old
neighborhood to visit? When
you do, how is it? Sometimes I will
drive around to my old stops. Alec
Baldwin and I did our new episode,
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,
in Massapequa. It was fantastic. We
were like the heroes. We walked into
the same Massapequa Diner that was
there when I was a kid.
Did you have a nickname growing
up? Seiny. I didn’t like it. People
still call me that even today.
Everyone knows you as Jerry, but
your formal name is Jerome. You
don’t look like a Jerome. Does anyone
call you that? George Wallace,
the comedian, calls me Jerome.
What is next for Jerry Seinfeld? I
love doing Comedians in Cars and I
want to be doing this for a while.
Michael Richards, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Jerry
Seinfeld are Kramer, Elaine, George and Jerry in the hit sitcom
Seinfeld.
SEINFELD’S
MILESTONES
1954: Born April 29 in Brooklyn.
1972: Graduates Massapequa High
School.
1976: Graduates Queens College
with a degree in theater and
communications.
1979: Plays Frankie, a mail delivery
boy on the ABC sitcom Benson.
1981: Appears on The Tonight Show
Starring Johnny Carson and Late
Night with David Letterman.
1988: Creates The Seinfeld
Chronicles with Larry David for NBC.
The show is later renamed Seinfeld.
By the fourth season, the show
was rated most popular sitcom on
American television.
1992-1993: American Comedy
Award for Funniest Male Performer
in a TV Series.
1993: The book Seinlanguage comes
out and is listed on The New York
Times Best Seller list.
1993: Recipient of the Golden Globe
Award for Best Actor - Television
Series Musical or Comedy.
1993: Wins Primetime Emmy Award
for Outstanding Comedy Series and
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy
series
1994: Wins Screen Actors Guild
Award for Outstanding Performance
by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
1998: The last Seinfeld airs, running
for a total of nine seasons with 180
episodes.
2000: Appears as Comp-U-Comp in
an animated television series, Dilbert.
The series won the Primetime Emmy.
2004: Makes a cameo appearance
as himself in the improvised
American comedy series, Curb Your
Enthusiasm.
2005: Comedy Central names
Seinfeld the 12th Greatest Stand-up
Comedian of All Time.
2007: Produced and co-wrote the
script for the computer animated film
the Bee Movie, and played the voice
role of Barry B. Benson.
2009: Appears on the reunion episode
of Curb Your Enthusiasm.
2010: Executive producer of the TV
reality show and panel game The
Marriage Ref.
2012: Creator and host of the web
series comedy Comedians in Cars
Getting Coffee.