Comedian : Miramax

If you see Comedian expecting a concert film with Jerry Seinfeld, you'll be disappointed. But if you're looking for an incisive--almost surgical--examination of the psyche of a stand-up comedian, this is your movie. Comedian zigzags back and forth between the hugely successful Seinfeld, who's trying to get back to his stand-up roots by developing an entirely new act, and an unknown comic named Orny Adams, whose naked craving for success is almost painful to behold. Adams lays bare his ego to an embarrassing degree; Seinfeld is more subtle but just as revealing about the fears and anxieties that drive him to go back on stage. By following these two through comedy clubs, festivals, and spots on David Letterman's talk show, the documentary cunningly explores how jokes are put together, the in-the-trenches camaraderie (tinged with competition) of stand-ups, and the sheer existential terror of trying to make people laugh. --Bret Fetzer - $2.98

Seinfeld: The Making of an American Icon : HarperCollins

If you think you know Jerry Seinfeld from his show, think again.

Because of a carefully honed publicity machine, and through savvy marketing, millions of rabid Seinfeld fans are convinced that the TV Jerry and the real-life Jerry are one and the same. But that's not the case.

From the time Jerry was a lonely, bashful, introverted kid hiding out in his blue plaid-wallpapered bedroom in his parents' modest house on Long Island in the 1960s, he had an unlikely dream: To become one of America's best-known and most popular standup comics ever. Home alone, he watched his comedic idols on a small, fuzzied-image black-and-white TV, or listened to them on his scratchy portable hi-fi -- Abbott and Costello, Bill Cosby, among others.

Seinfeld: The Making of an American Icon is the never-before-told story of how Jerry made his dream come true -- of how this very ambitious, extremely driven, compulsively perfectionistic son of a Jewish sign peddler who once hustled bogus holy water from Lourdes carefully worked his way up through the knock-down-drag-out world of stand-up comedy as it began to explode in the mid-1970s, and how he went on to cocreate in the late 80s what is considered to be the most brilliant and successful must-see TV sitcom in the history of the medium.

From the start, Jerry has been extremely private about all aspects of his personal life. But now this very complex and enigmatic funnyman is revealed, sometimes as loving, compassionate, and sensitive, other times as dark and steely. But always fascinating.

For more than a year, bestselling investigative biographer Jerry Oppenheimer conducted in-depth interviews with scores of Jerry's closest friends, family members, business associates, lovers, and fellow comedians who spoke candidly and on the record for the first time, painting a riveting portrait of the beloved and talented comedian.

This is a book about Seinfeld the man, not Seinfeld the show. It also is a sweeping look at the very serious, often degrading big-money world of standup comedy and network TV, where some die and others, like Jerry Seinfeld, become royalty. Seinfeld: The Making of an American Icon is no laughing matter.

Jerry Seinfeld: Much Ado About Nothing : Ecw Press

Jerry Seinfeld is the master of observational humor. Pointing at the small absurdities of daily life, Seinfeld makes his audience laugh with recognition. For many years a stand-up comic, Seinfeld is now the star of his own phenomenally successful television show, Seinfeld. But the road hasn't always been easy; at his first stand-up performance, he froze. This first unauthorized biography follows his rise to stardom. Also included is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Seinfeld. - $6.99

Seinlanguage : Bantam

Seinlanguage could easily be subtitled The World According to Jerry. First published in 1993, when Seinfeld the sitcom was establishing itself as the funniest half-hour on television, this is a collection of Jerry's musings on everything from relationships to shushing in movie theatres. Observational comedy may have reached epidemic proportions recently, but Jerry Seinfeld was, and is, the master of his domain.

"I will never understand why they cook on TV. I can't smell it. Can't eat it. Can't taste it. The end of the show they hold it up to the camera, 'Well, here it is. You can't have any. Thanks for watching. Goodbye.'"

Eons hence, scholars may ponder the mysteries of this book in the same way that they now ponder the fragments of Heraclitus. Until then, Seinlanguage will continue to provide guaranteed chuckles in a neat and tidy package. Kind of like Jerry himself. --Simon Leake - $0.01