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Seinfeld was born in New York City. His father was of Hungarian Jewish background and his mother, Betty, came from a background of Syrian Jews. He grew up in Massapequa, New York. He attended Birch Lane Elementary School and Massapequa High School. In 1971, while aged 17, he spent a short period of time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel. He went to State University of New York at Oswego but transferred and graduated from Queens College, City University of New York. During his time in college, he was an amateur wrestler who called himself "The Jewish Terror". He developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions.[1] Right after graduation from Queens College, City University of New York, he tried out at an open mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star in 1976. Soon after, he appeared in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special. When he first started doing stand-up comedy, his mother and sister said he would never be as funny as his father.

Seinfeld had a small recurring role as "Frankie", a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear, on the Benson sitcom in 1979 but he was abruptly fired from the show.

In May 1981, Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He then became a regular on similar shows, including Late Night with David Letterman and The Merv Griffin Show. He was known for his incredibly dedicated and devoted work ethic, it is said that he traveled in an intense snow storm to a comedy club just to find it empty. He was ranked #12 in Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.