Funds for Trade Center victims

Jerry Seinfeld has raised $1.85million for New York rescue workers with a benefit gig.

However his Carnegie Hall show, which also featured Bill Cosby, Chris Rock and others, was not the expected sell-out.

High ticket prices were blamed for the empty seats, which cost from $100 to $2,500

According to one box office source: "Although New York was excited to have Seinfeld back on the stage, the tickets were probably a little overpriced, especially when most people didn't even want to leave their homes at a time like this."

But Seinfeld was delighted with the total raised, saying: "I'm overwhelmed by the amount of support."

The gig was a critical as well as a financial success, with the comic lauded as better than ever, two years after he last played his home town.

Seinfeld touched on the September 11 tragedies, even breaking his own no-swearing rule during a routine about sending a message to the terrorists.

He said the World Trade Center should be rebuilt as three towers, "And a word [written] on each one . . . Go. Fuck Yourself."

Fox News's Roger Friedman said: "The new Seinfeld is much like the old, only better, more mature and improved."

Fellow sitcom legend Bill Crosby was also praised for his typically gentle observational routine, but Chris Rock flopped, especially with a dubious routine branding pro-abortionists promiscuous.

Friedman wrote: "Rock was even heckled by someone at the rear of the Carnegie orchestra section. It was probably a first."

The money raised will go to New York mayor Rudolph Giulliani's Twin Towers Fund, which has raised £54million ($78m) for firefighters and other rescue workers killed or injured in the tragedy.

Published: 11 Oct 2001