Stand-up documentary ready

Jerry Seinfeld has completed a behind-the-scenes documentary about his stand-up show.

The film, Comedian, is set to be screened in cinemas, although no US release date has been set.

Seinfeld put up all the money for the project, in which film-makers followed him on a string of US dates over an 18-month period after his hugely successful sitcom ended.

Footage is almost entirely backstage. Some of Seinfeld's material will appear in the movie, but extracts are said to be brief and not the focus of the film.

Hollywood trade bible Variety says the documentary shows a "post-bachelorhood" Seinfeld, " a less private comic able to mock singleness and marriage at the same time".

Other comics who appear in the movie include Chris Rock and Garry Shandling, star of The Larry Sanders Show.

Distributor Miramax has picked up the cinema and video rights to the 100-minute documentary.

Meanwhile, Seinfeld is appearing in a benefit gig in his native New York on May 6 for his wife's charity Baby Buggy, which collects baby clothing to needy youngsters in the city.

Published: 16 Apr 2002