Comic claims hit show owes him millions

Fringe performer Joey West says Jerry Seinfeld owes him millions of dollars for ripping off the idea for his hugely successful sitcom.

West says it was he who put Seinfeld in touch with Larry David, the other creative force behind the show, who came up with the idea for a "show about nothing" and who provided many of the ideas used in the series.

Former stand-up West was publishing a raft of pot-boiler humour books such as The Ultimate Dumb Blonde Joke Book and 128 Ways To Say I Love You To Your Cat when he first encountered Seinfeld in connection with a comedians' cook book.

He says they often spoke on the phone, and one day the comic announced that he had secured a meeting with NBC to discuss comedy projects.

In his Edinburgh show recounting his story, West says: "I told Jerry that he should base the show around him trying to scheme his way onto TV. I told him to give them something real and show how his life fuels his comedy."

West says he put him in touch with David, with whom he had worked on Saturday Night Live, and suggested that Seinfeld use extracts from his stand-up act into the narrative.

He also claims to have originated a number of storylines, such as the dentist who converted to Judaism for the jokes and Kramer's coffee table book about coffee tables, and says that the writers based hack comic Kenny Banya on him, using his phrase "That's gold, Jerry".

West added: "Seinfeld's address - 129 West 81st Street. That was my New York address - at least I think it was." Other sources say that address is where Seinfeld himself lived while a jobbing comic.

West also said he submitted a sample script in a bid to get a writing job on the show - and that ideas from that script made their way onto the show, including the series finale that was slammed by critics - even though he didn't land job.

However, West says he is reluctant to sue those behind the show because "these people were my friends". He even ghost-wrote Seinfeld's autobiography Sein Language, which netted him more money that the joke books.

American network NBC, which aired the show, did not respond to Chortle's request for a comment about West's claims.

The Seinfeld Conspiracy

Published: 10 Aug 2002