The film follows comedian Jerry Seinfeld as he develops an entirely new act, having retired his old stand-up comedy act after wrapping production on his enormously successful sitcom Seinfeld and recording the 1998 HBO comedy special I'm Telling You for the Last Time.

The many other recognizable comedians who appear in the film, some of whom talk with Seinfeld about their craft, and some of whom are only glimpsed briefly, include (in order of appearance): Greg Giraldo, Jim Norton, Colin Quinn, George Wallace, Robert Klein, Tom Papa, Mario Joyner, Ray Romano, Godfrey, Chris Rock, Garry Shandling, Kevin Nealon, Jay Leno, and Bill Cosby.

[1] The film was theatrically released in the United States on October 11, 2002, and grossed almost $2.8 million domestically.

The website's "critics' consensus" reads: "Comedian is an insightful look at the hard work of creating comedy.

"[3] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 62 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.