Razor-sharp Jerry Seinfeld might have conquered the TV world, but Matt Lloyd discovers it's stand-up comedy which fires his passion.

For some comedians life on the road can be a long hard slog – a dog’s life.

But after 37 years in the business – creating one of the most successful television shows ever in the process – it is man’s best friend to which Jerry Seinfeld compares his craft.

“It’s just like having a dog,” he says, describing his 2012 tour, which includes UK dates in Birmingham and Manchester next month.

“If you have a dog you walk him every day, feed him every day, you get him groomed and give him a bath and it’s always the same but it’s always a little different.

“It will be a work in progress and it changes week in week out.”

Starting out as a stand up in his native New York in 1975, it is a work in progress nearly four decades in the making.

After the success of the sitcom Seinfeld, which he co-created with fellow comic Larry David, it was the love of stand-up which drew the 57-year-old back to the stage.

Reportedly offered $5 million dollars an episode for a tenth series of the show, Seinfeld remained adamant the time was right to pull the plug.

Instead he returned to his first love – hitting the road and performing material to comedy club crowds away from the glare of prime time TV.

His efforts to write and perform all new material were recorded in documentary The Comedian and UK audiences got their first taste of Seinfeld’s take on life last year when he appeared at London’s O2 Arena.

Next month’s performances at Birmingham’s NIA and the MEN Arena, Manchester, have seen a similar take up.

“Somebody must have been watching,” he says. “In England and Ireland we’ve done well.

“I love London, I always find it exciting, I love English culture, I really feel it’s the birthplace of what I do – theatre and comedy.

“It comes from a love of language and playing with ideas through language so it’s always a thrill live performing in England.”

Growing up in the 60s, Seinfeld has cited influences such as Phil Silvers and comedy team Abbott and Costello.

But the UK’s surreal silliness of Monty Python also registered in his comedic radar.

“My first real excitement about British comedy was Python in the early 70s.

“We got that show and I went bonkers over it. That was silliness and juvenility I really responded to – the ministry of silly walks and the pet shop was right up my street.

“There was nothing like Python.”

As the Monty Python team were winning international acclaim, Seinfeld landed the job as MC at New York’s Comedy Strip in 1976.

Earning $25-a-night, three nights a week, the 22-year-old quit work and became a full-time comedian.

It was here he developed his razor-sharp observational routines which eventually led to the networks knocking on his door.