Spike Feresten, a talented individual, was born and raised in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where he attended public school and gained his first work experience as a bag boy at the local supermarket. Despite his early start, Feresten's aspirations went beyond his humble beginnings, and he pursued a dream to become the next Jimi Hendrix, attending Berklee College of Music in Boston.
However, Feresten's path took an unexpected turn when he became disillusioned with his career choice and decided to drop four-foot fluorescent light bulbs out of his dorm room window, watching them shatter on the sidewalk eight stories below. Unfortunately, his stunt was caught, and he was subsequently evicted.
It was at this point that Feresten had a moment of clarity, realizing that if network television encouraged such behavior, he might have a future in the industry. This epiphany marked the beginning of his career in TV comedy.
Feresten's early career was marked by various positions, including an internship at NBC in New York, where he eventually landed a job as the receptionist for "Saturday Night Live" (SNL). During his time at SNL, he had the opportunity to pass jokes he had written to "Weekend Update's" Dennis Miller, which ultimately led to a staff-writing position at "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1990.
Feresten spent five years at "Late Night with David Letterman," earning five Emmy nominations, before leaving the late-night realm to join the writing staff of the groundbreaking sitcom "Seinfeld" in 1995. He wrote for three seasons, becoming a supervising producer in 1998, and garnered three additional Emmy nominations, including one for his iconic "Soup Nazi" episode, which has become part of pop culture vernacular.
In 2006, FOX selected Feresten to host his own late-night series, "Talkshow with Spike Feresten," which he also executive produced and co-wrote. The show's many viral videos made HULU's all-time most viewed list, beating out "Family Guy" and Tina Fey's Sarah Palin sketches.
Feresten has also written and developed other television comedies, penning episodes of "The Simpsons," "Space Ghost Coast to Coast," and "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment." He has worked with Jerry Seinfeld on several projects, including the animated feature "Bee Movie" and the 2012 Acura NSX Super Bowl Commercial.
In addition to his work in television, Feresten has launched several other projects, including his new cars and comedy show "Car Matchmaker with Spike Feresten" on the Esquire Network, which he launched in October 2014. He also co-wrote and produced the 2024 Netflix feature film "Unfrosted: The Pop Tart Story" starring Jerry Seinfeld and hosts one of the top automotive/comedy podcasts in the world, "Spike Car Radio."
