Michael Richards (1993)

Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor and former stand-up comedian. He achieved global recognition for starring as Cosmo Kramer on the NBC television sitcom ''Seinfeld'' from 1989 to 1998. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first entering the national spotlight when he was featured on Billy Crystal's first cable TV special, and went on to become a series regular on ABC's '' Fridays''.

From 1989 to 1998, he played Cosmo Kramer on ''Seinfeld'', three times receiving the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. During the run of ''Seinfeld'', he made a guest appearance in ''Mad About You'', reprising his role as Kramer. Richards also made numerous guest appearances on a variety of television shows, such as ''Cheers''. His film credits include ''So I Married an Axe Murderer'', ''Airheads'', ''Young Doctors in Love'', '' Problem Child'', ''Coneheads'', ''UHF'', and ''Trial and Error'', one of his few starring roles. In 2000, he starred in his own sitcom, ''The Michael Richards Show'', which was canceled after only two months.

In 2006, Richards was filmed going on a racist tirade against hecklers while performing at the Laugh Factory in California. After the tape was obtained and released by TMZ, significant backlash and media coverage led to Richards retiring from stand-up in early 2007. In 2009, he appeared as himself in the seventh season of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' alongside his fellow ''Seinfeld'' cast members for the first time since the show’s finale. In 2013, he portrayed Frank in the sitcom '' Kirstie'', which was canceled after one season. He most recently played Daddy Hogwood in the 2019 romantic comedy '' Faith, Hope & Love''.

Early life

Richards was born in Culver City, California, to a Catholic family. He is the son of Phyllis (née Nardozzi), a medical records librarian. As a child, Richards was told his father was William Richards, an electrical engineer, who died in a car crash when Michael was two. He later learned his mother's pregnancy was the result of a sexual assault and that she considered abortion and adoption before deciding to raise him as a single mother. Richards was also raised by a grandmother who suffered from schizophrenia.

Richards graduated from Thousand Oaks High School. In 1968, he appeared as a contestant on ''The Dating Game'' but was not chosen for a date. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1970. He trained as a medic and was stationed in West Germany, where he was a member of a theatrical group called The Training Road Show. He became interested in performing after taking a theatrical class in seventh grade.

After being honorably discharged, Richards used the benefits of the G.I. Bill to enroll in the California Institute of the Arts and earned a Bachelor of Arts in drama from the Evergreen State College in 1975. He also had a short-lived improv act with Ed Begley Jr. During this period, he enrolled at Los Angeles Valley College and continued to appear in student productions.

Career

1979–1989: Early career

Richards got his big TV break in 1979, appearing in Billy Crystal's first cable TV special. In 1980, he began as one of the cast members on ABC's '' Fridays'' television show, where Larry David was a fellow cast member and writer. It included a famous instance in which Andy Kaufman refused to deliver his scripted lines, leading Richards to bring the cue cards on screen to Kaufman, who responded by throwing his drink into Richards's face, causing a small riot (Richards later claimed he was in on the joke).Michael Richards 'Speaking Freely' transcript
via First Amendment Center, Recorded February 28, 2002, in Aspen, Colorado The film '' Man on the Moon'' featured a re-enactment of the Andy Kaufman incident where Richards was portrayed by actor Norm Macdonald.

In 1981, he appeared in the ''It's a Living'' episode "Desperate Hours". In 1986, Richards had a minor role in the cult satirical TV miniseries ''Fresno'', playing one of a pair of inept criminal henchmen. That same year he auditioned to play Al Bundy in the TV series '' Married... with Children'', but he was passed over for Ed O'Neill. In 1989, Richards had a supporting role in "Weird Al" Yankovic's comedy film ''UHF'' as janitor Stanley Spadowski. On television, he appeared in ''Miami Vice'' as an unscrupulous bookie; in ''St. Elsewhere'' as a television producer making a documentary about Dr. Mark Craig; in ''Cheers'' as a character trying to collect on an old bet with Sam Malone; and made several guest appearances with Jay Leno as an accident-prone fitness expert.

According to an interview with executive producer David Hoberman, ABC first conceived the series ''Monk'' as a procedural police comedy with an Inspector Clouseau–like character suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Hoberman said ABC wanted Richards to play Adrian Monk, but he turned it down.

1989–2005: ''Seinfeld'' and rise to prominence

In 1989, Richards was cast as Cosmo Kramer in the NBC television series ''Seinfeld'', created by fellow ''Fridays'' cast member Larry David and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Although it got off to a slow start, by the mid-1990s it had become one of the most popular sitcoms in television history. It ended its nine-year run in 1998 at No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings. In ''Seinfeld'', Kramer is the neighbor across the hall of the show's eponymous character, and is usually referred to only by his last name. His first name, Cosmo, was revealed in the sixth-season episode " The Switch".

Richards won more Emmys than any other ''Seinfeld'' cast member, taking home the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1993, 1994, and 1997 for his role as Kramer. When referring to speculation that he would launch a spin-off to ''Seinfeld'' about Kramer, Richards said he was not interested in doing so.Davis, Ivor (May 30, 1997)
Fame is a 'Trial' for Michael Richards
''Ventura County Star''. During the run of ''Seinfeld'', Richards made cameo appearances in several TV shows; he played himself in Episode2 of Season1 "The Flirt Episode" (1992) of the HBO series ''The Larry Sanders Show''. He also had a cameo role in the comedy thriller film ''So I Married an Axe Murderer'', credited as "insensitive man". In 1996, Richards made a cameo in Epcot's Ellen's Energy Adventure, where he portrayed a caveman discovering fire. He played radio station employee Doug Beech in ''Airheads'', and co-starred with Jeff Daniels as an actor pretending to be a lawyer in 1997's ''Trial and Error''. He also made guest appearances on ''Miami Vice'', ''Night Court'' and ''Cheers''.

In 2000, two years after the end of ''Seinfeld'', Richards began work on a new series for NBC, his first major project since ''Seinfeld''s finale. ''The Michael Richards Show'', for which Richards received co-writer and co-executive producer credits, was conceived as a comedy/mystery starring Richards as a bumbling private investigator. When the first pilot failed with test audiences, NBC ordered that the show be retooled into a more conventional, office-based sitcom before its premiere. After a few weeks of poor ratings and negative reviews, it was canceled. Critics said the show was too "Kramer-esque" and Richards invoked the so-called " ''Seinfeld'' curse" as to why the show failed.

Starting in 2004, he and his fellow ''Seinfeld'' cast members provided interviews and audio commentaries for the ''Seinfeld'' DVDs. Richards stepped down from providing audio commentary after Season5, though he continued to provide interviews.

2006–2012: Laugh Factory incident and aftermath

During a performance on November 17, 2006, at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, California, Richards launched into a rant using racist epithets and remarks in response to repeated heckling and interruptions from a small group of Black and Hispanic audience members. Richards was recorded shouting "He's a nigger!" several times and making references to lynching, ''Planet of the Apes'', and the Jim Crow laws. Kyle Doss, a member of the group that Richards addressed, said the group had arrived in the middle of the performance and were "being a little loud". According to Doss:

The incident remained unknown to the larger public for three days until a cellphone video filmed by a member of the audience was obtained and released by TMZ. On November 20, after the video made rounds around the news, Jerry Seinfeld invited Richards to appear via satellite during a broadcast of the ''Late Show with David Letterman'', where Richards was recorded saying: "I'm not doing too good. I lost my temper on stage, I was at a comedy club trying to do my act and I got heckled and I took it badly and went into a rage. And uh, said some pretty, uh, nasty things to some Afro-Americans." Many studio audience members laughed as Richards began his unscripted explanation and apology, thinking it was a bit, leading Seinfeld to reprimand them, saying: "Stop laughing. It's not funny." Richards said he had been trying to defuse the heckling by being even more outrageous but it had backfired. He later called civil rights leaders Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to apologize. He also appeared as a guest on Jackson's syndicated radio show. Doss stated that he did not accept Richards's apology, saying: "If he wanted to apologize, he could have contacted ... one of us out of the group. But he didn't. He apologized on-camera just because the tape got out."

Richards's popularity among the general public declined after the tape was released. A Gallup poll conducted in late November found that only 41 percent of Americans still held a favorable view of Richards. By contrast, other ''Seinfeld'' cast members' favorability ratings were in the 70s and 80s.Newport, Frank (December 1, 2006)
Gauging the Impact of the Michael Richards Incident
'' Gallup Inc.''. The same poll also found that 45 percent of non-whites expressed a negative view of Richards due to the incident. The incident was parodied on several TV shows, including ''Mad TV'', ''Family Guy'', ''South Park'', '' Extras'' and ''Monday Night Raw''. In the ninth episode of the seventh season of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'', Richards appeared as himself and poked fun at the incident. In 2008, rapper Wale referenced the incident and used recordings of the incident as well as Richards's apology, in the song "The Kramer" on ''The Mixtape About Nothing'' album.

One year after the incident, Richards voiced character Bud Ditchwater in the animated film ''Bee Movie'', which starred and was produced by Jerry Seinfeld. In 2009, Richards and the other main ''Seinfeld'' cast members appeared in the seventh season of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm''. In 2012, he appeared in the comedy web series ''Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee'', hosted by Seinfeld, in which he remarked on the 2006 incident. In the episode, Richards explained that the outburst still haunted him and was a major reason for his retirement from stand-up.

2013–present: Recent years

In 2013, Richards was cast to play Frank in the sitcom '' Kirstie'', costarring Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman. It premiered on TV Land on December 4, 2013 and was canceled after one season. In 2014, Richards appeared as the president of Crackle in a trailer for Season5 of ''Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee''.

In 2019, Richards played Daddy Hogwood in the romantic comedy '' Faith, Hope & Love'' starring Peta Murgatroyd and Robert Krantz.

In June 2024, Richards released a memoir entitled ''Entrances and Exits''.

Personal life

Richards and his first wife, a family therapist, were married for 18 years. They have one daughter, born 1975. They separated in 1992 and divorced the following year. Through their daughter, Richards has two grandchildren.

In 2010, Richards married his girlfriend of eight years. They have one son, born 2011.

Richards is a Freemason.

Richards revealed in his 2024 memoir ''Entrances and Exits'' that he survived stage 1 prostate cancer in 2018 via the surgical removal of his entire prostate.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

* Richards, Michael (June 4, 2024). ''Entrances and Exits''. Permuted Press. .

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Michael
1949 births
20th-century American comedians
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American male actors
American Freemasons
American male comedians
American male film actors
American male television actors
American male voice actors
American sketch comedians
American stand-up comedians
American people of Italian descent
Anti-black racism in the United States
California Institute of the Arts alumni
Combat medics
Comedians from Los Angeles County, California
Evergreen State College alumni
Living people
Los Angeles Valley College people
Male actors from Los Angeles County, California
Military personnel from California
Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
Entertainers from Culver City, California
Thousand Oaks High School alumni
United States Army soldiers