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Michael Richards
Michael Richards at the 45th Emmy Awards, August, 1993
Height6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
SpouseCathleen Richards (1974 - 1992; divorced) 1 child
For other people named Michael Richards, see Michael Richards (disambiguation).

Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American comedian and film and television actor best known for his role as the eccentric Cosmo Kramer on the television show Seinfeld, a role which earned him three Emmy Awards.

Richards began his career as a stand up comedian, first stepping into a national spotlight when he was featured on Billy Crystal's first cable TV special. He went on to become a series regular on ABC's Fridays. Prior to Seinfeld, he made numerous guest appearances on a variety of television shows including Cheers, Night Court, Miami Vice and St. Elsewhere. His film credits include So I Married an Axe Murderer, Problem Child, and UHF. After Seinfield, Richards starred in his own sitcom, The Michael Richards Show, which lasted less than one season. After his series was canceled, he returned to his roots in stand up comedy.

In November 2006, controversy arose concerning racial epithets Richards shouted at black hecklers during a live comedy show. He apologized for his statements a few days after the show.

Richards is also a producer, writer, Master Mason, Vietnam era veteran, and father of one.

Early life

Michael Richards was born in Culver City, California to William Richards, an electrical engineer; and Phyllis Nardozzi, a medical records librarian. Richards was brought up with no specific religious tradition. He attended the California Institute of the Arts but received a BA degree in drama from The Evergreen State College in 1975. He also had a short-lived improv act with Ed Begley, Jr. during this period. Enrolled at Los Angeles Valley College, he continued to dominate student productions. He later said: "I am grateful that the public schools introduced me to the performing arts." He was drafted during the Vietnam War, was in the U.S. Army for two years, and stationed in Germany as one of the co-directors of the V Corps Training Road Show. He produced and directed shows dealing with race relations and drug abuse; "This was a successful, educational operation, boosting the morale of our men and incorporating the arts into the service." He then spent two years in the Army developing educational skits, and a couple more years "finding himself" at a commune in the Santa Clara Mountains. In 1979, he drove a bus and developed a stand-up comedy act.

Television and film career

Richards got his big TV break nine months later, 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, including a famous instance in which guest Andy Kaufman refused to deliver his scripted lines, leading Richards to bring the cue cards on screen to Kaufman, before a small riot ensued (Richards later claimed he was in on the joke). The film Man on the Moon featured a re-enactment of the Andy Kaufman incident in which Richards was portrayed by actor Norm Macdonald (although he is never referred to by name so he could be seen as a composite character taking the place of Richards).

He was also famous for a sketch that he did on the show, during which he simply improvised with a large pile of dirt and some army toys. Richards had a guest starring role on NBC's Miami Vice as an unscrupulous bookie. He also had a guest role on Cheers as a character trying to collect on an old bet with Sam Malone. He made several guest appearances with Jay Leno as an accident-prone fitness expert, and gained a screen credit portraying "Stanley Spadowski" in "Weird Al" Yankovic's movie UHF in 1989. His famous improvisation skills can be witnessed in this movie. As is confirmed in the feature commentary and in the deleted scenes special feature on the UHF DVD, the scene where Stanley Spadowski was playing with the toy man he found in the box of Corn Flakes was completely improvised by Richards.

Seinfeld

In the same year, he was cast as Kramer (based on the real-life Kenny Kramer) in the NBC television series Seinfeld, which was created by fellow Fridays cast member Larry David and comedian Jerry Seinfeld. Although it got off to a slow start, by the mid-1990s, the show had become one of the most popular sitcoms in television history. The series ended its nine-year run in 1998 at #1 in the Nielsen Ratings.

Starting in 2004, he and his fellow Seinfeld cast members have provided interviews and audio commentaries for the Seinfeld DVDs, though for some reason, Richards stopped providing commentary after Season 5.

The Michael Richards Show

File:Michael-richards-showAA.jpg
Cast of the Michael Richards Show

In 2000, after the end of Seinfeld, Richards began work on a new series for NBC, his first major project since Seinfeld's high-profile finale. The Michael Richards Show, for which the actor received co-writer and co-executive producer credits, was originally conceived as a comedy/mystery starring Richards as a bumbling private eye. The show featured Bill Cobbs, William Devane, Amy Farrington and Tim Meadows in supporting roles. However, after 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.

Monk

The lead role in the series Monk was originally written for Richards, but there was concern that audiences, used to seeing him do comedy, might not accept him in the role. After being developed at ABC and then picked up by USA, the show was cast with Tony Shalhoub and became a critically acclaimed hit.

Cameo roles and guest appearances

Richards played himself in Episode 6 of Season 1 "The Flirt Episode" (1992) of the acclaimed HBO series, The Larry Sanders Show. Richards also played a cameo role in So I Married an Axe Murderer where he was an "insensitive man," and had a supporting role as an escaped convict in the John Ritter movie Problem Child. He also made guest appearances on the popular sitcom Night Court.

Personal life

Richards married former casting director Cathleen Richards and they had a daughter, Sophia. The two were divorced in 1990. He resides northwest of the San Fernando Valley, specifically the Conejo Valley, near Thousand Oaks, California. Richards is a Master Mason and also holds 33° in the Scottish Rite. He was very active in preservation of Masonic research, and in his personal life is an avid reader. Richards holds memberships in the following lodges: Riviera Lodge No. 780, Culver City–Foshay Lodge No. 467, as well as the Southern California Research Lodge. Additionally, he is also a Life Member of the Los Angeles Scottish Rite Valley and a Life Member of the Scottish Rite Research Society.

In 2007, Richards was engaged to actress Beth Skipp.

Retirement from stand-up comedy

In July 2007, Richards announced that he has retired from stand-up comedy for "spiritual healing" purposes, traveling with Skipp to Cambodia, visiting remote temples before visiting Angkor Wat on a tour sponsored by the Los Angeles-based Nithyananda Foundation.

Laugh Factory incident

On November 17, 2006, during a performance at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood, California, a cell phone video captured Richards shouting "Shut up" at an audience member, followed by "He's a nigger!" to the rest of the audience (using the word at least 7 times altogether), and also making a reference to lynching. He was addressing a group of black hecklers. There were retorts, "That was uncalled for" and then "fucking cracker-ass motherfucker." Richards made a public apology for his remarks, during a satellite appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. He described going into a rage and said, "For me to be at a comedy club and to flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry." He said he was trying to defuse heckling by being even more outrageous, but that it had backfired. Richards later called civil rights leaders Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson in order to apologize. He also appeared as a guest on Jackson's syndicated radio show. A Top Ten List featured on The Late Show in February 2007, titled "Top Ten Ways to Make the Grammy Awards More Exciting" and read by guest Christina Aguilera, mentioned Richards giving out the "rap and hip-hop awards".

Kyle Doss, one of the members of the group that Richards had addressed, gave his explanation to CNN of the events prior to the cell phone video. He said that they had arrived in the middle of the performance and that, "I guess we're being a little loud, because there was 20 of us ordering drinks. And he said, 'Look at the stupid Mexicans and blacks being loud up there.'" Richards then continued with his routine. Doss added, "And, then, after a while, I told him, my friend doesn't think you're funny", which triggered Richards' outburst.

The incident became a subject of satire. A caricature of Richards was featured prominently in the South Park episode "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson," where he addresses Congress to ban the word "nigger-guy", an epithet by which another character, Randy Marsh is frequently referred to after saying "nigger" on live national television.

File:Michael Richards.PNG
An animated version of Richards in South Park.

In the Family Guy episode "Airport '07," Peter has a flashback about the comedy club he attended with his black friend Cleveland. Before the performance, Peter mentions to Cleveland that the comedian must be great because he played Kramer, to which Cleveland replies "Oh, this is gonna be fun." The January 6, 2007 episode of MadTV featured a parody of the My Chemical Romance song "Welcome to the Black Parade" called "The Black Tirade" that talks about the Laugh Factory incident, Richards' apology on The Late Show with David Letterman, and his meetings with Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

Filmography

Faye Dunaway and Michael Richards at the 47th Emmy Awards Governor's Ball, September 11, 1994.

Notes and references

  1. "Michael Richards Height" (HTML). CelebHeights.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
  2. ^ TMZ Staff (2006). ""Kramer's" Racist Tirade -- Caught on Tape" (HTML). In The Zone. TMZ.com. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
  3. Richards Facing Ruination Or Opportunity?
  4. Staff Reports (2006-11-27). "Michael Richards: Still Not a Jew". The Los Angeles Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2006-11-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. IMDB Biography
  6. Michael Richards 'Speaking Freely' transcript via First Amendment Center, Recorded Feb. 28, 2002, in Aspen, Colorado
  7. Iqbal, Navid (August 8, 2006).Creator of 'Monk' gets behind show's act Daily Record
  8. Battaglio, Stephen (August 16, 2002). 'Monk': ABC loss was cable's gain. New York Daily News
  9. Brother Michael A. Richards: Renaissance Man, not "Kramer" The Scottish Rite Journal, September 2000, accessed 10 February, 2006.
  10. "The Scottish Rite Journal of Freemasonry", Southern Jurisdiction USA, August 2003, accessed 7 August, 2006
  11. McDermid, Charles (2007-07-13). "Michael Richards finds inner solace in Cambodia". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-08-12. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  12. Mariel Concepción (2006). "Comedian Michael "Kramer" Richards Goes Into Racial Tirade, Banned From Laugh Factory" (HTML). News wire. Vibe.com. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
  13. Washingtonpost.com "Seinfeld" Comic Richards Apologizes for Racial Rant
  14. "Seinfeld's Richards utters racial taunts during routine" (HTML). CBC arts. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-20.
  15. ""Seinfeld" Star Richards Under Fire For Racial Outburst" (HTML). News wire. Reuters. 2006. Retrieved 2006-02-23.
  16. "CNN Newsroom" (HTML). CNN.com. 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-16.
  17. ^ "The Situation Room transcript" (HTML). The Situation Room. CNN. 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-04.
  18. "CNN.com "Sharpton: Comedian's apology not enough"" (HTML). CNN. 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-22. {{cite web}}: Text "]]" ignored (help)
  19. ""Jesse Jackson Talks To Michael Richards: Jackson Says Apology For Actor's Racist Rant Is Only A Beginning Before Healing"" (HTML). News wire. CBS. 2006. Retrieved 2007-04-23.
  20. David Letterman, Christina Aguilera (2007-02-08). "Show #2701". The Late Show with David Letterman. CBS. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); External link in |title= and |transcripturl= (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |transcripturl= ignored (|transcript-url= suggested) (help) Those who cannot view the video on their computer or do not have Realplayer installed can read the list here.
  21. http://www.tv.com/madtv/episode-1210/episode/937619/summary.html

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