Michael Richards

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For other persons named Michael Richards, see Michael Richards (disambiguation).
Michael Richards

Richards at the 45th Emmy Awards, August 1993
Born Michael Anthony Richards
July 24, 1949 (1949-07-24) (age 59)
Culver City, California, USA
Occupation comedian, actor
Years active 1980–present
Spouse(s) Cathleen Lyons (1974–1992)

Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American comedian and actor best known for his portrayal of the eccentric Cosmo Kramer on the television series 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 Seinfeld, 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.[1] He publicly apologized for his statements a few days after the show.[2]

In July 2007, Richards announced that he has retired from stand-up comedy for "spiritual healing" purposes and would be traveling with his fiancée to Cambodia, where they would visit Angkor Wat, as well as more remote temples, on a tour sponsored by the Los Angeles-based Nithyananda Foundation.[3]

Contents

[edit] 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.[4] 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,[5] and stationed in Germany as one of the co-directors of the V Corps Training Road Show. "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.

[edit] Personal life

During the 1970s Richards attended, and graduated from, The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

Richards married former casting director Cathleen Lyons and had a daughter, Sophia. The two were divorced in 1992. He resides in Glendale, California, specifically the Rossmoyne/Mountain area in the Northwest part of the city.

In 2007, Richards became engaged to actress Beth Skipp.

Richards is a Freemason and also a 33° member of the Scottish Rite. He has been very active in preservation of Masonic research.[6][7]

[edit] Television and film 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, 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).[8] 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 brief 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 screen credits portraying Stanley Spadowski in "Weird Al" Yankovic's movie UHF and serial killer Martin Beck in Problem Child in 1989.

[edit] Seinfeld

In 1989, he was cast as Cosmo 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. Seinfeld went on to become one of the greatest shows of all time.

Starting in 2004, he and his fellow Seinfeld cast members have provided interviews and audio commentaries for the Seinfeld DVDs, but Richards stopped providing commentary after Season 7. Richards is also the only person of Seinfeld to win most Emmy Awards during Seinfeld's run in television. He won the Emmy in 1993, 1994 and 1997.

[edit] 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. 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 cancelled.

[edit] Cameo roles and guest appearances

Richards played himself in Episode 6 of Season 1 "The Flirt Episode" (1992) of the 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 movie Problem Child. He also made guest appearances on the sitcom Night Court.

[edit] Laugh Factory incident

On November 17, 2006, during a performance at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood, California, a cell phone video captured Richards[1][9] shouting "Shut up" to a heckler in the audience, followed by repeated shouts of "He's a nigger!" to the rest of the audience[10] (using the word 6 times altogether), and also making a reference to lynching.[11] He was addressing a group of black hecklers.[12] Richards made a public apology for his remarks, during a satellite appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.[13] 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[14] and Jesse Jackson[15] in order to apologize. He also appeared as a guest on Jackson's syndicated radio show.[16]

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 Richards said, 'Look at the stupid Mexicans and blacks being loud up there.'"[14] 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.

[edit] TV/Filmography

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b TMZ Staff (2006). ""Kramer's" Racist Tirade -- Caught on Tape" (HTML). In The Zone. TMZ.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-20.
  2. ^ Richards Facing Ruination Or Opportunity?
  3. ^ McDermid, Charles (2007-07-13). "Michael Richards finds inner solace in Cambodia", Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 12 August 2007. 
  4. ^ Staff Reports (2006-11-27). "Michael Richards: Still Not a Jew", The Los Angeles Jewish Journal. Retrieved on 22 November 2006. 
  5. ^ IMDB Biography
  6. ^ Brother Michael A. Richards: Renaissance Man, not "Kramer" The Scottish Rite Journal, September 2000, accessed 10 February 2006.
  7. ^ "The Scottish Rite Journal of Freemasonry", Southern Jurisdiction USA, August 2003, accessed 7 August 2006
  8. ^ Michael Richards 'Speaking Freely' transcript via First Amendment Center, Recorded February 28, 2002, in Aspen, Colorado
  9. ^ Mariel Concepción (2006). "Comedian Michael "Kramer" Richards Goes Into Racial Tirade, Banned From Laugh Factory" (HTML). News wire. Vibe.com. Retrieved on 2006-11-21.
  10. ^ Washingtonpost.com "Seinfeld" Comic Richards Apologizes for Racial Rant
  11. ^ "Seinfeld's Richards utters racial taunts during routine" (HTML). CBC arts. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (2006). Retrieved on 2006-11-20.
  12. ^ ""Seinfeld" Star Richards Under Fire For Racial Outburst" (HTML). News wire. Reuters (2006). Retrieved on 2006-02-23.
  13. ^ "CNN Newsroom" (HTML). CNN.com (2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
  14. ^ a b "The Situation Room transcript" (HTML). The Situation Room. CNN (2006). Retrieved on 2006-12-04.
  15. ^ "CNN.com "Sharpton: Comedian's apology not enough"" (HTML). CNN (2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
  16. ^ ""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 on 2007-04-23.
  17. ^ ""IMDb article for Cat Tale"". Retrieved on 2008-08-29.

[edit] External links

Sister project Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Michael Richards
Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Michael Richards
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Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Comedy Series
1954-1975

Art Carney (1954) · Art Carney (1955) · Art Carney (1956) · Carl Reiner (1957) · Carl Reiner (1958) · Tom Poston (1959) · Don Knotts (1961) · Don Knotts (1962) · Don Knotts (1963) · Don Knotts (1966) · Don Knotts (1967) · Werner Klemperer (1968) · Werner Klemperer (1969) · Michael Constantine (1970) · Ed Asner (1971) · Ed Asner (1972) · Ted Knight (1973) · Rob Reiner (1974) · Ed Asner (1975)
1976-2000

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2001-present

Peter MacNicol (2001) · Brad Garrett (2002) · Brad Garrett (2003) · David Hyde Pierce (2004) · Brad Garrett (2005) · Jeremy Piven (2006) · Jeremy Piven (2007)
Persondata
NAME Richards, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Richards, Michael Anthony
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor, comedian
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Culver City, California, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Richards"
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