Michael Richards
Richards at the 1993 Emmy awards
Born	Michael Anthony Richards (1949-07-24) July 24, 1949 (age 63) Culver City, California, United States
Occupation	Actor/Comedian
Years active	1979–present
Spouse(s)	Cathleen Lyons (1974–1992; 1 child)

Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, comedian, writer and television producer, widely known for his portrayal of Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom Seinfeld. During the show's run, he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series three times.

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, Airheads, Young Doctors in Love, Problem Child, Coneheads, UHF, and Trial and Error, one of his few starring roles. During the run of Seinfeld, he made a guest appearance in Mad About You. After Seinfeld, Richards starred in his own sitcom, The Michael Richards Show, which lasted less than one season.

After his series was cancelled, Richards returned to performing stand-up comedy. After inciting media furor for losing his temper and repeatedly shouting "nigger" at an African American heckler in late 2006,^[1] Richards announced his retirement from stand-up in 2007. Most recently, Richards appeared as himself in the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2009, acting alongside his fellow Seinfeld cast members for the first time since Seinfeld's finale.

Early life [edit]

Richards as a senior at Thousand Oaks High School, Thousand Oaks, California 1967.

Richards was born in Culver City, California, the son of Phyllis (née Nardozzi), a medical records librarian, and William Richards, an electrical engineer.^[2] William died in a car crash when his son was two and his mother has never remarried.^[3] He was drafted during the Vietnam War, served in the U.S. Army for two years,^[4] and was stationed in West Germany as one of the co-directors of the V Corps Training Road Show.

He attended the California Institute of the Arts, and 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 appear in student productions. He later said: "I am grateful that the public schools introduced me to the performing arts."^{[this quote needs a citation]} He also spent a few years "finding himself" at a commune in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In 1979 he drove a bus and also developed his own nightclub act.

Career [edit]

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 writer. This included 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, causing him to throw his drink into Richards' face before a small riot ensued (Richards later claimed he was in on the joke).^[5] 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. In 1989, Richards had a supporting role in "Weird Al" Yankovic's comedy film UHF as janitor Stanley Spadowski. On television, Richards also appeared in Miami Vice (as an unscrupulous bookie), 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 police show with an Inspector Clouseau-like character suffering from obsessive–compulsive disorder. Hoberman said that ABC wanted Richards for the Monk role, but Richards turned it down.^[6]

Seinfeld [edit]

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. In the setting of Seinfeld, Kramer is usually referred to by his last name only and is the neighbor of the show's eponymous character. Kramer's first name, Cosmo, was revealed in the sixth-season episode "The Switch".

Richards won more Emmys than any other cast member on Seinfeld. He took home the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1993, 1994 and 1997.

Starting in 2004, he and his fellow Seinfeld cast members provided interviews and audio commentaries for the Seinfeld DVDs, but Richards stopped providing audio commentary after Season 5 though he continued to provide interviews.

The Michael Richards Show [edit]

In 2000, 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 the actor received co-writer and co-executive producer credits, was originally conceived as a comedy/mystery starring Richards as a bumbling private investigator. 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.

Laugh Factory incident [edit]

During a November 17, 2006 performance at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood, California Richards shouted a racially charged response to black hecklers in the audience, shouting "He's a nigger!" several times and referring to lynching.^{[1][7][8][9][8][10]} Kyle Doss, a member of the group Richards addressed, said they had arrived in the middle of the performance, adding, "I guess we were 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.' And, then, after a while, I told him, my friend doesn't think you're funny," which triggered Richards' outburst.^[11]

Richards made a public apology via satellite on the Late Show with David Letterman, when Jerry Seinfeld was the guest, saying, "For me to be at a comedy club and to flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry. I'm not a racist, that's what's so insane about this."^[12] The audience seemed confused and were laughing during his explanation because he appeared to be in his Kramer character. At one point Jerry Seinfeld actually had to tell the audience that "it's not funny". Richards 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 to apologize.^[11][13] He also appeared as a guest on Jackson's syndicated radio show.^[14] The incident was later parodied on several TV shows, including MadTV, Family Guy, South Park and Extras. In an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Richards appeared as himself and poked fun at the incident.

Cameo roles, guest appearances, and film roles [edit]

Richards played himself in Episode 2 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". Richards played radio station employee Doug Beech in Airheads. He also made guest appearances on Miami Vice, Night Court and Cheers. In 2007, 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.^[15] In 2012, Richards appeared in comedy web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, hosted by Jerry Seinfeld.^[16]

Personal life [edit]

Richards was married for 18 years to Cathleen Lyons, a family therapist. They have one daughter, Sophia, and divorced in 1993. ^[17]

In July 2007, Richards announced his retirement from stand-up comedy. He further announced plans to travel to Cambodia with his fiancée and visit Angkor Wat for "spiritual healing" purposes on a tour sponsored by the Los Angeles-based Nithyananda Foundation.^[18]

TV [edit]

• 1980–1982 Fridays (54 episodes) – Various
• 1982–1984 Faerie Tale Theatre (2 episodes) – King Geoffrey, Vince
• 1983 Herndon – Dr. Herndon P. Stool
• 1984 At Your Service – Rick the Gardener
• 1984 Night Court (1 episode) – Eugene Sleighbough
• 1984 The Ratings Game – Sal
• 1985 Tall Tales & Legends (1 episode) – Sneaky Pete
• 1984–1985 St. Elsewhere (5 episodes) – Bill Wolf
• 1985 Cheers (1 episode) – Eddie Gordon
• 1985 Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1 episode) – Petronus
• 1985 Slickers – Mike Blade
• 1985 It's a Living (1 episode) – Hager
• 1985 Hill Street Blues ( 1 episode) – Special Agent Dupre
• 1986 Miami Vice (1 episode) – Pagone
• 1986 Fresno (TV miniseries) – 2nd Henchman
• 1987 Jonathan Winters: On the Ledge – Various Characters
• 1987–1988 Marblehead Manor (10 episodes) – Rick the Gardener
• 1989 Camp MTV – Stanley Spadowski
• 1989–1998 Seinfeld (177 episodes) – Kramer
• 1992 Dinosaurs (voice 1 episode) – Director
• 1992 Mad About You (1 episode) – Kramer
• 1996 Ellen's Energy Adventure (uncredited) – Caveman discovering fire
• 1996 London Suite – Mark Ferris
• 2000 David Copperfield 2000 – Mr. Wilkins Micawber
• 2000 The Michael Richards Show (7 episodes) – Vic Nardozza
• 2009 Curb Your Enthusiasm – with the entire cast of Seinfeld

Filmography [edit]

• 1982 Young Doctors in Love - Malamud Callahan
• 1984 The House of God - Dr. Pinkus
• 1985 Transylvania 6-5000 - Fejos
• 1986 Whoops Apocalypse - Lacrobat
• 1989 UHF - Stanley Spadowski
• 1990 Problem Child - Martin Beck
• 1993 Coneheads - Motel clerk
• 1993 So I Married an Axe Murderer - Newspaper reporter
• 1994 Airheads - Doug Beech
• 1995 Unstrung Heroes - Danny Lidz
• 1997 Redux Riding Hood (voice) - The Wolf
• 1997 Trial and Error - Richard 'Ricky' Rietti
• 2007 Bee Movie (voice) - Bud Ditchwater

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Michael Richards

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Michael Richards

• Michael Richards at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Richards at Yahoo! Movies