Michael Richards

Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor and 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

thumb|right|165px|Richards as a senior at [[Thousand Oaks High School in Thousand Oaks, California (1967)]]

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

thumb|180px|Richards in 1983

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). 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.

1989–2005: Seinfeld and rise to prominence

thumb|Richards with [[Jerry Seinfeld at the 44th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1992]]

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. 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 Seinfelds 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 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: