Michael Richards

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

Michael Richards
Richards at the 1993 Emmy Awards
Born	Michael Anthony Richards (1949-07-24) July 24, 1949 Culver City, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian
Years active	1979–present
Spouse(s)	Cathleen Lyons (m. 1974–93) Beth Skipp (m. 2010)

Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor, writer and television producer, widely known for his portrayal of Cosmo Kramer on the television sitcom Seinfeld, for which 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 entering the 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'. 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 full season.

When Seinfeld ended, Richards returned to stand-up comedy. He incited media furor while performing at the Laugh Factory comedy club in late 2006 after cell phone video was published of him launching into an expletive laced racial tirade primarily directed at a heckling audience member. Subsequent to significant media coverage of the event he announced his retirement from stand-up early in 2007. He appeared as himself in the seventh season of Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2009, acting alongside his fellow cast members for the first time since Seinfeld's finale, as well as parodying his incident at the Laugh Factory.

In 2013, Richards played the role of Frank in the sitcom Kirstie, co-starring Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman.

Early life

File:Michael Richards HS Yearbook.jpeg

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. His father died in a car crash when Michael was two and his mother never remarried.

Richards graduated from Thousand Oaks High School. He was drafted into the United States Army in 1970. He trained as a medic and was stationed in West Germany. After being honorably discharged he used the benefits of the G.I. Bill to enroll in 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.

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 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's face 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).

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 procedural police comedy with an Inspector Clouseau-like character suffering from obsessive–compulsive disorder. Hoberman said that ABC wanted Richards to play Adrian Monk, but he turned it down.

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. 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

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

During a November 17, 2006 performance at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood, California, Richards shouted a racially charged response to noise and heckling from black audience members, shouting "He's a nigger!" several times, and referring to lynching, and the Jim Crow era. Kyle Doss, a member of the group Richards addressed, said that the group had arrived in the middle of the performance, explaining:

[H]ere's what happened. As we walked in, we sat down and started ordering drinks. And, as we ordered drinks, 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." That's the first thing he said. And then he kept on with his bit. And, then, after a while, I told him, "My friend doesn't think you're funny." And then when I told him that, that's when he flipped me off and said, "F-you N-word." And that's how it all started.

— Kyle Doss, Interview on The Situation Room

Richards made a public apology 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." The audience initially laughed during uncomfortable pauses in Richards' explanation and apology, unable to decide if the interview was a bit; at one point Seinfeld chided the audience, "Stop laughing, it's not funny." Richards said that he had been trying to defuse heckling by being even more outrageous, but that 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. However both Doss and Sharpton have refused to accept Richards' apology, with the former saying "...if he wanted to apologize, he could have contacted somebody to one of us from the group...but he didn't. He apologized on camera just because the tape got out."

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. In a 2012 episode of Seinfeld's web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Richards admitted that the outburst still haunted him, and was a major reason for his withdrawal from performing stand-up.

Cameo roles, guest appearances, and film roles

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. In 2012, Richards appeared in comedy web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, hosted by Jerry Seinfeld. In 2014, Richards appeared as the president of Crackle in a trailer for Season 5. Seinfeld has said that the storyline of the trailer will be expanded upon in one of the episodes.

Richards played the role of Frank in the sitcom Kirstie, costarring Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman, premiering on TV Land on December 4, 2013. The show was canceled after airing one season.

Personal life

Richards was married for 18 years to Cathleen Lyons, a family therapist. They have one daughter, Sophia (b. 1975). Richards and Lyons separated in 1992 and officially divorced a year later. In 2010, Richards married longtime girlfriend Beth Skipp. They had been together eight years prior to their marriage. They have a son, Antonio Baz (b. 2011).

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
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	Insensitive Man
1994	Airheads	Doug Beech
1995	Unstrung Heroes	Danny Lidz	Nominated—American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
1997	Redux Riding Hood	The Wolf
1997	Trial and Error	Richard 'Ricky' Rietti
2007	Bee Movie	Bud Ditchwater	Voice
2013	Walk The Light	Lester

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980–82	Fridays	Various	54 episodes
1982	Faerie Tale Theatre	King Geoffeey	Episode: "The Tale of the Frog Prince"
1983	Herndon	Dr. Herndon P. Stool	Television movie
1984	Faerie Tale Theatre	Vince	Episode: "Pinocchio"
1984	At Your Service	Rick the gardener	Television movie
1984	Night Court	Eugene Sleighbough	Episode: "Take My Wife, Please"
1984	The Ratings Game	Sal	Television movie
1985	Tall Tales & Legends	Sneaky Pete	Episode: "My Darlin' Clementine"
1984–85	St. Elsewhere	Bill Wolf	5 episodes
1985	Cheers	Eddie Gordon	Episode: "Bar Bet"
1985	Scarecrow and Mrs. King	Petronus	Episode: "Car Wars"
1985	Slickers	Mike Blade	Television movie
1985	It's a Living	Hager	Episode: "Desperate Hours"
1985	Hill Street Blues	Special Agent Durpe	Episode: "An Oy for an Oy"
1986	Miami Vice	Pagone	Episode: "The Fix"
1986	Fresno	2nd henchman	Television movie
1987	Jonathan Winters: On the Ledge	Various	Television movie
1987–88	Marblehead Manor	Rick	10 episodes
1989	Camp MTV	Stanley Spadowski	Television movie
1989–98	Seinfeld	Cosmo Kramer	178 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (1993–94, 1997) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1995, 1997–98) Nominated—American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Male in a Television Series Nominated—American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Male in a Television Series (shared with Jason Alexander) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (1995–96) Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (1996–98)
1992	Dinosaurs	Director	Episode: "Wesayso Knows Best"
1992	Mad About You	Kramer	Episode: "The Apartment"
1996	Ellen's Energy Adventure	Caveman	Film in theme park attraction
1996	London Suite	Mark Ferris	Television movie
2000	David Copperfield	Mr. Wilkins Micawber	Television movie
2000	The Michael Richards Show	Vic Nardozza	7 episodes
2009	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Michael Richards	3 episodes
2012, 2014	Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee	Himself (1 episode), President Dick Corcoran (2 episodes)	3 episodes
2013–14	Kirstie	Frank	12 episodes

External links

• Michael Richards at the Internet Movie Database