Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949) is an American actor and comedian. He achieved global recognition for starring asCosmo Kramer on the NBC television sitcomSeinfeld from 1989 to 1998. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first entering the national spotlight when he was featured onBilly Crystal's first cable TV special, and went on to become a series regular onABC'sFridays.
In 2006, Richards was filmed going on a racist tirade against hecklers while performing at theLaugh Factory inCalifornia. After the tape was obtained and released byTMZ,[5] significant backlash and media coverage led to Richards retiring from stand-up in early 2007. In 2009, he appeared as himself in theseventh season ofCurb Your Enthusiasm alongside his fellowSeinfeld cast members for the first time since the show’sfinale. In 2013, he portrayed Frank in the sitcomKirstie, which was canceled after one season.[6] He most recently played Daddy Hogwood in the 2019 romantic comedyFaith, Hope & Love.
Richards was born inCulver City, California, to aCatholic family.[7] He is the son of Phyllis (née Nardozzi), amedical records librarian. As a child, Richards was told his father was William Richards, anelectrical engineer,[8] who died in a car crash when Michael was two.[9] 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 fromschizophrenia.[10][11]
Richards graduated fromThousand Oaks High School. In 1968, he appeared as a contestant onThe Dating Game but was not chosen for a date. He wasdrafted into theUnited States Army in 1970. He trained as a medic and was stationed inWest Germany, where he was a member of a theatrical group called The Training Road Show.[12] He became interested in performing after taking a theatrical class in seventh grade.[13]
Richards got his big TV break in 1979, appearing inBilly Crystal's first cable TV special. In 1980, he began as one of the cast members onABC'sFridays television show, whereLarry David was a fellow cast member and writer. It includeda famous instance in whichAndy Kaufman refused to deliver his scripted lines, leading Richards to bring thecue 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).[16] The filmMan on the Moon featured a re-enactment of theAndy Kaufman incident where Richards was portrayed by actorNorm Macdonald.[17][18]
In 1981, he appeared in theIt's a Living episode "Desperate Hours".[19] In 1986, Richards had a minor role in the cult satirical TV miniseriesFresno, playing one of a pair of inept criminal henchmen. That same year he auditioned to playAl Bundy in the TV seriesMarried... with Children, but he was passed over forEd O'Neill.[20] In 1989, Richards had a supporting role in"Weird Al" Yankovic's comedy filmUHF as janitor Stanley Spadowski. On television, he appeared inMiami Vice as an unscrupulousbookie; inSt. Elsewhere as a television producer making a documentary about Dr. Mark Craig; inCheers as a character trying to collect on an old bet withSam Malone; and made several guest appearances withJay Leno as an accident-prone fitness expert.
In 1989, Richards was cast asCosmo Kramer in theNBC television seriesSeinfeld, created by fellowFridays cast memberLarry David and comedianJerry Seinfeld. Although it got off to a slow start, by the mid-1990s it had become one of the most popularsitcoms in television history. It ended its nine-year run in 1998 at No. 1 in theNielsen ratings. InSeinfeld, Kramer is the neighbor across the hall of the show'seponymous 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 otherSeinfeld 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 aspin-off toSeinfeld about Kramer, Richards said he was not interested in doing so.[21] During the run ofSeinfeld, Richards made cameo appearances in several TV shows; he played himself in Episode2 of Season1 "The Flirt Episode" (1992) of theHBO seriesThe Larry Sanders Show. He also had acameo role in the comedy thriller filmSo I Married an Axe Murderer, credited as "insensitive man". In 1996, Richards made a cameo in Epcot'sEllen's Energy Adventure, where he portrayed a caveman discovering fire. He played radio station employee Doug Beech inAirheads, and co-starred withJeff Daniels as an actor pretending to be a lawyer in 1997'sTrial and Error. He also made guest appearances onMiami Vice,Night Court andCheers.
In 2000, two years after the end ofSeinfeld, Richards began work on a new series for NBC, his first major project sinceSeinfeld's 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.[21]
According to an interview with executive producer David Hoberman, ABC first conceived the seriesMonk with Richards in mind for the titular role; anInspector Clouseau–like character suffering fromobsessive-compulsive disorder. Richards ultimately turned down the role.[22]
Starting in 2004, he and his fellowSeinfeld cast members provided interviews and audio commentaries for theSeinfeld DVDs. Richards stepped down from providing audio commentary after Season5, though he continued to provide interviews.
During a performance on November 17, 2006, at theLaugh 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 anigger!" several times and making references tolynching,Planet of the Apes, and theJim Crow laws.[5][23][24][25][26] 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:
[Richards] 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.
The incident remained unknown to the larger public for three days until acellphone video filmed by a member of the audience was obtained and released byTMZ. On November 20, after the video made rounds around the news,Jerry Seinfeld invited Richards to appear via satellite during a broadcast of theLate Show with David Letterman, where Richards was recorded saying: "I'm not doing too good. I lost my temper on stage, I was at a comedy club trying to do my act and I got heckled and I took it badly and went into a rage. And uh, said some pretty, uh, nasty things to some Afro-Americans."[28] Many studio audience members laughed as Richards began his unscripted explanation and apology, thinking it was abit, leading Seinfeld to reprimand them, saying: "Stop laughing. It's not funny." Richards said he had been trying to defuse the heckling by being even more outrageous but it had backfired. He later called civil rights leadersAl Sharpton andJesse Jackson to apologize.[27][29] He also appeared as a guest on Jackson's syndicated radio show.[30] Doss stated that he did not accept Richards's apology, saying: "If he wanted to apologize, he could have contacted ... one of us out of the group. But he didn't. He apologized on-camera just because the tape got out."[29][31]
Richards's popularity among the general public declined after the tape was released. AGallup poll conducted in late November found that only 41 percent of Americans still held a favorable view of Richards. By contrast, otherSeinfeld cast members' favorability ratings were in the 70s and 80s.[32] The same poll also found that 45 percent of non-whites expressed a negative view of Richards due to the incident.[32] The incident was parodied on several TV shows, includingMad TV,Family Guy,South Park,Extras,Monday Night Raw andSmiling Friends. In the ninth episode of the seventh season ofCurb Your Enthusiasm, Richards appeared as himself and poked fun at the incident. In 2008, rapperWale referenced the incident and used recordings of the incident as well as Richards's apology, in the song "The Kramer" onThe Mixtape About Nothing album.
One year after the incident, Richards voiced the character Bud Ditchwater in the animated filmBee Movie, which starred and was produced byJerry Seinfeld. In 2009, Richards and the other mainSeinfeld cast members appeared in the seventh season ofCurb Your Enthusiasm.[33] In 2012, he appeared in the comedy web seriesComedians in Cars Getting Coffee, hosted by Seinfeld, in which he remarked on the 2006 incident.[34] In the episode, Richards explained that the outburst still haunted him and was a major reason for his retirement from stand-up.[35]
In 2013, Richards was cast to play Frank in the sitcomKirstie, costarringKirstie Alley andRhea Perlman. It premiered onTV Land on December 4, 2013[6] and was canceled after one season.[36] In 2014, Richards appeared as the president of Crackle in a trailer for Season5 ofComedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
Richards and his first wife, a familytherapist, were married for 18 years. They have one daughter, born in 1975. They separated in 1992 and divorced the following year.[2][9] Through their daughter, Richards has two grandchildren.[41]
In 2010, Richards married his girlfriend of eight years. They have one son, born in 2011.[3]
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