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Washed Up Celebrities: Michael Richards
By: Rick Ace Rhodes
Michael Richards is an actor and comedian. Richards is best known for portraying the character of Cosmo Kramer on the very popular television sitcom Seinfeld during the 1990's, which made him not only wealthy and a recognizable face, but also an award-winning actor. However, Richards has never been able to reach the success he saw during Seinfeld following it's end, and a well publicized meltdown that left him labeled a racist has forced Richards into seclusion from the entertainment world as a result.
Richards was born in Culver City, California on July 24, 1949. He attended Thousand Oaks High School as a teen, which has produced several noted alumni, including actor Kurt Russell, fellow washed up actress Amanda Bynes, disgraced former track and field Olympian Marion Jones and David Mikkelson, the founder of Snopes.com.
Richards was drafted into the Army in 1970, and was stationed in West Germany after being trained as a medic, later receiving an honorable discharge. Upon release Richards used the G.I. Bill to put himself through school, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1975.
Richards worked his way through Hollywood over the next few years trying to become a comedian. In 1980 he managed to land a spot on the show Fridays. Fridays was a sketch-comedy show that aired live on ABC. It was done mainly to try and replicate the success of Saturday Night Live. Richards was involved in one of the more notorious moments in the series. During one episode, Richards and host Andy Kaufman were involved in a series of antics during a skit that eventually led to a minor brawl that occurred live on television.
Fridays didn't air for long, as it was cancelled after three seasons in April of 1982. Following it's cancellation, Richards continued to try and make it big in Hollywood throughout the 1980's. During the time he landed minor roles in television shows like Miami Vice and Cheers, and also has a role in "Weird Al" Yankovic's cult classic film UHF.
It was in 1989 that Richards was cast into the role that would make him a star. Larry David, who had worked with Richards on Fridays, was creating a new show with comedian Jerry Seinfeld. David helped Richards get cast in the new show called Seinfeld.
Seinfeld was a show that labeled itself "the show about nothing." The show followed around a group of friends who lived in New York, and showcased all the mundane and odd aspects in life. Episodes would typically deal with topics and situations such as waiting for a table in a restaurant, having your tonsils removed, dealing with a stern soup vendor or getting lost in a mall parking garage. While the show got off to a slow start, it quickly went on to become one of the most popular television shows of all time, becoming a major figure in regards to 90's culture, and it still remains insanely popular in syndication to this day.
Richards portrayed the character of Cosmo Kramer on the show. Kramer was the oddball character of the show, known for his eye-catching appearance and his odd lifestyle and antics. While all four main characters of the show each had their own popularity, Richard's character Kramer was arguably the most popular.
With the success and popularity of Seinfeld, Richards became a household face. Throughout Seinfeld's run, Richards would win several awards for his portrayal of Kramer, and he quickly amassed a large fortune. Richards seemed to be on top of the world thanks to Seinfeld, however, unfortunately it didn't stay that way.
Richards attempted to capitalize on his popularity from Seinfeld, however, following it's end in 1998 Richards career came to a complete standstill. Richards starred in his own sitcom in 2000 called The Michael Richards Show, which was quickly cancelled after receiving negative reviews and poor ratings. A year before Seinfeld ended Richards had one of his few starring movie roles in Trial and Error alongside actor Jeff Daniels, however, that too failed critically and only earned less than $15 million against a budget of $25 million.
Richards failures were often attributed to a curse regarding the show Seinfeld, given that both co-stars Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus also failed to capitalize on their popularity from Seinfeld following it's end in 1998.
Richards also began a stand-up routine following the end of Seinfeld. Richards stand-up was never well received, and it was generally viewed as some of the worst in the business. However, his stand-up never received notoriety and was generally ignored. That was until November of 2006.
In 2006 Richards was involved in an incident that would ruin his image forever. During a stand-up routine at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, California, Richards got into an argument with a group of black audience members. It's a little unclear as to how the incident began and what led up to it, but an argument quickly emerged between the two parties. Richards suffered a meltdown on stage and quickly began a shocking and racist tirade. Richards shouted the n-word several times at the audience, and he made numerous references to the Jim Crow era of the United States and lynching. An audience member recorded Richards entire meltdown, and it quickly made it's way to the media and internet. The video can be seen here, but beware that it contains harsh and racist language and is NSFW. Viewer discretion is advised.
The incident quickly drew large amounts of media attention. Reverend's Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson both quickly attacked Richards for his rant. Richards went on David Letterman via satellite when Jerry Seinfeld was a guest and made a public apology for everything that happened and what he said, during which most of Letterman's audience actually laughed because they couldn't tell if Richards was serious or not.
The apology received a mixed response, and the incident was heavily lampooned, with South Park and fellow comedian Dave Chappelle making fun of what went down.
Following the incident, Richards began a period of seclusion from Hollywood. He decided to retire from stand up comedy following the incident, and it wasn't until 2009 he made his first major appearance since the incident when he appeared in the Seinfeld reunion episode of the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he lampooned the incident. Richards next appearance was in 2012 in Jerry Seinfeld's web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
In 2013 Richards landed his first major role since Seinfeld. Richards managed to get a reoccurring role on the TV Land original series Kirstie. TV Land has managed to find quite a bit of success in their original series by having actors from older sitcoms encompass the main cast of them. Despite the track record of success, Kirstie was cancelled after only 12 episodes.
Michael Richards went from being a minor part-time actor to having a starring role on one of the most popular sitcoms in television history. While he may of had quite a bit of success with Seinfeld, his career outside of Seinfeld has been completely in shambles. There's no doubt that his racist tirade will forever leave a stain on his image, and even though he himself seems ashamed and haunted by that incident, all the attempts Richards has made at having a successful career outside of Seinfeld have failed. The fact that he will forever be known as a racist and failure make Michael Richards one washed up celebrity!
Rick Ace Rhodes Posted on Oct 01, 2015 at 01:27 AM
@Vaporman87 Thanks man. I feel kind of bad for Richards too. He really seems sorry and ashamed for what happened at that comedy club. However, if he had just stopped trying to capitalize on being Kramer and simply moved on with his life, none of that would of had to happen.
Vaporman87 Posted on Sep 30, 2015 at 05:30 PM
Nice article on Mr. Richards. I always felt a little bad for him. He saw his star rise so high and fall so low. He was a favorite character of mine in UHF (I never watched Seinfeld). When I heard about his outburst at the comedy club, it seemed to me that he had imploded. But stars have come back from worse mistakes, so time will tell. But yes, as far as the present is concerned, he seems pretty washed up.
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