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

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

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

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 Los Angeles, 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:

[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. — Kyle Doss, Interview on The Situation Room Many studio audience members, thinking Richards was performing a bit, laughed as he gave his explanation and apology, 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 leaders Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to apologize. He also appeared as a guest on Jackson's syndicated radio show. 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."

Richards's popularity among the general public declined after the tape was released. A Gallup poll conducted in late November found that only 41 percent of Americans still held a favorable view of Richards. By contrast, other Seinfeld cast members' favorability ratings were in the 70s and 80s. The same poll also found that 45 percent of non-whites expressed a negative view of Richards due to the incident. In 2012, he appeared in the comedy web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, hosted by Seinfeld, in which he remarked on the 2006 incident. In the episode, Richards explained that the outburst still haunted him and was a major reason for his retirement from stand-up.

2013–present In 2013, Richards was cast to play Frank in the sitcom Kirstie, costarring Kirstie Alley and Rhea Perlman. It premiered on TV Land on December 4, 2013 In 2014, Richards appeared as the president of Crackle in a trailer for Season5 of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

In 2019, Richards played Daddy Hogwood in the romantic comedy Faith, Hope & Love starring Peta Murgatroyd and Robert Krantz.

In June 2024, Richards released a memoir titled Entrances and Exits.

Personal life Richards and his first wife, a family therapist, were married for 18 years. They have one daughter, born in 1975. They separated in 1992 and divorced the following year.

In 2010, Richards married Beth Skipp, his girlfriend of eight years. They have one son, born in 2011.

Richards revealed in his 2024 memoir Entrances and Exits that he survived stage 1 prostate cancer in 2018 via the surgical removal of his entire prostate.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1982 Young Doctors in Love Malamud Callahan 1984 The House of God Dr. Pinkus The Ratings Game Sal 1985 Transylvania 6-5000 Fejos 1986 Whoops Apocalypse Lacrobat 1987 Choice Chance and Control Victor Loudon Driver's Ed video 1989 UHF Stanley Spadowski 1990 Problem Child Martin Beck 1993 Coneheads Motel Clerk So I Married an Axe Murderer Insensitive Man 1994 Airheads Doug Beech 1995 Unstrung Heroes Danny Lidz 1997 Redux Riding Hood The Wolf Voice; Short film Trial and Error Richard "Ricky" Rietti 2007 Bee Movie Bud Ditchwater Voice 2013 Walk the Light Lester Short film 2019 Faith, Hope & Love Daddy Hogwood

Television Year Title Role Notes 1980–1982 Fridays Various roles 54 episodes; also writer 1982 Faerie Tale Theatre King Geoffeey Episode: "The Tale of the Frog Prince" 1983 Herndon Dr. Herndon P. Stool Television film 1984 Faerie Tale Theatre Vince Episode: "Pinocchio" At Your Service Rick the gardener Television film Night Court Eugene Sleighbough Episode: "Take My Wife, Please" The Ratings Game Sal Television film 1984–1985 St. Elsewhere Bill Wolf 5 episodes 1985 Tall Tales & Legends Sneaky Pete Episode: "My Darlin' Clementine" Cheers Eddie Gordon Episode: "Bar Bet" Scarecrow and Mrs. King Petronus Episode: "Car Wars" Slickers Mike Blade Television film It's a Living Hager Episode: "Desperate Hours" Hill Street Blues Special Agent Durpe Episode: "An Oy for an Oy" 1986 Miami Vice Pagone Episode: "The Fix" A Year in the Life Ronnie 3 episodes Fresno 2nd henchman 5 episodes 1987 Jonathan Winters: On the Ledge Various roles Television special 1987–1988 Marblehead Manor Rick 11 episodes 1989 Camp MTV Stanley Spadowski Television film 1989–1998 Seinfeld Cosmo Kramer 178 episodes 1992 Dinosaurs Director VoiceEpisode: "Wesayso Knows Best" Mad About You Cosmo Kramer Episode: "The Apartment" The Larry Sanders Show Himself Episode: "The Flirt Episode" 1996 London Suite Mark Ferris Television film 2000 David Copperfield Mr. Wilkins Micawber Television film The Michael Richards Show Vic Nardozza 7 episodes; also co-creator, writer, and executive producer 2009 Curb Your Enthusiasm Michael Richards 3 episodes 2012–2014 Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Himself / Dick Corcoran 4 episodes 2013–2014 Kirstie Frank 12 episodes

Awards and nominations Year Association Category Performance Result1995 American Comedy Awards Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Unstrung Heroes 1995 Funniest Supporting Male in a Television Series Seinfeld 1994 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Seinfeld (episode: "The Sniffing Accountant" + "The Opposite") 1995 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Seinfeld (episode: "The Jimmy" + "The Fusilli Jerry") 1996 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Seinfeld (episode: "The Pool Guy" + "The Wait Out") 1997 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series Seinfeld (episode: "The Chicken Roaster") 1997 Satellite Award Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Seinfeld 1995 Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series Seinfeld (season 7) Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series 1996 Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series Seinfeld (season 8) Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series 1997 Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series Seinfeld (season 9) Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series