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Michael Richards - aka Kramer goes crazy

metirish Nov 20 2006 08:45 PM

KC Nov 20 2006 09:06 PM

What exactly happened? Was he doing a show and got heckled by a black dude and went bonkers?

metirish Nov 20 2006 09:08 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Nov 20 2006 09:16 PM

Yes,can't you watch it?, he really went off on the guy,repeated use of the N word.....he's on Letterman tonight to explain himself...the black fella was calling him a cracker ass.....

Willets Point Nov 20 2006 09:15 PM

Dude needs medication. Where's the big hook from The Muppet Show when you need it?

KC Nov 20 2006 09:27 PM

Yeah I could view it, I just didn't understand what exactly it was a video of and what set him off. The explanation should be interesting, hopefully it will be on youtube tomorrow too because no way I'm seeing Letterman tonight. The stuff that counts as newsworthy these days is fuckin' amazing.

metirish Nov 20 2006 09:29 PM

I saw a clip of the letterman thing,Seinfeld was a guest and was so horrified at what happend that he asked Dave if Richards could be a guest ,Richards was contrite and said the worst thing about this is that he's not a racist.......just a bad night....

HahnSolo Nov 21 2006 09:35 AM

Aren't you, as a comedian, supposed to ignore the hecklers? If he stopped with the fork in your a-- comment, it would have been bad, but he might have been able to recover. But the constant repeating of the n-word, while he was clearly losing control, will haunt this guy forever. Who would ever hire the guy again? Al Campanis wasn't a racist either.

Johnny Dickshot Nov 21 2006 09:38 AM

Comedy is no laughing matter.

Frayed Knot Nov 21 2006 09:43 AM

His (via satellite) apology during Letterman last night had all the warmth and charm of a hostage tape.

soupcan Nov 21 2006 09:45 AM

I got douche chills watching that last night.

metirish Nov 21 2006 09:54 AM

It was shocking really to watch....and I agree with FK, no doubt he'll enter rehab now or pledge to work with black kids,something phony like that.

Johnny Dickshot Nov 21 2006 09:57 AM

I was gonna ask what "douche chills" were then I watched the clip.

soupcan Nov 21 2006 10:13 AM

'Douche Chills' is a Howard Stern-ism. Basically it describes the feeling you get when you become embarassed for another person. I think its a pretty good description.

Edgy DC Nov 21 2006 10:17 AM Edited 5 time(s), most recently on Nov 21 2006 04:58 PM

I got chills hearing you talk of douche chills. Dickshot is on to something with "Comedy is no laughing matter." The thing about Richards is that the "Nobody will ever hire him" refrain was one that followed him through the first part of his career. He was known throughout Hollywood as a more or less successful comic who gave mind-blowing auditions but nobody could really think of what to do with him, and he landed wierd little roles in scarcely successful and mostly unmemorable films like Problem Child and So, I Married an Axe Murderer. Look at him. His act is pretty much releasing his id and letting it walk freely. When a midseason replacement show hired him a relatively small role, he started stealing scenes as his id set a few things on fire and he found the right environment in which to sublimate his act. He was already pretty old at this point. But ids are scary monstrous things. And other comics better and worse have both made careers for themselves and ruined those same careers in playing it loose that way --- Jonathan Winters, Paul Rubens, Andy Kaufman. My guess is that there already was some racial animus in the air from the heckling. He tried to deftly handle the spectre of racial slurs a la Lenny Bruce, but he's no Lenny Bruce, and his crazyass mindset was already on the stick, he probably had a drink or two going, so the angel lost and his demon won. The "I'm not a racist" argument isn't going to fly with a lot of people. That was unmistakeable racism going on (and that fork thing was bizzarre). It's a losing point, but that alone doesn't define what a person is, any more than picking up a ball and shooting a basket makes you a basketball player. But that tirade was racist, and you could see in his face that he knew he has a long penance ahead of him. He was unable to contextualize anything in the interview and even resisted leading questions from Letterman asking him to contextualize it, because he knew full well that it would come out as an excuse. So it left for a lot of dead air in the interview, and some awkward laughter from the audience that just made him feel guiltier. It's to his credit that he (1) was aware of what would come out as an excuse, and (2) clearly didn't have any talking points in front of him. (You can almost hear his agent saying, "Repeat after me --- I had accidentally mixed alcohol with a prescription painkiller I had been taking after injuring myself in perfoming my own stunts in my latest role in the MGM film... .") What's to his discredit is obvious.

Edgy DC Nov 21 2006 10:24 AM

KC Nov 21 2006 01:08 PM

I thought the interview came off alright considering the circumstances. I hope he gets some help in dealing with whatever his demons are.

Elster88 Nov 21 2006 03:46 PM

Frayed Knot wrote: His (via satellite) apology during Letterman last night had all the warmth and charm of a hostage tape. I didn't get that impression at all.

Willets Point Nov 21 2006 04:31 PM

KC wrote: I thought the interview came off alright considering the circumstances. I hope he gets some help in dealing with whatever his demons are. Ditto. It seems that he snapped and just wanted to find the worst things he could say to hurt the heckler which were of course racist.

ScarletKnight41 Nov 21 2006 04:56 PM

I agree with Elster, Kase and Willets. I think that he knows that he fucked up royally, and he feels bad about what he did (as opposed to feeling bad about the reaction to what he did). Not to excuse what he said - there's no excuse or justification for it. But I just don't believe that he's an inherently hateful person.