Line #28 Creator/MichaelRichards


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mrichards.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:[[Series/{{Seinfeld}} Kramer]] or [[Film/{{UHF}} Stanley]]? You decide.]]
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4	Michael Anthony Richards (born July 24, 1949 in Culver City, California) is an American actor, writer, television producer, and retired comedian best known for his three-time [[UsefulNotes/EmmyAward Emmy]]-winning role as Cosmo Kramer in the sitcom ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', which offered a pretty good idea of the types of characters he plays.
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6	Richards began his career as a stand-up comedian, with a feature on Creator/BillyCrystal's first cable TV special providing his first big break. He then went on to become a series regular on ''Series/{{Fridays}}'' and make guest appearances on numerous shows. Following the end of ''Seinfeld'', he also starred in a sitcom of his own, ''The Michael Richards Show'', although it was cancelled after two months due to poor ratings.
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8	Richards' primary career venture after ''Seinfeld'' was returning to stand-up, although this would culminate in a night of infamy that, well over a decade later, has still proven inseparable from his reputation.
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10	During a set on November 17, 2006 at the Laugh Factory, Richards received heckling and interruptions from a small group of black and Hispanic audience members. In his words after the fact, anger got the best of him and he tried to defuse the chatter by being as outrageously offensive as possible. But in a video recording of the event from the crowd that soon spread online, that strategy took the form of a racist rant including references to slavery and the Jim Crow era as well as Richards repeatedly shouting the N-word, shocking his audience.
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12	Richards publicly apologized several days later on ''Series/TheLateShowWithDavidLetterman''[[note]]His apology was met with laughter from the studio audience such that Creator/JerrySeinfeld, Letterman's guest at the time, had to step in briefly and reprimand the audience[[/note]], and reportedly issued private apologies to civil rights leaders Creator/AlSharpton and Jesse Jackson, but the damage was thoroughly done by that point. Both Sharpton and a member of the group that Richards had directed his rant at went on record refusing to accept his apology.
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14	In the years since, Richards' screen work has been sparse but has included a voice role in the Seinfeld-starring ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie'', an appearance in ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'' {{as himself}} [[SelfDeprecation in which he poked fun at the incident]], and a co-starring role on the sitcom ''Kirstie'', which was cancelled after one season. He also appeared in a 2012 episode of Seinfeld's ''WebVideo/ComediansInCarsGettingCoffee'', where he admitted that the incident still haunted him to that day and played a major role in his retirement from stand-up.
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16	!!Film roles with Website/TVTropes pages:
17	* ''Film/YoungDoctorsInLove'' (1982)
18	* ''Film/Transylvania65000'' (1985)
19	* ''Film/{{UHF}}'' (1989)
20	* ''Film/ProblemChild'' (1990)
21	* ''Film/{{Coneheads}}'' (1993)
22	* ''Film/SoIMarriedAnAxeMurderer'' (1993)
23	* ''Film/{{Airheads}}'' (1994)
24	* ''Film/TheFlintstones'' (1994)
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26	!!Television roles with Website/TVTropes Pages:
27	* ''Series/{{Fridays}}''
28	* ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' (episode "[[Recap/CheersS3E18BarBet Bar Bet]]")
29	* ''Series/HillStreetBlues''
30	* ''Series/TheLarrySandersShow''
31	* ''Series/MadAboutYou''
32	* ''Series/MiamiVice''
33	* ''Series/MrBelvedere''
34	* ''Series/NightCourt''
35	* ''Series/ScarecrowAndMrsKing''
36	* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' (173 episodes, 1989-1998)
37	* ''Series/StElsewhere''
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39	!!Voice acting roles with Website/TVTropes pages:
40	* ''WesternAnimation/BeeMovie''
41	* ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}''
42	* ''WesternAnimation/ReduxRidingHood''
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44	!!Other roles with Website/TVTropes pages:
45	* ''Ride/EllensEnergyAdventure''
46	----
47	!!Tropes associated with this actor:
48	* CrossesTheLineTwice: Richards claims his infamous Laugh Factory rant [[InvokedTrope was an attempt to shock a group of hecklers into silence]] by being as deliberately offensive as possible, but he instead crossed the line into DudeNotFunny territory for many.
49	* IAmNotSpock: He will forever be known as Cosmo Kramer. Although, years later, he did admit he absolutely loved the role and would've been happy playing Kramer forever.
50	* OldShame:
51	** ''Film/{{UHF}}'' is a touchy subject for him, though he was a good-enough sport to do the commentary for (part of) the film.
52	** In a 2012 episode of ''WebVideo/ComediansInCarsGettingCoffee'', Richards said that the Laugh Factory incident was still haunting him. To this day, he has never returned to performing stand-up.
53	* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: Between the incident itself and the subsequent media fallout, his Laugh Factory rant more or less destroyed his career.
54	* StarDerailingRole: Richards's first post-Seinfeld role in ''The Michael Richards Show'' flopped so hard, it established the "''Seinfeld'' curse". Since then, he's mostly only done voice-over work until his Laugh Factory rant derailed his career. He later had one of the main roles on the sitcom ''Kirstie'', but it was canceled after one season. Since then, he has had very few acting roles.
55	* ThrowItIn: Kramer's signature entrance of hurriedly barging through Jerry's front door came about by accident. The first time it happened, Richards was at risk of missing his cue and was scrambling to get into the scene on time. The audience ''loved it'', so Richards started doing it intentionally.

Context Creator / MichaelRichards