"Kramer's" Racist Tirade -- Caught on Tape

TMZ ^ | 11/20/06 | TMZ Staff

[torchthemummy]

Michael Richards exploded in anger as he performed at a famous L.A. comedy club last Friday, hurling racial epithets that left the crowd gasping, and TMZ has obtained exclusive video of the ugly incident.

[hosepipe]

Ugh Oh!... The Clown Prince.. pee'ed his pants, in public..

[rwfromkansas]

The Puerto Rican Day Parade episode of Seinfeld is hilarious.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I think Mr. Richards career was pretty much in the dumper before this episode."

When you are that closely identified with a particular character, Kramer, in this case, your career is pretty much over when the series ends. For example, after Mayberry, it was impossible for Don Knotts to be anyone but Barney Fife - all his later roles were simply variations on the Fife theme. And Jerry Stiller, in that show he's in now (I forget the name) is still basically playing the same character he played as Frank Costanza. But Richards has all the money he'll ever need, so I don't feel sorry for him.

[Albion Wilde]

Excellent Baltimore "hon" examples of white people parodying themselves, StayTrue, even if their racial parody is unintentional. And in Philadelphia, there is the hugely popular annual Mummer's Parade, in which family men, sometimes several generations of fathers/sons/grandsons from the ethnic Italian/Polish/Irish/Swedish/Lithuanian enclaves of South Philly prance around wearing women's clothes, makeup or Las Vegas drag in front of the entire city (it's always televised). Wearing women's clothes, Mummers often call themselves "wenches", apparently without fear of women's objections:

Decades ago, the private clubs that participate in the Parade discriminated against blacks and some wore blackface,

...but those practices have long been discontinued. Philadelphia is unique among big cities in its ability to work things out and keep everyone "brotherly loving." Here is Philly's Mayor, John Street, enjoying his role as a judge at a recent Mummer's Parade:

<...and here is a Parade participant in a historically white club with many black members

...and an onlooker to the Parade as a mostly white Comics club passes by:

[ssaftler]

i know he aint been on tv since seinfeld

What about his three-episode bomb of a series a couple years back. I think it was called (how original) "The Michael Richards Show". Never watched it, couldn't stand Seinfeld, the series or any of its follow-ons (though I LOVE Seinfeld, the stand-up!).

[Cagey]

I totally agree with your observation.

Crass for the sake of shock value isn't funny. Flinging the F bomb three times in every other sentence just tells me the comic has a hard time coming up with innovative material. David Brenner understood this and talked about this often.

I want to be entertained by a comedian. If I wanted twenty straight minutes of the F word, I'd go back to Freshmen year in High School and not have to pay a cover fee.

[Ghengis]

Should have said:
Responding by showing a superior wit is OK

[rwfromkansas]

This is whaqt he said...

However, I question if this is him. Are we sure this is him?

"Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f***ing fork up your ass."

Richards continued, "You can talk, you can talk, you're brave now motherf**ker. Throw his ass out. He's a nigger! He's a nigger! He's a nigger! A nigger, look, there's a nigger!"

The crowd is visibly and audibly confused and upset. Richards responds by saying, "They're going to arrest me for calling a black man a nigger."

One of the men who was the object of Richard's tirade was outraged, shouting back "That's un-f***ing called for, ain't necessary."

[Albion Wilde]

Cool home page!

[jackieaxe]

What a dumbass, BUT, if this were Chris Rock chasing a white guy out of the club and calling him a Cracker and an O-Fay, it wouldn't have made the papers. Look for the race pimps to be out in force saying this is evidence that racial discrimination is still wide spread and we need to keep the handouts and preferences coming.

[AnalogReigns]

I'd always heard that "cracker" is an old southern term from working class redneck. It seems the men who drove mule teams pulling wagons (the original TRUCK DRIVERS) were known as "Crackers" for the whip they had to use.

I never heard it was associated with the coastal areas...just in the South generally.

[Defiant]

Don't get discouraged. I hope and believe that the idiots here defending Kramer are a small minority of conservatives. What Michael Richards did was disgusting on a human level, and stupid and idiotic on a professional level. It was even wrong from a comedic standpoint, as it wasn't funny in the slightest, and only made him seem unskilled at handling hecklers and being quick with the wit. Richards will be known forevermore as a moron.

When you are being heckled about being a bad comedian, you respond to the heckler as a man, not as a black man, unless you are a racist who believes that black men are not allowed to have opinions about white comedians. To bring lynching into it, not just epithats, was horrible. The heckler's response, "that's uncalled for", seems measured, and his tone remained calm throughout most of it, compared to Richards', who sounded like a lunatic.

Too bad. I love the Kramer character in that show. It will be hard to separate him from his disgusting real world person from here on.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Flinging the F bomb three times in every other sentence just tells me the comic has a hard time coming up with innovative material."

Have you seen Larry David's HBO show, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"? It is occasionally funny, but it is laced with profanity. One episode ends with an entire restaurant full of people - including granny types - shouting crude profanities at each other.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Too bad. I love the Kramer character in that show. It will be hard to separate him from his disgusting real world person from here on."

I thought the show was hilarious, but I always sensed that I wouldn't like any of those actors in real life. Larry David, the co-creator, also seems to be a very prickly type.

[Andonius_99]

bump for later

[Albion Wilde]

Don't get discouraged. I hope and believe that the idiots here defending Kramer are a small minority of conservatives. What Michael Richards did was disgusting on a human level, and stupid and idiotic on a professional level. It was even wrong from a comedic standpoint, as it wasn't funny in the slightest....Richards will be known forevermore as a moron. When you are being heckled about being a bad comedian, you respond to the heckler as a man, not as a black man, unless you are a racist who believes that black men are not allowed to have opinions about white comedians. To bring lynching into it, not just epithats, was horrible....Too bad. I love the Kramer character in that show. It will be hard to separate him from his disgusting real world person from here on.

Excellent summing-up -- I totally agree.

[ChiefJayStrongbow]

It was actually based on the sound of the whips they used when herding cattle ... We learned that historical tidbit down in Orlando at 'Gator Land.

[Cagey]

I don't have HBO at home and only watch it occasional when I'm traveling. I've heard little about Curb Your Enthusiasm but I should look for it just to check it out.

Larry David did get his fame from writing many episodes of Seinfeld but Jerry Seinfeld had the final say in the scripts and did some writing himself. There were also quite a few shows where David had no input and other writers did the scripts. Some incredible work by them all and not an F word in any of the 197.

I should add that I thought George Carlin's "Meaning of the "F Word" is incredibly funny. It's all about the need to use it and not the using it to say "look at me" that works in humor.

[dfwgator]

I remember when he was on "Fridays" I knew even then this guy wasn't playing with a full deck.

[Defiant]

Very reminiscent of when Dr. Tim Watley converts to Judaism, and immediately starts making Jewish jokes. Jerry is disgusted with it, and starts to suspect that Watley converted just so he could have immunity to tell those jokes. He goes to talk to a Catholic priest about it. The priest, after hearing Jerry's description of the problem, says, "and this offends you as a Jewish person." Jerry's reply,

"No, it offends me as a comedian".

Any comedian should be offended by Richards' outburst (it wasn't funny), just as any black person or American in general, should be offended by his attempt to turn an audience of English speaking Angelenos into a group of tribes, one set against the other.