Michael Richards is a well-trained stage actor who made it in television comedy, but make no mistake, just like everyone besides Jerry on Seinfeld, he is first and foremost a very solid actor. Jason Alexander, by the way, was the most accomplished actor on the show - he could do drama, comedy, suspense, you name it, and he was great in Audio Drama, too. But Michael Richards' stand up act is just another form of acting for him, which is fine, but it's not what stand up is. Any good actor can "act" his way through a stand-up bit, but a real "comedian," such as Norm MacDonald, Bill Burr, Richard Pryor, etc, do more than that. They read an audience, react, improvise, read the audience, etc.
I would add to your analysis that Richards, on some level, knew he wasn't good at standup but couldn't shake the idea that he needed to be. And that's why he lashed out at the Laugh Factory, not out of a racist ideology but just trying to impose pain on people because he was feeling pain of his own failures as a standup comedian. He should have just realized he is in the Will Ferrell mold and he could never be like Seinfeld.
@@Will_MoffettI don’t know man there was some pretty deep rooted racism in that rant ‘that’s what happens when you interrupt the white man’ being a good example 😭
Wonderful performer and comic actor, like on Seinfeld, when often just the way he said a word was enough to make the scene hilarious. Comedy is so much more than one liners and joke telling (not that they aren't funny in themselves), and he's a great example of this. A magnetic presence in my opinion.
A brilliant mind who when challenged went immediately into a racist rant showing that he is either a brilliant racist or he’s a moron that descends into racism when he’s heckled
Some comedians are all verbal and linear punchlines...I always thought the ability to make people laugh with a pause or a gesture is some powerful shit. Richards has it. That takes timing and talent
I would love to see more of his work, he was clearly a very good comic. However all I could find of his stand up career his this old video and that mental breakdown he had in 2006
To be far they interpted him by talking. They shouldn't have interrupted his performance. And also, why is tge N word used a ton in rap music but when Michael said it people acted like it was the first time they heard the N word. What if Michael listened to rap music and thought it was a normal thing to say? Also, most of the people in that room probably listen to rap music and are totally cool with the n word used in rap music
@@SiouxCityWeather I think the problem was that he said "Nigger" and not "Nigga", also he said "a few years we'd have you up a tree with a fork up your ass"
This comment reads like a bot posted this or someone very very old, and seeing as its a really old comment they either never lived or are currently dead.
I love Michael Richards. He's so funny and talented. If you rewatch the scenes he's in Seinfeld, you'll realize what a comedic genius he is. I am bummed he wasn't in more shows.
@@mattchew9767 i don't think that had as much to do with it as the overpowering character of Kramer did.. even if he hadn't had that meltdown and had the freedom to land more work, it would've been difficult for him to shake the typecast that Seinfeld cast over him. He embodied Kramer so perfectly, he likely always would've been seen as that character regardless of what role he tried to portray. Not to say he was a one trick pony, but it's hard to imagine him as anyone else. Even watching him play himself in Curb, it was strange seeing him in another role
Ask the comedians before Seinfeld went on the air who saw Richards work, and they all said he blew them away. Ask Jerry, or David...etc. You think this behavior began with Seinfeld?
@@aaronharmanofficial cant remember mate, haven't watched this for 4 years. i can't rewatch it as im a CEO of a large company and do not have time, but do have time to reply to your comment
What he doesn't realize is that they're not laughing at his material but rather the simple mannerisms/gestures that they've watched him perform on the show. He could literally just make subtle Seinfeld gestures and the dumb audience would eat it up.
I think this guys ability in his use of facial expressions and mime are incredible, especially during his reign in Seinfeld..Unfortunately mud sticks like shit to a blanket, in his case because he misread the behaviour and actions of a few people in the club (who happened to be Afro Americans)..He probably doesn't even know himself why he reacted so vehemently, but it's apparent that he was hurt at someone talking over his act and he reacted in a way that was designed to get back and hurt the people responsible!..I don't think he's racist, I think like so many comics that he might have bouts of depression and the night at the club just had all the ingredients to trigger a manic episode...He and Julia Dreyfus made that show for me, he because he was funny and she because I'd like to get my rocks off and I love her in the bloopers, she's wicked in the nicest possible way! ;o))
He relied quite a lot on his krameresque expressions which I don't see anything wrong with as long as it is funny. The jokes themselves I think were good. I enjoyed it a lot.
He was 100% perfect in "Seinfeld". There has never been a better sit-com, and he was at least one of the reasons why. He's ok here, but it's derivative of his role in "Seinfeld", and lacks that extra something of being in an ensemble. Professional level live standup is incredibly challenging (you're fighting for laughs every minute) and most people drop out early, or don't last very long. It's a bit like boxing, you can't just give punches, you've got to be able to take them too (in other words, handle hecklers), and in this sense Richards had a "glass jaw". It also makes me think of "George" who had both low-self esteem and a temper, that together, frequently got him in trouble (remember when he left the scathing diatribe on his date's answering machine only to realize she had never heard his earlier messages?). In that particular standup moment, Richards went down the "George" path, which as you know, never ends well.
im actually impressed with his stand up, i never took his physical comedy as something that could be used on stage but he does a really good job here...that said he really shouldnt have tried it as a career which is why he was heckled and lost his temper...its really too bad, he had great delivery riding on the back of hilarious physical comedy
He was a genius with Kramer, but I think that was all. I think if it wasn't for that incident he wouldn't have really done much more anyway. Maybe that's what drove him crazy.
wheres the rest of this bit? he talks about how huge muscles used to be needed 1500 years ago when people drove horse drawn cheriots and its the best part!
Michael Richards is underrated as a comedian. He got the role of Kramer and it was a great role but it became so big that it blotted out his comedy act in a way cuz everybody sees Kramer and the audience wants Kramerisms Do not judge this man for his "breakdown"or whatever they call it. When you are that big...strange things happen that no one really can understand. Very very good comedian.
"he sacrificed almost his whole life for that show"? What are you talking about. Michael was 41 years old when they started making Seinfeld episodes, and 49 at the end of the show. That is hardly his whole life...more like 12% of his life, to date, involved starring in Seinfeld.
People saying this isn’t funny have to keep in mind that he was a huge star from doing Seinfeld so the audience would eat up anything he did and also in 1993 a lot of lame stuff was considered really funny to people 😂
If anyone notices while watching this, he is in character as Kramer. When he went on his racist tangent, the people heckling him got him out of his routine where he was comfortable. Richards was good at improvising comedy when he know what he was supposed to do, but he wasn't a true stand up. He's one of those people who calculate every move, but if you take them out of their game, they're lost, and he just snapped because of it. He was probably never heckled before and didn't know what to do
Yes. He is not funny at all. He is not even telling a joke, but the audience is laughing. Here's a joke at his level "I came home from work and my neighbor asked me when I was going to mow my lawn." Boom! That is as funny as anything that he said.
Michael Richards will always be Kramer and Kramer will always be funny. This guy is a laugh a second. I am a black man who loves comedy and Michael Richards is funny. If I was doing the show where he went off and them niggaz had done that shit to me I woulda said "I HATE you niggaz!" and he never said that. Kramer's cool.
@2superfan2 Excellent speaking point. Seriously - this is a point that is rarely glossed over. All we learn about is white history. Europe is all that is in the history books. And our American kids don't even know that well (Palin, every other Tea Partier).
And this is why there is a huge difference between being a comedic actor and a stand-up comedian... He's a terrible stand-up comedian, these people are laughing because he was Kramer. But these are terrible jokes... However, one of the better comedic actors of all time.
Michael Richards is a wonderful talent. I'm so bummed that he trashed his career 18 years ago with that tirade of slurs. I don't know what got into him. It's been almost two decades. Maybe people will be willing to forgive him.
I respect this dude. I give him credit for getting onstage. However, his material just doesn't make me laugh. The gym, a buff guy, no neck. Just doesn't grab me.
Michael Richard is a marvelous talent who was railroaded by society and the afterbirth that seems to take pride in trashing anyone that is a non conformist. Every person walking the earth has some level as small as it might be, of racism justified or not, we do.
This guys hilarious. He should perform at the Laugh Factory.
He did he has a really funny bit there its all over youtube
@@cameronreid8579 it's was a joke bro, calm down.
@@cameronreid8579 23 ppl understood this no prob an u dint bro
😂 😂 😂 😂 😂
@@anonymousr.9333 you obviously don't get comedy
They were laughing at every fucking thing he said. Thats the power of being Kramer.
+cooliovasquez its the kavorka!!!!!
+RedCowCat Better break out the garlic
+RedCowCat No, the Karmerka
its the mannerisms that are funny not him.
But then fucked up with that racist shit
This isn't the one I was looking for.
lmao
Thats the problem
But it's the one you need. Lol this guy's great.
@@Leboof232 yeah a great racist against black people, who can burn in Hell for all I care....
Yeah wasn't that the greatest thing ever? Ballsiest shit I ever saw
"And his neck was gone!"--standing ovation of applause.
Its because he did a Kramer twitch when he said it
It's like if Kramer was filling in for Jerry in a brand new Seinfeld episode.
He did the thing
"I'm gonna say it." -Michael Richards
Michael Richards is a well-trained stage actor who made it in television comedy, but make no mistake, just like everyone besides Jerry on Seinfeld, he is first and foremost a very solid actor. Jason Alexander, by the way, was the most accomplished actor on the show - he could do drama, comedy, suspense, you name it, and he was great in Audio Drama, too. But Michael Richards' stand up act is just another form of acting for him, which is fine, but it's not what stand up is. Any good actor can "act" his way through a stand-up bit, but a real "comedian," such as Norm MacDonald, Bill Burr, Richard Pryor, etc, do more than that. They read an audience, react, improvise, read the audience, etc.
Very well said. They’re definitely laughing at his physical performance more than the jokes.
I would add to your analysis that Richards, on some level, knew he wasn't good at standup but couldn't shake the idea that he needed to be. And that's why he lashed out at the Laugh Factory, not out of a racist ideology but just trying to impose pain on people because he was feeling pain of his own failures as a standup comedian. He should have just realized he is in the Will Ferrell mold and he could never be like Seinfeld.
Read the audience read the audience read thr audience ect
@@Will_MoffettI don’t know man there was some pretty deep rooted racism in that rant ‘that’s what happens when you interrupt the white man’ being a good example 😭
well. it's the laugh that counts
Amazing, the flinches and everything.. Nobody can do it like Michael can!
People seem to laugh the hardest when he does his trademark Seinfeld-moves..
Just shows he’s naturally talented
@@collinnc2001 Yeah…
Don't you mean his Michael Richards moves? That's all him, baby.
yeah, hes a physichal comedian
Hahaha what a frigging boss always his best stuff at laugh factory can't wait to see another show I'll pay him personally
Wonderful performer and comic actor, like on Seinfeld, when often just the way he said a word was enough to make the scene hilarious. Comedy is so much more than one liners and joke telling (not that they aren't funny in themselves), and he's a great example of this. A magnetic presence in my opinion.
He's a great actor, and he could have gone on to show us much more than he has, and not just in comedy. Look at Jason Alexander.
A brilliant mind who when challenged went immediately into a racist rant showing that he is either a brilliant racist or he’s a moron that descends into racism when he’s heckled
What a funny guy! I wonder if he's ever performed at the Laugh Factory.
I just came from that video too
stop being mean to michael.
Actually, he did... now, about your career...? Josiah Pike? For real... man, I loved all your shows, you sir, are a real talent!
Some comedians are all verbal and linear punchlines...I always thought the ability to make people laugh with a pause or a gesture is some powerful shit. Richards has it. That takes timing and talent
I would love to see more of his work, he was clearly a very good comic. However all I could find of his stand up career his this old video and that mental breakdown he had in 2006
No, he wasn't a good stand up comic. He was a good comedic actor who acted his was through stand up passably.
To be far they interpted him by talking. They shouldn't have interrupted his performance. And also, why is tge N word used a ton in rap music but when Michael said it people acted like it was the first time they heard the N word. What if Michael listened to rap music and thought it was a normal thing to say? Also, most of the people in that room probably listen to rap music and are totally cool with the n word used in rap music
@@SiouxCityWeather I think the problem was that he said "Nigger" and not "Nigga", also he said "a few years we'd have you up a tree with a fork up your ass"
do you really believe that michael richards, at age 57, didn’t know that the n word was bad
@@cartoonworld1000 Yeah I rewatched that and yeah it was racist and mean. Not sure why he would even think it would be funny to say
Funny guy, Can’t wait to see him at the laugh factory on the 17th November 2006. It’ll be great
Oh
That guy @ 1:33
He's in for a treat in the future😂😂😂
He is very talented. I will always remember him as Kramer in Seinfeld.
Cosmo🤣
This comment reads like a bot posted this or someone very very old, and seeing as its a really old comment they either never lived or are currently dead.
Get out of town.
And Stanley in UHF
I’ll always remember him for shouting the n word at somebody
He had pure star power. That's the only reason they're laughing. His stand-up is bad.
I love Michael Richards. He's so funny and talented. If you rewatch the scenes he's in Seinfeld, you'll realize what a comedic genius he is. I am bummed he wasn't in more shows.
that's what happens when you yell the n word repeatedly at audience members
@@mattchew9767 i don't think that had as much to do with it as the overpowering character of Kramer did.. even if he hadn't had that meltdown and had the freedom to land more work, it would've been difficult for him to shake the typecast that Seinfeld cast over him. He embodied Kramer so perfectly, he likely always would've been seen as that character regardless of what role he tried to portray. Not to say he was a one trick pony, but it's hard to imagine him as anyone else. Even watching him play himself in Curb, it was strange seeing him in another role
@@mattchew9767 that happened long after his acting career was over. that was only like 10 years ago.
Ask the comedians before Seinfeld went on the air who saw Richards work, and they all said he blew them away. Ask Jerry, or David...etc. You think this behavior began with Seinfeld?
He was performing at a theatre called The Laugh Track.
Michael Richards is a brilliant comic, people blow it at times doesn't mean we stop appreciating him or his work!!
I agree. But to be fair, white people are the ones that turned on him.
At least he didn't blow it on a kid like some of these Hollywood types
True... Now tell the Jews that about Nick Cannon. 🤔
He's so funny!
His second funniest stand-up.
Thanks for posting this so that the issues weren't the only result when you search for his standup:-)
You can talk, you can talk, you can talk
It was a reference to a line from the movie “Planet of the Apes”
@@mm860I can siiiiinnnngg!
I love how he always stays Kramer! :D
Kramer did an amazing job impersonating this Michael Richards guy
I still love him, he's hilarious
damn that crowd must be on some good shit
dissentwaBRAH what don’t you find funny about this routine?
@@aaronharmanofficial cant remember mate, haven't watched this for 4 years. i can't rewatch it as im a CEO of a large company and do not have time, but do have time to reply to your comment
dissentwaBRAH ah
@@dissentwaBRAH WATCH IT AGAIN
What he doesn't realize is that they're not laughing at his material but rather the simple mannerisms/gestures that they've watched him perform on the show. He could literally just make subtle Seinfeld gestures and the dumb audience would eat it up.
Yeh, I’m sure he never realized that. What an astute observation.
this guy is a legend
This guy has some voice on him
the next joke was about to be something like "nah you N**** I'm not lifting that with my neck!"
This was back when he was on top of his game.
I met Michael Richards once, he's actually pretty crazy, a little mental. But man was he funny.
I think this guys ability in his use of facial expressions and mime are incredible, especially during his reign in Seinfeld..Unfortunately mud sticks like shit to a blanket, in his case because he misread the behaviour and actions of a few people in the club (who happened to be Afro Americans)..He probably doesn't even know himself why he reacted so vehemently, but it's apparent that he was hurt at someone talking over his act and he reacted in a way that was designed to get back and hurt the people responsible!..I don't think he's racist, I think like so many comics that he might have bouts of depression and the night at the club just had all the ingredients to trigger a manic episode...He and Julia Dreyfus made that show for me, he because he was funny and she because I'd like to get my rocks off and I love her in the bloopers, she's wicked in the nicest possible way! ;o))
swingmanic wrote "I don't think he's racist"
He is not. Watch his apology on RUclips.
swingmanic I agree, friend
+swingmanic Yeah, but you can WASH a blanket.
+swingmanic
Mud sticks like shit to a blanket? Cheese sticks to corn like honey.
I also see it as that, he made a mistake and worse people have been forgiven for worse actions?
He relied quite a lot on his krameresque expressions which I don't see anything wrong with as long as it is funny. The jokes themselves I think were good. I enjoyed it a lot.
+marcusphotina Yeah but then he goes and does a hissy-fit on being nothing BUT Kramer.
watch battle boy. he after like that 9 years before he was Kramer
Nah we have a perfect stage in Haiti 🇭🇹 he'll be fine
man oh man i want to see the full show
Can we forgive him yet? Dudes undeniable af
One of the greatest comedians and all around performers out there. Shame he got cancelled.
Well I mean it’s not a shame… but yeah he was funny
He was cancelled for actively being racist. I think that’s fair.
He was 100% perfect in "Seinfeld". There has never been a better sit-com, and he was at least one of the reasons why. He's ok here, but it's derivative of his role in "Seinfeld", and lacks that extra something of being in an ensemble. Professional level live standup is incredibly challenging (you're fighting for laughs every minute) and most people drop out early, or don't last very long. It's a bit like boxing, you can't just give punches, you've got to be able to take them too (in other words, handle hecklers), and in this sense Richards had a "glass jaw". It also makes me think of "George" who had both low-self esteem and a temper, that together, frequently got him in trouble (remember when he left the scathing diatribe on his date's answering machine only to realize she had never heard his earlier messages?). In that particular standup moment, Richards went down the "George" path, which as you know, never ends well.
Kramer's getting upset!!
im actually impressed with his stand up, i never took his physical comedy as something that could be used on stage but he does a really good job here...that said he really shouldnt have tried it as a career which is why he was heckled and lost his temper...its really too bad, he had great delivery riding on the back of hilarious physical comedy
LOOK! THERE IS A DIFFERENT COLOURED PERSON! LOOK!
He was a genius with Kramer, but I think that was all. I think if it wasn't for that incident he wouldn't have really done much more anyway. Maybe that's what drove him crazy.
He should do the laugh factory bit more.
Michael Richards was so hot right then, in 1993.
wheres the rest of this bit? he talks about how huge muscles used to be needed 1500 years ago when people drove horse drawn cheriots and its the best part!
Michael Richards is underrated as a comedian. He got the role of Kramer and it was a great role but it became so big that it blotted out his comedy act in a way cuz everybody sees Kramer and the audience wants Kramerisms
Do not judge this man for his "breakdown"or whatever they call it. When you are that big...strange things happen that no one really can understand. Very very good comedian.
"he sacrificed almost his whole life for that show"?
What are you talking about. Michael was 41 years old when they started making Seinfeld episodes, and 49 at the end of the show.
That is hardly his whole life...more like 12% of his life, to date, involved starring in Seinfeld.
“that’s gold jerry, gold”
Man I wonder he'd handle being heckled
Depends how much melanin the hecklers have.
Pitchfork!
People saying this isn’t funny have to keep in mind that he was a huge star from doing Seinfeld so the audience would eat up anything he did and also in 1993 a lot of lame stuff was considered really funny to people 😂
Michael Richards is not a god in stand up comedy, but is a GREAT COMEDIAN and actor, and definitely not racist
Kramer is such an amazing Comedian... Made seinfeld a success
Oh yes. Brings you back alright. To when you weren't born.
I love how he still plays a "kramer" like charecter
Ahh... before... the incident ...
This is more offensive than his Laugh Factory performance
Racist tirade , whatever, he felt remorseful, and still one of my fave comedic characters
A stupid amount of rage will peek out of me when someone calls me out. And when you have nothing to really
That was funny as hell! Michael really plays into his character
If anyone notices while watching this, he is in character as Kramer. When he went on his racist tangent, the people heckling him got him out of his routine where he was comfortable. Richards was good at improvising comedy when he know what he was supposed to do, but he wasn't a true stand up. He's one of those people who calculate every move, but if you take them out of their game, they're lost, and he just snapped because of it. He was probably never heckled before and didn't know what to do
One of my old school teachers back in England was a little bit like Michael Richards as Kramer with a bit of Rowan Atkinson thrown in.
Are they laughing with him or laughing at him?
I enjoyed his standup alot :D not sure what everyone else is talking bout him not being a good stand up
Thanks for the explanation of terms, FlashHarry.
hes not a bad stand up, unusually funny, any haters on here dissing him think they can do better?
Yes. He is not funny at all. He is not even telling a joke, but the audience is laughing. Here's a joke at his level "I came home from work and my neighbor asked me when I was going to mow my lawn." Boom! That is as funny as anything that he said.
Yeah I can do better. Here: "What is the deal with Grape Nuts? I open the box, no grapes and no nuts!"
this was real Kramer
century and a half. two old people back-to-back. not all that long ago.
Good thing the guy at 1:33 didn't start heckling him.
I like his bit about black people
Michael Richards will always be Kramer and Kramer will always be funny.
This guy is a laugh a second. I am a black man who loves comedy and Michael Richards is funny. If I was doing the show where he went off and them niggaz had done that shit to me I woulda said "I HATE you niggaz!" and he never said that.
Kramer's cool.
Richards doing krammer doing stand up....
LooseCan88 if you did some homework, you’d know that Michael had this routine way before Seinfeld.
@2superfan2 Excellent speaking point. Seriously - this is a point that is rarely glossed over. All we learn about is white history. Europe is all that is in the history books. And our American kids don't even know that well (Palin, every other Tea Partier).
Before he was big in the black community.
There are a shit ton of theories as to where that name came from.
Yes he is
And this is why there is a huge difference between being a comedic actor and a stand-up comedian... He's a terrible stand-up comedian, these people are laughing because he was Kramer. But these are terrible jokes... However, one of the better comedic actors of all time.
Wasn't doing it for free dude. But he was brilliant, u r right.
One of the greats!
Michael Richards is a wonderful talent. I'm so bummed that he trashed his career 18 years ago with that tirade of slurs. I don't know what got into him. It's been almost two decades. Maybe people will be willing to forgive him.
There shouldn't be limits on what anyone can say...ever, especially in comedy, there are no limits.
My brother in Christ, what he said was a racist meltdown, it was not a bit.
I wonder if Bob Sacamano gave him the coupon. He could call it the Bob Sacamano Story.
Love his comedy
@raizin8 they didnt burst into applaus and laughter because of the neck comment but because he did the kramer move
"the neck was gone"
Kramer!!
Lol, so Kramer 😂
I respect this dude. I give him credit for getting onstage. However, his material just doesn't make me laugh. The gym, a buff guy, no neck. Just doesn't grab me.
nicely said
Michael Richard is a marvelous talent who was railroaded by society and the afterbirth that seems to take pride in trashing anyone that is a non conformist. Every person walking the earth has some level as small as it might be, of racism justified or not, we do.
No wonder they cancel Seinfeld...
Did people back then just laugh at anything?
Clearly we miss "Kramer".
he was the real soul of seignfeld show
The man is funny.
PERIOD!
Whst was he?
LEGEND
I want more of this standup but I cant find it