To say Richards lost his temper would be an understatement. He exploded into a rage, making a reference to a lynching and then repeating the N-word several times. It was a shocking outburst for anyone to make, and it was especially jarring coming from the goofy guy who America fondly remembered sliding through Jerry Seinfeld's apartment door every Thursday night.
Just days after the incident at The Laugh Factory, Michael Richards appeared via satellite on The Late Show with David Letterman at the request of Jerry Seinfeld, who reached out to Letterman and asked for the favor of letting Richards explain himself on the air.
It seems the cancellation had to do with a personal problem the creator/showrunner was having and nothing to do with poor cast performance, but it's clear that after all these years away, Richards is a one-note performer. In an era when the traditional sitcom is dying, veteran actors of those kinds of shows, like Richards, are going to find it harder and harder to stay relevant. Kirstie is Richards' last credit aside from Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee —yet another bone thrown his way by, you guessed it, Jerry Seinfeld.
Richards played Vic Nardozza, an inept private investigator who got into all kinds of confusing mishaps in the course of working his cases. While the scripts were decent, Richards' performance relied heavily on physical comedy, so the result was a show that felt like it could have been titled Kramer, P.I. According to Roger Cormier's analysis of the show's cancellation, this stunk of "blatant network malfeasance," meaning NBC wanted Richards falling down and throwing himself around like Kramer used to, regardless of whether it made sense for the script. Combine that with the fact the show was competing with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, That '70s Show, and JAG, and it was a recipe for disaster. Barring a few episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm in which he played himself for a quasi- Seinfeld reunion, it would be 13 years before Richards would glide onto another sitcom set. It wouldn't go well, but we'll get to that later.
Assuming Richards took his self-imposed exile because he didn't want to have to answer questions about the meltdown, both of these choices actually make sense. In the case of Bee Movie, he could reasonably expect Seinfeld's protection, since he'd already stuck by Richards; in the case of Walk the Light, it was a movie that had less of a chance of anyone noticing its existence than a documentary about the intricacies of tax law.
He's got nothing in development according to his IMDb page, but he also has a six-year-old son, Antonio, so maybe he's just focused on being a dad right now.
A third, bizarre attempt to explain his racist rant. In September 2012, Michael Richards appeared on the season one finale of Jerry Seinfeld's docuseries Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.
The Michael Richards Show is an American sitcom television series created by Spike Feresten, Gregg Kavet, Andy Robin and Richards, that debuted on NBC from October 24 to December 19, 2000.
When originally conceived, Richards wanted to differentiate his character from Kramer, the role he immortalized on Seinfeld. However, the network disagreed and decided that the character would share characteristics with his previous role. The character Nardozza was named after Richards' own mother, Phyllis Nardozzi.
The show is about Vic Nardozza ( Michael Richards ), a lanky and bumbly P.I., working for McKay Investigative Services. Throughout the show, there are misunderstandings, screw-ups, which get in the way of the job, but he always ends up getting it done. — Anonymous
During the show's pre-production stages, Michael Richards intended to keep his character as far apart as possible from Kramer, but NBC disagreed, and the character ended up with some similar characteristics to Kramer.
What is the English language plot outline for The Michael Richards Show (2000)?
He featured in the season 1 episode "It's Bubbly Time, Jerry", in which Seinfeld asks him about the past controversy.
Infamously, Richards went on an expletive -filled, racist rant when performing stand up at the Laugh Factory in California in 2006. Unsurprisingly, Richards faced a major backlash for the foul rant and was canceled long before celeb cancellations were the norm. So what happened to the once respected star after the shocking incident? Here's everything we know.
Richards eventually crept back into the public eye in 2009 when he appeared in the 7th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, the entirety of which revolved around a Seinfeld reunion. Larry David isn't one to avoid controversial topics in his storylines and he poked fun at Richards' past indiscretions.
Unfortunately, Kirstie Alley is one of them. After decades of struggling to make a post- Cheers comeback, she landed her own sitcom, Kirstie, in 2013. Richards starred as Kirstie's driver.
To the surprise of many, Richards appeared in 2007 DreamWorks production Bee Movie, which was produced and written by Jerry Seinfeld. Richards voiced the human character Bud Ditchwater. However, the small role wasn't the break that Richards so sorely needed to bounce back after his offensive outburst.
A young Silverman played Kramer's girlfriend in the season 8 episode "The Money", but the experience was unpleasant for her. Describing Richards' aggressive outburst when she got her line wrong, Silverman said, "**** this guy. Nobody calls him on his **** because he's Kramer from 'Seinfeld'. He walks through the front door and he gets a standing ovation."
Accordingly, Richards made an apology on the show via satellite. "I'm deeply, deeply sorry. I'm not a racist, that's what's so insane about this," he explained, causing audience members to laugh.
Deemed one of the greatest courtroom dramas of all time and based on the novel with the same title, Anatomy of a Murder follows Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler (played by James Stewart), who has his work cut out for him after agreeing to defend Lt. Manion (played by Ben Gazzarra), who murdered a local bar owner after learning he’s been accused of rape.
At first, Mick assumes that the case will be an easy, open-and-shut affair. He soon learns, though, that there’s more to it than meets the eye and that it’s connected with a previous case of his.
McDeere finds himself in a jam when the FBI contacts him to gather evidence about the actions of his colleagues. As a result, he must decide between doing what’s best in the eyes of the law and making the decision that will keep him alive.
Trivia: Julia Roberts’ salary for her role as Erin Brockovich made her the first actress in Hollywood to earn more than $20 million.
Set in 1839, Amistad tells the story of a slave ship sailing from Cuba to the United States. In the film, directed by Steven Spielberg, Cinque (played by Djimon Hounsou) leads the slaves in an uprising, which results in them being held as prisoners in Connecticut.
Trivia: Despite his top-billed status, Welles does not appear in the film until an hour and five minutes in.
Philadelphia (1993) Directed by Jonathan Demme, Philadelphia tells the story of lawyer Andrew Beckett, who struggles to hide his homosexuality, as well as his HIV status, for fear that they will have a negative impact on his career at a prestigious Philadelphia law firm.