Hey, Kramer, no one's laughing
Michael Richards goes on racist tirade at club: 'The audience came here expecting to see Kramer, and they got Mark Fuhrman'
Reacting to former "Seinfeld" star Michael Richards' shocking tirade of racial epithets -- spewed at hecklers in a West Hollywood, Calif., comedy club Friday night -- fellow comic Paul Rodriguez perhaps said it best:
''The audience came here expecting to see Kramer, and they got Mark Fuhrman.''
(AP)
Rodriguez, who also appeared on the bill at the Laugh Factory on Friday and is a partner in the venue, clearly was shocked by Richards' fury -- seemingly ignited when a couple of African-American audience members told the 57-year-old former sitcom star they didn't find him funny.
As Rodriguez told CNN, "Once the [n-word] comes out of your mouth and you don't happen to be African-American, then you have a whole lot of explaining," he said.
The controversy about Richards' apparent meltdown was further fueled when the TMZ.com Web site posted a cell-phone video of the comedian hurling his venomous comments -- captured by an audience member.
On the tape, Richards is heard shouting, "Shut up! Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a f-----g fork up your a--."
He then paced across the stage taunting the men for interrupting his show.
''You can talk, you can talk, you're brave now, m-----------. Throw his a-- out. He's a n-----!'' Richards shouts before repeating the racial epithet over and over again.
At one point, Richards tells the audience, ''It shocks you, it shocks you'' and refers to ''what lays buried.''
While there is some chuckling in the audience throughout the outburst, someone can be heard gasping ''Oh my God'' and people respond with ''ooh'' after Richards uses the n-word.
Along with apologizing for the incident, Masada claimed he had only allowed Richards back with the understanding he would issue a formal apology from the stage. That did not occur. Masada made clear Richards was no longer welcome in his club -- either as a performer or a guest.
Calls to Richards' representatives were not returned Monday.
Comedian George Lopez told television station KTLA that he thought Richards' lack of stand-up experience may have been a factor. "The question is you have an actor who is trying to be a comedian who doesn't know what to do when an audience is disruptive," he said.
Contributing: Sun-Times wires
"I will be discussing this," said Frank Townsend, a Chicago stand-up who's headlining at the Improv in Schaumburg.
"You must be brave enough to suffer the consequences and you also need to have a point. . . . His rant came out of anger when his act was bombing," he said.
And that shouldn't have happened to Richards: "He's rich," Townsend said. "He can afford to hire a decent writer."
The headliner at Zanies in St. Charles this weekend, Larry Reeb, said actors dabbling in stand-up are ''usually terrible" and struggle with hecklers.
"They are usually drunk and/or stupid," Reeb said. "One guy was heckling me the whole time shouting, 'Talk about sex!' I replied: 'Your parents shouldn't have had it.' "
Misha Davenport
''For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this crap, I'm deeply, deeply sorry,'' he said during a satellite appearance for David Letterman's ''Late Show.''
''I'm not a racist. That's what's so insane about this,'' Richards said.
Jerry Seinfeld issued a statement about his former sitcom co-star, saying he was ''sick over this.''
''I'm sure Michael is also sick over this horrible, horrible mistake. It is so extremely offensive. I feel terrible for all the people who have been hurt,'' Seinfeld said of Richards, 57.
AP