Kramer Hates Niggers!
I, like most of you, have been witness to the uproar over Michael Richards' onstage explosion at The Laugh Factory. I've seen the footage, along with the news reports. I saw Richards' apology on Letterman last night, with Kramer's former boss, Jerry Seinfeld conveniently present on the Letterman stage.We all know the story by now. The former Seinfeld cast member and longtime improv/sketch actor is now doing standup. He was at the LA club doing his act, and was "heckled" by a black audience member. His response was a lengthy tirade, peppered with more use of the word "nigger" than was in the movie "American History X". And now there is scandal. People are up in arms. They are outraged. It's all over the news and the Internet. How could he do such a thing? The zany Kramer, screaming "nigger".......unbelievable!
I went to YouTube and watched the entire video of the incident, which includes much more than what was shown on the tv news. You should do the same. I studied the video like Oliver Stone going over the Zapruder film, and then I studied the Letterman appearance....and I've come to some conclusions.
As you may or may not know, I worked as a Private Investigator prior to entering the glamorous world of comedy. My "bullshit detector" is in pretty good working order, as are my comedy skills, if I do say so myself. Working as a comic, learning from so many talented people, one picks up some intuition as far as things comedic. My "comedic eye" is more focused than, say, your average plumber's. But hey, I can't fix a toilet, so we're even.
As I looked at the footage of Richards' onstage breakdown, I could only think one thing: Andy Kaufman. This tirade is classic Kaufman. This is Kaufman yelling at the crowd at wrestling matches, saying that women are inferior. This is Kaufman in the deep South, screaming that southern people are ignorant. This is Kaufman refusing to do standup when he was booked to do exactly that, instead, reading "The Great Gatsby", or playing records. This is Kaufman as Tony Clifton, berating the crowd. This is performance art. A bit of history here:
In the 70s, the heavily populated LA comedy scene included 3 up and coming comics. Michael Richards, Andy Kaufman and David Letterman.
In February of 1981, Andy Kaufman, now famous, served as guest host for a "Saturday Night Live" ripoff called "Fridays". While hosting the live program, Kaufman flipped out and refused to do a sketch. This resulted in a cast member walking off stage, grabbing the cue cards, and throwing them at Kaufman. Kaufman then threw a glass of water in the face of the cast member, and a physical fight ensued, which ended up involving several members of the cast and crew. The program went to commercial, and everybody was outraged and shocked at Kaufman's unhinged behavior. Later, he made a public, very sincere apology. Years after, it was reveled that the entire incident had been staged for shock value. A social experiment, if you will. The kind of thing at which Kaufman excelled and delighted. One of the few people who was "in on" the joke was cast member Michael Richards, the one who grabbed the cue cards and got the water thrown at him.
In 1982, Andy Kaufman was involved in a very public fued with Wrestling legend Jerry Lawler. The two of them did an exhibition match where Lawler seriously injured Kaufman, and Kaufman made several public statements about his intent to sue. 3 months later, the two of them agreed to appear on Letterman's show to try to patch things up. The appearance became confrontational, with Kaufman engaging in name-calling, and Lawler ultimately smacking Kaufman out of his chair. Kaufman then stormed off the set, screaming obscenities. After Kaufman's death, Lawler revealed that the entire thing had been a carefully planned set up. It was all just a bit, and Letterman was involved.
Michael Richards' fiasco at The Laugh Factory was performance art. He was employing a touch of Lenny Bruce's technique of trying to teach us that words are only words, and they only have as much power as we allow. He was throwing that into the pot with a heavy dose of Kaufman-esque standup, where the joke is on the audience. The secret to doing this style of comedy is to never let the audience off the hook. A keen observer will be able to tell what's really going on, but the crowd will be duped everytime. Michael Richards is nowhere near as skilled at this as Kaufman was, nor as hip as Lenny was, so his execution of the concept falls short. If you watch the entire 2:49 seconds of footage from the club appearance, you will see him make 2 mistakes. Early on, in what is supposed to be an uncontrollable rage, he calmly addresses the audience and makes reference to how "shocking" his outburst is. Then he's back to rage. But the biggest error in execution (and the most significant indicator that this was a performance art piece) is at the very end. Just before walking off stage, Richards calmly says:
"You see? There's still those words. Those words. Those words".
The Letterman appearance is part of the act. Letterman, who participated in the Kaufman scam, is an active participant in this one. As is Jerry Seinfeld, Richards' former boss. Some of you will recall that several months back, Richards, during a club appearance, went off in much the same fashion about "The Jews". Seinfeld publicly condemed his comments, but the incident didn't get much play. That was the set up. This one is the punchline. Watch the entire footage of the Letterman appearance and you'll see a piece that greatly resembles Kaufman's public apologies. Right down to Michael Richards refering to blacks as "Afro-Americans", a term he's using to try to seem sensitive, but really enrage more. He's playing out of the same book. The only problem is that he's not doing it well enough. He's a little clumsy, and he's too interested in making sure we get it. Never explain the joke. Where Kaufman never did, I fear Michael Richards will have to. America doesn't have a sense of humor anymore, and we certainly aren't comfortable examining our our prejudices and preconceived notions about one another.
Controversy sells tickets and puts asses in chairs. It made Lenny and Andy legends. Sadly, Michael Richards is not in the same league. Not even the same sport.
Joke em' if they can't take a fuck,
Gull
Posted by mgull on 11/21 at 12:20 PM