June 20, 2024 • 10 mins
The legendary Michael Richards joins Jonesy & Amanda for one of their best chats ever.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
And Amanda jam Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Well, our next guest is a three time Emmy Award
winning actor. You might know him best as the beloved,
eccentric Cosmo Kramer. Seinfeld's Michael Richards is pulling back the
curtain and giving us a glimpse into his world. As
one of the TV's most memorable characters. He has written
a book called Entrances and Exits. He joined us now
he's revealed to us that he's barefoot. Michael Richards Hello, Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, I that's proof.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
That's proof.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
They're very, very clean souls there, Michael.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You've got a beautiful suit on in your barefoot it's
probably Is this your personality in a nutshell?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It could? Well, yeah, sure, there are times I go barefoot.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah, freak.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I think that. What comes to mind is I'm thinking
of that cover of the Beatles where one of them
was walking across Abbey Road. He's barefoot Paul McCartney. Yeah,
well it's Bob, thanks, thank you. Yeah, yeah, that's very cool.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
There was the long held rumor that because he was barefoot,
he was dead. There was that rumor that Paul McCartney
had died back in nineteen sixty seven, and you didn't
hear that.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Oh yes I did. I was just I was going
to segue into my death and view of removing myself
from show business all a while.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Well it has been.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Well.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I didn't think we'd get straight Well, I didn't think
we get straight into that because I've been reading your book,
and I really like this book because you deal with
what happened in two thousand and six, and I don't
think you need to know flagulate yourself anymore about it.
You've certainly gone to make amends about it what happened
at the laugh Factory back in two thousand and six,
But at the time you said it was about your anger.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Your anger got the better of you.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
And I know what it's like to be on stage
and someone heckles here because you're going somewhere with somewhere
and you're almost tunnel focused. I'm not excusing what you said,
but at the same time, I get what happened.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
If that helps, yeah, yeah, but still you know it's
there there are. What I did is certainly just really
not good anger. Anger. Anger. Yeah. Yeah, the trouble it
got me into, but it caused me to move into
(02:26):
something deeper in myself. So it was a catalyst for
going deeper into my life, and that took me into
places in relation to my mother and the nature of unwantedness.
And I can see how anger comes out of unwantedness.
If the heckler in the audience the way in which
(02:50):
my act was interrupted, I feel unwanted. I see there
are some issues that caused me to go into what
the hell is this anger? My god? Oh well, it
took some work work.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Crimer was such an iconic character. What a gift to
be given? Is he like you? Are you like him?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah? I'm touched by the eccentric I was, yeah, I'm
you can't play an eccentric character like that without being
touched by that. It was grounded in the fool, the gesture.
I found this capacity to make my friends laugh since
(03:42):
I was a little guy. So it's talent and I
cultivated it for many, many years. Before I even got
to Seinfeld, I was around the block doing a lot
of comedy. Certainly started in the clubs where I worked
in a very unusual way without much material. I was
(04:02):
always improvising and letting this funny funny come through in
the most natural way. I take note, of course, what's
coming through and put together an act. But anyway, I
hope I'm not.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And it's but I look at when when you started.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
So you're on Jay Leno's show as and you just
come on as this fitness guru to the stars, a
personal trainer to the stars, and Jerry Seinfeld sees you
do this bit and you're wearing a woman's costume, a
one piece swimming costume, a weight belt and a cigarette
that thing, and you've come on with Jay and you're
just riffing and Jerry's gone, well, this is the guy
(04:44):
I want for Kramer. But the NBC executives they had
other ideas, and Larry David wasn't overly keen on even
though he knew you. But Jerry really wanted you. But
you had to audition three times to get the role
of Kramer.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, that's that's the business show business. Yeah, I had to.
Jerry knew of me doing comedy and so forth. It'd
seen my work before. He had noticed me on the
Tonight Show. But the networks they were in doubt because
(05:19):
I was on a TV show just before Seinfeld that
was canceled, so they weren't that interested in bringing me
on to another show right after being canceled in the
show beforehand. So I had to go in there and
show my stuff and uh three times and I delivered. Well,
(05:41):
thank goodness for that. And I was cast.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Did you have a sense day one what it would become?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Oh? God, no, I knew it was going to be funny.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I knew that.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
And along the way, we were we were we we
all we all been around the Let me tell you,
that's a very experienced ensemble. Everybody knew what comedy is,
so we knew we were funny. Now is it going
to take? And the network didn't think so. They weren't
interested in the pilot. They wanted to ditch it. So
(06:19):
but what kept us on with the reviews. We got
good reviews in the beginning of doing the shows. I
think we only got a four show pickup. Hell is
that they're certainly not committed. They wanted to see how
we would do.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Show did fairly well with the review with the with reviews,
so they gave us what did They give us a
twelve show pickup, and we just stayed at it and
made comedy.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
That's what we can do. And we finally got the
twenty two show pickup.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
You know, and that's all right.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I guess now they believe.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Out of all the because crime had some great wacky
money making scheme, which out of all of prime money
making skills, which do you think is the best one
that would fly out of all of them?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Well, you know, we opened up with crame America, you know, industries,
and you know he's operating from a cell phone in
his pocket. He has no office or anything. You know,
it's really a dream or as I played it, it
never really existed. I played it that it was all
(07:28):
part of his imagination. Kramer has a very active imagination. Yeah, yeah,
I guess you could say he's crazy, you know, but
he's so committed to his imagination. And everything comes out
of imagination, doesn't it. You know, the tallest building in
New York at one time was just imagined, right, So
(07:49):
Kramer is deeply imaginable, and that's his money making idea
for now.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
We had Jerry on the show some years ago and
we asked, how would have Seinfeld gone in a post
a nine to eleven world, and he he and he
sort of said at first went all, now, I don't
think it would have worked, and then he thought, oh,
you know, George would have, you know, pretended to be
in one of the towers. Something would have happened. There
would have been something that would have come of it.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, Yeah, Kramer would have I think he would have
helped out.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
It would have definitely helped out.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I think he would have got in there with a
fireman's outfit and.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
There would have been a commendation.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
He would carry his giddy up, you know, into helping people.
That's a great part to Kramer. He he does want
to help all his schemes, no matter what, even if
he goes in disguise and he's playing a character again
through his imagination, He's really all out for helping.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's a very nice energy, the giddy up energy.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, we called it the Kovorka.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
The Cavorka that he's got, the whay he comes into
the room, he comes into life and he's ready to go.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And that's the great giddy up.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Inspirational and it's true. And the book is just absolutely fantastic.
I'm loving reading it. At the moment I think I copy,
I'm smelling it. It smells like beach, it smells like beat
your book. I like it smells like your feet.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Look there they are. If only we had that on
the zoom. The smell, the smell of success. Michael, thank
you for Johnny.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
You know there's palm reading. I wonder if there's foot
reading this. Can somebody tell my future?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
They are the cleanest souls I've ever seen. For a
man that purports to not wear shoes. Usually those you know,
they're cracked and terrible. They are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Thank you, thank you. Maybe I could get some foot commercial.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Somebody get him a foot deal. Buy the book. It's
so good and call now entrances and exits. It's available
of every good bookstore and bad. Michael Richards, thank you
for joining us. Thank you, thank you for being so
love you know, and the book is great.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Thank you, thank you very much. You sign it for me,
you sign it.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Oh god, I wish I could. If I could do that, boy,
what that would be?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
You're just doing it? That would be That would be great.
But thank you so much for it's it's a real
honor to have you on. And thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, thank you, thank you for having.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Me side of Beth. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
It made me feel comfortable. Thank you terrific.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
You were great. You killed you killed Thank you Michael.
Take it easy,
And Amanda jam Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Well, our next guest is a three time Emmy Award
winning actor. You might know him best as the beloved,
eccentric Cosmo Kramer. Seinfeld's Michael Richards is pulling back the
curtain and giving us a glimpse into his world. As
one of the TV's most memorable characters. He has written
a book called Entrances and Exits. He joined us now
he's revealed to us that he's barefoot. Michael Richards Hello, Hello.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, I that's proof.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
That's proof.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
They're very, very clean souls there, Michael.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You've got a beautiful suit on in your barefoot it's
probably Is this your personality in a nutshell?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
It could? Well, yeah, sure, there are times I go barefoot.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah, freak.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
I think that. What comes to mind is I'm thinking
of that cover of the Beatles where one of them
was walking across Abbey Road. He's barefoot Paul McCartney. Yeah,
well it's Bob, thanks, thank you. Yeah, yeah, that's very cool.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
There was the long held rumor that because he was barefoot,
he was dead. There was that rumor that Paul McCartney
had died back in nineteen sixty seven, and you didn't
hear that.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Oh yes I did. I was just I was going
to segue into my death and view of removing myself
from show business all a while.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Well it has been.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Well.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
I didn't think we'd get straight Well, I didn't think
we get straight into that because I've been reading your book,
and I really like this book because you deal with
what happened in two thousand and six, and I don't
think you need to know flagulate yourself anymore about it.
You've certainly gone to make amends about it what happened
at the laugh Factory back in two thousand and six,
But at the time you said it was about your anger.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Your anger got the better of you.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
And I know what it's like to be on stage
and someone heckles here because you're going somewhere with somewhere
and you're almost tunnel focused. I'm not excusing what you said,
but at the same time, I get what happened.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
If that helps, yeah, yeah, but still you know it's
there there are. What I did is certainly just really
not good anger. Anger. Anger. Yeah. Yeah, the trouble it
got me into, but it caused me to move into
(02:26):
something deeper in myself. So it was a catalyst for
going deeper into my life, and that took me into
places in relation to my mother and the nature of unwantedness.
And I can see how anger comes out of unwantedness.
If the heckler in the audience the way in which
(02:50):
my act was interrupted, I feel unwanted. I see there
are some issues that caused me to go into what
the hell is this anger? My god? Oh well, it
took some work work.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Crimer was such an iconic character. What a gift to
be given? Is he like you? Are you like him?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah? I'm touched by the eccentric I was, yeah, I'm
you can't play an eccentric character like that without being
touched by that. It was grounded in the fool, the gesture.
I found this capacity to make my friends laugh since
(03:42):
I was a little guy. So it's talent and I
cultivated it for many, many years. Before I even got
to Seinfeld, I was around the block doing a lot
of comedy. Certainly started in the clubs where I worked
in a very unusual way without much material. I was
(04:02):
always improvising and letting this funny funny come through in
the most natural way. I take note, of course, what's
coming through and put together an act. But anyway, I
hope I'm not.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
And it's but I look at when when you started.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
So you're on Jay Leno's show as and you just
come on as this fitness guru to the stars, a
personal trainer to the stars, and Jerry Seinfeld sees you
do this bit and you're wearing a woman's costume, a
one piece swimming costume, a weight belt and a cigarette
that thing, and you've come on with Jay and you're
just riffing and Jerry's gone, well, this is the guy
(04:44):
I want for Kramer. But the NBC executives they had
other ideas, and Larry David wasn't overly keen on even
though he knew you. But Jerry really wanted you. But
you had to audition three times to get the role
of Kramer.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, that's that's the business show business. Yeah, I had to.
Jerry knew of me doing comedy and so forth. It'd
seen my work before. He had noticed me on the
Tonight Show. But the networks they were in doubt because
(05:19):
I was on a TV show just before Seinfeld that
was canceled, so they weren't that interested in bringing me
on to another show right after being canceled in the
show beforehand. So I had to go in there and
show my stuff and uh three times and I delivered. Well,
(05:41):
thank goodness for that. And I was cast.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Did you have a sense day one what it would become?
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Oh? God, no, I knew it was going to be funny.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
I knew that.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
And along the way, we were we were we we
all we all been around the Let me tell you,
that's a very experienced ensemble. Everybody knew what comedy is,
so we knew we were funny. Now is it going
to take? And the network didn't think so. They weren't
interested in the pilot. They wanted to ditch it. So
(06:19):
but what kept us on with the reviews. We got
good reviews in the beginning of doing the shows. I
think we only got a four show pickup. Hell is
that they're certainly not committed. They wanted to see how
we would do.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Show did fairly well with the review with the with reviews,
so they gave us what did They give us a
twelve show pickup, and we just stayed at it and
made comedy.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
That's what we can do. And we finally got the
twenty two show pickup.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
You know, and that's all right.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
I guess now they believe.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
Out of all the because crime had some great wacky
money making scheme, which out of all of prime money
making skills, which do you think is the best one
that would fly out of all of them?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Well, you know, we opened up with crame America, you know, industries,
and you know he's operating from a cell phone in
his pocket. He has no office or anything. You know,
it's really a dream or as I played it, it
never really existed. I played it that it was all
(07:28):
part of his imagination. Kramer has a very active imagination. Yeah, yeah,
I guess you could say he's crazy, you know, but
he's so committed to his imagination. And everything comes out
of imagination, doesn't it. You know, the tallest building in
New York at one time was just imagined, right, So
(07:49):
Kramer is deeply imaginable, and that's his money making idea
for now.
Speaker 4 (08:01):
We had Jerry on the show some years ago and
we asked, how would have Seinfeld gone in a post
a nine to eleven world, and he he and he
sort of said at first went all, now, I don't
think it would have worked, and then he thought, oh,
you know, George would have, you know, pretended to be
in one of the towers. Something would have happened. There
would have been something that would have come of it.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, Yeah, Kramer would have I think he would have
helped out.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
It would have definitely helped out.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
I think he would have got in there with a
fireman's outfit and.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
There would have been a commendation.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
He would carry his giddy up, you know, into helping people.
That's a great part to Kramer. He he does want
to help all his schemes, no matter what, even if
he goes in disguise and he's playing a character again
through his imagination, He's really all out for helping.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's a very nice energy, the giddy up energy.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, we called it the Kovorka.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
The Cavorka that he's got, the whay he comes into
the room, he comes into life and he's ready to go.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And that's the great giddy up.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
Inspirational and it's true. And the book is just absolutely fantastic.
I'm loving reading it. At the moment I think I copy,
I'm smelling it. It smells like beach, it smells like beat
your book. I like it smells like your feet.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
It's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
Look there they are. If only we had that on
the zoom. The smell, the smell of success. Michael, thank
you for Johnny.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
You know there's palm reading. I wonder if there's foot
reading this. Can somebody tell my future?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
They are the cleanest souls I've ever seen. For a
man that purports to not wear shoes. Usually those you know,
they're cracked and terrible. They are beautiful.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Thank you, thank you. Maybe I could get some foot commercial.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Somebody get him a foot deal. Buy the book. It's
so good and call now entrances and exits. It's available
of every good bookstore and bad. Michael Richards, thank you
for joining us. Thank you, thank you for being so
love you know, and the book is great.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Thank you, thank you very much. You sign it for me,
you sign it.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Oh god, I wish I could. If I could do that, boy,
what that would be?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
You're just doing it? That would be That would be great.
But thank you so much for it's it's a real
honor to have you on. And thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, thank you, thank you for having.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
Me side of Beth. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
It made me feel comfortable. Thank you terrific.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
You were great. You killed you killed Thank you Michael.
Take it easy,
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