Friday, September 28, 2012
Michael Richards Discusses His Racist Outburst With Jerry Seinfeld
If you have not seen Comedians In Cars you need to track down all the episodes and watch them today instead of working. Just tell your boss that I will write them a note. Just sit back in your desk chair and sip on something stronger than coffee in your Starbucks cup and watch a few of the episodes. The season finale features Michael Richards who sits down and discusses his Laugh Factory racist rant that made him a pariah.
I just watched this video and he doesn't seem...right.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding? I don't have time to watch a 20 minute video while I'm supposed to be "working".
ReplyDeleteReally, I'm NOT working and I don't want to see a long video. Summary please!
ReplyDeleteIf anybody could afford to have destroyed their career and not miss the paydays at all it would be one of the 4 principals on Seinfeld. Those 4 made enough money for several lifetimes. Jerry does standup for fun these days. There's not enough dough in selling tickets to 1500 people a night, so it's got to be a hobby for him. Rich means never having to say you're sorry. Erich Segal said that. Or maybe that was Bugsy Segal.
ReplyDelete"Now, that's a less I learned seven years ago when I blew it in the comedy club, lost my temper because somebody interrupted my act and said some things that hurt me. And I lashed out in anger. I should have been working selflessly that evening."
ReplyDeleteAnd the incident left its mark on the actor.
"I busted up after that event. It broke me down," he explained. "It was a selfish response. I took it too personally, and I should have just said, 'Yeah, you're absolutely right. I'm not funny. I think I'll go home and work on my material and I'll see you tomorrow night.' And split, or something. Anything. But it's just one of those nights."
Michael is thankful though for one thing: The support he got from his longtime friend Jerry. "Thanks for sticking by me. It meant a lot to me," Michael opened up. "But inside, it still kicks me around a bit."
To which Jerry advised, "That's up to you to say, 'I've been carrying this baggage long enough. I'm going to put it down.'"
@ lazyday603
ReplyDelete"Rich means never having to say you're sorry. Erich Segal said that. Or maybe that was Bugsy Segal."
Good one!
I love this series! Definitely worth the sick day.
ReplyDeleteI gotta wait and watch with my man so we can laugh togethter!
My favorite episode was Jerry and Ricky Gervais. Ricky is not a fan of Jerry's driving skills...
I actually enjoy this series with Jerry even though it's mostly him cumming over his fleet of cars. But there have been some funny moments my favorite is with Ricky Gervais just giving him shit about how rich Jerry is and can't connect to the average person anymore and hating driving in the death trap of a car.
ReplyDeleteBUT! I do find it totally sexist he hasn't had on one female comedian yet.
I haven't watched the whole thing yet but Jerry picked him up in a metal death trap (read jank car) and Michael thought it was great. The one with Ricky is my fav too Dia!
ReplyDeleteWell obviously no one has watched it yet, since within the first five minutes there's a comment that someone, somewhere is gonna consider to be offensive...
ReplyDeleteLol @thomas
DeleteThank you! I love all the Seinfelds and I heard about this but didn't know where to watch it. Now I do! It's neat seeing them interact as real people and the Jay mohr part was hilarious!
ReplyDeleteThe one with Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner is great also. You could see Jerry knew how special the moment it was having those two together being friends for 60+ years and making each other laugh every night. Mel drives to Carl's place (becuase he is 4 years younger and can still drive)
ReplyDeleteI loved Mel telling an early joke he told to Carl.
Mel's impersanation of a Jewish Pirate
"I can't go out and rape and pilage anymore, sail cloth is $3.99a yard. Who can afford that!"
Unlike Enty who hates Chris Brown and will never forgive. I as a black woman will forgive Michael Richards for his racist rant and he SHOULD be able to move past it.
ReplyDeleteThere's a HUGE difference between a rant and a beating, esp beating a woman.
DeleteRobert Llewellyn does a similar type series in the UK called 'Carpool' - the one with him and Patrick Stewart is awesome :)
ReplyDeleteAaah, two of the sweetest comedians together. Great viewing to introduce a fab Friday afternoon. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteIt was okaaay; I'm not a big fan of Michael Richards because I always found Kramer too over the top. My favorite Seinfeld character was George Costanza/Cantstandya. Really, the most fascinating thing to me is that they were driving around Los Angeles without seat belts. It's the law!
ReplyDeleteThomas, the gay dog comment? It's hilarious. Seinfeld has enough pixie points to make a joke that an obvious gay-hating troll would never get away with. Cruel world, I know!
ReplyDeleteBarton, if you can't see that there's a very real double standard going on here, there's no point in talking about it. You want to excuse Seinfeld, so whatever he says (within reason, of course) is okay. If I had said it, if a total stranger had said it, if Paris Hilton had said it, you and others would be, if not castigating us for it, then certainly bringing it to our attention and saying that we "just don't get it", that such comments are "hurtful", and that they "reinforce anti-(fill in the blank) stereotypes." I've mentioned it before but it bears repeating: Any Excuse Will Serve a Tyrant. People (apparently like you) are going to excuse WHAT they want to excuse, FOR those they want to excuse. Just as they are NOT going to excuse what they don't want to excuse, for those whom they DON'T want to excuse. If the dog had been a poodle, would you be so forgiving?
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what Thomas is talking about. L But the whole show was funny and smart and sweet. Glad I watched!
ReplyDeleteThomas said,
ReplyDelete"Barton, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah WHAT blah blah blah FOR blah blah blah NOT blah blah DON'T blah blah blah. If the dog had been a poodle, would you be so forgiving?"
@Thomas, what is your deal with Barton? You've had a hard-on for him (intellectually speaking, of course) for weeks now. When you're not attempting to goad Barton into some debate about semantics you're vaguely pontificating about some obscure detail of a given topic and then attacking fellow commenters when they don't immediately grasp (and agree with!) your convoluted view. Unfortunately for us, everything you say you seem to think bears repeating. And repeating. And repeating. (Any Excuse Will Serve A Tyrant, anyone?)
Initially I thought you may be B. Profane under a new name. But B. generally heightened the discourse around here and wasn't nearly as repetitive as you, Thomas. My apologies to Mr Profane if he sees this. I didn't mean to insult him by comparing him to Thomas in a previous post.
B. Profane didn't elevate anything. She/He was a prick, belligerent and fabricated nonsense, probably laughing at everyone. Thomas said that 'tyrant' remark to me when I stood up for Amber. I agree with you there, Thomas is obscure and ridiculous as well. They both come off as if they have personality disorders.
DeleteI never watched Seinfeld so...
ReplyDelete(Kanye shrug)
I've been watching this series and this episode was very moving to me. I've known many people in show business and though most of them are heartless pricks there are some, and Michael Richards seems like one of them, who are really too gentle-hearted to be in the business at all.
ReplyDelete@MLE- maybe you didn't notice, but Barton initially replied to ME: it wasn't I that mentioned him in my original post. Also, his comment about an "obvious gay-hating troll" is was a veiled (or not-so-veiled) jibe at me. Of course, it was weaselly enough that he can say he wasn't directly referring to ME as the "obvious gay-hating troll", but, eh, it is what it is.
ReplyDeleteI will never forget what michael did. I can move on and he should too but i dont forget!
ReplyDeleteI loved it. They both seem genuine and like good people. He is in no danger of forgetting. It's in there and it hurt him. Hopefully he can move on and share the funny someday.
ReplyDeleteLook, I get it that some men's primary orientation to gender is "discomfort with homosexuality," and if that's where you are, Thomas, that's fine with me. You addressed me by name the first time we met and you've been weirdly icky about same-sex people in virtually every post you make on this blog (except when you're hating on Islam). I am fine with your existence, but I'm gonna make a few jokes about you once in a while when you pop up to say clandestine bizarro things about gays. That's just life.
ReplyDelete@Barton- that's fine too, and I can appreciate being riffed on, when it's clever and/or justified (in someone's opinion, at least.) But I made what I think was a valid observation, and people here seem to think I'm a troll for having gone to the trouble. It's a fact that a) most of the posters here are women, and b) most of the "high traffic" posts (of late, at least) involve islam, homosexuality or some form of sexual scandal (of late, pedophilia has been all the rage), so I suppose I should expect a degree of irrationality in response to some of my more off-the-wall points. However, as a gay man, how do you like your lifestyle being lumped in with all that (islam, pedophilia) here on CDAN, as a way for the Powers That Be to get readers all worked up? I'm honestly curious. I would think that it rankles a bit, that what you (and others) ARE is, apparently, being consciously used by CDAN to "push buttons" and get the joint all Jerry Springer up in here. And as for my case for the "double standard", just a couple of days ago someone (on a different thread) got in hot water for using the phrase "purple crayon". I may be wrong, but I think the person who used the phrase was new to CDAN, which may have contributed to him/her getting dog-piled for the use of that phrase. That, in light of THIS thread, seemed, and seems, odd, and (honestly) rather capricious of some of the folks on here. And just for the record, I'll state that I may have misunderstood the "I didn't know he was gay" comment on the video link above, but I understood it as Jerry making a joke about Jay Mohr's sexuality, based on seeing his (rather diminutive and typically-owned-by-women) dog. I actually liked your comment above, though, and I honestly bear you no ill-feeling. I like to exchange ideas, while amusing myself and (hopefully) others. Sometimes that occasionally involves (intentionally or otherwise) upsetting some people. But rest assured that I'm not a troll, simply because I have (and discuss) ideas that sometimes aren't that popular and/or consistent with those of the majority (here on CDAN or elsewhere.) Nor am I hateful, or saddled with a personality disorder (contrary to the opinion of CDAN's resident armchair psychologist, a few posts up). Have a good one & thanks for the exchange.
ReplyDeleteWhy is everyone so grumpy this weekend? Barton and Robert fighting here. Astrogirl and Beatitude on the Islam post.
ReplyDeletePlease everyone have a cocktail and simma down :) Life is too short and too precious to fight over this stuff. Seinfeld is just trying to make us laugh, at the end of the day. Lets have a hug and go get a Bloody Mary for brunch :D
Ha ha ha and within two hours of my comment about pedophilia posts being "all the rage" on CDAN lately, ENTY posts yet another one...
ReplyDelete