Michael Richards gives absurd behaviour the physical confidence of someone doing the sensible thing. His Kramer is a superb comic performance, and Seinfeld gives that headlong energy the company and structure it needs.
Fi1m perspective
Watch Michael Richards come through a doorway in Seinfeld (1989), and the entrance itself becomes a joke. As Cosmo Kramer, he commits to slides and pratfalls with no apparent doubt that this is how a person should move. We laughed at those entrances because Richards gives the commotion such complete assurance; Kramer never seems to be asking permission to be ridiculous. It is a superb supporting performance, though it depends on the other actors having enough character of their own to resist being reduced to spectators.
The route to Kramer included Fridays (1980–1982), where Richards was a regular and Larry David a writer and co-star. In UHF (1989), his Stanley Spadowski provided another outlet for physical comedy. His habits include stammers, vocal sound effects and improvised noises, as well as the more conspicuous falls. The attention extends to wardrobe and props, which he has sourced and designed himself.
Jerry Seinfeld's narrower performance gives Richards room to be stranger, although Seinfeld sometimes seems more amused by a scene than involved in it. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, playing Elaine Benes, can finish an exchange with a look of irritation, giving Richards a sharply different comic method to work alongside. We value that difference: her control stops his physical exuberance from becoming the only way the programme knows how to be funny. Richards benefits from having colleagues who can get a laugh without moving towards a doorway. The strength of Seinfeld is that its plotting and ensemble keep four selfish people worth spending time with.
His later starring vehicle, The Michael Richards Show (2000), was short-lived, and his subsequent work struggled to get beyond Kramer. That does not diminish the performance, but it gives us little reason to assume that putting Richards at the centre automatically makes better use of him. Another substantial part would need strong colleagues and something more to do than reproduce familiar entrances. Start with Seinfeld, and give its tentative opening episodes time.
Biography
Michael Anthony Richards is an American actor and comedian. He played Cosmo Kramer in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld from 1989 to 1998.
Richards began his career as a stand-up comedian and became a series regular on the sketch show Fridays. He made guest appearances on series including Cheers (1982) and Miami Vice (1984). His film roles include parts in Coneheads (1993) and Airheads (1994), and he voiced a character in Bee Movie (2007). He received three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Seinfeld.
After Seinfeld, Richards starred in the short-lived sitcom The Michael Richards Show (2000) and appeared as himself in Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000).
