that makes sense. i can see that. thus why those two guys probably should've been ejected from the club. still, it doesn't excuse the line that richards sprinted past, backed up, erased, then sprinted past again.
Why would anyone heckle a comedian? I've just never understood that. You have to be a major league ******* to do something like that. Not excusing what Richards did, but seriously.....why would you heckle a comedian? What is the point?
I wish. It was NOT a proud moment, hell, I wasn't even the one getting heckled. I'd just finished a week in Austin and a good friend of mine was doing a comedy night at a club off 6th street and asked me to stop by. He was on stage and being heckled relentlessly by some guys that claimed to be UT basketball players. My friend had exhausted all of his heckle lines and was really struggling to keep the audiences attention so I walked up on stage and asked him for the mic (he had given me a shoutout earlier). I started in on these guys in my friends defense and really began crushing these fools. All of a sudden one of the "players" came up on stage and tried to take the mic out of my hand and say something, I stiff armed him in the chest and he pushed me into the drum set that was behind us. I fell all the way down. I got up and rushed him and somehow we ended up falling into the front row of tables, each of us trying not to get hit and holding on to fistfuls of each others clothing. The bouncers broke us up and we both shouted threats of violence against each other. He was kicked out and I was bought a drink. I'd never felt so stupid in my entire life. But I did tear his shirt.
Here's a clip of Patton Oswalt talking about some guy that thought he wanted to be heckled... It's around the two minute mark, I think. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CcFgAPrN2rs"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CcFgAPrN2rs" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
so basically it it was a totally different thing . . . these guys did not rush the stage on Kramer Rocket River
You know, I've never seen Michael Richards do stand-up, but some american comedian I heard on NPR/BBC this AM said that he wasn't surprised if people were heckling and/or talking during his performance becasue, while he's a funny comedic actor, his stand-up is brutally unfunny, it's just not his style.
Haven't read through the entire thread. Just wanted to say from watching the video that Michael Richards probably has some underlying racism within (most people do). But those two guys are racists too. Note the 'cracker-ass' comment as they are leaving. It doesn't matter if they were insulted first, or if they are shocked by what transpired, if they didn't have that racism inside, they wouldn't have said that in that manner. So in closing. The white comedian is racist and really screwed his career by letting his racism slip out in anger. The two black hecklers are racist, but nobody cares what they said cause they are nobodies and aren't known to the public. Nobody is pure in this situation.
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just because someone throws out racial insults doesn't always mean they are racist. i know it's a wild and crazy idea but think about it for a second. if i call a woman a b---h or a c--t it doesn't mean i am a misogynist. richards went insane from the heckling because he is a freak. so he pulled out the worst insult you can call a black person because he couldn't think of something original. things don't always have to be viewed with levels of racism. the word n----r has become so taboo for white people and society that it can now be used for utter shock value outside of the racist meaning of it. richards maybe a racist pig, but i think he went to the n word for shock value and to try to be hurtful rather than because of racist feelings.
yeah, that looks a few years old and look's like he's just playing the Kramer character and that's why people are laughing. I'm not sure if he was playing tha t character anymore or if it would still even be funny 9 years later in a comedy club environment.
I didnt post that to refute your claim, but to reinforce it, I guess. His material wasnt very good. The only time people laugh is when he goes into character.
There is nothing racist, derogatory, antiquated, or backwards about using "afro-" in lieu of "african". Google "afro-american"...you'll see cultural centers, newspapers, university departments, community organizations, etc.... It is widely used. See also "afro-caribbean" music, culture, communities, etc....
i think racism comes from one's environment. education and experience with diverse ethnic groups can dampen its impact but i think it can never truly be exorcized. that said, i think it's irrelevant whether he is a racist or not and we should just focus on the the reasons for the outburst itself. those were hurtful words coming from a wounded man... he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone... also, there are many people who have expressed that they no longer will enjoy his character as kramer. well, if you judged the person behind all the things you enjoy as entertainment and/or art, you will have to weed out a whole lot more than you think.
If you told a woman b*tch 100 yrs ago I would have Raped you and made you cook me dinner well You might be a little misogynistic He didn't just say the N-Word He started talking about . . having them upside down with a fork in their *ss That is a BIG DIFFERENCE . . . The N-Word alone said you have issues Talking about Lynching someone. . . well sounds like Kramer missed the Good Ole days when you could kill a black man for basically anything [See Emmit Till] Then the "WHITE MAN IS TALKING" commentary well . . . that is a bit much . . .doncha think? I think those comments say more about him . . than the N-Word Rocket River
Yeah, I think his non-Seinfeld act is more of an Andy Kaufman-esque type thing that doesn't really work.
I caught the tale end of Geraldo At Large last night and he basically called the creators of Seinfeld racist. That was the first I saw both the outburst and the apology. The apology seemed sincere, but the outburst was very hard to watch. I had to change the channel a couple times.
The stupidest part wasn't what Richards did, but that NOBODY went up to yank him when everybody started walking out. He clears out practically the entire club, walks off stage, THEN somebody comes out an apologizes
