Seinfeld Season 03 Extra 10 - Kramer Vs Kramer

working I'll come back people certainly love the character of Kramer I mean you know you talk to most people they'll tell you that they're that's their favorite character I think it's because it's so different it's so weird and so odd and so and people at the end of the day it's like why action movies play well overseas there's no dialogue it's people running everything give up this is an act I mean this is the sign fell action character Michael Richards had been on Fridays we had both been on Fridays together I said I'd do the Friday show if I can have a thousand pounds of dirt on a set and they go what are you gonna do that that's just a thousand pounds of dirt I'll play in it for a few days and I'll show you something I was a big Michael Richards fan I didn't know Michael I was not familiar with Michael Richards at all I had seen him from Fridays and I used to go on Jay Leno those years I don't know that I know Michael now did I get the truth I'm not sure I'm so familiar with Michael Richards now either he was one of those very special very rare talents that I had seen in my years in the business the character of Kramer was based on my real next-door neighbor Kenny Kramer my neighbor was a guy who would come in take a lot of my food and he was a guy who didn't work really or if he did nobody really knew what he did but what I knew is that he was in that apartment 22 out of the 24 hours of the day people who asked me if Michael met with me to study me the answer's no he did not want to have anything to do with knowing about me he just you know Larry wrote the words and he interpreted it himself I played him very slow and behind everything going on around him presuming that he had really no contact with people that's how the character was written as a guy who came into Jerry's house took his food and and was there all the time and didn't work and could be a little overbearing at times and kind of was did pretty well with the with the ladies too I might add Larry knows me like a book and so a lot of the ingredients in me you know the golf the entrepreneurism hot tubs raging heterosexuality all that is me but of course Michael you know did his thing Michael of course brought his own personality and into the part and and it he he created a character that really wasn't that evolved over over the years it certainly wasn't what wasn't originally intended he wasn't quite sure where I was going with this character it didn't quite fit in to how he saw Kramer we know it was Kenny and his experiences there with him in New York I took it I wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth when when what an actor is doing better with something than then you've conceived it you you say go ahead Jerry I'm gonna find your stuff I'm gonna solve it I'm on the case buddy I'm on the case yeah don't investigate don't pay me back it was an accident I made a mistake these things happen I'm human in your way in one of the very first episodes I remember Michael Richards turning to exit and hitting the door jamb and shaking the whole set and everybody falling down laughing and that was the beginning of Kramer in many ways and I remember Larry David being concerned that Kramer was getting too big and too crazy nobody knew how to write for Michael nobody know how to write for that that sensibility that he's got and I always tell people that this is one of the the truest incidents of an actor showing the writers the way when you look at Michael Richards you see a guy who is a great physical comedian you could not do the character of Kramer on Seinfeld and have Michael Richards play that part without that character being physical I mean even if you wrote it as a kind of shut-in stay-at-home kind of quiet Mooji annoying neighbor the mere fact that this guy is brilliant physically you'd have to incorporate that the beautiful thing that Michael discovered and I don't know at what point it was maybe it was the second year he was playing Kramer a little slower than the other three characters a little dumber and then he got the idea that he should play it that everyone else is dumber than him and that was the key to it once he got that that the character just took off how he conveyed that with the material he was given I can't tell you but I know that that was a was it was a switch that he really went for and it was brilliant and as soon as everybody caught on to what he was doing they fed him the material that he could do it with I began to feel that the Kramer character really became Kramer when we did a show called the statue where I went undercover to play a cop possession of stolen goods and murder keep spread this make London and wall pervert the thing with Kramer I think to put that guy in any situation any predicament and it would work I'm starting a Peterman reality bus tour check it out laughs then on this couch a good friend turns to stanza I think because I was getting the laughs they were going along with it I mean one time Jerry asked me about the sideburns he says you're going to wear your sideburns that long and I went yeah he went okay that was hit you know but they saw this this thing being born I got a short haircut and I kept pulling the top up and as I was pulling it up I just I liked it and I thought I should take this down and fill that up mmm yes that's interesting isn't it Michael was probably the most appreciative actor in terms of wardrobe that I've ever worked with in my career I thought that the clothing would be latent 60s early 70s and it actually belongs to the character that he just hasn't bought new clothing so I wasn't going for a retro look as much as I was going for a clothing that he still owns and wears and that's the way he dresses when I started working with him designing the show he had a few vintage shirts in his closet most of the shirts that I had for for Cramer were shirts that I shopped around for then they got a little harder to find as the character got very very very popular ticking a latter part of the 90s that stuff you couldn't even find so then I was searching for material and having this shirts made we bought a huge stock of old fabric and then we proceeded to make three and four of a kind so that when he would do these stunts we would have enough shirts to cover us when he was drawing a line down a street with a paintbrush or something like that and the pants were always a little too short because my character had grown I wasn't doing that for comedic purposes it's just I felt these were pants that he wore at that time so I always had my pants tailored a bit short with the white socks Michael was the only actor that would basically come in every day of rehearsal and get his shoes and they had white stars on them they were sewn into the fabric of the shoe and I blacked those out there were nine stars we did nine years very interesting I thought because he could not really be that character without being in those shoes they felt right and they had a little they had a little slide to them bed and then suddenly I'm coming through the door at about fifty miles an hour and then I would and the audience howled and I thought this is the way to enter I felt that that was Kramer's way of sliding into life it was a metaphor I'm just coming in and he's ready to go literally one of the doors came off the hinges one time and we tried to find the best hardware we possibly could and we had three or four sets on hand just from one day to another just they changed the hardware I do remember that door getting destroyed by the end of the season every year there came a point and I think maybe it was the third season where he would start entering down getting this wild applause from the audience it sort of reminded me a little bit of TV from the 50s like Jackie Gleason when when Norton used to come into the house and I don't know it went on for a while and then I thought I don't know it's just kind of it's Detroit's a little distracting I understood why Larry wanted the audience to stop the applauding when I would come in because it really it really threw the temple to show off we would all stand there and we had so much show to do and it took up precious seconds that we needed it editing sometimes at the end of a scene we needed a stronger button a stronger line and the writers would be staying around and like await it look and I let's do it or I'd get the line and I wouldn't even say the line I'd just do it better you know I think I was used to do a night I did well he was always alone he would always try to find a way in and he would do differently in every take he would try to find a way to give it that extra little pop and and he always did you know I got that idea from an old sitcom called my little Margie where she used to go there you know whenever she'd get into trouble I always was fascinated at how she could do a little sound that would just button up the whole scene so well so I used to look for sounds or faces or things like that yeah when you work with Michael in a scene in front of camera where you can do it over and over again Michael never does it the same way so you can never be sure of how he's going to do it which keeps you alert as to how you are going to react he did his own rehearsing really for him particularly for his physical stuff he had a different rhythm than the other cast members all of whom are very good actors but Michael is a loner be great to catch a glimpse of him before he would make his big entrance into Jerry's apartment it'll be a couple times wide see him in the wings in that back hallway where he'd have his face up against the corner with his eyes closed saying the lines to himself and you could see him it's like before the entrance on stage you could just see him just like getting geared up and he'd start pacing and he'd start working himself up and he would come out and explode and it was just just pure brilliance that would unfold I told you what I told you she liked me who sister Roberta how do you know told me she she's never had a man stir up all these feelings inside of her she's questioning her faith she's thinking of leaving the church Wow Wow look I'm doing I'm dangerous Jerry I'm very very dangerous I loved exploring the sexuality of Kraemer I always wondered how does this guy do it just being physical just being truthful Kramer had feeling Kramer was always saying what was on his mind and I think a woman enjoys that it's amazing how many beautiful women live in New York I actually find it kind of intimidating well you're as pretty as any of them just need a nose job there is an insanity and Michael that has nothing to do with Kramer people always say to me is is he really like Kramer and I say absolutely not they're both mad but in completely different ways he's a gifted comedic sense on every level vocally physically facially you know he's like all over the keyboard Michael Richards as a person is an enigma kind generous unusual he's a nut I had the feeling that I had like a path to his mind I really did I felt that we were like brothers of some sort I mean and I think we we really were in some some context I'd come on as kind of a to with Michael Kramer and Newman teamed up and Michael didn't like working this way that part of the way he worked was on repetition and on feeling very secure and what he was doing he would be in last week's the show he'd be behind the set rehearsing on his own running lines coming up with another sound or another thing another you know physicality he could do he was tireless the rest of us went you know how to get a laugh George does a snort laugh that'll get a laugh if Elaine does a you know potty flip she gets the laugh we had things we could fall back on he didn't want to fall back he wanted to keep finding something new I had seen how much he rehearsed to have the character pay off and I was amazed and he was funny he was funny boy when Michael and I would work together I knew from the first day that he was really going to get into it because he would take me and I would just pretty much relax my muscles and and he would move and I would hold on to him and make sure that he didn't throw me around the room but he would move in such a way that it looked like I was throwing him around but really he was moving me around a lot of times when you're on a set a sitcom set you do your scene and you go back to your room or you just hang on a stage and wait around for your senior next scene but Michael and I would go off to whatever set we were supposed to be on and rehearse all the physical stuff you know so that definitely helped our relationship and helped me from getting injured whenever I was near Michael doing a physical bed it was a little bit like taking well it's a little bit scary to tell you the truth cuz cuz Michael could do anything as a matter of fact Michael hit me in the head with a golf clubs once and cut my eye in the middle of shooting and and and this was right on the I don't remember what episode that was but he had golf clubs and was right and right before we shot it I said are you gonna be okay with that he goes don't worry I've never heard anyone I swear to you he said that and then I got a huge shiner and a big cut right here I'm not alright I love with all my heart though and I will tell you that watching these in anticipation of this interview watching all these shows Michael Richards kicks ass in the comedy department here's to feeling good all the time the conviction of the man is unsurpassed so much so that if you screw up his scene he could really lose his temper I'd get angry actually I'd say I'd say come on don't you know I just felt it was unprofessional I mean come on you know keep it going is that really you that was you huh what's the matter with you stick around a while I'm gonna beat you with a 4x4 I never broke character it's like being in church you're not supposed to laugh in church it's sort of the same thing working because it's so serious work is so serious maybe I was taking things too seriously I I think I'll let you do it it's easy just do it quickly come on oh she can the balls like that work he drove himself to these levels of creativity that were extraordinary and I don't think I've ever come across another actor that not that there aren't other dedicated actors but would have the combination of that kind of manic drive that offbeat sensibility and and just the genetics of what his body became to create that character it was it was you know one of those kismet meetings of actor and role that becomes legendary he was he was the only one Michael Richards thank you and thank you for the Academy for this wonderful honor I thank you very much and to Gerry and Julia and Jason it what a pleasure to be working with such a sound ensemble thank you very much anytime I was up against Michael I went goodnight I'm not getting this and and you know I was always up against Michael I was just always surprised when when other people would beat him that was that was the shock the popularity of Seinfeld was just so amazing I remember I would take trips during the summer to just get away get out of the states and I remember I went to Bali and I went deep into the jungles one of the oldest primitive Buddhist tribes is there and they're naked running around there and I and some of these these people they saw him in the jungle they went by in the look godiva grandma and they went running and I found out later they had a long cable stretched a thousand feet through the jungle to this hut where they had a television and they would all get in there at night watch this episode dubbed in some language I didn't realize until after Seinfeld was over just what an impact that show had my god you know people are grateful for those nights weekly where they got to watch a show they all loved that's amazing to be a part of that kind of experience I'm grateful for that all this time I'm trying not to be me I'm afraid to face who I was but I'm Cosmo Gerry I'm Cosmo Kramer and that's why I'm gonna be from now on I'm Cosmo look for more exclusive interviews with your favorite Seinfeld stars in future volumes of Seinfeld on DVD from Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment

Channel: Mario Rugiero

Views: 770,413

Keywords: seinfeld, kramer

Id: L2j5VYM6MW4

Length: 22min 38sec (1358 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 29 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/drstu3000]

My first thought at reading the headline was "Kramer was great but letting the audience stop the show to applaud his entrances almost killed the show" glad they touched on this in the video

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/EtsuRah]

Seinfeld was MASSIVE in the 90s. I remember vividly when it ended in 1998. I was 8 years old and my mom threw a watch party. I remember it being so weird that so many people were gathering for this huge party for a show. It was like 30 people. After the show ended there was news events about it. I remember them showing Times Square and there were massive billboards saying goodbye to the show as a send off.

I finally got around to watching the show in the mid 2000's when I was a teenager and loving it. The world had changed so much between 1998 and ~2005 but it still felt completely relevant. Even to this day you can see how dated the show is but it finds a way to make it seem like it's perfectly recent.

[u/AYoungerFishMama]

Astroturfers on reddit: "Seinfeld. So hot right now. Seinfeld."

[u/Samatic]

There was never another show after Seinfeld that I was able to look forward to a new episode. That was it. 1 show is all you get in life and I'm grateful for it, a bit sad but otherwise grateful.

[u/Wagbeard]

I never really liked Seinfeld all that much but Michael Richards was in a movie called Transylvania 6-5000 which was a really stupid but kind of funny horror spoof. His character was hilarious.

https://youtu.be/oZ2DIILfDPY

[u/unbannabledan]

Cool video but do remember the other one where he yelled horrible racist shit. That video was not cool.

[u/xtrsports]

Gotta say his racist rant showed me a side of him that i cant unsee and because of that i cant watch or listen to anything with him.

[u/BadgerUltimatum]

Can i get a mirror ?

Video unavailable in my region