How not to handle a heckler

[jesus]

Check this out:

http://us.video.aol.com/video.index.adp?mode=1&pmmsid=1772645

Its Kramer from Seinfeld going off in a not so accepted fashion.
Wild.

[Guest]

Richards Channels Hicks...

Wow!

That was like the first time I saw Buddy Hackett being filthy.

[Evan Young]

crap, that sucks. I wonder if he felt bad about his actions when he went home or if he really hates balck people that much.

[gav]

for what ever reason i couldn't view that video but in searching for it else where I saw on wikipedia that ' the character Kramer is played by racist Michael Richards'

he's going to have a bad reputation now

[Doctor Eric]

I can't find any video of what provoked it, if any one finds one, post it here. Gav, you probably can't watch the video because you are using firefox or opera, if you open it in explorer you should be able to see it.

[The Amazing Beaumanz]

holy sh*t

unbelievable!!!!!

[jesus]

My thoughts

I dont know if he's a racisit or not, but I think what happened here is that you had a guy that is not very experianced with stand up, or hecklers at this point in his life and he just sh!t his pants.
I dont think he had any idea of how to handle it.
He ought to make a puplic appology and fast.
No soup for him.

[jesus]

This just in...

Apparently he will be on Letterman tonight.
This is from www.drudgereport.com:
DRUDGE READER: 'I'm in the audience for tonight's David Letterman show and they just had Michael Richards on via satellite during Seinfeld's interview to discuss his on-stage tirade. He apologized and expressed remorse at his own behavior. He seemed genuinely upset and embarrassed'... MORE...

We'll see. But I think good on him to be quick and up front about it.
Maybe soup for him.

(PS Michael Patrick still gets no soup. IMHO)

[Peter Voice]

Woaaah

That's one serious f#%k up.

Too much alcohol or other helper maybe?????

[jesus]

I think he can have some soup

Here is his appearance on Letterman:

http://vidclick.blogspot.com/2006/11/seinfeld-star-apologizes-on-letterman.html

Seems pretty sincere to me.
Sometimes hecklers just hit the wrong nerve, to bad he chose those words and went down that road though.

[Seadawg]

Talk about an insructional video in "What not to do" and potential career suicide.

We all say and do things we regret. It happens, but that was so far outside the envelope it wasn't even in the Post office....(oops,Bad refernece)

I think back to the night of my worst confronttion, and though I sorely wanted to unload on "Lisa" I managed toturn the tables and win the audience. It was one of my worst nights ever.

I can make no apologies for his actions, but at least he has stepped up, and had the balls to apologise. He will have to deal with the fallout for a long time, maybe forever.

[Peter]

Funny, one actor gets legally stopped by a cop, harasses the cop and calls the police officer anti-Jewish names, apologizes and everybody falls down to forgive him.

Actor number 2 gets harassed by blacks, losses his temper and calls them "N****rs" and now all the TV talking heads are saying he is toast and will be banned.

I am not saying this because I am Jewish, if Mel Gibson had said the same things to an Asian cop or a Hispanic cop he would have been treated the same as he was. Both are wrong, I am not going to defend either one, it is just that you can offend one group and no one seems to care, but if you offend a different group you're toast. Isn't it time that to use any sort of racist comments, no matter who they are aimed against, is wrong and will be equally punished.

Just some thoughts.

Peter

[Seadawg]

Peter I think if you review my post, I don't refer to anyone nationality, race or creed.

Ok, I am out of the closet now,,, I am a racist of sorts... I hate people from the planet STUPID.

[Stephon]

I only watched the video once, but it seemed like when he used the word "nigger" he was working toward some feable attempt to show how words can be hurtful (like whatever it was the hecklers said to him). Unfortunately, it was done by someone who had no clue how to make that point in that way.

And I don't think the whole tirade can be blamed on inexperience at standup or dealing with heckers; Michael Richard started doing standup in '79 at the Comedy Store and the Improv, and he comes from an improvisation background.

My opinion, based on some interviews he did when Seinfeld was hot--he's an arrogant asshole.

[Doctor Eric]

I think a lot of folks are knee-jerking a bit without understanding the situation. He was going for a punch line and couldn't find it.

The entire lead up to the rant wasn't recorded, but he mentioned on letterman that the whole thing went all over the place. That's also a very New York style of comedy. Quite a few New York comics lash out at hecklers like that, and fight dirty. It works in New York, but alot of times it just won't fly in California, the comic will sense it and wind up digging a hole. Granted, Richards dug a pretty big #@?!ing hole, but the situation is actually a little more believable than un.

Two weeks ago I was hanging out with an NY comic we'll call Joe, and I watched him do almost exactly the same thing. He was headlining my home club here in SF. The club had gone through some changes that week, and attendance just wasn't happening. Three shows out of six were cancelled. Joe was feeling way down. Chris Karney and I took him out to Glide church on Sunday morning, and then I told Joe he should grab a set at the Punchline showcase that night, just to cheer up, I was on it too. We show up, and Joe has to get up, and leave in time to get over to the other club before the feature comes off. So I tell him, look, I'll go on first, I'll set the plate for you, then you can do your 10 with a warm crowd, and we'll split a cab back to the Green Room, deal? Deal. Joe thanks me profusely, the show starts, and the MC tanks, no response whatsoever. He introduces me, and I go up and do the best job I can for 8 minutes, and it works, they're awake, they're alive, they're good. Joe goes up and says "So I'm from the East Coast..." and these teenage rejects from Modesto pipe up "West Coast, ?@$# you!" So Joe does what he does. It immediately snaps into "You mexican blah, blah, blah, thirteen people in a lowered mini cooper, blah blah..." He was killing me, I was loving it, my favorite line was when the fat girlfriend piped up with something about "@#?! me" and he said "#?@! you? Lady I'd step over your naked body to stick my @#?! in a dead baby." It got bad, I heard from all the other comics later that it screwed the whole show (those guys tend to whine a bit anyway though). The problem, as I had to point out to Joe, is that in the Punchline, the way that the sound is set up, no one can hear a heckler in the front row. To the audience, it just looked like his act was to walk on stage and deliver a verbal biopsy to Mexicans. Joe isn't a racist, he just thought he was being funny. It really sucks to be wrong on that one sometimes.