Kramer's Sorry Satellite Stunt
In retrospect, it’s hard to believe that a character as lovably wacky as Seinfeld’s Kramer could be played by angry Michael Richards. His public image imploded in 2006 after cameras caught the actor launching into a 3-min. tirade at an L.A. comedy club when an African-American man started heckling him. The rant, which included repeated use of the N word and a graphic reference to lynching, managed to clear the entire club.
Jerry Seinfeld eventually convinced Richards — who had stonewalled the media for days — to appear via satellite during Seinfeld’s appearance on Letterman’s show. If only he could have persuaded Richards to make his apology seem believable. Richards’ comparison of trash talk to “Afro Americans” (no, really, that’s the term he used) to wars between nations was especially ludicrous. It didn’t help that the audience laughed (albeit uncomfortably) the entire time.
Next: Harvey Pekar Keeps It Real
Harvey Pekar Keeps It Real
A big hand for Harvey Pekar, the American Splendor comic writer who annoyed Letterman so much during his August 1988 appearance that he got himself banned for life. (Somehow, he’s returned twice since.) At one point during the show, Letterman interrupted Pekar’s rant against General Electric — the corporate parent of NBC, which then owned Late Night — and said to bandleader Paul Shaffer, “I’m just praying for a terrorist.”
Pekar would later tell the Los Angeles Times: “On some of the shows, I was doing a deliberate self-parody, and now there’s a lot of people that think I’m some sort of maniac, you know? I think that’s unfortunate — I’d rather be liked than thought of as a crazy man, but with Letterman, I’ve been in a situation where you either lay down and let him insult you or you do something about it. Most people keep their mouth shut and let him dump on them. I don’t wanna do that.”
You go, Harvey Pekar.
Next: Post-Slammer Paris Hilton
