Celebrities

Michael Richards admits he only recently watched ‘Seinfeld’

Written by ABC Audio ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on June 7, 2024

While his Cosmo Kramer became a classic TV character, and the show itself is revered as one of the most beloved sitcoms of all time, Michael Richards says he only recently watched Seinfeld.

In a chat Thursday with Fox News’ Jesse Watters to promote his new book, Entrances and Exits, the funnyman said, “I never watched the shows because I could always see how they could be better, and I had to move fast each week in making each episode.”

He revealed he finally sat down to watch the 1990s hit with his 9-year-old son, Antonio.

Richards said, “It wasn’t until really in the preparation of this book, in getting tuned into the episodes … nine years of it, I watched every single episode in order of them being made, as they were aired each week.”

He said the time that had passed gave him “greater objectivity.”

Richards added, “I remembered so much, and I just sat back and just laughed with my son at this amazing show that so many people came together and made. The chemistry and the outcome was just sensational.”

The performer also commented that for as funny as the show was to audiences, he, Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, co-creator Larry David and all involved “worked very, very hard on it.”

While Richards ducked out of the limelight after an infamous, racially charged onstage meltdown in 2006 — which he covers in the book — he insisted that political correctness hasn’t killed comedy, as some contend.

“People are just being more sensitive about what we’re saying about each other, which I think is a good thing,” he expressed. “The HA-HA is archetypal … it’s still going to be with us. It’s alive.”