Cosmo Overheats
In much the same way Cosmo Kramer used to burst through Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment door, Michael Richards has burst back onto the American cultural scene, materializing from post-superstar obscurity to make a Thanksgiving turkey of himself at Hollywood’s Laugh Factory by hurling ethnic slurs at audience members who heckled him. In the wake of his already infamous outburst, 99% of the punditry devoted to it is so wildly offmark it instills in intelligent people a deep fear for the state of the American IQ. Most reprehensible among the 40-watt intellects coming to Richards’ defense are those who want to blame the audience members who heckled him and supposedly incited his outburst.
The theory that Richards was incited is utter nonsense. Michael Richards is a comedian, and he's supposed to get heckled. That's right—it’s his job. I've rarely been to a comedy show where a comic didn't have to fire back at an audience member. When this happens it is considered to be in fun, and the comic’s job is to construct clever and funny retorts fittingly indicative of his/her improvisational skill, at which point the audience laughs and the show goes on. Most times, when the comic gets in a zinger the heckler laughs too, because he knows being bested is the price he pays for mouthing off. This interchange is part of the profession, like clouds are part of the atmosphere, and waves are part of the ocean. It is something all comics learn in Stage Comedy 101, and the suggestion that heckling warrants a racist outburst is like saying a drizzle warrants a Domino’s driver dumping your pizza on the curb.
What Richards did—explode because an audience behaved the way audiences are programmed to behave—is the comedic equivalent of going postal, and like someone who goes postal, it simply means he can’t handle his job. This happens all the time to people in all walks of life. For this failing, blame Michael Richards, or, if you like, blame his job, but those who are blaming the audience members—disingenuously pretending old Kramer was some guy on the street ambushed while minding his own business, rather than a professional with a job to do—are simply revealing ugly sides of themselves not very different from the half-human monster revealed by Richards.
posted by Egan Ehlers @ 9:16 PM
1 Comments:
I wonder how much Mr. Richards makes each year still in residuals from syndication, dvd sales, rentals etc? A fair amount I bet, and in my opinion should be thankful for what he's got rather than descending into his own ugliness.
We can vilify or protect poor Mr. Richards but his comments come out like someone who's been suppressing feelings he perceives to be correct and he can't believe no one will say them in public. It comes from a formless fear as evidenced by his unbelievably halting and inarticulate apology on Letterman.
It makes me think about another comedian coming at the same situation from a different position. In the recent Sacha Cohen film "Borat" he comes to the "U, S and A" with an artificial ignorance and racism, thus pulling out shockingly frank racism from some frat boys who pick him up. One of them says, "I wish! I wish!" when confronted with the possibility of still having slaves. Needless to say when "Borat" came out the frat boys wanted to sue. I'm sure their parents and America will rally behind them. After all, no one likes being outed as a racist.
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