Michael Richards of Kramer fame lost his house to fire but found new purpose
Michael Richards, forever enshrined in people’s minds as the incomparably quirky Kramer on “Seinfeld,” was one of thousands of people who lost their homes last year to the wildfires in the Palisades Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.
But he didn’t get angry like many of his neighbors. Instead, he became reflective. From those ashes, Richards is rising back on the public stage after years of self-imposed public exile after a shocking racist outburst he made toward a heckler at a comedy club in 2006.
Repentant and thoughtful, the 76-year-old actor will be offering stories from his career and his philosophy on life Tuesday at Center Stage with tickets starting at $56.60 at Ticketmaster.
“I am fascinated by the idea of restoration and rebuilding as I rebuild my home,” Richards said in a recent Zoom interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s like a husk was burned away. I’m now more outward facing. I’m now back on stage. I don’t think I’d be doing this if it hadn’t been for the fire.”
Even before the fire, Richards said he decided to face the world again with his 2024 memoir “Entrances and Exits.” But he largely kept his public appearances limited to a handful of promotional appearances like “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Today Show.”
And he chose a single book tour stop at the respected annual Book Festival at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta in November 2024. It was his first appearance in front of an audience in more than a decade, he said.
He didn’t sign books face to face with attendees, which most authors do at the event. He said he wasn’t ready.
But before the event, Richards kindly autographed books and took selfies with MJCCA VIPs and staff. He was full of antsy energy as he entered the gymnasium to whoops and cheers from the 500 people who showed up. Early on, he was hard on himself regarding the 2006 incident but loosened up as he began telling “Seinfeld” stories.
The MJCCA audience was empathetic with their questions, and he left the stage feeling good.
“I had a really enjoyable time,” he said. “It was an incentive to be where I am now and coming back to Georgia.”
Unfortunately, two months later, his house burned to the ground. He lost a rare book collection worth millions and an array of treasured, one-of-a-kind “Seinfeld” memorabilia, including scripts from all 180 episodes signed by each of the four core cast members.
“I’m a collector,” he said. “I collected ‘Seinfeld’ items like the fans did: the mugs, the puzzles, the games, just about everything that has been officially released to the public. I had it all. Gone!”
His Mediterranean-stye house was notable because of who built it in 1929: Alphonzo Bel, a wealthy real estate developer who also created the Bel Air neighborhood.
“He wanted to build out a Bel Air by the sea in Palisades Park,” Richards said. “It was one of the first homes in Palisades Park with an ocean view.” But the stock market crash and subsequent depression killed off any other development in the area for 25 years.
Richards purchased the home during the height of the popularity of “Seinfeld” in 1996.
He is rebuilding the house using the original floor plans. By weird coincidence, he was refinishing the floors of his study in late December 2024 so his wife, Beth, moved those plans to a study below the garage where he kept his artwork and photography equipment. A week later, his home was gone.
But his handyman and son saved his garage by pouring water on it from a nearby fish pond. “It makes rebuilding much easier to have those plans,” Richards said.
Beginning last fall, he started a series of shows in California.
They were not stand-up comedy. He previously tried that, and it never felt like a good fit, Richards said. In 2006, while attempting stand-up, “I was in a place where I was questioning myself a lot about what I was doing on stage, just how funny I was,” he said. “I was doubting myself. The heckler was my own voice.”
Instead, Richard’s friend and memoir co-author Todd Gold opens each new show with a question. From there, Richards goes into a free-form stream of consciousness. The results were encouraging, he said.
“He got multiple standing ovations,” Gold said. “Teach night was filled with laughs, tears and profound moments of connection with the audience. It wasn’t just a typical Q&A/conversation. Nothing is typical with Michael.”
In other words, parts of his Kramer persona come out on stage. “I’m very animated, very theatrical. It’s organic. It’s spontaneous. Out of all this, an act is forming, a format that’s all my own. I’m so excited, I’m gushing!”
Richards sought advice from Jerry Seinfeld. The pair remain tight friends who talk regularly.
Seinfeld was befuddled by Richards’ concept because “Jerry never goes on stage without knowing every single word that comes out of his mouth,” he said. “He told me to just relax and have fun.”
One thing Seinfeld understood was Richards’ creative spark. On “Seinfeld,” he gave Richards the space to shape and design Kramer into his own unique character more than 35 years ago.
Many of his stories, Richards said, will be “an exploration of what constitutes imagination. Kramer was based on imagination. I felt like that character lived entirely through his imagination. Kramer was a dream. That was my approach from the beginning.”
His one-man stage show is still very much in its formative stage.
“I’m excited creatively to see where this unfolds and see if it has a life to it,” Richards said. “It’s a little like creating Kramer. In the beginning, I knew I was onto something, but I wasn’t sure where this character was going to go.”
The Palisades fire also inspired him to work on a second book, a series of philosophical essays about the mystery of life.
“I’m not a political person,” Richards said. “I’m dealing with existentialism. I’m not in a place of blame. I am not one side against the other. I’m just watching the phenomenon of being and trying to comprehend being human.”
IF YOU GO
“Michael Richards: An Evening of Conversations, Questions and Answers”
8 p.m. Tuesday, $56.60 and up, Center Stage Theater, 1374 West Peachtree St. Atlanta, www.ticketmaster.com
Correction
This article was updated to correct the name of Michael Richards' book and to add the first name of his co-author.
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