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That's dell.com slash deals. This is the Rich Eisen Show. First up for you, Anthony Michael Hall, Celebrity True or False. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. You try to sneak onto the vacation set just to watch Beverly D'Angelo's new scene.
Guilty as charged. Miss D'Angelo was topless and I was 14. I was on set somehow.
Just bird-dogging from a corner. Earlier on the show, ESPN NBA reporter Brian Wintorse, MLB network analyst Kevin Millar. Coming up, author and actor Michael Richards. And now, it's Rich Eisen.
All right, everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show third hour. We've had a fun first two hours of this program talking about where Aaron Rodgers is and we still don't know. We came on the air two hours ago and the guy is supposed to be at mandatory minicamp, but apparently he told the Jets he wasn't coming. At the top of OTAs, which would be a couple weeks ago, when the Jets announced today, I imagine knowing this was coming, hoping that I guess he would change his mind to not go wherever he is going. He can't be here at the mandatory minicamp after being at every single possible event for the Jets in the off-season.
But the Jets are calling it an inexused absence. We still don't know where he is, right? No clue. Nobody knows.
All right. Keep an eye on all of that. We're keeping an eye out for Michael Richards. His new book, Entrances and Exits, he's slated to be here in this hour.
He's making his way through traffic right now. We'll keep an eye on that. And I'll give the weather on the twos as well right here on The Rich Eisen Show. We had in hour number one, Brian Winhorst discussing the Lakers' pursuit of Dan Hurley that fell short and what they're going to do next.
Hour number two, Kevin Millar talking a little bit of ball. And if you missed any of it, don't worry. We've got you covered right here on The Rich Eisen Show channel 210, the Roku channel. We re-air as soon as this program is over, all the way to tomorrow's program when we'll be back on the air from 12 to 3 Eastern Time. We say hello to everybody listening to us on Terrestrial Radio, Sirius XM, Odyssey and more. And to our podcast listeners as well. The Overreaction Monday podcast, latest edition of it.
We recorded it on Monday and it's up where everybody can have their podcasts to take in. We didn't discuss this yesterday because we got stuck talking a lot of football on this program. And the NBA final game two and Kaitlyn Clark being left off of the women's national team roster. By the way, that became official today. The roster got announced. We'll keep an eye on for any possibility of Kaitlyn Clark to be an alternative selection on that front. But we kind of got waylaid.
We didn't discuss it. We don't talk too much tennis around here. But Carlos Alcaraz took care of business in the French Open and Roland Garros. And he's now got that title to go along with his US Open victory. And his Wimbledon victory of his career. And he is going to set the record of the youngest player to come up with a career grand slam. If he wins the Australian Open in any of the next three years. Wow. That's how good he is. He's got three shots at the apple.
Wow. The 2025, 2026 or 2027 Australian Open. If he wins any of those three, he'll be the youngest to have a career grand slam. He's what, 21 now? He's a youngster. Could you get a point off him?
That's the guy. Speaking of being young, this was Carlos Alcaraz as a teenager talking about what he wants to become in life. What is your dream if you become a pro? He talks about Federer beating his idol and wanting to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
And he's now done it. And this is why, just seeing that young boy talk about what he wants to do in life and he achieves it by age 21. And in the process of doing it, becoming such a major figure in the current world of young tennis fans. Did you see this video from Roland Garros as he's winning and all these kids, the ball kids. And he's sitting amongst the ball kids and how happy they are. And as he's got the trophy sitting next to him on his lap and they're all touching it and look how he looks like the 12 year old. Amongst other 12 year olds. It kind of got me obviously as a dad of a 15 and a 13 and a 10 and our kids are all into tennis. And it just led me to believe, seeing all this again, that deep down. And it's a great sport for kids to play and learn and, you know, it's such a mental game. It's just you out there. You're the only one who can get you out of the jam.
You're the only one who's possibly going to get you into the jam and all of that stuff. And it's such a human game. You can mess with people's heads and your head gets messed with. It's really, it's really remarkable. And knowing that caused me to believe deep down, I still think I can get a point off of this guy. Made me think again. Let me say something to you guys.
It's not a lie if you believe it. Let me just say this. Didn't Nick Cario say you were insane or something?
He said something along the lines of him, you know, coming and he'd run, he'd streak naked or something crazy like that. But he's also, you know, a little bit off his rocker as we know. Listen, guys.
Listen. I saw him. I saw what he played. But Coop right now is, you know, age 13 and really getting into tennis particularly. And we, down the street from us in our neighborhood, kid named Johnny Yaffe, former Michigan tennis captain. Captain? Of the Michigan tennis team. OK. A champion player of his own right has been kind of helping Coop get his mental game right. You know, 13-year-old kid sometimes will play down an opponent or is trying to be too nice out there.
We're trying to get our son to, you know, curb stomp some people. Johnny's helped out. And I told Johnny this theory.
He laughed. Initially. But then told me that he thinks that if I, because double faults, are we removing double faults from this or not? You know, are we removing double faults from this? I mean, no. Yes, yes. Remove that. Remove that.
OK. So I have to get a point off the guy. Either he has to hit it in the net or wide or long.
And on first error on his part. Or I get a point. Or you deliver a winner. On my serve. Right.
And so, hear me out. He says that it's entirely possible that if I keep on serving long over and over and over again throughout this entire match. You could drop one. That I could get him far enough back, even though I'm not hitting it very fast.
Far enough back that if I just quickly underhand one over, he wouldn't be able to get to it. So you want to, like, go the cheap route to get it. This is like bunting in a no hitter. Yeah. Correct. But if I do that in the process.
Hear me out. If I do this in the process of getting it over the net just enough and surprise him. And I get it in the box just over the net and he can't get it. Yeah. And I practice this.
OK. OK. We talk in practice? That in the process of keeping on hitting it long over a set or two. This is a five setter. OK. Here we are.
Three sets. He says that if, if, if I serve it long and hit him on the fly with the tennis ball, it's my point. If I hit Carlos Algaraz with a serve on the fly, it hits his body. Oh, right, right, right, right, right. It's technically my point.
Because that would be him. Right. I understand.
So. So you're practicing hitting him long? I'm hitting him. I practice hitting it long and at him and practice hitting it short.
Enough times. Well, getting in shape a little bit better. I mean, I'm at work on my stamina. I can get a point off him.
I realize they say practice makes perfect. I don't know. And that would be the case. Is this like the Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours? You're really working on this for that long to get the. And by the way, how old is your friend Coop's friend? How old is he? He's a recent graduate. By the way, of the University of Michigan, the finest institution of higher learning in the world where you know things. You know things. He's a smart. He's a smart.
What do you mean? I'm buried. I said he's on the Michigan. You might have heard he's the tennis captain of the Michigan tennis team. Okay.
Well, Michigan guys, you all stick together. No, no, no, no. It's not that. No, he knows. He knows the rule book. I don't know that you get a point off a 12 year old Alcatraz who was in that video. Alcatraz.
Alcaraz. Alcatraz. Alcatraz. Alcatraz. Alcatraz.
Alcatraz. Whatever. Who gives a. It doesn't matter. As soon as I said that, I was like, oh.
12 year old him. You couldn't show it. Serve it long. Serve it long.
Long, long, long, long, long, long. So he's just like this guy can't get in a serve. Right. And then he just kind of likes him.
Sort of like Larry David, you know, talking about, you know, his, his double flick or just or his misdirection. You know, go one way. Oh, I'm going this way. And off he goes.
Touchdown. And you're hoping that what Alcaraz is just kind of like Alcatraz. This guy, what are we doing? And he's just kind of like, all right, I'm just going to stand. Yeah.
Like by the third set, he's like, I got this thing. Why am I wasting my time? Who got me involved in this thing? Why? What is happening right here?
You know, after a while, this is really I'm bored. Right over the net. Can't get it. Spin. There's a spin on it. Sure.
Because I've worked on it. Hard court. Clay court.
What's the surface? Now that's another question. Are we rolling barrels? I think you want clay.
It's a little slower. No, I don't. I won't. He can slide. If he's got to get there, he can slide into it.
That's true. I don't need an extra. I don't need him getting an extra few, you know, extra foot. I think we just got to go hard. Because he can slide. He can get the splits. He can use the splits to get to my short serve.
Okay, we're talking this out. Hard court. Hard court. A little spin grabs it a little bit more.
I think so. Because grass, you can slide on it too. Plus, you know, I know right now, grass is not my best surface. As you can see with my 40-yard dash, I'm a turf guy.
Yep. We need to run this by Kyrgios again. Let's run this new scenario if we can get Kyrgios back. Maybe just send him a text so he can record a video we can play back and you can run the scenario by him.
I need a professional's input here. We could run this by Stevie Wonder and the answer would still be this guy. Because I want to believe in you. I want to believe in you. No, you don't. That's the thing.
Rich, you know he doesn't. It's pretty preposterous. But the new strategy though, now you have a plan of attack. See before you were just like, hey, I can get a point. Relying on physical talent.
Yeah, it was like, that's ludicrous. Now you have an actual plan from an actual player. Yes. I know a college player. I'm looking up Michigan was in the top 30 this year. He's really good.
He was their captain so I assume he's the number one. Let's run this by a couple of pros and see what they think. So I practice hitting it long, hitting it long, hitting it long. But the thing is, while I'm practicing hitting it long, I'm practicing hitting somebody. Right. Like you got to set up a cardboard cutout of someone on the baseline and then you're just aiming it right at it. Yes. And then the entire week coming up with the surprise dink, the surprise dink.
Cardboard cutout. He's got three kids to stay in there. Like.
I don't want my children in there. Taylor doesn't want to stand there and take one off the dome, you know. Yeah, they got stuff to do.
Well, you don't have anything better than helping your dad. Plus, no, I mean, you've got to have, I mean, Carlos won't know what's hit him. No, because he missed.
Except the tennis ball. Especially if he's just like, who is this guy? Who is this guy? You get him bored. You get him bored wondering what happened. And then he's totally bored. His hands are down. Why did my manager get me involved? Who is this guy?
How much are we making for this? He doesn't even speak Spanish. Right.
And then all of a sudden, whoa, whoa. Right. Am I getting punk? And I get, and I get, and I get my point. That's true. Okay.
Okay. You're ambitious. I'll give you that. I'm, you know, I'm like 5% there with you. So, honestly, to be straight up with y'all, I was seeing these videos, seeing them as a kid, seeing them with these kids, watching him play, totally inspired, loving the guy.
I can't believe he's got three chances at winning the Australian Open to become the youngest player ever to have a career grand slam under his belt on his resume. And I'm sitting there and at some point I just, I thought to myself, I could still get a point off him. And I said it out loud and Johnny Yaffe's like, I got your plan. Well, that's the first part, Rich. You've got to believe it.
That's what I mean. You don't believe it. We needed a plan. Go blue. We needed a plan. And now you got it.
And it's, as you said, it's not, it's not a lie, if you believe it. I love it when a good plan comes together. So as you know, we've got tons of Seinfeld drops here. We had Jerry here just last month.
So we're thrilled. Sitting in our green room, getting ready to come out is Michael Richards, the man who played Kramer and brought him to life and won three Emmy awards in the process. His new book, entrances and exits. He's about to enter. So that's next.
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Last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. We're back here on the rich eyes and show on the Roku channel. Our radio audience will join us again and we just talked about how I think I can get a point off Carlos Alcarez. So who better to ask if I can do that than a former ball boy at the United States open.
The great Michael Richards is here on the rich eyes and show. Thank you. Yeah. I love your confidence. I mean, we all need confidence and boy, you got it. At one point you go around with that every day now, right? Every day. I know I could make one point.
I know I can make two, three pointers in a row playing basketball against the best. Exactly. That would be, yes.
Could you imagine the confidence I would have walking around if the guy who just won the French open, we're already with a Wimbledon, a us open on his resume that if I had one point off of him, look out for me. Yeah. That's, that's something to strive for. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I feel like he would, if just to continue the references, uh, he would treat me like you would treat a 12 year old judo, uh, kid, you know, from back in the day, I don't know.
It's way above my pay grade. You didn't actually take on kids and, and jujitsu, right? And kids though, you know, I am the best dad ever.
I love that right there. Absolutely. I mean, if you're going to come, if you're going to come for the crown, you best not miss is all I'm saying. I don't usually get aggressive with my guests, you know, Michael, but do, do so. Let's just get to it. Come on.
Don't don't patty cake around me. Oh man. Here's the book. It's called entrances and exits the forward by Jerry Seinfeld. It is available where all books are sold. It is chock full of stories from out your entire life and your career. Um, and it's a, as I mentioned, uh, where, where all books can be acquired. Michael Richards here on the rich eyes and show our radio audience is just about to rejoin us.
And then we get the whole big schmear right here on the rich eyes and show back on our rich eyes and show radio network. Michael Richards is here, entrances and exits where all books can be acquired. Um, and it's great to see you here, sir. Oh, thanks.
Thank you. Yeah. We just had Jerry Seinfeld in that very chair a few weeks ago and Larry David. That's right.
Larry's been here before you met Larry before Jerry or, or no chronologically with Larry on the, uh, a sketch comedy show called Friday. I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. And there's also a moment in this book, um, that you recount quite a bit from Fridays with, uh, Andy Kaufman that that's indeed when Andy and I came up with that, the breakout sketch, no one will know live on television. Yeah.
That was an event for sure. So just jumping into that right here. So, um, you came up with Andy Kaufman coming up with a skit where he refuses to say his lines. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. He's going to not say his lines. I knew he was going to go out. I didn't know where, but, uh, he was going to break out of the sketch.
Yeah. So you, you went into this knowing he was going to have a sketch and you just didn't know when he was going to stop. I just didn't know when he was going to do it. And at the beginning of that sketch, he's not saying all of his lines. So I don't know.
Is he, is he going out now? I wasn't sure. I had to watch him very closely.
Right. It sort of pulled me out of the scene. If you watch it, I'm not, I'm not really quite in that scene.
I'm watching Andy very carefully, right? I was young. We did it all over again.
I would have played it cooler, I think so a little more at ease. And at one point you did, did you ad lib the, the rest of it or then it went crazy. So what happened? Just what happened after he stopped doing his, you know, it was really great because after and we cut out and went to commercial and he was backstage crying, crying. He had tears. He's really playing this all out. He's such a trickster. But I was so impressed that he could bring tears and apologize to everybody saying, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't know why I broke out of the sketch. And it was, and everyone's, the crew and everyone is so angry at him and Andy is just playing it so beautifully.
Tears and all. What an actor. What a fine actor. So you're saying you come up with this bit or skit where he plays a guy who's playing himself, who would purposefully refuses to read his lines.
Then you would bust out the cue cards and bring it to him through the cue cards in front of him. Now the rest of the cast didn't know what this was happening. Of course, they're in the sketch trying to do this live in front of the country, you know, and uh, I knew Andy was going to break out of the sketch and then we were going to have to take it from there. And you didn't know that they got damn near brawl was going to break out on the side. Brawl was interesting, how protective that crew was. Is your crew that protective?
Let's see, I did some right now where they just jump on me and beat me up in the carpet. That's devotion. Probably that guy. I would ask Jay to be the first one in, the rest of you guys could just stay put, you know, but I just find it fascinating that he kept, he kept the persona, the bit going afterwards.
I think on the show a few weeks later, now he had converted himself to Christianity and wanted to sing Christian songs to redeem himself for what he had done. I thought that was rather clever too. Wow. Yeah. That's commitment, commitment to this whole comedic persona that is indeed Andy Kaufman. Well it's interesting that you would say that because I always thought watching you as Kramer that you were committed deeply, possessed every single second. Honestly, like I thought that you being Kramer and the way that you controlled your body and the way that you delivered your lines and the way that you went about your business commit you, like you, you were, you became that guy. Indeed.
That's how far I go. Yeah. Did you ever meet the real Consulate Kramer? Yeah, I met Kenny. We hung out a few times.
Something like the kind of Kramer I created, but I had to push it for comedic reasons, you know? Yeah. So that was not the real guy is what you're saying? That all? No. No.
And when I started out and they were casting, Larry was still close to Kenny Kramer as he visualized the Kramer character. Yes. And he suggested I wear a ponytail because Kenny wore a ponytail. Yes. But, uh, I broke that off quickly as I started to get into Cosmo. Right.
Okay. So that was your, your first order of business was not to go with the ponytail? I didn't want to have to, well, I couldn't grow it out in time and I didn't want to wear a fake one. Although I consider a fake one. It could fall off at times and we see that it's fake and he always, he's very concerned about this fake ponytail.
But it falls off and he has to stick it in his pocket and that's an interesting cover. That could lead to comedy. Uh, but I ditched that idea and just decided to go into something, uh, a more personal. Yes.
Which is just growing up. I pulled the hair out. I pulled the hair, put some gunk in there and, and let that fly. Okay. When did you know, um, that you got the role? I mean, cause Larry reached out to you, I imagine through your relationship with Fridays, right?
Like, so when did you know? I could make a character. Yeah. They wanted me to make characters, eccentric characters.
They wanted an eccentric next door neighbor, right? So I had to deliver and uh, there, uh, Larry knew I was, yeah, I had to audition for this part three times. You did.
Yeah. They really put me through the hoops. So when did you know you got it? I knew it. I mean probably the second audition I just felt, I felt the chemistry with Jerry and I was making the room laugh.
So I knew I was close. When I knew I had the characters, when I used to enter and get an applause from the audience, that's when I knew, okay, I got the character. Now we can continue, but not fret too much about whether or not I'm getting too cartoonish or too caricatured so forth because everybody was playing so beautifully close to themselves and I had to manufacture a voice and I had mannerisms and ticks and movements the way I would swing through the door. There's a lot of, uh, a lot of, uh, uh, little, uh, things about this character that had to be invented.
Yeah. And then just the way that you would play him, Michael Richards, I gotta be honest with you. I'll, I'll tell you what my favorite speech of yours is that I see all the time. That is, um, brilliant was you telling Jerry how if he gets married, that he will lose all sense of himself and that you sit down and you can't watch TV while you're eating that that's out. You have to talk about your day. That speech is absolutely brilliant.
I can't get enough of that. Oh, good. You know? You know, every day shows how individuated Kramer was.
You didn't have a relationship going at all. Really? Right. Marriage. Hmm.
But you have to talk about your day and how was your day today? And so when you read that script, did you, how do you come up with, well, I was single at the time and also I could kind of relate to that. I just come out of a marriage too, right? And uh, I was brokenhearted from all that. So yeah, I could kind of do some, have some personal connection to that, but ultimately I'm all for marriage. So of course.
Yeah. But I, it does speak quite a bit in just the way that you actually use your voice and describe it. It's, it's, it's brilliant. It's fantastic. Thank you. You're very welcome.
Thank you. What is your favorite Kramer moment? If you have one, um, when I'm into the physical comedy, just anything, anything that's physical. I liked it when I used to get in brawls with little Mickey and I would always tell, I'd always tell Danny, now really hit me, really hit me, got to really hit me and he could never really hit me.
He was such a nice guy. I say, hit me though. The harder you hit me, the funnier it'll be.
Nope, he would not. So we used to wrestle and get into fights and he'd always, he always beat Kramer up. I love that.
Making Kramer think that he could take Mickey and here's a little Mickey, just knocking him about, you know, it's just such a, it's just, it's just so good. Did you ever get hurt? No, I was well padded.
What do you mean? What do you mean you were all padded? I had elbow pads, knee pads. Did you really?
Always. I was, I took all that very, very seriously. Red Skeleton was a mentor of mine and he wrecked his knees. I met him when he was in his, when he just turned 80 and he told me, I mess my knees up with all the pratfalls I did, I said, you know what, they didn't have all that gear then.
He used to stuff paper and things down his pants, but today, back then, you know, in the nineties, it was a great, great gear you could get to protect yourself, sport gear, things like that. I was into it. So you wouldn't, you would show up on the set, so when I'm watching an episode, you're, you got, you got an elbow pad on, you got knee pads on. I didn't tell anybody, Hey, look, you know, I, you know, I had it on, I knew if I'm going to take a bump off that wall or the corner of that couch, or I'm going to go over that chair. Yeah, I'm going to, I'm going to be a padded up for it. Wow.
I did not, I did not know that. So what, what, uh, then what, uh, what, what episode is one of your favorites that you point out like that? That's a Kramer moment that you're most proud of.
We were talking about Mickey a moment ago. He loses his temper and charges at me and throws his whole body on me. I got to go off of a, of a, of a crate I was sitting on about this high off the floor. I'm going to take it with his weight on me. My back is going to hit that floor.
So I had a, uh, uh, a piece of metal made, uh, so that I could wear it and it would protect my spine. And when I hit that floor, yeah, otherwise, you know, I don't know if I'd be around writing your book, uh, entrances and exits. Michael Richards here on the rich Eisen show, we had Jerry here. As I mentioned just, uh, last month, he told his story. He said he hadn't really told much of publicly about the fame.
The sea was angry. My friend's speech that Jason Alexander read off that you had the button on one of the famous buttons in the history of the show. And he said that they came up with that idea the night before. And I'm wondering what your, your perspective of that story, your, your memory of that.
Jason delivers that so beautifully and I get the button. Okay. Yeah, sure. Okay. That's wonderful. But it's, we're working together. That's all timing.
I don't know. I mean, we came up with things last minute all the time and I was improvising when I bring physical comedy, lots of things that weren't there at rehearsal time would come up along the way. That was just so magical when you'd have that moment. I remember a time we in the parking garage where the car was supposed to start up. We were going to drive in the blow line.
It's Kramer. He says, um, where are we now? And they're just going around in circle, lost in the parking garage. Well, that car didn't start up during the shoe.
It didn't start up for us to drive away. So it's just left with a, and that's the perfect ending out of a mistake, but something that came up last minute that works better than what was originally in the script. So that moment at the end of that episode was supposed to be the car starts and you drive and then it's, where are we now?
Cause we had, we're lost all of us in the parking garage. It's a, you know, if you know the episode, yeah, I know every one of them pretty much. Yeah. But that's an episode where that car didn't start and uh, it just worked. I did not know that one.
I mean, seriously, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I know I'm just kind of fanboying here, but, um, but the car episode that you're also most famous for is the Thelma and Louise analogy where the car is running out of gas and you are, you're taking the test drive and you just keep going and going and going and going. What's your memory of that, that one? Did you, did you really, you've sat in that car seat, I imagine forever. We shot that inside.
It was an interior being inside the car. It was a bit confining cause I like to move my body, but that's okay. We got, we got through that one. That's a good episode. A lot of good episodes.
You know, I cover all nine years in this book and I, not all of the episodes, but I go, uh, I go for the best of the episodes and show how we put them together, the difficulties and, and uh, and also the, the big humor that we reached, you know, which we were always after, you know, that one. Of course. Yeah. I mean that those are, and, and it, so many of them stand the test of time, you know, except the ones that, you know, are where cell phone could kind of get you out of trouble or, you know, even the car episode.
Like now you take a look at your app and you'd see your GPS where your car is, you know what I'm saying? But, but they, they, they stand the test of time. Absolutely hilarious. You know? Yeah. And it's to them writing all the shows together, of course, and you can watch them in sequence, which is how I watched them. I hadn't watched the shows, well, probably 70% of them.
I never watched. That's just the way I am. Yeah.
I'd look at them and go, um, gee, I could do much better than that. Okay. Yeah. Um, you won an Emmy for that show.
I don't know why. Um, so, um, yeah, well, um, there you have it. No, I, I, I, um, again, uh, appreciate, um, all the, the story telling. I know what I was trying to say. Yes, sir.
Yes. I was just trying to say I hadn't watched the shows, so many of them, and I, and then I sat down with my son, the best dad ever, and we watched all the shows in sequence for about three weeks. Was that to prepare for the book? I had to do that to prepare for the book, to watch these episodes and, and remember so much about putting them together and then being able to watch them being so objective. Ah, I so enjoyed the show.
I just relaxed and went, this is a really good show. And my son's next to me laughing. So the best son ever. Yeah. How old's your son? He's 12. Okay.
So he's completely introduced to this facet of your life through this process. Yeah. Right. Yeah. He's a new generation. He and his friends watch the show. Yeah. And they like the shows.
And it definitely, again, translates, um, for a 12 year old to, to enjoy. They love Newman. They really love Wayne Knight. Why, why is that?
Do you think? Well, look at this man. He would get angry and then puff his face up.
It would be so red and it looked like he's just going to die. I used to tell Jerry who would laugh all the time at Wayne, I say, Jerry, don't laugh. Now he's got to do another take. You're going to kill this man. And Wayne says, that's the way I want to go. And I went, boy, he is really committed to far more committed than Andy Kaufman. He wouldn't die for his role.
Wayne would, I'm going to do it even harder now. Sure that camera's on and catch it. Yep. Yeah. We were just talking earlier about if we control the mail, you control information is a great line by him.
The way you just delivered it, uh, calling, uh, calling, uh, broccoli and evil weed. Isn't a great, you're laughing about it too. It's so good. Well, it's just so funny watching him, you know, we used to shoot that show in the old Mack Senate building. That was the first studio out there back then when Senate was making his comedies.
Yes. So Wayne and I used to sit around, just talk about Mack Senate, you know, the great physical comedians and so forth. Anyway, it was just so nice to know that we were doing Seinfeld and in a building that's so historic for making comedy, you know, and setting, making comedy history yourself. What'd you think of the curb finale? What'd you think of that?
Did you, were you, did you see the curb, your enthusiasm finale? I didn't. You did not. No. I don't watch television. Are you aware of what happened in the curb?
What happened? The, uh, uh, was it funny? First of all, yes, I can confirm. That's all. But let's leave it right there.
But no, but I'm, I'm, I'm, uh, actually honored that blow your mind that I haven't watched it. No, no, no, no. Listen up. Yeah. Larry's going. Yeah. That's that's Michael.
So it was at the end of the curb, the series finale, Jerry is in it. I knew about the tie. Okay. So you know about the time. Jerry had told me about it. I knew about that months ago.
He told me what they were going to do. Yeah. I just didn't watch it. I just watched the show. Pulled it off though. I'll go watch it now.
Forget it. I'm leaving. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, yeah, they pulled it off. It was a great tie and in a great way to, to end it and sort of, you know, get a mulligan to use a golf.
Yeah. You know, I'm happy to hear that, you know, for, for all of that. So why'd you write the book, Michael? Why'd you write it? It's, I mean, why does the hair grow on the top of my head?
Why am I breathing? I mean, it's just, it just, I started, I started reviewing writing one day about the show and then it started to open up and I, I remembered so much, started watching the show and it got me into writing a book about Seinfeld, especially the development of Kramer because there's so many fans who are into that character. So I was writing to them to show them the process of making a character like that, being an actor and going into it.
And there's an evolution to this character throughout the show. And it's, I thought it would be important for the history of just making comedy on such a show as Seinfeld. So I started there, but then I started to get back into my life. Oh boy, when did I come into acting?
How did that take a hold of me? And then before that, and then after Seinfeld and oh, the horrible incident at the Laugh Factory and, and who am I now and where did that take me? And so it became a memoir. And it's available where everybody can get books, Jerry Seinfeld with a beautiful forward as well. So my last question for you is in, in watching back Seinfeld and watching back the episodes, which one that you saw and you're like, I've got to put that in the book and why. Oh my gosh.
There's a lot of episodes. Yes. Okay. I talked about when I first came into physical comedy, Larry had written a big speech for me, which usually goes to Jason or Julia. And I got the speech and I said to Larry, why come into the room and talk about what I just did? Why don't we shoot what I did? And this was when I went into a long laundromat and put powdered cement in a washing machine to get revenge. And rather than come in and I'll tell you, I did this, I am boy, I put the powder in the washing machine. I said, let me do it.
Let me do it. And the director at the time thought we're not going to have time to do that. And then Jerry says, no, let's do it.
We'll do it as a playback. Let me set the scene up and do this physical comedy. And it went over well, it worked. And from then on, I think that was the beginning where we started to look at Kramer now doing physical comedy on the show. That was very important to me. Rather than just saying funny, I wanted to do funny. And I just have the, I have the means for it.
My body and what I am into physical comedy is just making people laugh through your body is funny. Right. And were you the one who came up with Cosmo for Kramer or no? Oh, we thought for weeks on that one. And then Larry came up to me, he goes, I got it, I got it. It's Cosmo. And the moment I heard it, I went, absolutely. Well, it turned out it was with us all the time because there was a kid who lived in the building where Larry lived with Kenny, right down the hall, who was named Cosmo. So you see, it was, it was in us all the time in a sense, certainly with Larry to bring it our way.
It made complete sense. Yeah. It's not Cosmo. Yeah, I know. Cause he is Cosmo.
You could slip right back into the voice too. Yeah. I think so. I noticed that right there. And last one, uh, the Merv Griffin set episode, when you first read that, what did you think when you first read that script? Oh, it's perfect Kramer because Kramer, he lives in his imagination and now he gets to be a talk show host and he believes he is a talk show host. That's what's so lovely about Kramer. His imagination is, well, what's ever on, he can play different characters. He is those characters.
So he's on the Merv Griffin show and he's a talk show host. Look at this scene right here. I mean, just like the photograph that we have here of you sitting right there with your cards. Oh, I loved it. I dressed him up. I had him go, go, go as a talk show host. It was lovely.
And then welcoming everybody in playing the music as well. Oh my gosh. Yes, indeed. He's really, he really is a talk show host. Was Merv Griffin alive at that point? God, I don't know, but he sure had a big house out in Beverly Hills and I flew over that thing. I go, what is that? A bank building? So he says, that's the Merv Griffin's house. I went, Whoa, boy, he is feeling like he made it. That's it.
No doubt about it. He built it from the, I don't know, from the sidewalk, from Jeopardy up, I think for sure. Entrances and exits.
Michael Richards right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Everybody should get this book where all books can be acquired. Thanks for strolling down memory lane here. This has been a blast. Absolutely. Thank you. Did you ever think about putting legs on the back of the book?
I didn't hear what he said. Do you ever think about putting legs on the back of the book and making it, making it its own? Would that make it too gimmicky? No, it would fit very well. Maybe you should do it.
I'd rather see it as a hood ornament. Right there, everybody. Check it out. Where all books are sold.
Michael Richards, everybody here on the Rich Eisen Show. We'll wrap it up in a sec. Ready to pop the question and take advantage of 30% off? The jewelers at bluenile.com have got sparkled down to a science with beautiful lab-grown diamonds worthy of your most brilliant moments. Their lab-grown diamonds are independently graded and guaranteed identical to natural diamonds and they're ready to ship to your door. Go to bluenile.com to get 30% off, select lab-grown diamonds.
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Shopify.com slash WestwoodOne. Can you tell me the story, the famous story of you noticing John Candy in the crowd before that two-minute drill at the Bengals? Harris Barton was a people person, so we were free for dinner during the week, but in practice in meetings and then come back after dinner and more meetings. So when he would come back from dinner, he was like a little kid.
He could not wait to tell you about all the celebrities he saw while he was at dinner. And so we were just standing there in between the tight end and his shoulder was a friend, John Candy. In the crowd. He was on the sideline. Oh, he's on the sideline. And so I was, and I sat there and I looked and I go, dang, I don't remember Harris saying he saw John Candy.
This is what you're thinking in the Super Bowl with minutes to go and needing to drive down the field. Yeah. Okay. Well, yeah. So I walked over and said, hey, age, man, there's John Candy. And Harris stood like this for eight minutes, perfectly still, he was a little bit anal in that way.
He would not move. He was like little, I didn't do it to unwind him. I just thought he would appreciate seeing John Candy. Did you ever meet Candy?
Or that was the only time? Yeah, no, I had met John a few years before that. My contract was up and he was, you know, one of the owners of the Toronto Argonauts.
He was trying to get me to go to Canada. Come on. Yeah. Then he just didn't have enough money. But if the price was right, I might've been wearing an Argonaut. Yeah.
You'd have a 55 yard line. I'll do that. So he legitimately said, you know, Hey, you know, we had a couple of meetings about you did. So this is real. Like it wasn't just like, Oh, by the way, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Wow.
I love that. Hey guys. Joe Montana is 68 years old today. Whoa.
Joe Montana is 68. Wow. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network.
I am sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry Grainger has the right product for you call click Grainger.com or just stop by. All right. So we're now halfway through the Seinfeld cast showing up here. I love it. We are halfway through. We will not rest until we complete the mission. I love it. Let's do it.
We will not rest until we complete the mission. If you want to throw Wayne Knight in there too, let's try that in. We've had Banya on the show before.
That's right. Let's go. Let's get Jackie Childs on there. It's a Festivus miracle. Jackie Childs.
Jackie Childs. Oh my gosh. It's a Festivus.
I could ask about Festivus. You want to talk about feats of strength? Oh my goodness gracious. I mean you want to talk about someone we could have done a whole three hours with. I mean the same thing with Jerry. Yeah. So we've had Larry, Jerry, and Kramer and we got more to go. More to go.
Well, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the door is open. Oh well. I mean. Yeah. So during that conversation, what happened with Kristaps Porzingis? Christopher?
Okay. I don't know what exactly what this injury is, but here's what it's called. The Siltyks have announced that he suffered a torn medial rotten alkaline allowing a dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon.
There's an L in there. Tibialis. Tibialis tendon. It's in the left leg at 3.27 of the third quarter. Joe Mazua called it serious and that it's a rare injury.
Thank you. His availability for upcoming games will be determined day to day. We have come up with a new segment. Chris Brockman tries to read off different body part names. Chris spoke a minute ago, said he doesn't know what the risk of re-injury would be. Said he can't trick the medical staff and they're letting him play if they don't think he's ready.
Quote, but I will try. I guess this is just the finals version of the Western Eastern Conference Finals, which is don't have to play him again potentially or you don't have to play him. If you're beating your opponent, you don't have to play him. So if you sit him in game three and see if you come up with the dub. Metrics with him on the court are much better when he's not on the court.
He's plus 25 in the series. I would prefer that he was out there. I get it. Obviously. So we'll see.
But we'll see. Also, something about Luca. He got a shot in his chest to numb the pain. He's suffering from that- It's thoracic? Yeah, thoracic contusion. Thoracic park? He got a pain killing injection before game two to numb the area of his thoracic contusion.
Expectation that he will get another one before game three. Okay. Cortisone?
I don't know. Well, he's an expert in getting shots to numb feelings. Sorry, you got lost.
I know you got lost. Cortisone injections can pull it down. One of my superpowers is I don't need a shot to feel numb. Just numb to a lot.
I have become comfortably numb just in my soul. By the way, injury update. Did you hear? We got an injury update on Joe Burrow's wrist. Oh, no.
Yes. An injury update on Joe Burrow's wrist. And this is big. This is big. If I'm a Bengals fan, I would listen up to this. Here it is for Joe Burrow here on our program.
First update on the quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals. Well, we're going to travel a little bit. Learning how to play the piano, so that's always fun.
Just YouTube videos. Yeah. There you go.
That's been a fun process. How far along are you with the piano? Do you have a repertoire of songs? I've got a couple songs I can play, yeah.
There you go. Oh, so he's good? If he's playing the piano, I assume it's not just with his left hand, you know what I mean? One-handed piano. That'd be kind of tough. I don't know.
I want to know what songs he's playing. Mary had a little lamb. Top six. Huh?
Top six. Well, it takes two hands. So heart and soul, maybe. Just start with the beginning.
Start with the beginning. So that's what's up with the Bengals. Okay. That's good.
I saw it said he'd be ready for week one. Yeah. Excuse me. He added that in there.
Yeah. He'll be ready for week one. I was concerned that that's a, you know, a degenerative wrist injury. If he's learning how to play the piano and he's using, you know, he's pointing and clicking on YouTube videos to learn how to play the piano, I think he's good.
Rehab process. He starts, you know, playing Tchaikovsky, you know, all of a sudden he's Ludwig van Burrow, definitely chopsticks out there, you know, okay. Can you guys play the piano? No, absolutely.
I can get one point off of Leonard Bernstein if I had him. That's what I'm saying. That's a wrap. Every story eventually comes to an end. This June, hear the final episode of season two of the hit podcast series, In the Red Clay, Durham. In the Red Clay tells the unbelievable true story of Billy Sunday Burt, the most dangerous man in Georgia history. In the podcast that people are calling riveting, incredibly moving, captivating, and addicting. Binge seasons one and two of In the Red Clay now, wherever you listen.
