In 2024, Michael Richards returned to television to promote his memoir, Entrances and Exits, and spoke openly about the years since his 2006 outburst at the Laugh Factory.
“I Canceled Myself Out”
On the Today show, he told Hoda Kotb, “I canceled myself out,” explaining that he stepped away from show business to deal with the anger behind that night.
The 2006 incident, in which Richards shouted racist slurs at hecklers during a stand-up set, effectively ended his career at the time. He apologized publicly and largely disappeared from the spotlight for years.
A Cancer Diagnosis
He also shared a health scare. In the summer of 2018, a routine checkup led to a stage-one prostate cancer diagnosis. Richards told People he feared he had little time left, until surgery at Cedars-Sinai removed the cancer.
His doctor said that without treatment, he might have had only months.
Why He Wrote the Book
Beating the disease pushed him to go back through decades of personal journals and finally tell his life story.
That includes how he built Cosmo Kramer into one of TV’s most memorable characters. Richards won three Emmys for the role, and his physical comedy, from Kramer’s sliding entrances into Jerry’s apartment to his wild hair and gestures, remains one of the most imitated performances in sitcom history.
Not Chasing a Comeback
Richards has said he isn’t chasing a comeback. He simply wanted fans to understand the craft behind the character and to explain, in his own words, how he has tried to change.
For Seinfeld fans, the book offers a rare look inside the mind of the man who played Kramer, and a more reflective side of an actor best known for chaos.