Sarah Silverman Shares Negative Seinfeld Experience With Michael Richards

Summary Silverman didn't enjoy her time on Seinfeld due to Michael Richards snapping at her while filming.

Richards had a reputation for intense behavior on set, often losing his cool with cast members.

Controversies surrounding Seinfeld's legacy include insensitive plotlines and jokes that have aged poorly.

Sarah Silverman and Seinfeld are synonymous with American comedy, but Silverman didn't enjoy her time as a guest star on the show about nothing, and it was all because of Michael Richards. Seinfeld centers on the mundane day-to-day happenings of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his friends, and the main characters' love lives are often a focal point. Jerry and co. rarely stay in relationships for very long, which means that Seinfeld has had many guest stars playing romantic interests. The NBC sitcom ran from 1989-1998, and many of these guest-starring actors appeared on the show before they became famous.

One of those actors was Sarah Silverman. She started her comedy career as a standup in 1992 before being cast on SNL, though Silverman was fired from Saturday Night Live after just one season. After several guest-starring roles on shows including Seinfeld, Star Trek Voyager, and JAG, Silverman broke out with her own Comedy Central series, The Sarah Silverman Program, running from 2007-2010. From there, Silverman got meatier parts in both comedies and dramas, earning a SAG nomination for playing troubled protagonist Laney Brooks in I Smile Back. But before her career took off, Silverman had to contend with mistreatment on the Seinfeld set.

Related Seinfeld Cast & Character Guide Seinfeld's cast is full of talented actors, like Jerry Seinfeld and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who give life to some of the most hilarious '90s characters.

Sarah Silverman Says Michael Richards Snapped At Her On Seinfeld Set

The Kramer Actor's Conduct Was Beyond Abrasive

Sarah Silverman appeared on Seinfeld season 8, episode 12 "The Money" as Emily, Kramer's (Michael Richards) latest girlfriend. In their storyline, Kramer can't sleep next to Emily because of her "Jimmy legs" (restless leg syndrome), so he sells her on him not staying at her apartment overnight. However, when a misunderstanding causes Kramer to think he's experienced a home invasion, he wants his sleeping arrangement with Emily back. But when Silverman flubbed a line — she was supposed to say "It's probably the wind" but instead said "It's probably the rain" — Richards snapped at her. Silverman said on her podcast, The Sarah Silverman Podcast:

“This guy, Michael Richards, breaks character and just starts ripping me a new a**hole... He points to the window and he goes, ‘Do you see rain in that window? Do you see rain in that window?’ and I go, ‘No,’ and he says, ‘Then why did you say rain?’ It’s not rain. There’s no rain in that window! The line is ‘wind’!”

Silverman was understandably shaken, and felt a "lump in her throat". She recalled being angry that Richards got away with such poor behavior because he's so beloved as Kramer. But she stood up to him the next day on the Seinfeld set. When they were filming a scene at a diner, Richards was polite, acting like nothing had happened, and trying to engage Silverman in conversation. But she refused, saying:

“And finally, I just cut him off and I say, ‘I don’t give a f**k!’... And he’s kind of stunned, and it’s like he snapped out of it a little. He understood what I was saying was, ‘You don’t talk like that and act like nothing happened. I’m not going to be one of those people that joins in and acts like nothing happened. That was s****y behavior."

According to Silverman, Richards was then gracious to her, realizing he had crossed a line. With fences mended, the two were able to continue on a friendship, with Richards even seeking Silverman's advice for getting back into stand-up comedy. Unfortunately, this was not the only incident of Richards' abusive behavior, as since he was in the main cast of Seinfeld, he famously went on a racist tirade against audience members at one of his comedy shows in 2006.

Related Every Seinfeld Season Ranked Worst To Best Deemed one of the greatest sitcoms ever, Seinfeld was a show about nothing for 9 seasons, but which season contained the best shows about nothing?

Michael Richards Has A Reputation For Being Intense On Set

Sarah Silverman wasn't the only co-star Michael Richards was unkind to on Seinfeld. His temper on set has been well-documented, as co-stars have commented that Richards would easily lose his cool if anyone broke character or laughed. In a making-of documentary, Elaine actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus shared how Richards' anger would only make her laugh more. Louis-Dreyfus said (via The Things):

"It's like being in church. You're not supposed to laugh in church. It's sort of the same thing working [with Michael] because it's so serious."

Overall, Louis-Dreyfus and her Seinfeld co-stars seemed to enjoy their time on the show, with Louis-Dreyfus chalking up Richards' behavior to extreme dedication to his craft. She even excused getting hit in the head by Richards when he swung a bag of golf clubs too hard. And while Richards was celebrated for his physical comedy on the show, and has admitted he took things too seriously, this behavior would certainly not fly on most sets today.

Related 10 Harsh Realities Of Watching Seinfeld Today While the self-described show about nothing holds up on the whole, the harsh realities of watching Seinfeld now are nothing to yada yada yada about.

Sarah Silverman's Revelations Add More Controversy To Seinfeld's Legacy

Seinfeld Has Had Aging Problems In Recent Years

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Sarah Silverman's experiences with Michael Richards on the set of Seinfeld are far from the show's only controversies. Both on-screen and behind the scenes, the hit sitcom has had its fair share of newsworthy incidents and episode plotlines or jokes that haven't aged well. These aren't exclusively due to Kramer actor Michael Richards either, as the titular star of the show, Jerry Seinfeld, has become something of a problematic figure at points in his own right.

There are entire plotlines that it's shocking the show got away with in the first place

One of the most infamous and controversial Seinfeld moments came with the season 9 episode "The Puerto Rican Day". This episode was pulled from circulation for many years due to (among other things) a scene that featured Kramer burning and then stamping on a Puerto Rican flag. The entire episode was considered culturally insensitive, especially since the characters' only observation about the Puerto Rican Day parade was that it was a major inconvenience due to the traffic it caused.

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Then, of course, there are the many jokes in Seinfeld that have aged poorly in the decades since it aired. Jerry and the other characters make many sexist jokes about the girls he dates throughout the show, such as a woman who's never had sexual intercourse that they call "the virgin" instead of referring to her by name. There are entire plotlines that it's shocking the show got away with in the first place too, such as the season 9 episode "The Merv Griffin Show" when Jerry literally drugs his girlfriend so that he can play with her vintage toys.

There is also Jerry Seinfeld himself, who in the years since the show aired has ruffled more than a few feathers with his comments about political correctness and current events. While he's never been outright offensive, he has often toed the line of acceptability. The Sarah Silverman moment on Seinfeld was far from the only problematic thing about the show, but it does stand as an example of why on-set conduct is so important.

Source: The Sarah Silverman Podcast, The Things