Sarah Silverman Recalls Standing Up to Michael Richards on Tense ‘Seinfeld’ Set: ‘F*ck This Guy’
Zack Sharf
Sarah Silverman took some time during this week’s episode of “The Sarah Silverman Podcast” to recall “bad experience” she had working with comedian Michael Richards during her 1997 guest appearance on “Seinfeld.” While the two performers became friendly later in life, their relationship started under tense circumstances on the set of the NBC comedy series after Silverman flubbed one of her lines. The script read, “It’s probably the wind,” but Silverman said, “It’s probably the rain.”
“This guy, Michael Richards, breaks character and just starts ripping me a new asshole,” Silverman said. “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 said she got a “lump in her throat” while Richards was yelling at her for screwing up the dialogue. The comedian recalled thinking later that day after she went home from the set, “Fuck this guy. Nobody calls him on his shit because he’s Kramer from ‘Seinfeld.’ He walks through the front door and he gets a standing ovation.”
Silverman returned to the “Seinfeld” set the next day to film another scene with Richards, this one set in a diner. When her co-star tried to make small talk with her as if nothing had transpired between them the day prior, she stood up against him.
“And finally, I just cut him off and I say, ‘I don’t give a fuck!’” Silverman said. “And he’s kind of stunned, and it’s like he snapped out of it a little. He understand 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 shitty behavior.’”
Silverman concluded the story by saying Richards accepted her criticism, thus opening the door for them to remain friendly after her time on “Seinfeld” ended. As the actress said, “And then we became casually friendly and he would call me sometimes.”
Listen to the latest episode of “The Sarah Silverman Podcast” here.
