Richards apologizes on Letterman via bird

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on November 21st, 2006

Here on the east coast, Seinfeld is just now being introduced on The Late Show. Word of this appearance and Seinfeld’s statement were on the wires ealier today (after the taping) and there’s an account on AP already, from which this comes:

Comedian George Lopez told Los Angeles television station KTLA that he thought Richards’ lack of stand-up experience may have been a factor.

“The question is you have an actor who is trying to be a comedian who doesn’t know what to do when an audience is disruptive,” Lopez said. “He’s an actor whose show has been off the air, he shouldn’t ever be on a stand-up gig.”

When we heard the Seinfeld statement earlier today, we suspected that he was distancing himself from Richards merely to protect the profits from the syndication of his popular television show– an understandable strategy. We were unaware that the statement was made in conjunction with the appearance on Letterman… to plug the release of the DVD of Season 7 of Seinfeld. Talk about your bad timing. Perhaps the plugging of the DVD could have waited for a while.

Seinfeld seemed genuinely upset at one point, even a little choked up as he talked about his friend Richards.

Then comes the satellite confessional. At one point, Jerry tells the audience to “stop laughing.” Richards even remarks about the studio audience’s nervous laughter and says he isn’t sure the situation is funny. He rambles a bit and even veers into Katrina (?) while formulating his bizarre apology. And then he transposes his rage over all of society in a sort of a meandering speech. We’re fairly certain that if Richards had read a prepared statement, his words would have seemed hollow. However, we’re stunned that he didn’t have some sort of an outline for his remarks.

Richards jabbering accomplished little to either get him off hook or dispel the notion that all comics are hate-filled goofballs. His ambiguous message was “I’m not a racist, but maybe I am. And maybe you are, too.” Great!

We’re inclined to agree with Lopez.

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