Michael Richards Reveals What the Real Kramer Is Up to Today

You write candidly about your Laugh Factory tirade, during which you angrily yelled racist remarks to audience members who heckled you. Do you have any other regrets?

Richards has written a candid new memoir, "Entrances and Exits" about his life and career.

Courtesy East 2 West Collective

Oh gosh — ways I could have done things differently? Always. But I think they’re considerations that help me see how to be a better person. So in the review work [I’m doing] at my age, it’s all in a review of just how to do things better. ... The biggest, really, was when I got angry at the Laugh Factory and said such horrible things. Yeah, I make mistakes. I learned a lot about it, and it’s throughout my book. I devote well over 100 pages to it.

After that incident, you took a step back from your career. If someone offered you a TV role now, would you consider it?

The performer and all of that never goes away. I would look closely at the material and see if I could do it well. And if I thought I could, yeah, I’d get involved.

So you’re not ready to retire?

No, no. What is that anyway? That’s what I say. Where are you going away from? You’re still on this planet doing something. Anything. But as far as professional acting, or just acting, if somebody approached me with a play to do somewhere — maybe it’s not on Broadway, but a play — I would consider it. I would look at it. At my age, it’s got to pique my interest.

Speaking of age, what are you doing to stay healthy in your 70s?

I like to go in with the aging. I eat well. I was always a walker anyway. I did Iyengar yoga for almost 22 years. I still stretch but not at the level that I was before, but that’s still in me, it’s in my body. I stretch about 15, 20 minutes a day. I am very tuned in to nature. We’re connected — we’re of each other. That keeps me very balanced.

You mentioned your son helped give you writing notes. How is fatherhood different the second time around? [Richards has a 47-year-old daughter, Sophia, with ex-wife Cathleen Lyons.]

I’m far more mature, patient — so it’s good he’ll reap the benefits of that. I’m very supportive. I’m so tuned in to him as a boy and his connection to me and watching him do well at school. It’s like I’m getting another education ... like I’m going to school again in that sense that I’m fascinated with what he’s learning. He’s quite a musician. He’s been studying classical piano for seven years. I study piano, too. That’s something we have in common, just acknowledging the importance of music. He’s getting into jazz now. He’s really quite good.

Sounds like he’s keeping you mentally on your toes! Are you doing anything else to stay physically and mentally fit?

Reading helps, too ... I’ve always loved books, collected books — a passion of mine. When I was doing Seinfeld, I put together several libraries, great books, collectible books, and I intended to read all these books. ... I hike every day early in the morning. I’m up in the Santa Monica Mountains with my doggy. We go up high to the top of the Santa Monica Mountains. I hike for about an hour and a half every morning. I usually meet the sun rising, and I stretch a little bit. The walking is extremely important to me.

What advice would you give your younger self?

One would be to enjoy life, because [back] then it was a labor. It was so intense. I wish, when I look back at that, I could have enjoyed it more and the incredible people all around me. It was difficult for me to open up to others. I was introverted and super focused on getting my work done. … I think I could have been having more fun, and being aware of other people, having more empathy [with] the struggle that other people have or what they’re doing and how it helps us all get to some place better.