It might be hard to believe, but Michael Richards wasn’t the first choice to play the role of Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld.
Richards was fairly well-known by the time the casting process began, and had even worked with Larry David on the Saturday Night Live-esque sketch comedy series Fridays in the early ‘80s, though David likely didn’t have him in mind because the character was originally meant to be more laid back. In fact, it wasn’t until the showrunners saw Richards’s wild audition that they decided to transform Kramer into the character we know today. Before that, a long list of people auditioned for the part, including Jeffrey Tambor, James Cromwell, and Steve Vinovich (who came very close to sealing the deal).
Larry Hankin, who famously played Mr. Heckles on Friends, was also in the running prior to Richards landing the gig. Hankin and Richards apparently auditioned for a number of the same roles around that time and were cast as a pair of terrorists in an episode of the sitcom It’s a Living in 1985.
According to Hankin, Larry David told him that he looked more like the real Kramer than Richards did. Although he didn’t get the part, Hankin was called in years later and ended up playing the man who plays Kramer in the show-within-a-show featured in the Season 4 finale “The Pilot.”
Jerry Seinfeld Thinks Kramer Could’ve Been Played by Only One Other Comedian
For years, Jerry Seinfeld firmly believed that nobody but Richards could’ve been cast as Kramer. That all changed when he was interviewed by Howard Stern in 2020, however. During that conversation, Stern brought up Andy Kaufman and suggested that his style, particularly when he was on Taxi, was similar to Richards’s. After giving it some thought, Seinfeld told Stern, “He’s the only name I’ve ever heard that—now that you mention it—the only other guy who could’ve pulled off Kramer.”
Stern didn’t seem to think Seinfeld would appreciate Kaufman’s work, but Seinfeld revealed that he was a really big fan of Kaufman’s growing up. He went on to explain that Kaufman was actually the first comedian he’d ever heard of. The stories he heard about Kaufman in those days made Seinfeld want to go into New York City from his home on Long Island and check out the local comedy scene for himself.
You can take a look at the full Kaufman segment from Stern’s show below.
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