The Not-So-Funny Reason Michael Richards Attended An NBC Black-Tie Gala in A Bathrobe
A real-life incident when Michael Richards had to wear a ratty hotel bathrobe to a formal NBC party? The whole story was so Kramer-esque that I can’t believe Larry David didn’t turn it into a Seinfeld episode.
It was January 1994, right in the middle of Seinfeld’s peak of popularity. NBC was gathering all of its affiliates, advertisers and muckety-mucks for a mid-season event, and the Seinfeld cast was the main attraction. The network even ponied up for a private jet. “No way NBC is flying us private unless we are red hot,” Richards wrote in his memoir, Entrances and Exits.
The flight was fancy, but Julia Louis-Dreyfus wasn’t nuts about their hotel accommodations. “This place is a dump,” she laughed when she called Richards about her less-than-swanky room. Richards wasn’t as discerning — hey, it was free and the TV worked. But it turned out that the hotel had other shortcomings.
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Richards asked the staff if he could get his tuxedo cleaned and pressed before the evening’s event. Sure thing, said the person at the front desk — a Kramer fan, as it turns out. Richards emphasized that he needed it that night, but that wouldn’t be a problem. He’d have it back well in advance of his 6:30 p.m. pick-up.
You can see where this is going.
At 5 p.m., no tuxedo. Richards called the front desk, who assured him it was on the way. At 6 p.m., Richards called again. At 6:15 p.m., the hotel staff was frantically trying to contact the driver. By the time Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander and Louis-Dreyfus were ready to leave, Richards discovered his tuxedo had been delivered — to another hotel. It would be 45 minutes before it could make its way to its original destination.
Richards was outraged. He could wait for his formal wear and arrive an hour late to the party. Or he could do what he did — throw on a bathrobe over his underwear, black socks and dress shoes. “This is how I’m going!” he proclaimed to the front desk when he went down to catch the limo. “I’m wearing your crummy hotel robe to one of the biggest events in the city, and I’m going to tell everyone there why I’m wearing it. This place is a dump!”
Seinfeld was dubious: “You can’t go like this.”
“Of course I can,” an irate Richards replied, “because THEY LOST MY TUXEDO.”
A humiliated Richards showed up at the event apologizing to everyone for his appearance, but no one believed a word of it. Everyone was convinced Richards was executing a comedy move straight out of the Kramer playbook. “The robe idea,” whispered NBC president Warren Littlefield. “You’re a fucking genius.”
Finally, Richards just went with it. When he was introduced during the dinner, his outfit got big laughs from the assembled. “You think this is funny?” he said, playing along. “You can all go to hell!” Guffaws.
The kicker was an unplanned bit of comedy. Littlefield took the stage, explaining plans for NBC’s spring schedule and celebrating the success of Seinfeld. But his presentation was interrupted by loud knocks coming from the back of the conference room. Someone finally opened a door, and a man entered carrying a tuxedo wrapped in plastic.
Richards jumped to his feet as the room exploded in laughter: “Finally!”
There’s more to the story, too. The owner of the dump hotel was allegedly affiliated with the Florida mob. When he heard about Richards’ loud and public complaints, he ominously gave Richards an upgrade to a penthouse in a better hotel — an offer that a frightened Richards was afraid to refuse. Would goons push him off the balcony?
That’s a lost Seinfeld episode for another day.
