Let's just examine the layers of this thing:

• Curb Your Enthusiasm is a fictional show about Larry David. In it Larry David plays Larry David, the co-creator of Seinfeld.
• On Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David the character divorces his fake wife Cheryl in a parallel to the real life Larry David divorcing his real wife Laurie.
• In order to win back his fake wife, the fake Larry decides to try to have a Seinfeld reunion show.
• Jerry Seinfeld, playing a version of Jerry Seinfeld on Curb, tells the fake Larry David that he said he would never do a reunion because they're always stupid. The real Larry David said the same thing.
• Both the real and the fake Larry David got over it.
• Now, the fake Larry David goes to all the Seinfeld stars, playing fake versions of themselves, trying to convince them to do a fake Seinfeld reunion when they've already agreed to do a real reunion by appearing on the show.
• Faux Jason Alexander wants to be on the fake reunion show to make up for the really disappointing real finale to the original series.
• Ersatz Michael Richards is distracted by pictures of real boobs and he can't concentrate on the fake reunion. It's just like real life!
• What we see is the making of the reunion and all the petty grudges that David stirs up when he brings the old gang back together again.
• The end result is a bunch of fake action surrounding the fake reunion show, but it is really the real reunion, because they're all back.
• But Larry David was never on Seinfeld (at least in a substantial role) and they're making the reunion for NBC even though the show is airing on HBO.
• The whole stunt will end as the characters disappear in a vacuum rift caused by the fission of real and fake in mass quantities that is the Seinfeld reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

So, Seinfeld on Curb Your Enthusiasm has replace the old meta king—Broadway's [title of show] a "musical about two guys making a musical about two guys making a musical"—to become the ultimate in fake/real self-referential comedy. The construct of one show about the maker of a show engulfing both the real and fake versions of his own show is the logical conclusion of this type of comedy, and the Seinfeld/Curb non-reunion reunion is the non plus ultra of the genre. Thanks for killing it, David.

After this, there is officially no more outrageous concoctions of show-with-a-show or actors-playing-themselves that can be made and think it's still original. Congrats, Curb, you've won the Post-Post-Modern Olympics. Now, like Michael Phelps, you must go smoke a lot of pot while counting your gold metals and leave us alone.

The assumption when any television show hit ends its run is that the stars will go on to fame and fortune and other projects. Sometimes that happens and we never hear from them again (see Friends and inexplicably Full House) but when it doesn't, they all rush back to familiar territory to jump start their careers. Here's are scale from the worst to best.

Dynasty
Final Episode: May 1989
Breakout Stars: Heather Locklear, Emma Samms (just kidding)
Reunion: Dynasty: The Reunion aired in August 1991. The came back for another go-round Dynasty Reunion: Catfights and Caviar in 2006.
Cause: There were some cliffhanger plotlines to tie up, and really, nobody was doing anything else. Also, shoulder pads were about to go out of style, so they had to do it to save on the wardrobe budget.
Held Out: 2 years
Respectability: So bad it's campy.

Firefly
Final Episode: August 2003
Breakout Stars: Does anyone beside us and hardcore Joss Whedon fans even remember this?
Reunion: Serenity hit movie theaters in September, 2005
Cause: To try to get someone, anyone, to finally watch this thing. It failed.
Held Out: 2 years
Respectability: Did it have any to start with?

Sex and the City
Final Episode: February 2004
Breakout Stars: Sarah Jessica Parker, who was the biggest show when the series started. Everyone else found out there really aren't any roles for women over 30.
Reunion: Sex and the City: The Movie came out in May 2008 and broke box office records. A sequel is planned
Cause: These ladies needed a way to make some money. And, obviously, cosmo-swilling Midwestern "fashionistas" demanded it.
Held Out: 4 years.
Respectability: Shameless.

The X-Files
Final Episode: May 2002
Breakout Stars: David Duchovny, who was only a recurring character on the show's final two seasons, is doing quite well on Californication.
Reunion: X-Files: I Want to Believe, the second movie based on the show, failed at the box office in July of 2008.
Cause: We still haven't figured this one out.
Held Out: 6 years.
Respectability: Pretty lame.

Seinfeld
Final Episode: May 1998
Breakout Stars: All of them, but the biggest has been Larry David, now of Curb Your Enthusiasm who wasn't even an actor on the show. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is still holding down The Adventures of Old Christine. Jerry Seinfeld sits in his house and counts his money, only leaving occasionally to do stand-up, American Express commercials, and The Bee Movie. Jason Alexander had a few failed sitcoms and KFC commercials. Michael Richards had a racist rant that ruined his career.
Reunion: On the cover of Entertainment Weekly August 2009.
Cause: They'll all guest on Curb Your Enthusiasm this year, where a Seinfeld reunion becomes a meta plot point. For a giggle. They're all still rolling in residuals.
Held Out: 11 years.
Respectability: High.

Facts of Life
Final Episode: May 1988
Breakout Stars: Nancy McKeon was a Lifetime fixture before going to rock the tween set on the Disney Channel's Sonny with a Chance. George Clooney did two seasons.
Reunion: The Facts of Life Reunion aired on ABC in November 2001
Cause: Because the gays thought it would be fun and Mrs. Garrett wasn't getting any younger.
Held Out: 13 years.
Respectability: Surprising good. This also seems to be the exception that proves the rule, either that or all the girls have given up on acting careers.

Saved by the Bell
Final Episode: May 1993 (we're not counting The College Years, which ended in 1994)
Breakout Stars: Mark-Paul Gosselaar did the later seasons of NYPD Blue and is now a hit on cable's Raising the Bar. Tiffani Amber Thiessen did 90210, Two Guys, A Girl, and A Pizza Place, Fastlane, and Good Morning, Miami. Elizabeth Berkley did Showgirls and became a Hollywood punchline, Mario Lopez danced with stars, and Dustin Diamond released a sex tape.
Reunion: The cover of People in August 2009.
Cause: Because it was either that or Jimmy Kimmel.
Held Out:16 years.
Respectability: Amazing!

Richards, born in Culver City, spoke candidly about the Nov. 17 racist rant, which ended up on the Internet after an audience member recorded video on a cellphone. He said his Cambodia trip was not any kind of "karmic rehab."

"No, I've been doing other personal work since [the incident]," he said. "I'm trying to learn to enjoy myself."

Richards and Skipp, who appeared in the 2006 L.A. production of "Me, My Guitar &Don Henley," checked into a $380 per-night deluxe spa suite at Siem Reap's Hotel De La Paix on June 29. They joined the Nithyananda tour after several days of sightseeing independently at ancient sites including Preah Vihear, a famously difficult-to-reach mountaintop temple overlooking the Thai border.

"We went way out into the country. Preah Vihear was unbelievable. And the way we got there: We went up this crazy road in a funky pickup and when we got to the top there's this magnificent temple," Richards said. "We did it all old-school."

Richards said the couple planned to proceed to Chaing Mai, Thailand, and eventually the ancient city of Luang Prabang.

"At first, I was a little bit struck by the poverty, but when I leaned in I could see how open-hearted the Cambodian people are, and I was touched by it," Richards said. "I'd always wanted to take a trip to the Far East. It's a place I'd never been. I knew of Angkor Wat and I'd seen pictures, so we decided, 'Let's go for this.' It's amazing: You can walk around and it's all hands-on in the temples, it's not roped off. Seeing spirituality in stone is inspiring."

While it was certainly nice to read about how Richards is spending his vacation, we have to admit to being a little disappointed that he's in Cambodia for the amazing sight-seeing instead of checking himself into the world-renowned "karmic rehab" program at Promises Angkor Wat, where the actor could work through his rage issues in a structured fashion against the backdrop of one of the most peaceful, breathtaking settings on the planet.

• Michael Richards finds inner solace in Cambodia [LAT]

In today's episode: Colin Farrell; Robert Downey, Jr., Gary Shandling, and Kevin Pollack; Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette; Brian Grazer; Michael Richards; Jason Lee and Jason Segel; John Krasinski and Adam Scott; Roger Avary; Jay Mohr and Nikki Cox; and Chris Owen.

· 6/25 - About 10 pm, jumping into the least comically long line at Hollywood/Western Ralph's, fairly checked out after a long work day. Only after vaguely registering an Irish brogue on the tatted, muscle-shirted, pork-pied gentleman in front of me, i do notice he was about to leave his milk jug behind. He returns to grab it after cashier & I shout him down, and he is then obviously Colin Farrell, with a hardy "thanks then, mates" for us. Being at least a mile from any fashionable locale and being above-average male height seems the ultimate combination to fly under the radar, or no one had seen "Tigerland" on the late shift.

· Went to the Police show at Dodger Stadium (6-23). I had great seats so I started looking for celebs and was initially disappointed when the only person I recognized was the obviously mentally challenged Cousin Sal from The Jimmy Kimmel Show. Then I spotted Gary Shandling, Robert Downey, Jr. , and Kevin Pollack. Not too shabby.

· Went on Thursday 6/21 to One on Sunset. Lisa Kudrow was there having dinner with her husband and another older-ish couple that aren't famous. She's much prettier in person. Her husband went the sweater around the shoulders route. I bit later Courteney Cox and David Arquette dropped in. They were both much better looking and even tinier than I would have imagined. Courtney spoke with Lisa and other friends, while David spent the entire time running back and forth talking on his phone. While we were waiting for the valet an Escalade swooped up, David jumped in and the driver screeched off. Maybe Coco needed a parent to come home?

· Saw Brian Grazer at Glu Gallery's "Everything Must Go" opening on Beverly last night (6/23). Scariest part? Your giant Grazer head shot is actually life size....that dude is tiny!

· More than 10 years of going down to the Third Street Promenade on a regular basis, and I finally had my first celebrity sighting down there last Sunday the 24th - and boy, was it a good one. Walking down Santa Monica Blvd. toward the beach at around 2 p.m., I passed ex- Kramer Michael Richards, who was carrying a bunch of shopping bags and looking a bit winded as he went his not-so merry way. Being of the Negro persuasion myself, I resisted the immediate temptation of pointing at the doghouse-residing star and shouting ... well, you know.

· The Two Jasons: On the way to the House of Pies last Sat. (June 23) I spied Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother/Knocked Up) sidewalk seated with a lady friend. On the return trip I passed Jason/Earl Lee puffing on a cig at the Prospect and Vermont car wash. Kept my eyes peeled for Priestly, Patric and/or Schwartzman but no luck.

· 6/23 - Walking out of the movie theater at the Grove, I spotted Adam Scott (I had to look him up and I bet you would have too - he was the gay friend in Monster-In-Law and the male nurse in Knocked Up). He's cute. Minutes later, I was walking into AOC when my current crush John Krasinski brushed past me on his way out. Seriously cute and oh so talented. He looked like he was maybe with an industry type couple and a nice looking older couple who could have been his parents. The older gentleman graciously complimented the hosts on the wonderful dining experience, so he couldn't have been from here because we're not that nice.

· 6-23 I'm shopping at Whole Foods in Santa Monica and who do I spot in the vegan raw food section but the Academy Award winning writer of Pulp Fiction and director of The Rules of Attraction, Roger Avary. He looked good (blond and semi-fit), but he was talking to himself like a homeless person, muttering things like "this for me" and "body likes this" in a voice that was a little too loud. I looked for a Bluetooth headset, but saw none. His cart was full of various raw food items, like pizza made out of cashews and other things gross, and he must have been there for at least 15 minutes agonizing over what goofy food item pleased him more. Then, very clearly, he half shouts "Damned Nazi's — DIE!" I have no idea what was irking him so, but it scared me enough to turn and walk away.

· went to see the Police @ Dodger Stadium last night, 6/23. while waiting in line for a margarita, noticed JAY MOHR + NIKKI COX walking by. he was working a '70s porn star 'stache. which makes sense, since NIKKI has over-inflated Juvoderm porn star lips. looked like he was following her around like a puppy dog. so sad.

· 6/24/07 stopped into Chipotle at the Grove and see none other than Chris "The Sherminator" Owen (I definitely had to Google him) waiting in line. He was waiting to pick up a special order quesadilla (why?). Looks exactly like he does in the movies, which is sort of unfortunate for him.

The AP brings up an angle we'd never considered regarding the Michael Richards Racist Tirade Incident: How might the public's lowered opinion of the man once universally beloved for playing Cosmo Kramer affect the sales of Seinfeld-inspired Festivus poles? Sales have been brisk so far this season, leading a representative from the $20,000-a-year unadorned metal rod industry to state that fans are understanding enough to look past the regrettable actions of an actor with rage issues to the real meaning of the fake holiday:

"Fans know it was a Costanza holiday, not a Kramer holiday," he said, referring to characters played by Jerry Stiller and Richards. "Anyway, Kramer eventually rejects the holiday at the end of the episode."

Gabriel Morales, 32, of Atlanta, said Richards' tirade didn't keep him from ordering a Festivus pole earlier this month.

"You know, people make mistakes, they say stupid things," said Morales, an information technology analyst who held his Festivus party early this year to coincide with a monthly dinner club. "No one at the party really cared about that either."

While it's heartening to read such expressions of forgiveness, we can't assume that all revelers will be as charitable as the one quoted above. For those having a harder time making peace with Richards' behavior, we suggest they make a powerful statement of their displeasure by hanging an effigy of the actor from their poles, giving them a symbolic target at which to direct their cathartic ire during Festivus' ritualistic airing of the grievances, and which might finally allow them to move on from the ugliness tainting their cherished holiday.

[Photo: FestivusPoles.com]

• 'Seinfeld' spurs Festivus pole sales [AP]
• Me and My Festivus Pole [FestivusPoles.com]

• Santa Loses It by aweekofkindness.com [YouTube via BestWeekEver.tv]
• Previously: Kramer's New, Racist Material Not Exactly A Hit At The Laugh Factory [Defamer]

Andy was heckling comedian Ian Bagg during his routine, when Dick allegedly got out of his seat, jumped onstage and began joking with Bagg. The subject of Michael Richards came up, but the two comics quickly moved past it. As Dick exited the stage, he suddenly grabbed the mic and shouted at the crowd, "You're all a bunch of niggers!"

The stunned crowd gasped and stared at each other. Bagg tried to play it cool and move on with his set, but the laughs weren't there.

Dick, of course, will hardly stir up the kind of outrage over this incident his calculated attempt at controversy was meant to evoke—after all, it's pretty obvious that if he's guilty of one crime, it isn't hiding hate in his heart, but of loving too many, too much. Still, it would be a shame if his 1000 silkscreened "I Survived Andy Dick's Apology Tour" T-shirts went to waste. Perhaps, failing every other option, Andy could try the always desperate open-minded Tyra Banks Show, where he can spend a day learning about the deep wounds mere words can inflict by wandering around in public disguised as an obese, black woman.

• Andy Dick — The New "Kramer"? [TMZ]

"I felt like sending Michael Richards a note," Gibson says in an interview in Entertainment Weekly's Dec. 8 issue. "I feel really badly for the guy. He was obviously in a state of stress. You don't need to be inebriated to be bent out of shape. But my heart went out to the guy."

The 50-year-old actor-director added: "They'll probably torture him for a while and then let him go. I like him." [...]

Are people refusing to work with him?

"No, people aren't like that," Gibson tells the magazine. "Those are just the headlines: Mel ostracized by Hollywood! Hollywood is what you make it. There is no great pooh-bah up there saying, 'Go! You are condemned!"'

Gibson's debunking of the myth that there is one unified consensus in Hollywood that could easily turn a beloved A-lister into a reviled pariah after something as inconsequential as a few stress-induced N-words should come as a great relief to Richards, whose long, dark week of tortured soul searching and reaching out to unreceptive community leaders might soon see a single ray of light in the form of a handwritten note, printed on Icon stationery and reading, "Dear Kramer: Of course you'll eat lunch in this town again. It's not like it's the Jews that are angry at you! Your pal always, Mel."

• Gibson feels Michael Richards' pain [USA Today/AP]

"Technically, not having been born by blood as Jewish and not formally going into a conversion, it was purely his interpretation of having adopted Judaism as his religion," Rubenstein told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "He told me, `I'm Jewish,' when I asked him.

"He said there were two mentors who raised him and who had a big influence on his life, and they were Jewish. He said, `I agree with the concepts and the religious beliefs of Judaism and I've adopted Judaism as my religion,'" Rubenstein said. "He really thinks of himself as Jewish."

What do some Jews think?

"You can't feel Jewish. It's not a matter of feeling. You can convert to Judaism. You can't not convert to Judaism and then be Jewish," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

Unfortunately for Rubenstein, this lack of acceptance for Richards' claim of membership in a group he's recently offended completely derails the flack's strategy for combating Jesse Jackson's unexpected call for a boycott of Seinfeld DVDs, as any future statements that the actor considers himself an Afro-American because of the meaningful role his childhood friends played in the formation of his racial identity will likely be dismissed as cynical, damage-controlling ploys.

• Michael Richards: Jewish by association? [AP]
• The Michael Richards Apology Tour: Kramer Tells Jesse Jackson About His Quest For Closure And His Black Childhood Friends [Defamer]

"That's why I'm shattered by it. The way this came through me was like a freight train. After it was over, when I went to look for them, they had gone. And I've tried to meet them, to talk to them, to get some healing," he said. [...]

Richards noted that the racial epithet he used is frequent in the entertainment industry, and acknowledged that it could have consequences.

"I fear that young whites will think it's cool to go around and use that word because they see very cool people in the show business using that word so freely," he said. "Perhaps that's what came through in that ... the vernacular is so accessible."

Richards' publicist also claims that the actor has already begun psychiatric counseling for his anger issues, but we'll assume that his recovery is taking place in a Mel Gibson-style outpatient program, as no indication has been made that he's checked into the Racist Rageoholics wing of Promises Malibu for a more intensive course of treatment.

Bonus: TMZ has audio from the radio show, in which Richards' somewhat-less-than-cutting-edge, "When I was growing up, some of my best friends were African-Americans" defense can be heard. Also: The KKKramer rap further increases the accessibility of the nasty words he used at the Laugh Factory.

• On Radio, Comic Apologizes for Tirade [AP]

While Michael Richards has not been having, to put it mildly, the greatest of weeks, the actor has already set upon the long road of "personal work" and Jujitsu of the soul that might ultimately deliver him from his shocking inability to launch snappy, epithet-free retorts at comedy club hecklers. A Road To Kramer's Redemption Round-Up:
· "Some of my best friends are Afro-American civil rights leaders!" Richards' newly acquired publicist, Howard Rubenstein, says the actor spent the day calling Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to let them know how sorry and not racist he is. [TMZ]
· A couple claims they were subjected to yet another racist comedy club outburst, in which Richards screamed at a heckler at The Improv, "You fucking Jew. You people are the cause of Jesus dying," before storming off the stage. Richards would later insist what he meant to say was, "Save your breath for your inflatable date!" but his gut told him the crowd wanted something more "Jew-hatey." [TMZ]

· A dissection of David Letterman's single joke about the incident the night of Richards' satellite apology ("I blame it on Borat,"), which calls the awkward, titter-inducing appearance the "first recorded incident of the 'Borat' effect: guerrilla comedy intertwining with reality until it's a shoelace you can't undo." Still, the logical penance of having a naked Al Sharpton mount and smother Richards is considered by most to be too extreme, even for his egregious offenses. [LAT]
· Industry types wonder if the event is bad enough to not only effectively end whatever career Richards still had, but also negatively affect Seinfeld DVD sales and syndication ratings, making the one winner to emerge from this entire PR disaster "The Seinfeld Curse." Suck on that, middling CBS hit The New Adventures of Old Christine! [NYT]
· And finally, the inevitable T-shirt (pictured), which impressively veers from the "graphic of face with memorably offensive catchphrase" motif to offer a subtle and interactive racist-outburst-mocking experience. [CafePress]

· If it seems like David Caruso ends every CSI: Miami cold open by strangling the life out of an already cheesy one-liner, well, that's because he does.
Warning: Do not follow this link to a collage depicting the freckled death mask that is Carrot Top's face. Really, don't do it.
The Los Angeles Urban League suggests that the Michael Richards Apology Tour might have to extend a little bit past his Letterman appearance. Also: The Apology, remixed.
It's finally happened: MTV has completely run out of cities in which to film shallow assholes getting drunk and screaming at each other in a lavishly decorated home.
Never sell your baby to the bathroom attendant again just because you need to use the shitter! [via BoingBoing]
· Why do geneticists always have to go and fuck up a perfectly good, fraudulent claim by a crazy cat lady?

Inevitably, one of the unfortunate side effects of having a video of your racist meltdown (and subsequent, cringe-inducing apology to the "Afro-American" community) played in front of virtually everyone with either a television or an internet connection is that some troublemaker will comb through the deepest recesses of your IMDb profile and eventually turn up something that's going to look a lot less amusing in light of recent events and slap it up on YouTube. We can't say we've ever seen Whoops Apocalypse, but we're sure there was a compelling dramatic reason why Michael Richards had to portray a jive-talking blind man while wearing blackface that makes C. Thomas Howell's self-tanner overdose look convincing.

Bonus clarification: The Jewish Journal points out that Richards is not a Jew, no matter what Paul Rodriguez might mistakenly think.

[Video via The Assimilated Negro]

Those of you with "interests" and "lives" may not have caught Michael Richards' appearance on The Late Show last night, in which the actor appeared via satellite to apologize to the world for allowing his N-bombed-tinged heckler revenge fantasies involving fork-based sodomy to come spilling out in one ugly, unhinged, onstage tirade. But through the magic of YouTube, you now have the opportunity to spend the next seven or so minutes experiencing the cringe-inducing awkwardness that permeates the interview, complete with Richards' multiple references to the "Afro-Americans" he offended with his "crap," mea culpa enabler Jerry Seinfeld's scolding of a studio audience who, obviously confused over whether or not this was a comedy bit, tittered through parts of the apology, and Richard's questioning of whether Letterman's show was even the right venue for sincerity. (Answer: Probably not so much. Maybe if he'd hired a publicist to handle the situation, he could've gotten a spot on Oprah's couch, or some face time with established crisis diffuser Diane Sawyer.)

After the jump, some "remixes" of the now-infamous meltdown using footage from Seinfeld and UHF, Richards' two most celebrated projects. Enjoy these brief clips of questionable taste once you feel you've squirmed in your office chair enough for one morning:

• Kramer Is A Racist, Remix [YouTube]
• Michael Richards Stanley Spadowski Racist Rant from UHF [YouTube]

I was at CBS Television City today. As I was walking out, who should be ahead of me walking down the corridor (lined with photos of David Letterman, et al) but Michael Richards of Kramer meltdown fame. He was walking with two women who appeared to be part of his management team. He was approached by CBS Evening News producers to see if he would answer a few questions on camera, but he declined.

As he was walking out, he said to the women accompanying him, "...so you go on these shows and apologize and apologize but it's never good enough." One of the women murmured something about him having a PR person to handle this kind of thing and he replied, "I don't have anyone handling this. If I did, I wouldn't have gotten into trouble in the first place." He looked pretty good - for Kramer, that is. Dressed neatly in dark jeans and a dark silk shirt.

A clearly frazzled Richards seems to have forgotten the basics of the celebrity/publicist relationship: No flack can stop a client from spewing potentially career-immolating racist nonsense; all they can do is release a carefully crafted statement after the fact blaming their fork-wielding inner demons for voicing their intolerant, ass-kebabing intentions.

In case you didn't know, Jerry Seinfeld is scheduled to be on The Late Show w/ David Letterman tonight. Well, they got Michael Richards to be on the show via satellite. He apparently insists that he's not racist, even though he kept referring to "Afro-Americans" through the interview.

Ouch.

Richards is obviously well-coached; not only has his crisis management team made sure he's quickly making a public apology in front of millions of viewers, they've already trained him to drop the unfortunate business about sodomizing African-American hecklers with forks. Our tipster further says that Richards is claiming "rage issues," avoiding the "alcohol made me do it" family of excuses made pass by Mel Gibson. More information as it becomes available...

UPDATE: TMZ has confirmation from Seinfeld's reps that Richards appeared and apologized.

• Previously: Kramer's New, Racist Material Not Exactly A Hit At The Laugh Factory [Defamer]

• Extra [ExtraTV.com]
• Previously: Kramer's New, Racist Material Not Exactly A Hit At The Laugh Factory [Defamer]

During his Laugh Factory set on Friday night, Michael Richards finally tried out fresh material intended to achieve some separation between his beloved, bumbling Kramer persona and the working comedian desperate to forge a post-Seinfeld identity. Upon some reportedly light heckling from a pair of African-American audience members, Richards unveiled a new catchphrase, "Fifty years ago we'd have you upside down with a fucking fork up your ass," one he'd hoped would supplant any oft-intoned Seinfeld quips about masturbation contests or the efficacy of butter as a tanning aid. Unfortunately, the less elegant N-bomb-laced follow-up to his lynching bon mot ensured that various media outlets, looking for a quick hook, will go with "Kramer's Racist Tirade," setting back his efforts at leaving the character behind.

TMZ has video of the incident, which should retain its replay value long after his publicists issue a press release explaining that the comedian has checked into Promises Malibu to battle the alcohol-fueled demons that would make him say such hateful things about a minority group.

• "Kramer's" Racist Tirade — Caught on Tape [TMZ.com]