What is really weird to me is how "not surprised" I was when he "lost it" in that stand-up routine. It almost seems that what made him so crazily entertaining is the exact same thing that was his undoing.

I don't know if I have this exactly right, but if I were to guess, I'd bet that "Kramer" is at once mostly brilliant and more than a little nuts.

His racist self-destruction was a sad thing to behold. I do not know how much actual malice there was in his remarks, but it sure as hell didn't look good in that department, and that was about as un-funny as a person could get.

...Which brings me back to the crazy part...Comic genius/nutjob.

Sorry to go off-topic, but just wanted to convey how sad that whole deal was to me.

I know more than one comic who lost it on stage. Bill Hicks, one of my favorite comedians ever, was actually taped losing it. What he said was much, much worse than what Kramer said, but everyone knows who Kramer is and if you know who Bill Hicks is, I'm impressed.

It's not easy going up there before a live audience and making people laugh. I know this from experience. You get your hecklers and sometimes, you want to jump off the stage and pound them until they're bleeding from the ears. But legally, you can't do that, so you have to keep going. You also won't be asked back if you do that, which is probably worse than spending a night or two in the slammer.

I actually don't think Kramer is a racist person. A little nutty, yes, but racist, no. It was just a very poor choice of words/emotions. And yes, David, you are correct. There is a fine line between genius and nutty when it comes to comedy. Look at Hicks and my personal favorite - Dave Chappelle. Both are (were in Hicks' case) borderline nutty.

---