Sarah Silverman Recalls Clash With Michael Richards on “Seinfeld” Set

Silverman appeared on the season 8 episode "The Money"

Sarah Silverman
Sarah Silverman attends NRDC's "Night of Comedy" Benefit, in partnership with Discovery, Inc. hosted by Seth Meyers on April 30, 2019.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for NRDC

Among the notable comedians who appeared on Seinfeld during its time on the air was Sarah Silverman, who had a role on the season 8 episode “The Money.” Silverman played a woman named Emily, who was dating Kramer. In a recent interview, Silverman opened up about the experience of making the episode and revealed that Richards was hostile to her on set.

Richards having anger management issues is, admittedly, not exactly news at this point. But Silverman’s comments about her experience, shared on The Sarah Silverman Podcast, offer a candid look at Richards’s behavior and a behind-the-scenes exploration of the production of the series as a whole.

At IndieWire, Zach Sharf explored Silverman’s recollections of the shoot. Silverman recalled that Richards lost his temper with her after she used the wrong word — “rain” instead of “wind” — in one of her lines. “This guy, Michael Richards, breaks character and just starts ripping me a new asshole,” she recalled.

Silverman added that she confronted Richards on his behavior the following day. “[H]e’s kind of stunned, and it’s like he snapped out of it a little,” she said. It led to the two of them becoming “casually friendly” after that. Nonetheless, it’s an alarming look at the making of the show — and it begs the question of how many other people had to deal with Richards losing his temper on set over the years.

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