Okay, the Michael Richards thing

I think Waveflux has got it: The man's career is over. I don't think I'm breaking the pinata there.

For me personally, this is a time I'm fortunate that "Seinfeld" means nothing to me; I've always thought it was overrated. So I'm not disturbed, as Waveflux posits (I think correctly) many are, by the question of how could loveable old Cosmo Kramer say such things?

To me it's more interesting because we don't often see a celebrity so completely flame out so fast. There are some things there's no coming back from, and I think this is one of them.

Putting aside for a moment the question of whether Richards revealed himself as a racist. I don't know.

(I do recollect reading an essay by a Puerto Rican actor (I think it may have been John Leguizamo) who related being cast in an episode of "Seinfeld." He was then replaced because he would not play the part in what he considered to be a stereotypical manner, though he was urged to by others, including Richards.)

But I'm astonished by his abuse of the stage. I think there are no rules to stand-up comedy and one of them is this: There are certain words you can't use and keep an audience with you unless you're a master, I mean, an absolute master.

One of those words is "nigger," if you're white (another is "cunt"). They're comedy killers. As I say obviously there are exceptions, but in today's comedy landscape you can count those exceptions on the finger of one hand and his name is George Carlin.

If Richards thought he was up there with Carlin, Pryor and Bruce, and that's why he said what he said, he's fucked in the head. If he was reaching for the most loaded word possible in order to hurt some fellow human beings, his go-to word was nigger.

If that's why he said what he said...he's fucked in the head.

Either way, his career is over.

I'll only care the next time I come across a showing of "UHF" with Weird Al Yankovic.