Cosmo Kramer , referred to as simply " Kramer, " is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), played by Michael Richards. The character is loosely based on comedian Kenny Kramer, Larry David's former neighbor.
Kramer is the neighbor of main character Jerry Seinfeld, residing in Apartment 5B, and is friends with him, George Costanza and Elaine Benes. Of the series' four central characters, only Kramer has no visible means of support; what few jobs he holds seem to be nothing more than larks.
His trademarks include his humorous upright hairstyle and vintage wardrobe, the combination of which led to his categorization as a "hipster doofus"; his taste in fruit; his love of smoking, Cuban cigars in particular; his violent bursts through Jerry's apartment door; frequent pratfalls and his penchant for nonsensical, percussive outbursts of noise to indicate skepticism, agreement, annoyance, and a variety of other inexplicable responses. He has been described as "an extraordinary cross between Eraserhead and Herman Munster".
Kramer appeared in all but two episodes: "The Chinese Restaurant" and "The Pen", in the second and third seasons, respectively.
Background and family
In "The Letter", Kramer tells two art patrons that he ran away from home at age 17 and stowed away aboard a steamer bound for Sweden.
Kramer never completed high school; however, it is learned in "The Barber" that Kramer has a GED.
Kramer was estranged for a long period from his mother, Babs. Unlike George Costanza and Jerry Seinfeld, Kramer's character does not have a well-developed network of family members shown in the sitcom.
During an opening discussion, Kramer revealed to Jerry that in 1979 he was struck on the head by a falling air conditioner while walking on the sidewalk. Jerry asks if that was when Kramer lived in Greenwich Village, to which Kramer replies that he cannot remember. This is discussed in the beginning of "The Little Kicks".
In "The Strong Box", it was revealed that Kramer spent a brief time in the Army, although information about this time is "classified".
Characteristics
Kramer has many conflicting personality traits. Described in "The Letter" by an art patron as "a loathsome, offensive brute", he is often shallow, callous, and indifferent. Though eccentric, Kramer is more often than not caring, friendly and kind-hearted; he often goes out of his way to help total strangers, and tries to get his friends to also help others and to do the right thing even when they don't want him to. His most incredible act of heroism is probably in "The Fire", where he fights an armed criminal off a city bus and proceeds, after the driver passes out, to drive it across town himself, to save the severed pinky toe of a friend, all the while continuing to make the bus' designated stops.
Kramer is known for his extreme honesty and, correspondingly, his lack of tact; in "The Nose Job", he tells George's insecure girlfriend that she is as pretty as any girl in New York City, she just needs a nose job. Instead of being horrified, many characters end up thanking Kramer for his candor. Kramer rarely gets into trouble for it, but his friends often do; this is especially prevalent in "The Cartoon" where Kramer makes comments to Sally Weaver (Kathy Griffin), who then blames Jerry for "ruining her life" as a result. He also gets his friends directly into trouble by talking them into things such as parking illegally in a handicapped space ("The Handicap Spot"), urinating in a parking garage ("The Parking Garage"), committing mail fraud ("The Package") or even hiring a hitman (who turns out to be Newman) to get rid of a dog ("The Engagement").
One explanation as to Kramer's personality and traits, with respect to his mysterious childhood and background, is hinted in "The Chicken Roaster". After a series of conflicts, Jerry is forced to live in Kramer's apartment and vice-versa, which quickly has an effect on both characters. Jerry, bothered endlessly by the many problems in Kramer's home, quickly begins acting like his wacky friend, showing that Kramer might be radically influenced by his own apartment but has simply grown used to it. Of course, when Kramer finally begins living in Jerry's regular and normal apartment, he quickly and briefly becomes more like his calm and quick-witted friend.
His relationship with George and Elaine is as moderately strong as with Jerry. He helps Elaine in "The Watch", "The Engagement", "The Soup Nazi" and "The Slicer", and helps George in "The Busboy", "The Stall" and "The Slicer". His conflict with Elaine is "The Seven" and with George in "The Susie".
His relationship with Jerry is very questionable. Simply put, Jerry is usually reluctantly persuaded into doing things. Kramer also at times gets into arguments with Jerry, in episodes such as "The Chaperone", "The Kiss Hello" and "The Caddy". On the other hand, Kramer has displayed an almost unbending loyalty toward Jerry in many episodes, especially when choosing to help him against Newman in many episodes, including "The Suicide" and "The Millennium". In the same respect, Jerry has helped Kramer out of good will in some episodes and always seems to forgive and ultimately accept his friend's mooching tendencies. At times, Jerry is clearly quite amused by Kramer's antics, which may also be a factor in the friendship's endurance.
His relationship with Newman is defined from the start in "The Suicide", in which he gets along very well. Like the main characters, they also get into conflict with each other most notably "The Junk Mail". Their "quick rich schemes" are noted in "The Old Man" and "The Bottle Deposit". The most notable conflict other than each other is Keith Hernandez in "The Boyfriend" until the baseball star straighten out the facts along with the famous JFK parody.
His relationship with Susan is mixed. Although he gets along in "The Secret Code", there are many episodes in which he made her life a mess. He vomited on her in "The Pitch", unwittingly burned her father's cabin in "The Bubble Boy", dated Mona while Susan was a lesbian in "The Smelly Car" and calls her "Lily" in "The Invitations".
Kramer's apartment is the subject of numerous radical experiments in interior design, including "levels" (no furniture) in "The Pony Remark", and a reconstruction of the set of The Merv Griffin Show in "The Merv Griffin Show". Inside views of Kramer's apartment are seldom seen, but it is known that he installed hardwood flooring and woodgrain-like wallpaper to, as he explains to Jerry, "give it the feel of a ski lodge." The apartment is centred around a large hot tub and couch styled after a 1957 Chevy.
Out of all the characters, Kramer is the one who smokes a Cuban cigar the most. It started out in "The Wallet" and it goes on. So much so he set up a smoking club for smokers in his apartment in "The Abstinence". But his face ends up getting ruined after so much smoking and he hires Jackie Chiles to sue the cigarette company but instead puts his image as the Marlboro Man on the Marlboro billboard in Times Square.
Idiosyncrasies
He suffers from coulrophobia — a fear of clowns — in "The Opera", "The Gymnast" and "The Slicer".
In the episode "The Raincoats", he panics when the word "mouse" is mentioned. He shares this phobia with Frank Costanza.
He has seizures whenever he hears the voice of Mary Hart, co-anchor of the show Entertainment Tonight, as seen in the episode "The Good Samaritan." This is a real condition, which has been dubbed the "Mary Hart Syndrome" – an actual case was reported and published more than a year before the episode aired.
Kramer is inexplicably popular with both George's and Jerry's parents, although this is not true at first. In "The Handicap Spot," Estelle Costanza calls Kramer "trouble" and expresses her dissatisfaction at her son hanging around him. It is revealed in "The Blood" that he calls the Seinfelds once a week. George's parents let Kramer stay at their house in an episode when they are away on a trip. They even let Kramer bring women to their house, as George complains they never let him do. He even briefly moves into Jerry's parents' retirement community in Florida, where Morty Seinfeld recruits him to run for Condo Board President in an attempt to establish a puppet régime. Kramer even manages to befriend the "Soup Nazi," which seemed impossible because of the Soup Nazi's short temper and his outbursts at anyone who holds up the line.
Kramer's conversation often contains onomatopoeia or nonsensical sounds, difficult to transcribe, in order to emphasize an emotional point or describe earlier actions. He frequently expresses his agreement with a sentiment or suggestion via the word "Giddyup!"
In "The Visa", George commented, "Kramer goes to a fantasy camp. His whole life is a fantasy camp. People should plunk down two thousand dollars to live like him for a week. Do nothing, fall ass-backwards into money, mooch food off your neighbours, and have sex without dating. That's a fantasy camp." This likely refers to Kramer's various strokes of financial luck over the course of the series, such as optioning his coffee table book about coffee tables to a major Hollywood studio in "The Wizard", winning $18,000 in "The Subway" and signing a contract with Calvin Klein in "The Pick". It also may indicate that Kramer came into money at an earlier, unseen time and is thus independently wealthy to some degree, which explains his not having to work.
Development
Inspiration
The ch
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