NEW YORK — I have the most famous neighbour in television history sitting in front of me: The man who inspired the world-renowned character of Cosmo Kramer in the sitcom Seinfeld.
Kenny Kramer tells me there's only one difference between him and the TV character he inspired: "I don't burst into rooms."
It's hard to imagine a more typically New York moment than this. Showing up at one of the many delis in Midtown Manhattan for coffee with the "real Kramer" is nothing short of surrealistic. I can't help thinking about the recurring restaurant scene in every episode of the show. Kenny Kramer is where fact meets fiction.
The life of the real Kramer, 67, changed in 1977 when he moved into a cheap apartment building popular with artists in Hell's Kitchen (43rd St. and 10th Ave.). The building is still there, 33 years later. Back then, Kramer had no idea that the guy across the hall, Larry David, the show's co-creator, would end up using him to create one of the four main characters in Seinfeld.
The resemblance between the real Kramer and fictional Kramer is striking. "But I'm much better looking, c'mon," the real one said as he sat across from me wearing a pink shirt and a baseball cap turned backwards over his long, hippie-length gray hair. The upright hairstyle from the show's Kramer is the only part missing.
Kenny and Larry lived next to each other for six years. Just like the show, their doors stayed open all the time and there was constant traffic back and forth between each other's apartments. "The difference was that the food was at my place," Kramer explained over his cup of peppermint tea. The two men are friends to this day.
When Jerry Seinfeld approached Larry David in 1988 with a series pitch for NBC, he stumbled into their nutty day-to-day existence. An example: "We really did ask the Chinese delivery-man to help us order a cream for baldness. Just like in the show, we filmed Larry's head to see the difference after. I still have the tape. We were also banned from the fruit stand on the corner," he said. "Everything in the show is true."
Larry David asked his neighbour's permission to use his character before the show got rolling. "I just said yes, as long as they hired me as a comedian." NBC turned down that idea, instead offering to pay him for the rights. "I can't say how much — it's confidential — but it wasn't much," Kramer said.
Looking back, Kramer admits Michael Richards was a good choice for his character. "I never would have been as good as him. He added a very physical side to the role."
Fans of Seinfeld discovered the real Kramer after Rolling Stone magazine published an article on him in 1991. "A journalist from the New York Post went through old telephone directories from the '70s in the library and found me!"
There were times during the 1990s when Kramer could count on getting thousands of calls for interviews every week, especially after the New York Times printed his personal phone number, 1-800-KRAMERS. He has also been known to use the number to pick up women in city bars.
Born in the Bronx, Kramer describes himself as a product of the psychedelic revolution of the 1960s. "I'm really good-for-nothing," he said.
He left school at age 17, sold magazines door to door, was a drummer in a band and had a stint as a stand-up comedian. But it was his line of glow-in-the-dark electronic disco jewelry that really took off — a very "Kramer" kind of idea.
Kenny Kramer even ran for mayor of New York City. "I had a campaign with crazy kinds of ideas like giving fake cell phones to schizophrenics so they wouldn't freak out tourists when they talk to themselves," he remembered. Kramer managed to get 2,600 votes in a race against Michael Bloomberg's $78-million campaign juggernaut.
About 15 years ago, he started giving guided tours of the show's most recognizable locations in his Kramer Reality Tour. Jerry Seinfeld used the tour as the basis for the episode, The Muffin Tops. The circle was complete. Once again, Kenny Kramer proved he's the halfway point between TV and reality.
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