Elaine Benes
07-03-2004, 05:22 PM
Real 'Seinfeld' Kramer Marks 500th Tour
LARRY McSHANE
Associated Press
NEW YORK - When opportunity came knocking for Kenny Kramer, it was just the guy across the hall. The quirky Kramer, once a disco jewelry salesman and a reggae band manager, spent 10 years living opposite the Hell's Kitchen apartment of "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David. A fortuitous friendship was forged.
David morphed his neighbor into Jerry Seinfeld's strange sitcom sidekick, Cosmo Kramer. The real Kramer, in return, launched a weekly bus tour of real Manhattan locations featured in the fictional Seinfeld universe - and this weekend, he hosts tour No. 500.
As the television K-Man might observe, "Giddyup!"
"I never knew it would be a success," Kramer said of the weekly junkets that began in 1996. "My theory is it's more important for me to have fun than the people coming. If they're having fun, and I'm having fun, I'll keep doing it."
The 500th "Kramer's Reality Tour" is set for Sunday, when the 60-year-old Kramer and several dozen soon-to-be-close-friends will gather. Although "Seinfeld" went off the air in 1998, Kramer is still going strong; he estimates 30,000 people have taken the tour.
It was January 1996 when Kramer, still anonymous despite the show's runaway success, was struck with this thought: "If I don't cash in on this, I'm a complete idiot."
He's not. The tour launched on a rainy Saturday with about two dozen customers and no indication it would become an institution. But the trek is now poised to outlast the nine-year "Seinfeld" run - and how unreal is that?
Rarely does Kramer's three-hour tour leave anyone disappointed.
He does about a 60-minute routine inside The Producers Club Theater on West 44th Street, mixing his tales with video clips (including some from David talking about their days as neighbors).
He fields questions, spins stories, and then it's off to a tour bus. Stops include the "Soup Nazi" stand in midtown (Kramer briefly had a real-life feud with the owner); the East Side YMCA, where TV Jerry met Keith Hernandez; and the New York Health and Racquet Club, where the bogus Kramer spied Salman Rushdie.
"It was everything I expected and more," Wendy Patterson of Juno Beach, Fla., wrote in an e-mail after taking the tour last weekend.
Other FOKs - friends of Kramer - were just as effusive.
"This is a tour for ALL 'Seinfeld' fans, not just the psychotic ones," wrote Eric and Alicia Griffith after taking the tour.
The e-mails are good news for Kramer, who maintains a personal Web site and relies mostly on word of mouth to lure new customers. His best promotion still remains the endless cycle of "Seinfeld" reruns.
"It's popular in 90 countries," Kramer said of the show. "Lately, I've been getting a lot of people from South and Central America - Brazil, Argentina. And a lot of Koreans, too."
Anything special planned for tour No. 500?
"I don't know," Kramer said. "Maybe a friend might surprise me with a little champagne at Tom's" - the restaurant at 112th Street and Broadway that serves as a tour centerpiece.
"Seinfeld" fans know it better as Monk's, the diner that served as a meeting place for Jerry and the gang.
"It's one of the most famous sites in all 'Seinfeld' history," Kramer said, laughing at the absurdity of it all. "People are tingling with excitement when we arrive."
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On the Net: http://www.kennykramer.com/
LARRY McSHANE
Associated Press
NEW YORK - When opportunity came knocking for Kenny Kramer, it was just the guy across the hall. The quirky Kramer, once a disco jewelry salesman and a reggae band manager, spent 10 years living opposite the Hell's Kitchen apartment of "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David. A fortuitous friendship was forged.
David morphed his neighbor into Jerry Seinfeld's strange sitcom sidekick, Cosmo Kramer. The real Kramer, in return, launched a weekly bus tour of real Manhattan locations featured in the fictional Seinfeld universe - and this weekend, he hosts tour No. 500.
As the television K-Man might observe, "Giddyup!"
"I never knew it would be a success," Kramer said of the weekly junkets that began in 1996. "My theory is it's more important for me to have fun than the people coming. If they're having fun, and I'm having fun, I'll keep doing it."
The 500th "Kramer's Reality Tour" is set for Sunday, when the 60-year-old Kramer and several dozen soon-to-be-close-friends will gather. Although "Seinfeld" went off the air in 1998, Kramer is still going strong; he estimates 30,000 people have taken the tour.
It was January 1996 when Kramer, still anonymous despite the show's runaway success, was struck with this thought: "If I don't cash in on this, I'm a complete idiot."
He's not. The tour launched on a rainy Saturday with about two dozen customers and no indication it would become an institution. But the trek is now poised to outlast the nine-year "Seinfeld" run - and how unreal is that?
Rarely does Kramer's three-hour tour leave anyone disappointed.
He does about a 60-minute routine inside The Producers Club Theater on West 44th Street, mixing his tales with video clips (including some from David talking about their days as neighbors).
He fields questions, spins stories, and then it's off to a tour bus. Stops include the "Soup Nazi" stand in midtown (Kramer briefly had a real-life feud with the owner); the East Side YMCA, where TV Jerry met Keith Hernandez; and the New York Health and Racquet Club, where the bogus Kramer spied Salman Rushdie.
"It was everything I expected and more," Wendy Patterson of Juno Beach, Fla., wrote in an e-mail after taking the tour last weekend.
Other FOKs - friends of Kramer - were just as effusive.
"This is a tour for ALL 'Seinfeld' fans, not just the psychotic ones," wrote Eric and Alicia Griffith after taking the tour.
The e-mails are good news for Kramer, who maintains a personal Web site and relies mostly on word of mouth to lure new customers. His best promotion still remains the endless cycle of "Seinfeld" reruns.
"It's popular in 90 countries," Kramer said of the show. "Lately, I've been getting a lot of people from South and Central America - Brazil, Argentina. And a lot of Koreans, too."
Anything special planned for tour No. 500?
"I don't know," Kramer said. "Maybe a friend might surprise me with a little champagne at Tom's" - the restaurant at 112th Street and Broadway that serves as a tour centerpiece.
"Seinfeld" fans know it better as Monk's, the diner that served as a meeting place for Jerry and the gang.
"It's one of the most famous sites in all 'Seinfeld' history," Kramer said, laughing at the absurdity of it all. "People are tingling with excitement when we arrive."
---
On the Net: http://www.kennykramer.com/