Editing Cosmo Kramer (section)

===Inspiration===
The character of Kramer was originally based on the real-life [[Kenny Kramer]], a neighbor of co-creator [[Larry David]] from [[New York City|New York]]. However, Michael Richards did not in any way base his performance on the real Kramer, to the point of refusing to meet him. This was later parodied in "[[The Pilot (Seinfeld)|The Pilot]]" when the actor that is cast to play him in Jerry and George's sitcom refuses to base the character on the real Cosmo Kramer. At the time of the shooting of the original ''Seinfeld'' [[television pilot|pilot]], "[[The Seinfeld Chronicles]]", Kenny Kramer had not yet given consent to use his name, and so Kramer's character was originally known as "Kessler".

Larry David was hesitant to use Kenny Kramer's real name because he suspected that Kramer would take advantage of this. David's suspicion turned out to be correct; Kenny Kramer created the "Kramer Reality Tour", a [[New York City]] bus tour that points out actual locations of events or places featured in ''Seinfeld''. The "Kramer Reality Tour" is itself spoofed on ''Seinfeld'' in "[[The Muffin Tops]]". In the episode, when Kramer's real-life stories are used by Elaine to pad the biography of J. Peterman she was ghostwriting, Kramer develops a reality bus tour called "The Peterman Reality Tour" and touts himself as "The Real J. Peterman".