>>The other members of the audience paid money to see Michael Richards. Whatever went on before he yelled "Shut up" must have annoyed them because on the video they laugh at his upside down with a fork remark.<<

Oh, come on! People are idiots and will laugh at anything. The guy had obviously lost his cool. Why go after the heckler for his race? Why not just use a comeback that shuts the guy up and makes everybody laugh instead of leave? It didn't look like wit to me and it didn't even look like an attempt at wit. It looked like someone losing his temper at somebody using that person's race as the most obvious thing for him to pick on. Does anybody really believe he'd have launched into a tirade against white people if the heckler had been white? I don't.

Heckling is as old as performing comedy. So if you're a comedian, get used to it. The truth is, if you're good you don't get heckled, you get laughs. He went off and then tried to make it sound like he was trying to make a point. But he had no real point to make and that's why he left the stage in a huff with no punch line. The guy's an effin jerk.