Cramer's 'Mad Money Recap': How to Get the Most Out of the Show

"It's more important to know what I think about a sector, than it is to know what I think about a single stock," he said. "You want to listen for that."

For example, when Cramer says he likes cable this is "much more important" than when Cramer says he likes Comcast (CMCSA Quote), "because 50% of where a stock goes is determined entirely by its sector," he explained.

"I'm usually trying to teach a bigger lesson when I single in on a bigger stock -- either something about the market in general, or about the market at a specific time," Cramer said.

For instance, if he recommends a stock with a great big dividend, then it's important for viewers to get the bigger takeaway that he likes stocks with big dividends, than to pick out the one stock he focuses in on.

Similarly if he tells investors to buy a secular stock, the bigger lesson isn't to go buy Procter & Gamble (PG Quote) but that "at this point in the business cycle, you want to own these kinds of supermarket stocks," Cramer said.

Cramer recently did a series on stocks that he thought were great private equity takeover targets, he said. Those six stocks in the series should not have been the takeaway.

Instead it should've been "that private equity funds like stocks with big cash flows and operations they could easily improve by taking the company private -- so look for those characteristics when you speculate on buyouts," Cramer said.

"None of this is to say that you shouldn't listen to my stock picks, which I have total conviction in. But the bottom line is that there's almost always something more important going on than just 'buy this, sell that,' and the bigger lesson is worth focusing on," he said.

Cramer said he truly believes that he is "the most misunderstood man in show business," and he's never more misunderstood or criticized than when he's doing his "Lightning Round."

The worst, he said, is when people take his recommendations from the Lightning Round and equate them with his recommendations during the rest of the show.

Sector Sweetness

While Cramer's advice in the Lightning Round is "sound," it's not as well developed as the rest of the show, he said. "If I spend 5 or 10 minutes pushing a stock at the very top of the show, that means a lot more than if I give a stock a thumbs up during the Lightning Round and move on."

The substance of the Lightning Round is mostly about sectors, Cramer said. When someone calls in about a stock and he doesn't like it, most of the time it's because Cramer doesn't like the sector.

This should be the important takeaway for viewers. Other times, when Cramer says he likes a stock, usually it's because he likes the sector, and he'll still tell the caller to swap into "some other stock I prefer in the sector, something that's closer to best of breed," he said.