Andy Kaufman Overview

born: 1949

died: 1984

His delivery was flat. His beady eyes revealed a mind constantly at work. Andy Kaufman threw every joke away -- he delivered bad lines, well, badly. Herein lay the source of his genius: he committed to the premise of the joke and ignored punchlines as byproducts of the comedic process. Every bad gag, every asshole persona was taken way over the top. His standup acts tested the audience's threshold for discomfort and disbelief (he had Bill Viola's sense of duration, it seems). He locked on to his vision like a pit bull on a pork chop. His alter ego Tony Clifton is a good example of his tenacity. As Clifton, Kaufman wore a chin piece, prosthetic nose, and bad wig -- the transformation went even further, however, as Kaufman insisted that Clifton was a separate living entity. Long-time friend Bob Zmuda recalled that Kaufman would announce that Clifton was coming to town, then disappear. Not only did Clifton have his own car in Kaufman's garage, he also had his own circle of friends. Both Kaufman and Clifton became livid when anyone suggested that one was the other. Clifton even threatened to sue Kaufman, claiming, "He's been using my name to get places." Zmuda later said he believed that his friend suffered from multiple personality disorder. Carl Reiner discovered Kaufman at the club Catch a Rising Star, and called his nephew George Shapiro to let him on to his "unusual" discovery. While Shapiro was unsure of the comic's mainstream potential, Kaufman himself knew he had star quality: since his childhood he had hosted his own (albeit imaginary) talk show and even hired himself out as a kids' party entertainer. During the late '60s and early '70s, Kaufman appeared in improvisational comedy clubs and honed his "Foreign Guy" routine. Like his other personas, Foreign Guy was aggressively unfunny, bungling bad one-liners and shifting nervously onstage. But just when Foreign Guy's painful routine became unbearable, he would undergo a bizarre metamorphosis and emerge triumphant as a kick-ass Elvis impersonator. The transformation could be as simple as turning his back on the audience. Often, it was more elaborate -- Kaufman once ate a bucket of potatoes and then took a 25-minute nap (onstage) before coming to life as the King. When the Foreign Guy appeared on television's "Saturday Night Live" in 1975, Kaufman's career took off. The character became more popular and more nuanced, until Latka Gravas emerged in the late-70s comedy hit, "Taxi." Kaufman's stubborn personality and bizarre -- but hilarious -- comedic sensibility was a nightmare for TV executives and costars alike. When execs gave him a chance to write a pilot, he and Zmuda produced "Fingers and Knuckles," an excruciatingly slow sitcom. When they let him produce a comedy special, he delivered a dry variety show that committed to every bad gag possible -- including a misty-eyed interview with Kaufman's hero, Howdy Doody. He was an irritant. He was constantly late, even to major performances. After keeping the audience waiting for an hour or so, he'd emerge as the caustic has-been Clifton. Tony would remind the annoyed audiences, "I don't have to be here. You're lucky to have me." He was inappropriate. As the "Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion," he earned a bad name by baiting women into physical fights. The scrawny Kaufman would lobby insults into the audience until women had had enough and entered the ring. He would charge, cheat, bite -- anything to drop his challenger inside of a few seconds. His dirty fights only riled the crowd more, inciting more women to charge into the ring. When Kaufman died of lung cancer at age 35, not even his close friends believed he was really dead. Faking his own death seemed to be the apotheosis of his bad taste, and mourners at the funeral arrived expecting a reception by Tony Clifton. Instead, they were met with the body of Andy Kaufman -- which they poked and prodded, waiting for Andy to open his eyes. [show less]