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| "While all the other kids were out playing ball and stuff, I used to stay in my room and imagine that there was a camera in the wall. And I used to really believe that I was putting on a television show and that it was going out to somewhere in the world."-Andy Kaufman |
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| Its difficult to really write about this man, many would argue he didn't really exist insofar as beyond the physical who knows what, if anything, existed of a 'real' person. Many people don't know much about this man and even those who know something of his career still have more questions than answers. Andy Kaufman was not a comedian that's for sure, but when he was asked what he was he replied 'a song and dance man', clearly he was not this either. You may be tempted to describe him as a dreamer, but you'd be wrong because I believe Kaufman knew exactly what he was doing. He lived not to push the proverbial envelope, rather he lived to challenge other peoples perception of what entertainment 'should be'. Quite simply Andy took all moulds and ignored them. |
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| "I try to please people, to give them a good time, but I refuse to make my act conform to traditional show-biz standards of entertainment. There's a little voice that says, 'Oh, no, you can't do that, that's breaking all the rules.' That's the voice of show business. Then this other little voice says, 'Try it.' And most of the time, when the voice comes on and says, 'No,' that's the time it works."-Andy Kaufman |
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| But there was more, Andy was a rather selfish entertainer, he predominately served to entertain himself at the expense of his audience. This however was not a bad thing because this approach propelled his career and legacy so much so that even twenty years after his tragic death there is still not a single person like him, moreover no one is anywhere close to being where he was. |
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| Unlike most 'entertainers' Andy didn't crave the spotlight and fortune, rather he sought notoriety. He wanted to be known for being a kind of anti-entertainer. It is known that many acts would not or simply could not follow Andy on stage. He would have either purposely been so 'bad' that he emptied the venue or he would have been so 'bad' that he had riled the crowd into a mad frenzy. Either way he was good....at being bad, that is after all what he done. Andy created an alter-ego Tony Clifton whom was a more conventional entertainer, although he billed himself as 'The Worlds Greatest Singing Sensation'. Tony actually served a few purposes for Andy, he allowed Andy to break his own mould and vent some venom, Tony also kept the public guessing as Andy and Tony always refused that they were one another, indeed Andy appeared alongside Tony on many occasion. Perhaps most important is that this creation exists even today. There are just as many Tony Clifton's in this world as there are Elvis's, in fact Tony recently toured with REM. |
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| Among Andy's more popular characters were Foreign Man, who was from Caspier, an island in the Caspian Sea, that sadly sank. Foreign Man thus went to America to seek fame and fortune. He gave a whole new meaning to 'bumbling ineptitude'. Although never used Foreign Man's name was actually Vic Ferrari. Foreign Man started his act by telling some awful joke that wasn't in the remotest bit funny. He then went on to do impressions which further bewildered the audience (if they had stayed that long) since he didn't even try and disguise his voice. Then he blew the audience away with his impression of Elveeees. Andy had long admired Elvis and even Elvis himself said Kaufman did the best Elivs impression ever. He'd end the act going back into character and uttering the phrase he became famous for 'Tank You Veddy Much'. |
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| Of Foreign Man's 'jokes' below is my favourite, it goes something like this: |
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| There was zee little boy called Jesus, not thee Jesus you understand, he was called zee Jesus. One day ees Mum asks 'im to go to zee market and buy zee butter and zee loaf of thee bread. He zays, 'But Mutter I have not been to zee market before, I not know where et es'. But ees Mum she zays 'You just follow zee people, they be going to zee market'. So thee boy, Jesus, he set off for zee market, but et es Sunday and ee follows zee people to zee church. But ee haz not been to zee market before so ee doesn't know that et es not a market, ets a church, you understand?. So ee goes in and ee zits down. Then zee man on zee alter ee throws ees hands upwards... and ee zays 'Uh Jesus you pleeze tell uz what zee wantz', and zee...zee..little boy, Jesus, ee thinks ee iz talking to 'im and ee stands up and zays, 'Some of zee butter and a pint of milk..'. No wait ee did not want zee pint of milk, uh...uh what did ee want? Uh... zee loaf of bread that es what ee wanted. So thee little boy, Jesus, ee stands up and zays, 'Some of zee butter and a loaf of bread pleeze'. You zee he think zee man iz talking to 'im, but ee iz not, coz...et es.... not zee market....et es a church, you understand? Tank you veddy much. |
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| The Foreign Man character was so popular Andy was offered a part in a new sitcom Taxi, where he would play an immigrant mechanic, Latka Gravas. Andy hated Taxi and sitcoms in general, but only did it so they'd let him have his own Special and to gain some national exposure. |
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| Andy was a life long wrestling fan and in his shows he started wrestling women and quickly announced himself as the Intergender Champion of the world. This bad guy wrestling character began driving people away from Andy, typically he took it too far. But in his own words: |
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| "Whenever I play a role, whether it's good or bad, an evil person or nice person, I believe in being a purist and going all the way with the role. If I'm going to be a villainous wrestler, I believe in going all the way with it and not breaking character and not giving away to the audience that I'm playing a role. I believe in playing it straight to the hilt."-Andy |
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| This belief, although I find it most professional and admirable, in hindsight proved to be too much for his fans, family and friends. Many thinking that he had finally went too far. He began spending more and more time wrestling in United States Wrestling Alliance and started a feud with Jerry 'The King' Lawler the Southern Heavyweight Champion. |
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| This 'Badguy' wrestler character, or 'Heel' to give it its proper wrestling term, would challenge women from the audienceto a fight then proceed to beat them down. He would also berate the audience by running down the South and trying to educate them by explaining what things like soap and toilet roll were. The feud with Lawler saw an eventual match in which Lawler pile drove Kaufman into the mat. |
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| Andy would spend three days in hospital and many, many month wearing a neck brace. None of which was actually necessary as Lawler delivers one of the safest pile drivers in the industry and Andy wasn't actually hurt. But 'Whenever I play a role...I believe in being a purist and going all the way with the role.' |
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| One of the most funny and notorious highlights of there feud was when Andy and Jerry went on The Dave Letterman Show, broadcast live throughout America. The idea was that Andy complete with neck brace would apologise to Lawler and the people of the South and agree never to wrestle again. Here's the result: |
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| AK: I was playing bad guy, that's what I was doing, I was playing bad guy wrestler as a role I was playing I wasn't serious about....I don't take things like that serious, like 'I'm a star' and you know umm...that was just a role I was playing. |
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| Dave Letterman: And so in your estimation Jerry... |
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| AK: I think he was just taking it too seriously.. |
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| DL: You think he owes you an apology.. |
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| AK: Look I always said that you didn't have a sense of humour and here the people are all laughing at him. So it proves my point. |
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| DL: Yeah |
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| AK: And that's why I came here because I asked for an apology, I apologised for all the wrestling I've ever done, all the abuse I've ever given people that didn't understand what I was doing. And I simply ask for...think an apologies in order. |
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| DL: So its come to this has it Andy, you want Jerry to apologise... |
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| AK: Uhuh.. |
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| DL: Now is this the way.. would that be an equitable thing as far as you're concerned... |
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| Jerry Lawler: I don't think so, I don't think I owe him an apology, I think you know, he says it was all a big joke, I'm sure it was to him, I... |
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| AK: Let me tell you something, my father said... my father said, my manager said, they all said, I had the right... I could have got a lawyer and I could have sued you for what you did, all I want is an apology, even you David asked me the last time I was on your show if I would have a law suit, cause I could have sued you for everything you're worth. Only I didn't cause I'm not that kind of a guy. |
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| JL: What kind of a guy are you? |
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| [Chaos in studio] |
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| DL: We're going to pause here for uh... |
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| [Andy and Jerry argue, Lawler stands up and slaps Andy out his seat and onto the floor, Andy storms off stage] |
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| DL: Andy are you coming in here again, are you... |
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| AK: I'm sick of this shit [Shouting] YOU ARE FULL OF **** MY FRIEND I WILL SUE YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU HAVE, I WILL SUE YOUR ASS, YOU'RE A ******** ******* ****, AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED YOU HEAR ME, **** YOU, ****, **** YOU, **** YOU, I WILL GET YOU FOR THIS, **** YOU. |
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| [Audience goes mad, Letterman sorts some paper as he had no idea this would happen] |
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| AK: I AM SORRY...I AM SORRY TO USE THOSE WORDS ON TELEVISION... I apologise to all my fans, I am sorry, I am sorry... BUT YOU, YOU'RE A ******* ******* ****, ******* ****** ******* **** ******, I MEAN ****, ****, **** |
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| [Andy lifts Letterman's coffee and throws it over Lawler, before running off] |
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| DL: Well I don't think you can use some of those words on television, [Letterman show is sent to a break] |
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| Of course Andy continued to wrestle alongside Lawler after this episode, but not after he publicly tried to sue the Letterman show and NBC for what had happened. NBC were still his employers with Taxi but he still pursued claiming he'd scrap the show anyway once he won his lawsuit and owned the network. |
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| It wasn't until Lawler's book 'It's Good to be The King...Sometimes' in 2002 did it come out that Andy and Jerry were always working in collaboration with one another. They scripted everything. Interestingly enough Andy never cashed a single cheque Lawler (part owner of USWA) wrote him. Maybe he just enjoyed himself so much he never thought if it as work. |
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| Wrestling did not have a good effect on Andy's career. As a result of his actions he was voted off the show Saturday Night Live, of which he had been a part since its debut show. Add to this the cancellation of sitcom Taxi, to which being honest Andy did not really care about,and the fact that so many of his loyal fans had turned their backs on him; even friends had given up any kind of hope they had in him. Andy was lost. After years of hard work with little recognition, years of climbing to the top of his profession, years of finding new ways to challenge the audience, Andy challenged them too much and paid the price. His star had fallen, not completely as any star always has his most loyal band of followers. But the pinnacle of Andy's career was behind him and he found himself less in demand. |
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| In 1983 Andy was diagnosed as having a very rare form of lung cancer. Terminal. At first he told his friends who refused to believe him. He had joked about faking his own death before and in the screenplay he wrote, The Tony Clifton Story, Tony dies of the same rare type of lung cancer in the hospital where Andy would ultimately die. But this wasn't another hoax. Even though the story leaked out, the media dismissed it as another ploy by Andy, as a result the public didn't really know anything was wrong. |
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| On May 16, 1984, Andy Kaufman was pronounced dead at Cedar-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. To this day people still believe he will re-emerge and reveal his joke. Sadly this will not be so. Andy Kaufman was 35 years old when he passed away. His legacy will forever live on. From his adopted daughter Andy's parents discovered they were great-grandparents. Death ensured one thing for Andy, his star would rise again and shine brightly in the entertainment world. |
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| In 1999 Jim Carrey starred in Man on the Moon. Andy's fans are of split opinion regarding the film, his family hate it. The film was not so much about Andy's life as it was about his career and the people he met. whilst entertaining the film does not provide an accurate portrayal of the life and works of Andy Kaufman. Quite simply it does not do Kaufman justice. |
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| "Of course, to get the most out of Heaven, the idea is to walk from the outer layer to the center, and as you walk, everything gets bigger and better..." (an extract from 'God' a story about Elvis by Andy Kaufman, Page 119) |
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