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| Andy Kaufman's alter ego, Tony Clifton, Mr Entertainment, the worlds greatest singing sensation. A foul mouthed, sleazy, rude lounge singer, who couldn't hold a tune if it had handles on. A man who's idea of entertainment was to throw water over members of the public whilst berating them. Tony himself believes some folk try to impersonate him to take advantage of his success and make themselves a career. These people he believes are nothing but a 'miserable bunch of lowlife bastards'. The lowest of whom was his nemeses Andrew G. Kaufman. |
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| Tony takes evidence like the above picture as proof that Kaufman did nothing but ride along on Tony's crest, Basking in Tony's reflected glory. Everyone is a Tony Clifton wannabe. |
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| Tony Clifton became one of Kaufman's most infamous creations. They denied being one and another and on occasion actually appeared alongside one another. |
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| The creation of Tony is however special he is the most enduring legacy that Kaufman left us. Clifton still tours clubs and even recently did a tour with REM. Tony Clifton also brags as many impersonators as Elvis himself. So what makes Clifton so popular? |
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| Tony Clifton was much in demand during Kaufman's heyday. He starred inseveral hit TV shows: The Merv Griffin Show in 1981; The Midnight Special; Dinah Shore;The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show; Late Night with David Letterman 1982. Of course either Andy or Bob Zmuda played Clifton but his appeal was and still is great. |
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| Tony's appeal is quite simple really. He represents that voice that is inside all of us, that person who sticks both fingers up to everything. The person who says what he wants when he wants and to hell with the consequences. For Kaufman this character was necessary as a way to vent built up venom. Andy simply created Tony as a way to let off steam as he was so pissed of at the Hollywood establishment, then he would deny being Tony so he didn't have to accept responsibility for Tony's actions. This sometimes meant having Zmuda play Tony because Andy hated people knowing it was him 'If people think it's me I don't want to do it. You do it. And then people will think it's me, but I'll know it's not. Therefore it's cool for me to watch it..' Andy Kaufman to Bob Zmuda. Tony 'had something to do with Andy's hate for celebrity, and what he had become, and the whole show business big business package that he did not want to have to be a part of' Bob Zmuda. |
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| Most memorable was Tony's guest appearance on Taxi, which took place when Andy was on 'vacation' in San Francisco. Tony stormed on set complete with two prostitutes and proceeded to antagonise everyone by refusing to stick to the script. He then began tap dancing on top of the taxi, singing and smashing things up. The cast and crew didn't know who Tony was and consequently he was forcibly removed from the set. |
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| As Tony became more popular Andy and Bob Zmuda wrote a screenplay The Tony Clifton Story which has been described as 'completely brilliant -- and unreleasable'. Universal Pictures understandably wouldn't touch it despite encouraging them to write it. This story gives great insight into Tony's life and work, It is available for download I shall place the address in the link section. |
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| When Andy passed Tony to Bob he did so with a warning. Andy Kaufman told Bob "You'd better watch out for Tony -- he's a strong character," Bob gave these same words of warning to Jim Carrey. Meaning that when you start doing Tony, you don't want to stop, because it's license to kill. Even Carrey had a little bit of a hard time, when the film ended, shaking Tony's persona off. Again this echoes the fact that the 'evil' Tony or the 'idiot' Tony is an extreme part of us all, and a person that given the chance we'd like to be more often but we are afraid of the consequences of such actions. |
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| To this day Tony tours and in the Hollywood establishment many stars love him because he represents freedom to them. He is this guy that just says "Fuck you" to the system. And they all want to say "Fuck you" to the system in Hollywood. But they can't. |
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