Kaufman, Andy (1949-1984)

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Kaufman, Andy (1949-1984)

Andy Kaufman burst onto the national scene as a guest on the very first Saturday Night Live in October of 1975. Standing in the middle of a bare stage accompanied by an old record player, Kaufman put on a recording of the Mighty Mouse theme song. He stood silent until the chorus, when he broadly lip-synched "Here I am to save the day," then went mute until the chorus arrived again. This type of perplexing yet hysterical performance became Andy Kaufman's trademark and is his legacy as an original comic force. Despite his untimely death at the age of 34 from lung cancer, Kaufman's impact on popular culture was dramatic. Kaufman was a comedian who never told a joke; instead he broke the mold by creating a new comic style that was as much performance art as traditional stand-up.

Although Kaufman started as a stand-up working clubs like the Improv, he never considered himself a comedian. Steve Allen, in his book Funny People, wrote that Kaufman was "right when he claims not be a comedian. A comedian, quite simply, wants laughs. Andy demands more. He calls for an emotional involvement that runs a fuller gamut. He wants you to feel uncomfortable, uneasy, unhappy, ecstatic, deeply moved, derisive, bored. He wants you to believe his characters are who they claim to be and react accordingly." Throughout his career, Kaufman challenged his audience. On another Saturday Night Live appearance, Kaufman's "joke" was simply to read from The Great Gatsby. He could delight an audience with stunts such as taking his Carnegie Hall audience out for milk and cookies and infuriate another audience by bringing a sleeping bag on stage and napping as part of his performance.

Kaufman used a Saturday Night Live appearance for another stunt that blurred the line between reality and illusion. After Kaufman was cut from an episode in 1982, he publicly feuded with producer Dick Ebersol. The feud climaxed when a telephone poll was held to determine whether or not Kaufman should be allowed back on the show. He lost, and never appeared again. A similar feud was displayed on Saturday Night Live's competitor Fridays just a year earlier. During a live show in February 1981, Kaufman got into an argument and physical altercation with members of the cast and crew. Again, this hoax perpetuated by Kaufman and the show's producers was perceived as real by many viewers.

The apex of this part of his career was Kaufman's involvement in professional wrestling. A lifelong wrestling fan, particularly of villain wrestler "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, Kaufman declared himself the "Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion" and began challenging women in his concert audience to wrestle. His match with Playboy model Susan Smith was featured in the magazine's February 1982 issue. After a match against a woman in Memphis, Kaufman became involved in a pro wrestling feud with local champion Jerry "The King" Lawler, which included Kaufman sending videos mocking the Memphis fans. Kaufman was "injured" by Lawler during a match, and the two appeared for an interview on the David Letterman Show in July 1982, supposedly to offer apologies. Things got heated and Lawler slapped Kaufman hard across the face, knocking him down. Kaufman responded with an obscenity laced tirade and announced he was suing NBC. All of this was treated as front-page news, and as real. It was, like other things in Andy's hoax history and professional wrestling, merely an elaborate ruse.

Kaufman played the bad guy in the feud with Lawler and delighted in people jeering him. He invented a heel entertainer character called Tony Clifton, the world's most obnoxious performer, who would taunt his audience. Kaufman claimed he was not Clifton, which was somewhat true as his writing partner Bob Zmuda often played Clifton. Kaufman went to great lengths to create the illusion that Clifton was real.

Kaufman's performance as Latka Gravas on the critically acclaimed television series Taxi (1978-1983) was his biggest mainstream success. Latka was based on one of Andy's most popular characters: "the foreign man," a twitchy immigrant who spoke in a combination of broken English and gibberish. Kaufman's best-known bit was the foreign man telling old jokes, doing horrible impressions, then launching into a brilliant impersonation of Elvis Presley.

While successful on TV and in concert, Kaufman only made a few movies. Heartbeats (1981) was a critical and commercial dud. Better received were his two wrestling movies: I'm from Hollywood (1992), which chronicles the feud with Lawler; and his send-up of the art house hit My Dinner with Andre, called My Breakfast with Blassie (1993), where Kaufman conversed with retired pro wrestler Fred Blassie at a coffee shop. Most of Kaufman's best moments were captured in NBC's A Comedy Tribute to Andy Kaufman (1995).

Another tribute to Kaufman was the 1992 hit song "Man on the Moon" by REM. The song talks about Kaufman "goofing on Elvis." Man on the Moon was also the title for a 1999 film about Kaufman's life starring Jim Carrey. As with Elvis, there is a persistent rumor that Kaufman is still alive. With his penchant for hoaxes, it was a rumor that spread widely, and faking his own death indeed was something Kaufman had considered. Kaufman was brilliant at defying reality as an entertainer and highlighting irony as a comedian. He was, according to Ron Rosenbaum, "going where few comedians had dared go before … he made comedy dangerous again."

—Patrick Jones