Post by The Curmudgeon on Nov 3, 2008 13:40:42 GMT 2
Well, apparently so.
So much so, in fact, that he's holding a press conference in one weeks time, November 9th to be exact.
I'd heard of Kaufman through the whole infamous Jerry Lawler wrestling match (which beforehand I'd only heard of through REM referencing it), and then through random episodes of Taxi and the Jim Carrey movie. But whenever I read about the guy I'm gutted I wasn't around to see his antics first hand.
Taxi was an award-winning show with a large audience and Kaufman was widely recognized as Latka. On some occasions, audiences would show up to one of Kaufman's stage performances expecting to see him perform as Latka, and heckling him with demands when he did not. Kaufman would punish these audiences with the announcement that he was going to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald to them. The audience would laugh at this, not realizing that he was serious and would proceed to read the book to them, continuing despite audience members' departure. At a certain point, he would ask the audience if they wanted him to keep reading, or play a record. When the audience chose to hear the record, the record he cued up was a recording of him continuing to read The Great Gatsby from where he had left off
He also broke character live on SNL and refused to say his lines, his alter ego Tony Clifton was banned from television (but Kaufman wasn't..) and announced on air his marriage to a gospel singer and his newfound love of Jesus. All lies.
And here he is screaming (fake) insults at Jerry Lawler, a scam that wasn't revealed until ten YEARS after Kaufman died.
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kv73yzYuE_M
He also became hated and loathed by wrestling fans everywhere after he became the Inter Gender Champion of the World, fighting and beating women. Now remember this was the 70s when most wrestling fans believed everything they saw. Check THIS out..
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1uQlB99WCuk
You really, REALLY don't get comedians like that anymore.
Anyway, here's the site devoted to his return. It'll be interesting to see what happens on the 9th..
www.andykaufmanlives.com/
So much so, in fact, that he's holding a press conference in one weeks time, November 9th to be exact.
I'd heard of Kaufman through the whole infamous Jerry Lawler wrestling match (which beforehand I'd only heard of through REM referencing it), and then through random episodes of Taxi and the Jim Carrey movie. But whenever I read about the guy I'm gutted I wasn't around to see his antics first hand.
Taxi was an award-winning show with a large audience and Kaufman was widely recognized as Latka. On some occasions, audiences would show up to one of Kaufman's stage performances expecting to see him perform as Latka, and heckling him with demands when he did not. Kaufman would punish these audiences with the announcement that he was going to read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald to them. The audience would laugh at this, not realizing that he was serious and would proceed to read the book to them, continuing despite audience members' departure. At a certain point, he would ask the audience if they wanted him to keep reading, or play a record. When the audience chose to hear the record, the record he cued up was a recording of him continuing to read The Great Gatsby from where he had left off
He also broke character live on SNL and refused to say his lines, his alter ego Tony Clifton was banned from television (but Kaufman wasn't..) and announced on air his marriage to a gospel singer and his newfound love of Jesus. All lies.
And here he is screaming (fake) insults at Jerry Lawler, a scam that wasn't revealed until ten YEARS after Kaufman died.
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kv73yzYuE_M
He also became hated and loathed by wrestling fans everywhere after he became the Inter Gender Champion of the World, fighting and beating women. Now remember this was the 70s when most wrestling fans believed everything they saw. Check THIS out..
uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1uQlB99WCuk
You really, REALLY don't get comedians like that anymore.
Anyway, here's the site devoted to his return. It'll be interesting to see what happens on the 9th..
www.andykaufmanlives.com/
