Andy Kaufman

[spman 0]

What do you guys think of Andy Kaufman? I feel that Kaufman was a truely brilliant preformance artist who even today, would still be twenty years ahead of it's time. I don't think Kaufman ever gets the fair shake he deserves for his contibution to popuar culture. I mean, twenty years later people are still debating whether or not his fight with Jerry Lawler was a work or a shoot. All of todays TV Reality shows probobly would not have existed without Kaufman pioneering the thought of reality as entertainment. Even his supposed death, as sad and premature as it was, was a truely ironic end to a very strange life. How many other people can say that even after they die people are still willing to argue that they stil might be alive? Despite the fact that his work was largely misunderstood at the time, I think Andy Kaufman died a hapy man, he had accomplished all his set out to do as an entertainer, and did not have to live to see his own spiral into destruction taht so many of the other greats go through.

[Guest Kid Kablam]

You know, I have only seen 2 real Andy Kaufman things (outside of Latka on Taxi), His show at Carnegie Hall, and an episode of the Andy Kaufmann show (so my opinion isn't completely informed). I didn't find him funny really. Bemusing, od, in his own way charming, and interesting yes. But not funny. In the end I found his humor mildly interesting, but not my personal taste. Having said that, I don't think its fair to judge Kaufmann now, because everybody has ripped off his schtick and so it has become run of the mill. Also I have heard many comedians speak of his influence. As a result, I can appreciate Andy Kaufman in a historical sense, just not in a gut reaction sense.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

My opinion is that you either love him and find him hillarious or hate him and find him completely unfunny. I happen to be a huge fan, almost by accident, but I've gone out my way to get as many of his performances as I can. I even have Hearbeeps for crying out loud. There was a huge Andy movement that coincided with Man on the Moon coming out 5 years ago but I've noticed its died down a lot as of late.

 

If you visit this board, chances are you would appreciate, to some extent, "My Breakfast with Blassie" in which Andy and Freddie Blassie sit down to eat breakfast for almost an hour. Its not really funny (in fact at some points Blassie genuinely acts like an ass), although it has some good points and there are a ton of "inside" things to be aware of. Everyone is also probably familiar with the Lawler/Kaufman stuff, and there was a video called "I'm from Hollywood" that goes over that pretty well (and it might still air on Comedy Central, but I dont know.)

 

To show how much of an innovator he was, he was doing Elvis Impersonations (and really good ones at that) while Elvis was still alive.

 

And, for the Record, I wholely believe that he is dead, although there's a part of me that would like for him to show up one da out of the blue and go "I fooled you didn't I?"

[Ravenbomb 0]

I liked his stuff, it was pretty funny. One of my favorite things of his was probably when he lip synced to part of Mighty Mouse

[the max 0]

I didn't crack a smile during any of the live shows that I've seen, but I loved him on Taxi.

[Guest El Satanico]

Does he actually do straight stand up in live shows or is it just bizarre "skits" and stuff like he's infamous for?

 

I don't think the majority of people understand him to this day.

[Jericholic82 0]

I think that he was a brilliant comedian in the grain of intellectual humor, but he wasn't your standard funny guy. If you enjoy messing with people'd minds, then you'd probably enjoy his work. After seeing Man on The Moon, I really do see his genius and he truly was way ahead of his time. Stuff like putting rolling black bars on the screen so the people at home would get up and hit the tv.

 

I saw the Im from Hollywood on comedy central a bunch of times, it's really entertaining and is a great overview of andys wrestling antics

 

 

You have to be something special if your parents don't believe you when you say you are dying

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I never found him funny, but enough people do and he's dead anyway so it's all good...

[Highland 0]

All of todays TV Reality shows probobly would not have existed without Kaufman pioneering the thought of reality as entertainment.

 

 

Another reason to hate him.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Was he funny? No, not especially.

 

Was he entertaining? Yes, very.

 

I just always thought that he wasn't looking to be funny in the standard "stand-up comedian" way that people like Robin Williams or Steve Martin were, but was looking to entertain more than make people grab their guts and laugh out loud.

 

The fact that an entire generation busts their proverbial nutts over Jim Carey, and Jim Carey prayed at the altar of Kaufman showed that he had some influence over this generation's comedy.