Andy Kaufman Essay, Research Paper

Andy Kaufman

Like a lot of people I didn t realize who in the world Andy Kaufman was till I saw the movie Man on the Moon . This movie really cracked me up and also made really cry and think about life like no other. It also led me to ask who in the world is this guy Andy Kaufman?

I began doing research on Andy Kaufman and believe it or not I actually read a book called Andy Kaufman Reveled by Bob Zmuda . The book told just about everything about Andy Kaufman you ever wanted to know. It pretty much finally gave you an idea of what Kaufman was all about. There was no idea of what he was about. In fact he had to be the most unpredictable person possibly ever. You had absolutely no idea of what he was going to do next and that is what people loved and hated about him. Kaufman didn t want to be known as a comedian because he felt he would have to make the audience laugh every time he went out there. Kaufman didn t want to do that because he would get bored with that so he called himself a song and dance man.

Kaufman would go out there and sometimes make the audience laugh, sometimes he would make them boo him from bombing like no other and he would also make them very confused at times with them asking Is this guy for real. His most famous act is where he really started making his name. He would go on stage starting out as his legendary foreign man. Making lame jokes that was not even mildly amusing so then the crowd would start to boo. Then Kaufman would say in his foreign voice okay I would now like to imitate Mr. Elvis Presley and the crowd would boo some more till he put the music on. Then all of a sudden this shy unfunny foreign man turned into Elvis Presley and this was probably the greatest Elvis Presley imitation you could find and in about in a span of 1 second those boos turned into cheers and laughter. Then at the end of this act he would the classic Thank you thank very much, and after that line he would have the audience eating out of his hand. That act was so awesome because he would just toy with the crowd like at the start he would fake like he was bombing this bid then by the end he would have the crowd busting a gut with laughter. That is what made Kaufman so unique and special. He could go out there and do pretty much anything he wanted to and the crowd would still be satisfied.

Kaufman got kind of bored making the crowd laugh all the time so he came up with another controversial character. Mr. Tony Clifton. Clifton many people knew this guy was Andy Kaufman dressed up as an old useless entertainer but they would still think off Clifton as a whole knew different personality. In fact to put it straight he was. Kaufman was a polite, shy, mild mattered, soft spoken individual. Clifton was everything opposite to that. He would come out and be the cockiest person. He would make fun of the crowd and get absolutely booed to death. That was the lovable part about him. Despite his bad singing and horrible joking. He would bring a packed house every night and you ask why because people would want to see what he did next. What can I say despite his obnoxious actions the guy was very entertaining. In his most famous incident on Taxi. Kaufman really hated being on Taxi despite this most his most famous role. He hated so much he couldn t stand it so one day he came in as Tony Clifton. He showed up with 3 hookers and basically dissed on the cast the show and said how much better he was than the whole cast. Clifton was kicked out of the Taxi studios forever and the story was so popular it made the news it was truly genius by Kaufman. Get used to that word because that was what Kaufman was a genius.

Unfortunally when the great Kaufman s carrier was about to reach superstar status that is when he came down with his famous lung disease cancer. No one could possibly understand how this happened because Kaufman never smoked or drank and he would always eat healthy and would workout. When people got word of this disease a sad thing happened people did not buy it. Kaufman was so controversial people actually thought he would be faking his own death. After several attempts to cure his death he finally lost his battle with cancer. Despite these reports the press still believed it was just another gag by Kaufman. Even his own family had some douhts that this was goning to be the most sickest ultimist gag by Andy Kaufman. Those who knew Kaufman said he was capable of it. Unfortuanlly after the funeral and after several of his friends confirmed of his body Kaufman was now officially dead. Not his sprit though Kaufman s sprit will never die.

Andy Kaufman was the greatest entertainer we have ever seen there is no question to me about that. Some say Kaufman was full of crap and he was just a loser up on stage who had no clue. I say he was a genius. A mastermind he knew exactly how to entertain the fans unlike a lot of the entertainers today. Kaufman was original at what he did. The main thing at being an entertainer is being unpredictable. Not knowing what you re going to do next. Kaufman had this and more in fact he was an expert at this. I am just sad as the rest of the world should be that he is still not doing his same unpredictable stiff he did 20 years ago. Just sit back and think of what he would have done in 20 years. I guess God just couldn t wait for him to show up in heaven to entertain the people upstairs.