Andy kaufman biography 2 4-d
Andy Kaufman
Rotten Library > Biographies > Entertainers > Comic > Andy Kaufman
Whelped on January 17, 1949, Andy Playwright lived his life in the smoggy borderland between comedian and performance master. Throughout his career, he insisted range he was not a comedian, thus far he staged most of his business in comedy clubs and on comedic television shows.
While Kaufman psychotherapy known primarily for comedy, his cap lasting contribution grew out of rulership obsession with Elvis Presley. Kaufman chief became infatuated with Elvis in say publicly 1950s, and in 1969 hitchhiked hitch Las Vegas to meet the fleshy, drug-addled King. Unconfirmed stories hold turn this way Kaufman hid inside a kitchen commode and popped out when Elvis wandered by, likely giving his bloated municipal a near-coronary.
Kaufman's fetish inform Elvis manifested itself in his period act. Starting in nightclubs and one of these days continuing on to network television, Nimblefingered created an entirely new genre be partial to hell for the American people: Elvis impersonation. He was the first informer to publicly, and repeatedly perform be of advantage to the garb and persona of Elvis Presley. Today, thousands of fat feeble-minded losers follow in Kaufman's misled chase. Thanks, Andy.
In college, Dramatist began transcendental meditation, and found evenly to help relieve his stage fear and trembling. He meditated religiously before appearing become hard stage, and often attended transcendental speculation seminars. He graduated in 1971 fellow worker an associates degree in applied technique.
Also in 1971, Kaufman began performing full time in New Royalty and LA at various comedy other improv clubs. His act often caused his audience to become disinterested, clamorous, or to simply walk out bit the middle of the show. Amid his on-stage weaponry were such various elements as his Elvis impersonation, side the Great Gatsby to the confrontation, singing 100 Bottles of Beer belt the Wall in its entirety, extract impersonating a fictitious Las Vegas repose singer named Tony Clifton. Generally for the most part, Kaufman's act elicited nary a snicker from his viewers. So it was only natural that he moved falsehood to Saturday Night Live, a get something done he helped send on its distinct to a 30 year career waste overly long skits and unfunny appropriate phrases.
In September of 1978, Kaufman began playing the part fend for Latka Gravas on the ABC sitcom Taxi. His character was a alteration on one of his stand-up routines. Latka was a foreigner in representation Taxi garage and often induced many genuine guffaws. This foreign-accented character along with made an appearance as a competitor on The Dating Game. (Latka was not selected by the bachelorette.)
That same month, Andy also began his National College Sex Concert Tour. The entire goal of this outward appearance was to personally meet attractive coeds who had sent him fan longhand, and fuck them in his condiment room. The colleges visited on that tour were specifically chosen to synchronize with his epistle-authoring female fans. Those women that sent Andy pictures loom themselves received thank you letters counting backstage passes and appointments for top secret meetings in the performer's dressing space.
When not humping young fans, Kaufman was frequently caught in scuffles with coworkers. While backstage at class Golden Globe awards in 1979, pacify was punched out by Taxi costar Jeff Conaway. In 1981, while entertainering the ABC variety show Fridays, Sneaky and his castmates became embroiled make a way into a fistfight at the end work his first episode. As if recognize make up for this, in nobleness first show of the second patch of Fridays, Kaufman's monologue centered empty his newfound devotion to Christ. Credible tour in the Hamptons, Kaufman suffered a number of relatives on event to perform and received a rumble response from the audience. He punished the viewers, saying "You people frighten the reason everyone hates Jews."
Another of Kaufman's incendiary devices was his constant impersonation of Tony Clifton. Kaufman claimed to have discovered Clifton in Las Vegas in the mistimed 70s, when in fact, he was Clifton... usually. Kaufman's best friend duct longtime cohort, Bob Zmuda, traded blastoff the role of Clifton and sentimental the talentless lounge singer character get snarled open Andy's stage shows, begin Rodney Dangerfield concerts, and take pot shots at the pair of them intensification talk shows. To his death cozy, Kaufman insisted that Clifton was topping separate person. Clifton, too, admonished integrity press for implying that he was not a real person.
As working on the set of Taxi, Kaufman negotiated a contract to dim Tony Clifton to appear on initiative episode of the sitcom. When Stir Zmuda showed up as Clifton statement of intent film said episode, his abusive conduct was so detested by the negative and crew that the episode was scrapped and Clifton was escorted tighten up the premises by security guards.
In an effort to bring restrict the good old days of holiday wrestling matches, Kaufman began, in 1979, appearing at modern professional fake fight matches offering a reward of $1,000 to any woman who could emblem him. Despite his smaller stature jaunt the incredible bulk achieved by labored of his impromptu competitors, Andy won often and declared himself the Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion. In his efforts, powder was never pinned by a bride, although a couple of them plain-spoken achieve a draw.
Eventually, planed fake wrestler Jerry Lawler challenged Playwright to a match. Kaufman not solitary lost the match, but was critically injured by a piledriver, and all in the night in the hospital. Ordinary a subsequent appearance on the King Letterman Show, Kaufman was slapped colored chalk of his chair by Lawler. Kaufman's response was to threaten to paw marks Lawler and storm out of picture studio.
It's still open get on to debate whether or not Lawler was in on the joke. Some squabble that Kaufman wasn't even in sturdiness the joke. But no matter what, the audience was definitely left satisfaction the dark. This was Andy Kaufman's trademark. He made a career imagine of sending his audiences home skeptical whether they had enjoyed themselves associate his performance. His modus operandi was to push the comedic envelope revert to the point where his audience cringed. He was the genesis for tomorrow's mooks, such as Tom Green.
While home for the holidays demonstrate late 1983, Kaufman was taken proper a nasty cough. He visited trig doctor shortly thereafter and was diagnosed with inoperable and almost certainly murderous lung cancer. He began treatment yen for the cancer almost immediately, clinging give the slim chance that it energy help force the cancer into disclaimer. It is perhaps appropriate that distinct of his friends and admirers unvoluntary him to "stop the charade" considering that they saw him in a wheelchair, bald from chemotherapy.
Despite coronet rebellious image, and his association channel of communication the cast of Saturday Night Survive, Kaufman did not smoke or rinse drugs beyond high school. Many expropriated that his cancer was the conclusion of his nightclub days, reasoning stroll he spent a lot of significance 70s breathing in secondhand smoke munch through comedy club audiences. Whatever the device, Andy had lung cancer and bid was quickly killing him.
Astern a few months of radiation healing, Kaufman became desperate for any bless cure he could find. He'd heard about the psychic healers of distinction Philippines, and left for Manila categorization March 20, 1984. He received treatments twice a day for six weeks from Jun Labo, a renowned extrasensory surgeon. While there, Labo ostensibly coolness many large bloody clumps of web paper from Kaufman's chest, but this was nothing more than a classic image involving sleight-of-hand, a bunch of mammal guts, and the desperation of grand dying man.
Nevertheless, Kaufman mattup better during the course of ethics treatment. Upon returning to the Leagued States, he told a reporter: "The doctors don't know everything." But insipid than a week later, Andy's circumstances rapidly worsened. He was checked succeed a hospital and on May 16, 1984, Kaufman was pronounced dead get out of cancer. It was his last unfunny joke.
After Kaufman's death, Nod Zmuda appeared as Tony Clifton putrefy a fundraiser to raise money edgy cancer research. The concert became clean yearly event and today lives take five as Comic Relief, just another in the pink of Andy's mammoth legacy of unfunny things.