Andy Kaufman - comedic genius?

[Stankfoot]

I like the fact that when he started a bit he stuck with it to the end and refused to break character.

Check out him doing an excellent Elvis impersonation on a Johnny Cash Christmas Special (it won't be up there long - one week).

Johnny Cash Christmas Special (http://pitchfork.tv/week/johnny-cashs-christmas-special/thats-when-your-heartaches-begin-andy-kaufman)

[K.C.]

Yes.

[hammersavage]

Take the goddamn question mark off of this thread title.

If he's not a genius, then there's never been one.

[epo]

Yes.

Correct. Lock it up.

[GreatAmericanZero]

i was watching those two new clowns that took over Ebert & Roper (they are horrible) and when they were reviewing "Soul Men" they said "the word comic genius is thrown around alot, but Bernie Mac is without a doubt a comic genius"

i really don't think he is

[mikeyboy]

i was watching those two new clowns that took over Ebert & Roper (they are horrible) and when they were reviewing "Soul Men" they said "the word comic genius is thrown around alot, but Bernie Mac is without a doubt a comic genius"

i really don't think he is

at least not any more

[cogsdoc]

at least not any more

Ouch mikeyboy kicking the dead.

Love him or hate him Kaufman pushed comedic boundaries in ways nobody was even thinking about. That makes him a genius.

[TheMojoPin]

i was watching those two new clowns that took over Ebert & Roper (they are horrible) and when they were reviewing "Soul Men" they said "the word comic genius is thrown around alot, but Bernie Mac is without a doubt a comic genius"

i really don't think he is

What, there can only be one type of "comic genius?" It's not like there's some set standard. In terms of being fucking funny as hell and clever and amazingly quick-witted on stage, I'd say Bernie Mac could very easily have been a "comedic genius." What he and Kaufman did are so completely different that it's pretty pointless to try and say one is a "comedy genius" and the other isn't.

[hammersavage]

Holy shit, a Sam Weir sig! Nice Mojo. I'm rewatching that series right now for the 20th time.

[cougarjake13]

absolutely a genius

[TheMojoPin]

Holy shit, a Sam Weir sig! Nice Mojo. I'm rewatching that series right now for the 20th time.

I just sold the old box set to a friend so I can go buy the new "yearbook edition" box set. I love that show so much, I gotta get those 2 extra bonus discs.

[Kevin]

I just sold the old box set to a friend so I can go buy the new "yearbook edition" box set. I love that show so much, I gotta get those 2 extra bonus discs.

I can't believe those talentless execs pulled the plug on it so fast. So many good shows get canceled way to fast now.

If execs back in the day where like this, so many great shows would not have gotten the chance.

Fuck you TV.

Btw Sam is now on the Show Bones...

[Gvac]

Andy Kaufman = overrated. :thumbdown:

[BlackSpider]

Andy Kaufman = overrated. :thumbdown:

Again we agree...

[epo]

Andy Kaufman = overrated. :thumbdown:

I think the early winter is injuring your brain.

[TheMojoPin]

I can't believe those talentless execs pulled the plug on it so fast. So many good shows get canceled way to fast now.

If execs back in the day where like this, so many great shows would not have gotten the chance.

Fuck you TV.

Btw Sam is now on the Show Bones...

True, though I'm grateful that they writers on the show really did a great job wrapping things up with the single season that the show ends up working basically as a mini-series. There's obviously a lot more they could have done, but as it stands it works pretty well as a finite series.

[jonyrotn]

Not my cup of tea..:sad:

Andy Kaufman's stand up act never, ever made me laugh..
I still get embarrassed for him when I see his Mighty Mouse schtick..
When I was a kid I used to laugh my ass off at "Latka" but anytime I've seen him do something outside of Taxi, I couldn't find the humor in it..

I was much more entertained by Montey Python back then..

I can't comment on Bernie Mac because I've never seen his act..
I have however seen Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle a bunch of times and those two imho, are two of the funniest dudes I've ever heard tell a joke..
But what the fuck do I know?
I still laugh at Hoo Hoo..:ohmy:

[zildjian361]

Andy Kaufman = overrated. :thumbdown:

shit if wasn't 55 i wouldn't know who he was. who gives a f**k :sleep:

[hammersavage]

I just sold the old box set to a friend so I can go buy the new "yearbook edition" box set. I love that show so much, I gotta get those 2 extra bonus discs.

Did not know of its release. Thanks for the heads up.

And GVac is insane. Whats new?

[Gvac]

I defy any of you to go back and watch reruns of "Taxi." If Latka doesn't give you douche chills you've really got a warped sense of comedy.

[hammersavage]

Tenk you veddy much

[Gvac]

Sometimes weirdos are just weirdos. They're not always "misunderstood geniuses."

The fact that he beat that whole wrestling gimmick into the ground and refused to break character doesn't demonstrate genius to me, just someone who didn't have the sense to abandon a dying bit, or maybe someone who had lost grip on reality.

And it wasn't funny.

[DonInNC]

His wrestling feud with Jerry Lawler was great. I still think of Memphis as "Meemphus Ten-uh-seee".

[KnoxHarrington]

It's impossible for me to believe that anyone who likes Ron & Fez is not a Kaufman fan. He certainly didn't invent the notion of "anti-comedy", of a bit being constructed so that you have no idea if it's actually a bit or not, but I think he perfected it in a lot of ways.

[BlackSpider]

Sorry,
I'm 41, and got to see most of his stuff while it happened.
I don't recall anyone calling him a genius until after he died...
I don't recall laughing at any of his bits...

[Gvac]

It's impossible for me to believe that anyone who likes Ron & Fez is not a Kaufman fan. He certainly didn't invent the notion of "anti-comedy", of a bit being constructed so that you have no idea if it's actually a bit or not, but I think he perfected it in a lot of ways.

He honestly bored me to tears. I love Ron and Fez's take on comedy, with the whole is-it-real-or-not aspect, but that's not all they do 3 hours a day 5 days a week. If it was, I probably wouldn't listen every day.

[Doctor Manhattan]

Andy Kaufman = overrated. :thumbdown:

I agree, but I still think he was extremely funny. Way overrated. Comedians tend to be either be made into Gods or ignored. Sometimes they are ignored until they die then are made into Gods. People don't seem to be able to properly deal with their talent and rate them correctly.

[Kevin]

It's impossible for me to believe that anyone who likes Ron & Fez is not a Kaufman fan. He certainly didn't invent the notion of "anti-comedy", of a bit being constructed so that you have no idea if it's actually a bit or not, but I think he perfected it in a lot of ways.

Eh, just because RF likes something does not mean you have to like it. I do not like many things they like. I am an individual, not a sheep..

[pennington]

I would describe Kaufman more as a performance artist rather than a comedian. I don't think he was funny, but he was interesting to watch.

Remember when Lorne Michaels came on SNL to announce they were going to have a vote on whether to bring back Kaufman after he was "suspended" for something? That was Andy's idea, it never occurred to him that people would vote to keep him off (or that Michaels would actually let the vote be binding).

I also think he had emotional problems and some of what he did wasn't an act. I remember in one of the biographies on him, Robin Williams said near the end Andy wore the wrestling costume under his clothes even was he wasn't performing. I think if he had lived, he would have had to do more and more bizarre things to get attention and would have wound up a pathetic alone figure.

[bobrobot]

I absolutely adore Andy Kaufman. I found everything he did to be both tremendously exciting & hysterically funny. He was a more courageous performer than anyone else I can think of aside from a young Lenny Bruce! A lot of performance art involves comedy, so I am comfortable w/ that line of thinking. What I hate is speculation about what dead artists would be doing were they still living (no offense to speculators but I am entitled to my opinion)... I remember some Bozo at a party saying to me that Jimi Hendrix would be playing Disco (this was IN the Disco era) if he were still alive... I felt like hitting the guy in the head w/ a mackerel!!! Anyway Andy was a hero of mine & I still use his art as a measurement of bravery in what I see & what I do, to this very day.

Andy sings Slim Whitman (click) (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.maniacworld.com/Andy-Kaufman-sings.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.maniacworld.com/Andy-Kaufman-sings.html&usg=__xy511Kv_jBtbslkpY2sc8lBrJZE=&h=313&w=419&sz=19&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=QW1XHB-LZ8pvMM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dandy%2Bkaufman%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26 sa%3DG)

http://www.maniacworld.com/Andy-Kaufman-sings.jpg

[BlackSpider]

I would describe Kaufman more as a performance artist rather than a comedian. I don't think he was funny, but he was interesting to watch...

^^^---- This...

[Jughead]

Andy Yea .............Jeff Nay!!:huh:

[TheMojoPin]

Remember when Lorne Michaels came on SNL to announce they were going to have a vote on whether to bring back Kaufman after he was "suspended" for something? That was Andy's idea, it never occurred to him that people would vote to keep him off (or that Michaels would actually let the vote be binding).

Michaels had nothing to do with that. He was no longer producing the show during that season.

[PapaBear]

Michaels had nothing to do with that. He was no longer producing the show during that season.
I was going to call you on that, but you're right. I think what confused me is the scene in Man On The Moon when Andy begs to be let back on the show later. I don't know if it ever really happened, but in the movie, I think it was Michaels that he was begging.

[drjoek]

Abdy also had the comedy chops to die young to cement his genius tag. It would have been very cool to see how his act played out over time. But I can say for a fact that my som who is 30 years my junior laughed out loud when he saw the replay of him doing the Mighty Mouse theme with the record player on SNL. I hadn't prompted him about who he was. So I'm going with genius.

[TheMojoPin]

I was going to call you on that, but you're right. I think what confused me is the scene in Man On The Moon when Andy begs to be let back on the show later. I don't know if it ever really happened, but in the movie, I think it was Michaels that he was begging.

Yeah, the movie tweeked reality and presented it as something Lorne did, but it actually happened after he was gone.

[KC2OSO]

Again we agree...
And then there were three.