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Andy Kaufman: Characters
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Andy Kaufman was an enigmatic individual, to say the least. Milos Forman’s 1999 bio-pic, Man on the Moon attempted, but failed, to reveal the real man behind all the strange behavior, and this written study ... falls short with its well-meaning shot at comprehending this odd character.
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Born 1949, January - Andy Kaufman's performances were like no other. He not only pushed the boundaries of good taste and audience tolerance, he ... created a myriad of strange, wonderful, and sometimes horrific characters, switching effortlessly from one to the other, effectively blurring the lines between Kaufman the man and Kaufman the artist.
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In 1981, Kaufman made a couple of memorable appearances on Fridays, a variety show on ABC that was similar to SNL. Kaufman's first appearance on the show proved to be the most memorable one. During a sketch set in a restaurant, Kaufman broke character and refused to say his lines. The other comedians were embarrassed by the position that Kaufman had put them in on a live television show. In response, Michael Richards walked off camera and returned with a set of cue cards and dumped on the table in front of Kaufman. Andy responded by splashing Michael Richards with water.
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In 1981, Kaufman made a couple of memorable appearances on Friday's, a variety show on ABC that was similar to SNL. However, Kaufman's first time on the show didn't go very well. During one sketch, Kaufman broke character and refused to say his lines. The other comedians, embarrassed by the position that Kaufman was putting them in on a live television show, became very angry with him and a brawl broke out on stage. Kaufman appeared the following week in a video taped apology to the home viewers. Later that year, Kaufman returned to host Friday's.
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Kaufman hated sitcoms and was not thrilled with the idea of being on one. In order to allow Kaufman to demonstrate some comedic range, his character was given multiple personality disorder, which allowed Kaufman to randomly portray other characters. In one episode, Kaufman's character came down with a condition which made him act like Alex Reiger, the main character played by Judd Hirsch. Another such recurring character played by Kaufman was the womanizing "Vic Ferrari". Latka's wife in the series was named Simka, who was portrayed by comic actress Carol Kane. His role did lead to two Golden Globe nominations, in 1979 and 1980.[10] His appearance on this show included a sketch of him supposedly rehearsing for a "Taxi" episode but ended up being a made-up gag sequence.
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Kaufman first caught people's attention with a character named Foreign Man in the early 1970s. Foreign Man, who claimed to be from an island in the Caspian Sea, would appear on the stage of comedy clubs and perform a number of bad impersonations (Archie Bunker, Nixon, etc). The audience would be torn between being outraged that they had to sit through a really bad act, and feeling sorry for Foreign Man. At that point, Foreign Man would launch into his Elvis Presley impersonation which was surprisingly good (Presley himself had said that Kaufman's impersonation was his favorite). The audience would then realize that they had been tricked, which became a trademark of Kaufman's comedy.
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