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Andy Kaufman: Jim Carrey
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Kaufman and Lawler's famous feud and wrestling matches were later revealed to have been staged, or a "work," as the two were actually friends. The truth about it being a work was kept secret for more than 10 years after Kaufman's death, until the Emmy nominated documentary, A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman, aired on NBC in 1995. Coincidentally, Jim Carrey (who ... shares Kaufman's birthday) is the one who reveals the secret, and would later go on to play Kaufman in the 1999 film, Man on the Moon. In a 1997 interview with the Memphis Flyer, Lawler claimed he had improvised during their first match and the Letterman incident. Although officials at St. Francis Hospital stated that Kaufman's neck injuries were real, in his 2002 biography It's Good to Be the King...Sometimes, Lawler detailed how they came up with the angle and kept it quiet. He also said that Kaufman's explosion on Letterman was the comedian's own idea.
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[N]aturally, those same fans were highly skeptical when Kaufman set the next phase of his experiment into motion and, via a feud with his longtime manager Jimmy Hart, made the previously unthinkable switch to a babyface. After running a series of angles designed to make him appear sympathetic to the fans, an apologetic Kaufman humbly approached Jerry Lawler with a proposition. Having been the victim of several sneak attacks by Hart's stable of wrestlers, Andy knew he needed someone in his corner to watch his back while he settled things with "The Mouth of the South." As a show of good faith, he offered to double the $5,000 bounty he had once placed on Lawler and give it to The King, if only he would agree to be his partner for one match. Lawler, not sure what to think of Kaufman's seemingly sincere change in attitude, stated that not only would he be his partner, Andy could keep his $10,000. Lawler did... have one condition...Kaufman had to swear that it would be he last wrestling match.
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Later, after a challenge from professional wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler, Kaufman would step into the ring (in the Memphis wrestling circuit) with a man — Lawler himself. Their ongoing feud, often featuring Jimmy Hart and other heels in Kaufman's corner, included an apparent broken neck for Kaufman as a result of Lawler's piledriver and a famous on-air fight on a 1982 episode of Late Night with David Letterman. For some time after that, Kaufman appeared everywhere wearing a neck brace, insisting that his injuries were real. Kaufman would continue to defend the Inter-Gender Championship in the Mid-South Coliseum, and offered an extra prize, other than the $1,000.00: that if he was pinned, the woman who pinned him would get to marry him and that he (Kaufman) would shave his head bald as well.
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Although considered a genius by many contemporaries, Kaufman's brand of comedy was offbeat, extremely confrontational, and always misunderstood. He was not an easy man to know or even to like on a personal level. Despite the contradictions, the popular fascination with the "Dada of Ha-Ha" persists today. It will peak on Christmas Day with the opening of "Man on the Moon," directed by Academy Award-winning director Milos Forman and starring Jim Carrey (as Andy), Danny DeVito and Courtney Love. Besides the movie, at least two books on Kaufman are coming out this fall and there will no doubt be a resurgence in radio air play for R.E.M.'s song (from which the title of the movie is taken) and several related documentaries on cable.
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In 1999, a new crop of Kaufman fans were born after Jim Carrey starred in the hit film Man on the Moon. "Andy's bizarre mix of comedy and performance art will inspire fans and comedians alike for generations, especially after this stunt," says Jim Carrey.
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StarIQ.com has a fascinating article by Madalyn Hillis-Dineen comparing the charts of Jim Carrey and Andy Kaufman. She makes a convincing argument that he was "born" for the part considering all the overlaps between their two charts – including sharing the same birthday. While you are there, check out the rest of this up and coming astrology portal site that combines newsy articles with astrological input: http://www.stariq.com/pagetemplate/article.asp?pageid=402
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