Plan B Forum

"Thank You Very Much" is a documentary film about Andy Kaufman. There is an interesting essay about the film in the New York Times Magazine for today. I watched it through Amazon. I suspect it is out on other streaming services, but I don't use any of them. I liked Andy Kaufman as an entertainer. He baffled me with his wrestling women bit. I loved his Elvis Presley. Overall I liked him. I felt my funny bone was tickled at the same time there was something intellectual there that was just barely over the line of my comprehension--and that was fun too. I did not watch the tv Taxi show very much. In that series I actually preferred the woman who was Latke's wife (partner?) I thought Kaufman in that show was closely following a script for the part he was playing. For me, it lacked that mental puzzle that had been in his other performances. The movie argues that it was a careful recreation of Andy's college roommate, who really did talk and act like that.

I found the movie worth the time to watch, both as an artfully informative description of Mr. Kaufman and his place in the entertainment culture of that time; and also prompted some self revealing thoughts about me as I remembered what I was back then.

snailgate.

It sounds interesting; i will have to try and see i.

What I loved about Kaufman is that you never knew when he was serious; some of the things he did (I recall a monologue re his new "born again christian" girlfriend who changed his life (not sure if it was on SNL or Fridays) or his tearful apology on SNL when he did a skit that lampooned Elvis Presley in his later years; many even doubted his death and thought it was a joke he was playing, which I think is a great testament to his comedy. I didn't get his wrestling women but either, but I did like a lot of his other bits, and enjoyed the Man on the Moon move.

Re Taxi, I am not sruprised that Latka was based on an acquaintance of his; the first time I saw him on TV (not sure what show) his act consisted of him playing a Latka type character doing impressions (very bad ones with his accent--I recall his Ed McMahon imitation being "Ha, ha, ha" in the accent ) and then doing his Elvis imitation which surprised the audience.

What I loved about Kaufman is that you never knew when he was serious

The same was true of Monty Python. We watched it religiously every week in 70/71 - we congregated upstairs in John's room because he had a TV and none of the rest of us did. The news came on as soon as Python was over - and because they often posed as newsreaders, you were never quite sure whether you were watching the real news or Python's take on it. It's possible that various chemical substances played a role of course . . . .

We did the same thing in college, congregating in a guy who had a TV (rare in college in those days) in his room. It was before the news, but the accents would be a give away for whether it was really the news or more of the show.