Andy Kaufman - Man on the Moon
Created | Updated Feb 1, 2002
Andy Kaufman found fame through his weird idea of comedy. Although never claiming to be a comedian, his style was new to that era and people liked his off-the-wall approach. His career led him to star as Latka Gravis in the sitcom Taxi, and had several appearances on the trendy Saturday Night Live show.
Growing up in New York, he claimed that he was going to work in TV, even at the age of eight. He was performing routines for friend's birthday parties and even had an imaginary TV show in his bedroom, which was broadcast live.
He started his professional career in Improvisation clubs, doing a routine as a 'Foreign Man'. This involved Andy slicking his hair back and talking in a very high pitched voice, with a particular catch phrase of "Tank you very much". He would claim to be from a remote island, and later to be from Latvia. The Foreign Man would then go on to impersonate Elvis Presley, who was one of Andy's real life heros. Andy met Elvis at one of Elvis' performances. His impersonation of him was said to be very convincing.
Andy soon gained attention to his antics, although they weren't always positive. In one example, he would sing nursery rhymes to the audience, who obviously felt patronised. His idea was to engage with the audience, even if that meant annoying them immensely.
His most contentious idea was to wrestle with women. Andy wanted to start wrestling, although he knew he wasn't too good. So, he and his side-kick (Bob Zmuda) came up with the idea of Inter-gender wrestling, where Andy would fight with women. This would start with offending his female audience by rude comments about them being in the kitchen where they belong. In the late 70's and early 80's this was quite a contentious thing to say. The women would come in to the ring and wrestle directly with Andy, and he still remains to date, the undisputed Inter-gender Wrestler.
Growing up in New York, he claimed that he was going to work in TV, even at the age of eight. He was performing routines for friend's birthday parties and even had an imaginary TV show in his bedroom, which was broadcast live.
He started his professional career in Improvisation clubs, doing a routine as a 'Foreign Man'. This involved Andy slicking his hair back and talking in a very high pitched voice, with a particular catch phrase of "Tank you very much". He would claim to be from a remote island, and later to be from Latvia. The Foreign Man would then go on to impersonate Elvis Presley, who was one of Andy's real life heros. Andy met Elvis at one of Elvis' performances. His impersonation of him was said to be very convincing.
Andy soon gained attention to his antics, although they weren't always positive. In one example, he would sing nursery rhymes to the audience, who obviously felt patronised. His idea was to engage with the audience, even if that meant annoying them immensely.
His most contentious idea was to wrestle with women. Andy wanted to start wrestling, although he knew he wasn't too good. So, he and his side-kick (Bob Zmuda) came up with the idea of Inter-gender wrestling, where Andy would fight with women. This would start with offending his female audience by rude comments about them being in the kitchen where they belong. In the late 70's and early 80's this was quite a contentious thing to say. The women would come in to the ring and wrestle directly with Andy, and he still remains to date, the undisputed Inter-gender Wrestler.
