written by: Larry Curtis Spurlock
MAN ON THE MOON
Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman (January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was my favorite comedian of all time. Although Andy always insisted that he was not a comedian – he made me laugh and he did it in surprisingly different ways. Almost never did he tell jokes. Usually, he did it without me expecting it. That was the Dick Van Dyke explanation of comedy. Surprise the people. And boy did this guy surprise people. No one was ever like him before him .. and in 24 years since his premature death – no one has been like him, since.
The first time I saw him in which he did his Mighty Mouse routine on Saturday Night Live’s first telecast in October 1975 – I laughed and I laughed hard. I knew I was watching someone who was very different. But very funny. He followed up those appearances with other SNL gags. His Foreign Man bits would knock me out. He’d pretend to speak in a faux dialect and do imitations all in the same stupid voice. None sounded even remotely like who he said he was doing. And you’d laugh. Then, he’d say, “I’d like to do the Elvis Presley” – he’d spin around, slick back his hair and turn back around and with the same stupid look, he’d belt out an Elvis song sounding exacxtly like Elvis.
In 1978, Andy played a character named Latka Gravas in the TV show, Taxi (1978-1983) in which he used the same Foreign Man voice. The Producers were not going to hire Andy until they saw him – then they wrote a special role for him.
Andy continued doing Guest spots on other TV shows including David Letterman, Midnight Special, The Tonight Show, Merv Griffin, Dick Van Dyke, Dinah Shore, Rodney Dangerfield, Cher, Dean Martin and Redd Foxx. And every time – he did something entirely different. I felt like I was on to him and he’d turn around and fool me, again.
He got me good when he entered the world of professional Rasslin and teamed up with Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler to trick the public into thinking he was really hated by Lawler. It was all a hoax. Even when Andy got hurt by Lawler and they both went on Letterman; Andy wearing the neck brace. I fell for Lawler’s anger and his slapping Andy and walking off. All a goof.
I swore he’d NEVER trick me again and he immediately got me on the Friday night TV show, Friday’s that was similar to Saturday Night Live. On his first appearance, he had let it be known through the newspapers that he wanted out of the contract that he had signed with that show because, supposedly, SNL was angry. Blah blah blah, during a skit in which the actors were supposed to go into a restaurant bathroom and smoke pot – Andy refused to say his lines. It embarrassed the others because this was a live show. Finally, an irate Michael Richards (later of Seinfeld fame) walked off camera, grabbed the cue cards and came back and smacked Andy over the head with them. Andy retaliated by slinging a glass of water on Richards. A melee broke out with another actor screaming obscenities at Andy causing the show’s Director to run on camera and screaming to cut to commercial which they did. When the commercial was over, you could see there was still tension on stage. By Andy’s next appearance on the show, Friday’s had a larger audience than any SNL show ever. Turns out it was all a set up .. but only with Kaufman, Richards and the Director in on the act.
Since Andy ALWAYS fooled everyone with his tricks – no one believed Andy was diagnosed with cancer and ready to die. No one. Certainly not me. Fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me. But once again, Andy got me. He truly was sick and died within the year. Many people, including yours truly, thought Andy would surface again somewhere, sometime .. but in 24 years – he hasn’t.
That’s the kind of comedy and entertaining I’d like to do. But I’m no Andy Kaufman. No one is !
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