Andy Kaufman Trusted You

It amazes and saddens me that so many people STILL don’t “ get ” Andy. With all due respect, as one who was there, i’d like to share my perspective…Andy was seminal in bringing a wholly radical concept of comedy to the masses. In fact, he didn’t consider himself a comedian (as it was understood then) at all. Consider the times…Kaufman was bringing a subver... more >

It amazes and saddens me that so many people STILL don’t “ get ” Andy. With all due respect, as one who was there, i’d like to share my perspective… Andy was seminal in bringing a wholly radical concept of comedy to the masses. In fact, he didn’t consider himself a comedian (as it was understood then) at all. Consider the times…Kaufman was bringing a subversive form of entertainment to the people of the middle 1970’s into the early 1980’s. Remember, this was a time of inflation, massive lay-offs, gas crises, fears of nuclear war, etc. We were introduced to the idea that entire industries could collapse (see Michael Moore for explanation), barcodes, “generic” brands, and disco.

We were eating Hamburger Helper and “the government cheese” for god’s sake!!

We had shitty weed and only the rich and/or famous could afford good drugs, like cocaine, which wasn’t addictive.

We were SERIOUSLY uptight.

People wanted MINDLESS laughs. People didn’t want comedy they couldn’t understand, or that made them “uncomfortable”. . . and Andy flat-out pissed people off.

This “mindless” mindset is clear if you look at the top show’s of the day: Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, Three’s Company, The Ropers, One Day at a Time, Eight is Enough…ad nauseum. EVEN the “risque” shows were sugar-coated and disgustingly benign (e.g. Three’s Company). And Middle American was still mourning the loss of the variety show.

Kaufman brought us MORE than comedy—he opened the door to a new way of THINKING about comedy. A true radical who loved fucking with people’s heads. Call it what you like:

comedy. performance art. either, neither. or both.

From the silliness of Monty Python to embracing that “Nietzsche” of comedy, Bill Hicks—someone, somewhere needs to send a nod of thanks Kaufman’s way.