Andy Kaufman, Masked Magician

ANDY KAUFMAN PICTURES, IV

ANDY KAUFMAN PICTURES, III

ANDY KAUFMAN PICTURES, II

Andy Kaufman Pictures, I

The Death of Andy Kaufman

ANDY KAUFMAN , Old MacDonald had a farm

ANDY KAUFMAN favs,The Three Stooges Beginning

ANDY KAUFMAN ,The Real McCoys

The Howdy Doody Show Ending Song

Original Mighty Mouse Playhouse Opening The Trojan Horse

ANDY KAUFMAN , Get Another Mask

Grab another mask and put it on, AK
Give it sight with your fingers
and life with your spit
and breath from their very minds
Get another mask, and let them believe
believe they you pulled it out of your ass
When all the time they were begging for it.

It made you cry afterward,
How you came so close to losing yourself
And how life could make you giddy
but never be so wickedly intoxicating.
Life couldn't make you blank.
You're not evil.

You wanted nothing.
And they never understood
Help them love them teach them and they push
you away. They just don't get it.
They never got it. They don't even want it.
But oh, how they wanted you.
Grab another mask and put it on, Andrew.

I'm making a mask, just like you used to, AK.
It has soft hair, that is coarse near the ears.
The eyes are midnight blue and the soul is so deep.
And this one I can hold.
This one I can comfort.
I can do as I was meant to, and hold him, help him.
Tell him he isn't evil. Everything will be all right.

Get another mask and put it on, Geoff.
Is there a soul beneath it all? We think so.
Talk to God and see the lands and let no one know the source of it all.
You know it if you go deep enough.
And We know it too.

Grab another mask and put it on, AK.
Perhaps one day the one that I hold in my hands.
Have I called you out yet?
Given enough hints? Labeled your soul that you thought was a freak? It's me, Andy, I'm here.

Grab another mask and put it on, Andy.
Hug yourself, tight, like I would,
and blink away the loneliness as it sheds.
Cover up the tears, hide them for yourself.
And then put them on the mask if they want them.


Phantom, 1998

ALAN ABEL

Such sentiment, as well as the dark nature of Abel’s hoax, invites comparison to America’s other famous comedic deceptionist, the late Andy Kaufman. Kaufman’s most famous bits involved blurring the lines between life and performance, similar to the dedication that Abel demonstrates when staying in character for several years at a time in order to perpetuate whatever scam he’s running. When asked about Kaufman, Abel fondly reminisces about the friendship the two shared in the early 1980s: “We used to walk down Broadway, and he’d stop and talk to everybody and anybody.”

Abel reports that the two made their initial connection after Kaufman was “so enamored over the appearance of the obituary in the New York Times that [Kaufman] queried me for hours about every detail of how I pulled it off.” However, Abel concedes that Kaufman may end up with the upper hand, saying he’s “leaving the door open just a little bit that he might still be hiding out there somewhere,” speculating on the persistent rumors that Kaufman may have faked his death in 1984.

Life is what you make of it (Andy Kaufman is waiting Papu)

In the early 80's, Andy appeared on the Tom Cottle show to do an interview. It was the only time Andy ever let his guard down and gave the TV world Andy as himself, without any strings attached. He talked about an event in his childhood that seemed to shape his psyche in a strange way. Cottle was looking for some insight into why Andy was the way he was, and it seems as though he got more than he bargained for with Andy's honest and sad response. Andy spoke of his Grandfather, Papu he called him. Andy's grandfather was his best friend when he was a boy. He did everything with him. He was the only 3-D person who understood him. One day, Andy asked his parents where his grandfather had gone. His parents told him he had gone on a trip. In reality, he had died and Andy's loving parents were afraid to tell Andy the truth, for fear of sending the boy into an early spiral of depression. Instead of going on with his daily routines of cartoons and chocolate, Andy would sit in front of the living room window, waiting for his grandfather to return. He never did, and Andy never returned from the fantasy, from the lie that made the truth easier to accept. No doubt his perceptions were warped and his concepts of the importance of real life were blurred by this event. Andy learned that real life didn't have to be real, it was all in your head. The phrase "life is what you make of it" certainly seems to take precedence in the life of Andy Kaufman.
...
He's still confusing people who fail to see his genius (give them time). He's still studied by people, struggling to figure him out. His enigmatic presence breathes new life into the self-imposed Kaufman myth, more and more with each coming year. And he's still being accused of being out there, somewhere, waiting for the right time to come back and fool us all, again, which he seems to be doing right about now.

Sam McAbee

5MTL.COM

I AM Andy Kaufman and YOU are talking about ME!

THE PASSION OF ANDY KAUFMAN

They just did not have the ball

Seth Schultz, The real Andy Kaufman

The real Andy Kaufman: When I do a show, I want that people feel like if they are in my home. They are my guests.

ANDY KAUFMAN: To dream

I am going to do WHAT?

Andy Kaufman - ¨Life Magazine ¨