> Was it that he was avant-garde for the time? I don't think that's it exactly. It's very hard to put a finger on. He was often baby-faced as in this intervi

> Was it that he was avant-garde for the time? I don't think that's it exactly. It's very hard to put a finger on. He was often baby-faced as in this interview, but he was a vicious prankster under the hood. He once surprised an audience by refusing to do any act other than reading aloud The Great Gatsby. After seven minutes (!), the last 4 of which saw him being heckled relentlessly, he asked the audience if they wanted him to play a record instead (presumably many thought he was going to do his Mighty Mouse - one of his most famous routines), and of course they cheered. However, he had already had a vinyl pressed of him reading the The Great Gatsby - picking up right where he had left off. He continued to read the entire novel as the auditorium emptied over the course of the next 2 hours. He was already a mega star at this point, and finished reading the novel to an almost empty house. (The first part of this was captured on video, here: http://www.teachertube.com/video/andy-kaufman-reads-gatsby-167287 http://www.teachertube.com/video/andy-kaufman-reads-gatsby-1...). edit: Actually, I'm not sure that this clip is from the same event at which he read the entire novel; this one might be where he just did the first 8 minutes of it on SNL (which is also insane). second edit: You know, now I'm questioning whether he ever did read the entire book to an audience - I have found a website which claims he didn't, but that his publicist just spread a rumor that he did in order to put the audience on edge before the SNL thing. Perhaps I'm confusing it with the depiction in Man on the Moon, in which he does. > Should I go watch Taxi/Man on the Moon? Oh yeah. Man on the Moon is a great film; some of Jim Carrey's best work. > What is quintessential Kaufman? In my opinion, Tony Clifton. Absolute brilliance. He was a terrible lounge singer who went to "meet the audience" during his set. He picked on a single person and horribly abused them - throwing their dinner away, pouring water on their head, making fun of their ethnicity, etc, until the audience was enraged. However, this single person was always a plant - often his brother or his long time writing partner, Bob Zmuda. Also, his commitment to character was extreme: by all accounts, Andy never, ever smoked cigarettes or drank alcohol (though he did say that cannabis and LSD had been influences on his thinking). However, as Tony Clifton, he actually drank and smoked to excess. It's bizarre to see. I can't think of another performer who actually changed something so crucial about his diet just for the purposes of being in character. It's stuff like this that made Andy so memorable.