"I never told a joke in my life."

October 3, 2010 7:22 AM

Watch Andy Kaufman Be Alive "This is nearly every YouTube video of Andy Kaufman, in chronological order, from college acting audition to the last TV appearance 9 years later. 175 videos." via @mikemonello
posted by gwint (9 comments total)

my favorite part is watching all these old school entertainers like Sammy Davis Jr. and Dick Van Dyke pretend to be annoyed by his hijinks while secretly probably actually being annoyed that his un-joke jokes were getting massive laughs.

The most amazing thing about Andy to me has always been how popular he was.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:53 AM on October 3, 2010 [5 favorites]

I take that back, the best part is this HBO Special. Mindblowingly good, and miles beyond the original foreign man but not as confrontational as his later stuff.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:59 AM on October 3, 2010 [4 favorites]

I'm glad you posted this -- I'd never have seen it otherwise. So, um, dankyouveddymuch...
posted by .kobayashi. at 9:23 AM on October 3, 2010

This is awesome. Thank you!
posted by ericthegardener at 9:38 AM on October 3, 2010

Watch Andy Kaufman Be Alive

Damn it, I thought it was gonna be the reveal that he faked his death.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 9:46 AM on October 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is delightful, but my goodness that college reel is awful. The awfulness makes it all the more delightful in light of his later stuff, of course.
posted by HeroZero at 10:10 AM on October 3, 2010

This is amazing, and I love Dick Van Dyke too. They're very different styles of performance, but you can see comonalities among them as well. I've only scratched the surface of these videos but I love the one where Van Dyke is putting on his clown outfit explaining how putting on a costume changes a person, and then Andy does his Elvis transformation. The lead in from one to the other is brilliant.

I think Van Dyke doesn't always get enough credit for his versitility. I always thought he was type-cast as a traditional wholesome do-gooder until I saw him play a murder on Columbo. The transformation was total. I'm not ashamed to say that he scared me more than a little bit. I think if any entertainer of that age "got" Andy Kaufman and the roles he played, it would probably be Dick Van Dyke. His clown lead-in speaks to that.

Oh wait, this is an Andy thread... oops.
posted by yeolcoatl at 11:46 AM on October 3, 2010 [1 favorite]

Damn it, I thought it was gonna be the reveal that he faked his death.

If anyone would pull it off, he would. I am glad he is getting the recognition he deserves - Jim Carey movie, many mainstream media retrospectives, ect. Classic example of the public playing catch up to an artist ahead of their time.
posted by archivist at 12:26 PM on October 3, 2010

Thanks for a great collection: AK was one of a kind and left us way to soon!
posted by Upon Further Review at 5:19 PM on October 3, 2010