April 26, 1979, Andy Kaufman performed for a sold-out crowd in Carnegie Hall, who were welcomed to their seat by a
"press kit" containing a bag of jelly beans, a program and flier for the show, and other copied material, supposedly put together by Andy's mother. The show starting off with
an impersonation of Tony Clifton and ending by
taking the audience of 2,800 out for milk and cookies. About 10 months later on February 20, 1981, Kaufman hosted an episode of
Fridays, ABC's attempt to duplicate the success of NBC's
Saturday Night Live. Instead of performing the show as rehearsed, he took the entire cast and crew, the studio audience and
a nation of television viewers hostage. Video links and more details inside.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Jul 1, 2010 -
30 comments
So, Nathan has left the tape recorder on, and he says if I want to say fascinating things while he’s gone, I can. Well guess what I’m gonna do. While he’s gone, I’m taking his glass of beer and I’m putting it under the table and I’m gonna stick my fuckin’ dick in it. I’m gonna open up my zipper, and I’m gonna rub the tip of my fuckin’ cock around the mouth of his glass. Now I’m putting it back there. He’s gonna be drinkin’, but he ain’t gonna know until he plays this back the trick I pulled on him.
The AV Club interviews Tony Clifton.
posted by shakespeherian
on Jan 20, 2010 -
58 comments
The late night comedy show
Fridays only lasted from 1980 to 1982. The show provided many bands with their first wide exposure to U.S. audiences with some of them making their television debuts. Here's some of the up and comers (and a few established acts) from
Fridays:
The Clash,
King Crimson,
The Jam,
Rockpile,
The Boomtown Rats,
The Pretenders,
Devo,
The Cars,
The Plasmatics,
Graham Parker and the Rumour, and
The Stray Cats.
[more inside]
posted by marxchivist
on Jan 8, 2010 -
46 comments
Andy Kaufman { Mighty Mouse, Elvis impersonator, Bachelor #3, Latka Gravas/Vic Ferrari, the host of his own TV special, trouble-maker [?], Dostoevsky's Idiot, "born again" Christian, percussionist, inter-gender wrestling/bitch-slap champion, lounge singer Tony Clifton [?], bit player, Elayne Boosler's ex-boyfriend, and the Man On the Moon } RIP [YA RLY]
posted by Poolio
on Aug 20, 2007 -
33 comments
The Night Andy Kaufman Sabotaged After
Michael Richards flipped out at the Laugh Factory, some
speculated that Kramer had an "Andy Kaufman moment" gone horribly wrong, but did you know that Richards was once a target of Kaufman's humor himself? On February 20, 1981,
Andy Kaufman hosted ABC's late night comedy show,
Fridays , but refused to stay on script during the live Broadcast. After deliberately blowing lines in several sketches, Kaufman
instigated a fight during one sketch, by
pouring water on Fridays cast member, Michael Richards. The next year, ratings for Fridays were so low that they
asked Kaufman to host a second time to boost ratings. (More inside.)
posted by jonp72
on Nov 23, 2006 -
59 comments
