#Andy kaufman elvis how to#

#Andy kaufman elvis how to#

He relates to Shapiro that he never knows exactly how to entertain an audience 'short of faking my own death or setting the theater on fire.' Kaufman shows up on the Taxi set as Clifton and proceeds to cause chaos until he is removed from the set. At one show, he deliberately antagonizes attendees by reading The Great Gatsby aloud from start to finish. When performing live, audiences dislike his strange anti-humor and demand that he perform as Latka. Kaufman's profile increases with appearances on Saturday Night Live, but he has problems with his newfound fame. Clifton is a 'villain character' created by Kaufman and his creative partner, Bob Zmuda.

But backstage, when he meets Shapiro in person, Clifton takes off his sunglasses and reveals that he is actually Kaufman. Clifton's bad attitude is matched by his horrible appearance and demeanor. Invited to catch a different act at a nightclub, Shapiro witnesses a performance by a rude, loud-mouthed lounge singer, Tony Clifton, whom Kaufman wants to guest-star on Taxi. Secretly, he hates doing the show and expresses a desire to quit. Because of the money, visibility, and a promise that he can do his own television special, Kaufman accepts the role, turning his foreign man into a mechanic named Latka Gravas. Kaufman catches the eye of talent agent George Shapiro, who signs him as a client and immediately lands him a network television series, Taxi, much to Kaufman's dismay, as he doesn't like sitcoms. The audience bursts into applause, realizing Kaufman had tricked them. As the audience begins to believe that Kaufman may have no real talent, his previously timid 'foreign man' character puts on a rhinestone jacket and does a dead-on Elvis impersonation. The documentary Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond was released in 2017 and chronicles Carrey's performance as Kaufman in the film, a performance he maintained during much of the film's production.Īndy Kaufman is a struggling performer whose act fails in nightclubs because, while the audience wants comedy, he sings children's songs and refuses to tell conventional jokes. His win was in the Musical or Comedy category. Although the film was unsuccessful commercially and received mixed reviews, Carrey received critical acclaim for his performance and won a Golden Globe, his second in a row after his award for The Truman Show. It was released on December 22, 1999, in the United States and May 5, 2000, in the United Kingdom by Universal Pictures and Warner Bros.

The film pays particular attention to the various inside jokes, scams, put-ons, and happenings for which Kaufman was famous, most significantly his long-running 'feud' with wrestler Jerry 'The King' Lawler and his portrayal of the character of bawdy lounge singer Tony Clifton. The story traces Kaufman's steps from childhood through the comedy clubs and television appearances that made him famous, including his memorable appearances on Saturday Night Live, Late Night with David Letterman, Fridays, and his role as Latka Gravas on the sitcom Taxi, which was popular among viewers but disruptive for Kaufman's co-stars.

The film was directed by Miloš Forman and also features Danny DeVito, Courtney Love, and Paul Giamatti. Man on the Moon is a 1999 biographical comedy-drama film about the late American entertainer Andy Kaufman, starring Jim Carrey as Kaufman.