Who is Man On The Moon

The Man On The Moon legend has beginnings in a wide variety of cultures and eras. Perhaps the oldest legend is the one that states that the Moon is actually Cain, destined to circle Earth forever, always seeing that which he cannot have.............wait.........we need to be talking about the other Man On The Moon, Andy Kaufman.

Andy Kaufman was born January 27, 1949 in New York City. He was raised in the Long Island suburb of Great Neck. It is said that his fascination with the arts began at an early age, maybe as early as his first year. Apparently, his mother had a record player near his crib, and when the record stopped, young Andy would reach for the controls.

At the age of 4 years, when most kids are out playing in the sandbox, Kaufman broadcasted, from his bedroom, daily shows from his imaginary Channel 5.

When Andy was 7, he would entertain at his home. Telling jokes and performing magic tricks for friends and family. According to his father, Andy showed signs of not being content with the black and white of life. He always saw some other side to the story.

'He was very difficult in that he would never accept things at face value, ' his father, Stanley recalls. 'I had some tremendous arguments with him. In trying to prove a point on a given subject where I wasn't making any headway, I would end up saying, 'Well, my God! Isn't one and one two?' And he'd look me in the eye and say, 'Not necessarily.'

At the age of 8, Kaufman begins to entertain at children's parties. He performs for free until he reaches 14 and then starts charging for his services.

Between the ages of 11 and 14, Andy begins fascination with 2 subjects that become obsessions. The First is Elvis Presley, and the second being professional wrestling. Andy actually wrote a letter to Elvis and had dreams of becoming a Pro Wrestler.

All throughout High School, Andy wrote. He wrote dozens of poems, short stories and reviews. During this period Kaufman learned to play the Congas. He graduated 419 in a class of 461. Two other notable classmates of his were Jon Avnet and Louis Rossetto Jr.

Perhaps Andy Kaufman envisioned himself as the Norse version of the Man On the Moon; Mani. Mani is the man who pulls the moon across the sky in an effort to escape the Great Wolf Hati. Possibly, Hati could've represented the black and white of reality.
As Mani, Kaufman meandered through life after High School, constantly seeking refuge in his own version of reality.

Andy's journey took him into the dark hallows of alcoholism, drug abuse, Transcendental Meditation, Junior College, Europe, an encounter with Elvis and into live performances.

For a year after graduating, Kaufman would hang out at a local park with nefarious friends. His acquired tastes for heavy drinking and drug abuse were supported by an assortment of odd jobs such as cab driver, dishwasher, and delivery person.

In August of 1968, Andy Kaufman enrolled at Boston's Graham Junior College. It is here that He begins to find the tools to aid him in the expression of his vision. While studying television and radio production, Andy quits taking non-prescription drugs and picks up Transcendental Meditation. TM became a permanent part of Kaufman's life as he began to meditate twice a day.

I knew I had the potential to entertain, but I was too shy. Transcendental Meditation really brought the shyness out of me

While at a TM course in Poland Springs, Maine, Kaufman meets the Maharishi. When Andy traveled to Spain for another TM course, he took the time to travel Europe.

In 1969, Andy Kaufman hitchhiked to Las Vegas to see his idol, Elvis. Andy hid in a walk-in cupboard at the Hotel where Elvis was performing and as Elvis walked by, Kaufman surprised him and tried to show Elvis the book he was writing that was dedicated to Presley. Elvis amicably patted him on the shoulder and exchanged pleasantries.

While at college, Kaufman hosts a children's show named Uncle Andy's Funhouse at the school's closed circuit television station. He also performs at various coffeehouses and is even hired as a comedian for an African American students' program called The Soul Review.

After recieving an Associates degree in May of 1971, Kaufman continued to perform at local clubs. Then Bud Friedman spotted him at a Long Island rock club doing stand-up and signed Andy to perform at Friedman's Improv comedy clubs in New York and Los Angeles.

It was during this tome that Andy's artistic vision begins to blossom into his performances. Kaufman denounces any of the standard comedian approaches of telling jokes. Instead, he offers up routines that include a character (later known as Tony Clifton) who is a scum lounge singer that insults the crowd, taunting women into wrestling him, and singing the entire version of One-Hundred Bottles Of Beer On The Wall

Wu Kang surely made a rope of Cassia branches and lassoed Andy Kaufman and his artistic vision together as immortal lovers at this point in Kaufman's life. And Wu Kang, the Chinese Man On The Moon must have been pleased.

Kaufman's exposure through his contract with Friedman began to bring about notoriety. His appearances were now in bigger and more famed venues. He appeared at the Hippodrome several times and even opened for the hugely popular Temptations.

In 1975, NBC Executive Dick Ebersol catches Kaufman's act and asks him to audition for an new late night comedy show tentatively titled Saturday Night. From October in 1975 to January of 1983, Andy Kaufman made 15 appearances on the show. Andy was on the inaugural show where he performed his unforgettable rendition of the Mighty Mouse theme song. He imitated Elvis, played the inept foreign comedian, and read The Great Gatsby among other, what seemed like, oddities during his following visits to the broadcast of Saturday Night. All of those performances help cement the fact that he was a truly different artist than the usual joke telling or skit performing comedians.

Kaufman began appearing on popular shows such as The Tonight Show, The Monty Hall Variety Hour, and Van Dyke and Co. just to barely scratch the list. His public appearances also took place in larger venues as well as his popularity grew on the college circuit.

All the while his art become what some saw as more and more bizarre. For example, Kaufman once opened a performance by putting the crowd on buses and taking them to a restaurant for milk and cookies. He then continued the show the next morning. He also started his legendary work with the World Wrestling Federation and his supposed rival, wrestler Jerry Lawler. It was during this period that he hired lounge singer Tony Clifton to open for him. Over the years, Clifton was not only played by Kaufman, but a friend of Andy's also donned the disguise.

In 1978, television network ABC fired up the new comedy Taxi with Kauffman playing the hapless Latka Gravas. Even though Andy was reluctant to commit to a television series, he wanted the fame and money. During the run of the series, Kaufman was nominated for a Grammy.

With the taping of his own special and the many appearances on television's most popular variety shows, Andy Kaufman had reached for, and touched, the moon.

The Malaysian Man On The Moon had cast his line made from the bark of a Banyan tree and caught Andy Kaufman. The rat couldn't stop long enough to gnaw on that line because the cat had caught a second wind. Kaufman was pulled into the moon.

1983 was the year that everyone grew tired of Andy and his vision. His wrestling gig, as the Inter-Gender Champion Of The World was making it increasingly difficult for Kaufman's manager to book appearances. Saturday Night Live held an on air vote as to ban him from the show or keep him. The call in voting went in favor of firing him. ABC canceled Taxi.

Andy's appearances were increasingly in the guise of the dreadful Tony Clifton, and audiences quickly began to shun Kaufman, partly due to the rumors that as Tony Clifton, he would drink heavily and became abusive.

It looked as if Andy Kaufman's 15 minutes of fame had expired. He had slid into near obscurity.

May 16th, 1984; reports coming from Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles state that Andy Kaufman had died from a rare lung cancer. These reports brought on wild speculation that Kaufman faked his death as another of his bizarre stunts. This speculation was even wilder when Tony Clifton appeared at a benefit one year later. It was soon discovered that Tony Clifton was being played by Andy's long time friend, Bob Zmuda.

Witnessing the first airing of Saturday Night Live, I saw Andy Kaufman's bizarre Mighty Mouse routine. I remember being awestruck at how fresh and bold that man was. I began to watch for every chance I got and it soon hit me that so were a whole bunch of other folks. But, I also knew that a lot of those people were like lemmings watching a train wreck.

I couldn't wait to see what he would do next, while others couldn't wait to complain about what he did.

When he signed on to the series Taxi, I was afraid he had sold out. In my mind, I was right. The Latka character got old quick and began to bleed into everything else I saw Andy do.

So, I quit believing.

When his death was announced, I remember all the controversy about how Kaufman may have faked it. And the Tony Clifton performs a year later and something struck me. Something I believe to this day. Andy Kaufman had his way with us once again.

I maintain that Kaufman faked his faking his death. He pulled our strings like the puppet master he was in the grandest fashion.

Tank you veddy much!

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