Andy Kaufman

Until Andy's Fun House is re-released on VHS and issued on DVD, Andy Kaufman: The Midnight Special stands as the best available document of Kaufman's warped brilliance. Originally broadcast on January 23, 1981, this hour-long special (the broadcast ran 90 minutes, but without commercials, it clocks in at a trim 55 minutes) was an installment of Burt Sugarman's late-night music program, which aired every Friday night after The Tonight Show. In 1981, The Midnight Special was on its last legs, after surviving eight years on the air; the plug was pulled in May, a mere four months after Kaufman taped his special. Clearly, the show wasn't in the best shape, and neither was Andy's career. At one point in the special, his sidekick and writer, Bob Zmuda, jokingly claims that The Midnight Special is the only show that would have Kaufman, and while that's stretching the truth somewhat, it is true that he was beginning to lose his audience. His talents hadn't diminished, yet all of his classic bits and characters had become familar, since he had performed them in concerts, clubs, and TV shows for years. Even casual fans and disinterested viewers had seen Foreign Man, Conga Man, Elvis Presley, Tony Clifton, and Kaufman's wrestling persona many, many times by the time The Midnight Special aired in 1981. However, modern audiences simply don't have access to the plethora of one-off television performances that made Kaufman nearly ubiquitous throughout the late '70s and early '80s. Consequently, The Midnight Special is more valuable than it may initially appear, simply because it's the easiest way to sample Andy's classic characters and routines. True, these aren't the best performances Kaufman ever gave, but they're not bad, and are often quite inspired. More importantly, they're placed in a fascinating context, because Andy's Midnight Special performance wasn't constructed as a mere concert, unlike most episodes of the program. A good portion of the show was shot in front of a live audience, but there are also isolated interviews (with Kaufman, Zmuda, manager George Shapiro, and Taxi director Jim Burrows), guest performances, and video vignettes, all tied together by Wolfman Jack's announcements. Combined, they form a portrait of where Andy was at the time -- still popular and potent, just not as popular and potent as he was a year before. The Midnight Special opens the way most Kaufman shows do, with Foreign Man's standup segueing into the Elvis Presley imitation. From there, the special winds through a number of other wonderful things -- Andy bussing tables at Jerry's Famous Deli, performing "It's a Small World After All" with the B-Street Conga Band, sitting in with Freddie Cannon on "Tallahassee Lassie," watching Slim Whitman with utter reverence and awe, Andy the ventriloquist, Andy the wrestler, Andy the actor, and, finally, Tony Clifton's closing set. Anyone who has recently seen Andy's Funhouse or the Milos Forman biopic Man on the Moon will be startled by how similar these routines are. The Elvis stage patter is exactly the same, as is "It's a Small World," while the Tony Clifton sequence here is the basis for his introduction in the film. Even so, The Midnight Special works because Kaufman's work is continually fascinating, especially for viewers who have only read or heard about it. Yes, the bits that are shared with Andy's Fun House pale in comparison, but everything else pretty much shines, since there's nothing quite like seeing Andy work his magic. His dedication to bussing tables never quite seems like a joke, at least not the way his sly mocking of Taxi rehearsals does (in a behind-the-scenes peek, he "misses" one of Latka's lines of gibberish). His Elvis always amazes, as does his enthusiasm for Howdy Doody and the Congas. His obsession with wrestling remains disarming, even as he works hard to explain that he's merely playing a villain -- a clear indication of how badly the wrestling hurt his career, and this was taped before his notorious feuds with Memphis wrestler Jerry Lawler. Then there is the show-closing, virtuoso performance by Tony Clifton. On television, some of Clifton's excessive tendencies are downplayed, but this is still priceless -- particularly the camera cuts to Andy enjoying the show or when Tony covers his microphone, attempting to shield the audience from his tirade at Zmuda. All these sequences are first-rate, and the fact that some of these characters and routines have only been officially documented on this video release (not even his Saturday Night Live appearences have been released as a highlights video) is a bit of a travesty. So, even if it's not quite prime Kaufman, The Midnight Special remains necessary because it's about the only thing we have. And even average Andy Kaufman is still pretty extraordinary.

Another extraordinary thing about The Midnight Special is the interviews with Kaufman. He's in good spirts throughout, playing with his responses and dancing around the questions, yet during each of his responses he's plagued by a persistent cough -- a small reminder that even though he was still active, his cancer had set in. It's hardly enough to detract from the sheer joy of the performances on The Midnight Special, but it lends the show an unintended poignancy. [For anyone interested in historical context, consider this: a month after The Midnight Special aired, Kaufman hosted the live TV show Fridays, during which he instigated an on-air fight. By the end of 1981, he was filming Heartbeeps, the romantic comedy that ended his movie career. The following year, he was consumed with his feud with Lawler, a fight that went national on Late Night With David Letterman. Then in 1983, he was voted off of SNL. Clearly, he wasn't past his prime when he made The Midnight Special -- he never really lost his talent, actually -- but it arrived at the beginning of his long, steady slide toward popular and commercial obscurity. It's possible to see the beginning of that slide on The Midnight Special -- the older bits seem a little forced but generate hearty laughs, since the newer stuff (including Clifton) puzzles the audience -- but it's inaccurate to say that he was a has-been when he shot this show.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide