Andy Kaufman was out there, but he was funny

Muttonchop sideburns never really went out of style

Lately, I have been re-reading Bob Zmuda's book Andy Kaufman Revealed in which he reveals many of the secrets of Kaufman's comedy career. Zmuda was the obvious one to do the revealing because he was Kaufman's little known collaborator and played a big role in some of his most outrageous stunts. If Kaufman gets credit for being a genius then Zmuda deserves a big tip of the hat for being a guiding force behind his humor.

Of course, calling Kaufman a genius is debatable for some. Personally, I believe he was a genius, but if somebody's idea of a comedian/performance artist is somebody who just comes out and does jokes, then I can understand why a person would not like him. The first routine I can remember him doing was his "Great Gatsby" routine. In that, he read F. Scott Fitzgerald's book wearing a tuxedo and speaking in a really exaggerated British accent. There were laughs at first, but as he continued to read there was dead silence followed minutes later by boredom, boos, and catcalls. Eventually, he gave the audience an option. They could either continue listening to him read the book or they could listen to a record he had brought. The audience enthusiastically chose the record, which, of course, was a recording of him reading The Great Gatsby in that exaggerated British accent. Big laughs.

Perhaps the best thing I liked about him was that he could successfully blur the line between reality and entertainment. In other words, he could make the viewer question whether what he was watching was just a comedy routine or was this something that was legitimately happening. The most famous example of this was when he "wrestled" professional wrestler Jerry Lawler in Memphis. Lawler performed two pile driver moves on Kaufman in which he dropped him on his head. Kaufman was removed from the wrestling ring by stretcher, and he and Lawler appeared days later on Late Night with David Letterman. On the show, with Kaufman wearing a neck brace, Lawler slapped him across the face so hard that it knocked him out of his chair. After returning from the commercial break, Kaufman launched a string of profanities with such anger that it was hard to believe it wasn't real. It appeared that comedy had transformed into some kind of weird personal confrontation.

Of course, it wasn't real. Zmuda's book revealed that it had all been staged. The pile drivers in the ring, the slap across the face on Letterman's show, and the profanity-laced tirade were all fake. It was the best form of performance art because it sucked the viewer right in. It made the viewer have to decide whether this was real or not.

Kaufman did not last much longer after that. He developed cancer and died at age 35. However, there is one interesting tidbit in Zmuda's book. He said one idea Kaufman was toying with was faking his own death, and then coming back 10 years later. Kaufman said that if he were to fake his death he would do it by pretending to have cancer.

Interesting. Of course it has been more than 10 years since Kaufman died, and he hasn't come back. Plus, Zmuda was with Kaufman during his illness so he can verify his death.

Still, it would be one of the most memorable comedy bits of all time if he was lurking out there. Who knows?  He may even be reading this right now.

You never know.

Beware glass houses

To paraphrase an old cliché, if a person is going to criticize somebody else, he better make sure he has his own house in order.

Of course, the point of that saying is that it would epitomize hypocrisy if a person made fun of or criticized another person while doing the same thing. We all make mistakes, but ridiculing somebody while engaging in the same mistake they have made is just plain wrong.

David Letterman is a funny man, but recently, he found himself embroiled in a controversy that was not funny. He was the victim of an alleged extortion attempt. The person accused of the crime was arrested, but in the process, information about Letterman's personal life became big news.

The root of the extortion attempt was that if Letterman did not cough up $2 million then information about sexual relationships he had with members of his staff would be made public.

Of course, workplace sexual harassment has been a high-profile topic during the last couple of decades. Perhaps most famously, the topic became a prominent issue in the confirmation hearings of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

I won't re-hash all that information, but for those who remember, there were people mentioned in those hearings that I doubt will ever be mentioned again in the halls of Congress.

Since Letterman's personal information hit the news, he has been on the receiving end of scathing commentary from some who feel that it was inappropriate for him to have relationships with people on his staff. Couple this with the fact that he was in a long-term relationship with a woman that he eventually married during this time, and he is coming off looking really bad.

Boiling this down to a simple sex scandal is oversimplifying the topic. The ironic aspect of this is that Letterman has made his living for years ridiculing public officials who were caught in compromising positions.

During the final years of President Bill Clinton's administration, Letterman needled the president relentlessly after Clinton’s affair with intern Monica Lewinsky became public.

Of course, there are other examples of Letterman doing this. When South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford got caught going to Argentina to see his mistress, Sanford became cannon fodder for Letterman night after night.

The same goes for former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer and others. Their mistakes were compounded because comedians like Letterman reminded the public of them every night.

How are these officials reacting to Letterman being caught in basically the same situation? It is tough to say because most of them have been tight lipped about the matter.

If they are chuckling to themselves, they are doing so in private.

The reaction of some organizations to Letterman's situation has been interesting. The National Organization of Women (NOW) came down hard on him. They criticized him because they viewed him as an example of a man in power using a workplace setting to engage in sexual relationships.

Of course, NOW is the same organization that remained almost completely silent when President Clinton had his relationship with an intern. I guess the organization's conviction about an issue depends on how it helps them politically.

The bottom line is Letterman's situation is a casebook example of how our words can make us look really bad if we get caught doing the very acts that we ridicule.

We all do this to a certain extent. We all have our dark side that has done things that we would hate for other people to know.

If nothing else, we should be grateful these things have never been exposed.

Being Sarah Palin

There were many intriguing results from last year's presidential election. Of course, the biggest was the election of Barack Obama as the nation's first African-American president.

After that, ranking number two on that list might be the emergence of Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) as a possible presidential candidate in 2012. Her position as the Republican's vice presidential nominee last year certainly had its ups and downs, but she will have support if she runs in 2012.

At this point, Palin is a polarizing figure. People seem to either love her or loathe her. She is not a person that generates wishy-washy opinions.

The big question is: Why?

For those doubting she is a lightning rod, her recent skirmish with comedian and talk show host David Letterman provides ample evidence.

As the host of a late night talk show, Letterman often skewers political leaders that are in the news. In this case, Palin and her family were making an appearance in New York where Letterman tapes his program.

On each night of her visit, Letterman poked relentless fun at her, but he went over the line when he made a joke about her daughter attending a New York Yankees' baseball game.

Palin has several children, but the daughter who attended the game was her 14-year-old, Willow. In the joke, Letterman made a wisecrack about one of the Yankees' players getting her pregnant.

Even though our society is incredibly jaded, most Americans showed that some limits still remain when it comes to humor. Letterman was roundly criticized by the Palins and the public. The next night he made a half-hearted apology on his program.

The biggest mistake Letterman made was ridiculing a child of a politician. These children should never be served up as cannon fodder when it comes to political humor.

These kids did not ask to be put in the position they find themselves. It was wrong when conservative broadcaster Rush Limbaugh made fun of Chelsea Clinton during President Bill Clinton’s time in office. It was wrong when Letterman made his jokes.

Let's hope the media will leave the children of President Obama alone. Think about the pressures we all went through when we were growing up. Now, think about those pressures if we had gone through them with the whole world watching.

In my case, it would not have been a pretty sight. The bottom line is the children should be left alone.

As for Palin, I believe there is a simple reason why she is such a lightning rod. She is an attractive woman who is charismatic, and she can deliver a strong performance when reading a prepared speech.

She still has to improve her chops when it comes to interviews and other events that are not well scripted.

Charisma can carry politicians a long way. It was certainly an important aspect of President Obama’s victory last year. We’ve seen it with other politicians in recent years, most notably President Clinton and President Ronald Reagan.

However, the primary reason some hate her is because she is pro-life when it comes to abortion, and she is a supporter of gun rights.

For many feminists, these positions (especially the one on abortion) scare them. Therefore, they feel they have to neutralize her as quickly as possible.

This is why we see many trying to portray her as a dumbbell. Letterman even referred to her personal appearance and her make up as 'slutty.' I have not heard many male politicians attacked for their personal appearance.

Sexism is alive and well in 2009. Get ready for more as Palin advances her career.