# Someone Explain Andy Kauffman to Me! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 29, 1999, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949 "1999-11-29T14:06:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 1999, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/61 "1999-12-03T19:56:00Z")
I suppose i would consider myslef a fan of Kauffman. More appropriately, as a fan of the WWF, I think he contributed a lot of the schtick that makes wrestling what it is today. Look at Jerry Lawler today, for example. He is now “The King”, one of the “heavyweight announcers”(bad guy butt-kisser) alongside JR Ross.(more of a good guy, but all in all neutral as a sports announcer should be) * * * so you found a girl who thinks really deep thoughts. what’s so amazing about really deep thoughts? Tori Amos ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/62 "1999-12-04T03:17:00Z")
I was kinda neutral on Andy. But after seeing all the ruffled feathers here, I give him this: he _still_ gets the desired reaction. Andy, you win. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/63 "1999-12-04T04:07:00Z")
How did he die, anyway? DHR ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/64 "1999-12-04T05:11:00Z")
If Andy was trying to elicit any type of emotion from me, he failed. The opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s indifference. Correction: He did elicit one thing: boredom. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Chief\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/65 "1999-12-04T05:48:00Z")
DHR, he died from a rare form of lung cancer. I will probably see the movie just due to the fact that Milos Forman directed it. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/66 "1999-12-04T06:05:00Z")
Tennhippie: Hey, for a guy from Tennessee, you’re pretty smart! * * * Plunging like stones from a slingshot on Mars. ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 1999, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/67 "1999-12-04T13:35:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Could one of those people who “got” Andy Kauffman’s humor please explain what it was that we were supposed to get? (Wendell) From the very first Mighty Mouse routine, it was a matter of Andy putting you on. Once you got that, that was the joke.Period. Later, he may have been putting an audience member on. Sort of like Candid Camera. You were there to observe someone else experience the put on. No more than that. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 1999, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/68 "1999-12-09T21:02:00Z")
I’m soooo happy when I can spot a train wreck coming; that’s one movie I know I don’t want to see. If only I could have seen The Blair Witch Project coming. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 1999, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/69 "1999-12-11T01:27:00Z")
I was in high school when Andy Kaufmann was big and I never “got” him. Every time he came on the screen for SNL I just got a really weird squirmy feeling, like he was some kind of pervert or something and I just let him into my living room. When I would see the wrestling acts, I was just embarrassed for him because he didn’t seem to have the decency to be embarrassed for himself. If Jim Carrey gets nominated for this role…I’m gonna scream. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 1999, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/70 "1999-12-11T01:51:00Z")
As I recall, his death was hastened by his belief that psychic surgery, rather than chemotherapy, could cure him. Where are those folks who called him a ‘genius’ again? ---
**Author:** ![kawliga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@kawliga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kawliga)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 1999, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/71 "1999-12-12T04:58:00Z")
Well, actually, Kaufman travelled to the Philippines for psychic surgery after he had undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatments. His doctors informed him that his condition had worsened and there was no hope for recovery. He was given weeks to live. ---
**Author:** ![theuglytruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@theuglytruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theuglytruth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 1999, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/72 "1999-12-12T07:21:00Z")
Just forthe record . . . everything Kaufmann did involving wrestling, even getting hit by Jerry Lawler and having his neck “broken” . . .was fake. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 1999, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/73 "1999-12-12T09:14:00Z")
I think the Kaufmann detractors should wait until ‘Man on the Moon’ comes out and go see it… I’ve read three reviews so far, and all three of them said, “I never ‘got’ Andy Kaufmann when he was alive, but after seeing the movie I understand him, and I appreciate what he did more.” I’m indifferent on Andy. He pretty much left me cold most of the time, but I loved his pantomime to the theme from Mighty Mouse. ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 1999, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949/74 "1999-12-12T19:44:00Z")
Here’s a [webpage](http://andykaufman.jvlnet.com/toc.htm) that has a lot of info on him. * * * _ **SanibelMan** _ - [My Homepage](http://members.macconnect.com/~jonkleinow/) “Step away from the bell curve, sir.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-andy-kauffman-to-me/11949.md?page=3)