Andy Kaufman Revealed!: Best Friend Tells All

by Bob Zmuda, Matthew Scott Hanson, Matthew Scott Hansen

Book Overview

With a movie about Kaufman already out, this is his manager and friend Zmuda's recollection of the late comedian. Best remembered as English-challenged immigrant Latka Gravas on the '70s sitcom Taxi,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316681237
• ISBN13: 9780316681230
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.3" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 and higher

Customer Reviews

The pages almost turned themselves -- WHAT A GREAT READ!!

I was absolutely captivated by this book! The pages almost literally turned themselves. Thank the entertainment gods that someone as erudite and articulate as Bob Zmuda crossed Andy Kaufman's path so that he could document the course of the Kaufman tornado and all of the "carnage" left in its wake.Zmuda does an excellent job of documenting Andy's rise to reluctant sit-com star and the subsequent metamorphasis to Tony Clifton and beyond. It's impossible to even scratch the surface on the anecdotes Zmuda presents as evidence of Kaufman's genius, his lunacy and his ultimate (or seeming) demise.While the book does appear to be somewhat self-serving at times for Zmuda, who cares? Zmuda obviously paid his dues. He spent almost his entire career in the shadow of the great Andy Kaufman and he is the only person on the planet who can tell this story. Not even Andy's parents would have been able to approximate the depth and breadth of this story. Zmuda can be forgiven for taking the credit for much of Kaufman's genius. But, the book is truly not about that. It's more about how they grew together as comic and writer, not how Bob Zmuda made Andy Kaufman a star. Either one without the other probably would not have been half of what they were together. They FED off of each other and that is what makes this book so interesting. Zmuda pulls no punches.He filled his book with page-turning story after story about Kaufman's (and, yes, HIS) antics as they honed their comedic talents. It's impossible to tell one person's story without telling the other. They were becoming the same person -- and, in fact DID become the same person for a brief period of time (read the book and you'll know what I mean).Buy this book and sit down and read it from cover-to-cover. You won't have a problem with that even if you've never read a book in one sitting.

BUY THIS BOOK

This book is must have for Kaufman fans. It does tell a lot about Bob Zmuda, but that's because he was there, he was a part of Andy's hijinks, and deserves to be included. This book doesn't focus on Andy's early life, because Zmuda met him later on. Zmuda may not be an awesome writer, but he is a great storyteller, which is what this book is, a compilation of stories. Forget the people who say its all about Zmuda. There's a lot of Kaufman in this book, and the fact is, he WAS ANDY'S WRITER! This solves many of Andy's stage jokes and put-ons, and is a must have for any Kaufman fan

Inspiring book and a heartfelt memorial for a genuis!

As the years have passed, and I have learned more about Andy Kaufman as not only a comic, but as an artist, and what's more, a human being, I have learned to more appreciate this crazy thing that we call human existence. Thank you, Mr. Zmuda for giving us such an honest, and tear-jerkingly funning account of both your life and the life of that crazy man known as Andy Kaufman. I think that Andy would have been proud of you, and I appreciate what you have done for Mr. Kaufman as well as all of us. To the skeptical buyer, "Steal the book if you must, but just read it." And remember Dana Carvey's words, "All roads lead to Andy."

It's only five stars cause I'M IN IT!

Damn it, it's about time somebody recignized the REAL talet behind Andy Kaufman - TONY CLIFTON. That hack used my name to get to where he is today and at least someone had the decency to put me in this damn book. It should be TONY CLIFTON: REVEALED! - THE GREATEST ENTERTAINER ALIVE. Zmuda and Kaufman owe ME everything they got. I may have gotten shunned at the Emmy's, but I ain't gettin' shunned here. I'm going to make "Man On The Moon" the success that it will be - NOT BECAUSE OF KAUFMAN, BUT BECAUSE I'M IN IT!!!

This is probably the greatest book I have ever read.

At first Andy Kaufman was just an odd little man to me. I had been some what interested in him. But then I was in a book store and I look over my shoulder to a book. A book about Andy Kaufman. I though it might be good so I bought it. I read this with great interest. Ever page learning more and more about this genious. It was the first book to make me hold back tears as I read the final chapters. It is a very funny book as well. Bob Zmuda does a wonderful job of telling his stories. He also tells the truth of what was really happening between Jerry Lawler and Andy. As well as the truth about Tony Clifton. It also gives us an inside look at the real Andy. And the friendship between Andy and his best friend Bob Zmuda. What he was really like. I was actually a little bit sad when I finished it. I just wanted more. I wanted to know more about Andy. After reading this I became extremly interested in Andy Kaufman. I want to know everything now. This is I think the best book I have ever read. A great book about a great preformer. I don't want to call him a comedian because he didn't like being called that. We will never have anyone like Andy Kaufman again. But his legacy will live on. Any of you who have the smallest interest in Andy Kaufman read this book. Learn more about the man, the the misunderstanding, the legend, that is Andy Kaufman.