Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!gummo!whuxlb!floyd!clyde!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiuccsb!leimkuhl
From: leimkuhl@uiuccsb.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.tv
Subject: Re: TAXI Remarks - (nf)
Message-ID: <3092@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Oct-83 22:45:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.3092
Posted: Mon Oct  3 22:45:33 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 6-Oct-83 20:28:48 EDT
Lines: 31

#R:iwu1d:-13900:uiuccsb:12300008:000:1275
uiuccsb!leimkuhl    Oct  3 16:35:00 1983



Well, I have to flame a bit at this.

Andy Kaufman is, in my opinion, a comic artist.  His best routines are
masterpieces of cynical (sometimes cruel) humor.  No one else in American
comedy is capable of single-mindedly attacking the absurdities of life the 
way AK does.  What was Andy Kaufman's wrestling phase if not a monument
to scathing sarcasm?  

The wrestling phase was an outgrowth of his wrestling women on Saturday
Night Live.  I know many people who were disgusted by that.  But isn't the
challenge ("I'll wrestle any woman") and the subsequent defence (he did
win every match against some tough and serious women) just an expression
of the plain fact that men are better wrestling machines than women.  (As
has long been known, anyway.)  Why should this disgust and even anger people?
The fact that Andy Kaufman can shock people with such a simple device is 
startling, especially when one considers the SNL audience.  

Most people are willing to hear the latest dirty joke, or see a violent
movie, but these same people can't sit still in their seats and watch a
man wrestle a woman on tv.

So maybe if Andy Kaufman really bothers you, you should consider the reason
for it and not shrug him off as a no-talent.

Ben Leimkuhler
(uiucdcs!uiuccsb!leimkuhl)