As a long-time fan of Kaufman, it was bittersweet to listen to this story of his life. Sad and yet funny.

Going out to Gnissorckoob as part of a relay. Enjoy!

This arrived while I was out on vacation. Thanks a lot, Dame. I think I'm going to enjoy it. I've been curious about Andy Kaufman. I know he was/is a cult figure and a comedian's comedian, but that's about all I know about him.

Started listening today. LIke it. Like the author's beatnik style.

7/31/05 -- Finished it. Only about 2 hours, this was short and sweet -- or, I agree with DameEdna, bittersweet. The author and the reader (friends of Kaufman, I think) were excellent. The beatnik style was dropped after a while, but the wordsmithing was entertaining all the way thru. I don't know if I would have liked Andy Kaufman back then, but it seems some of his stuff was very funny and gutsy.

9/14/05 -- Mailing off to editorgrrl via BokRelay.com

Abridged on 2 cassettes; approximately 3 hours. Read by Budd Friedman, owner and founder of the Improv comedy club in New York City. ISBN 1559275642; published 1999. Received in the mail from gnissorckoob in Miami, Florida, USA, through the AUDIO -CASSETTE/CD 1 WEEK or REPLACE relay. (Andy Kauffman was the subject of the 1999 biopic starring Jim Carrey, Man on the Moon -- and the REM song of the same name.)

From the back of the box
GENIUS? LUNATIC? LOST SOUL? PERFORMANCE ARTIST? PRANKSTER? WHO WAS ANDY KAUFMAN, ANYWAY?

You'll find the answers in this definitive biography of the brilliant, enigmatic, controversial comic. Working with the full cooperation of Kaufman's family, friends, and colleagues, best-selling author Bill Zehme has created a probing look at the short life and untimely death of a comic genius with a rapier wit and a vastly darker side.

Andy Kaufman rose to prominence in the last original era of American comedy, the 1970s, when a handful of young comedians looked away from the last vestiges of vaudeville to create a new form of the art. Working situations instead of bits, characters instead of jokes, these young funnymen would draw laughter in ways the entertainment industry had never imagined. And at the forefront of this movement was Andy Kaufman.

Whether crooning as lounge lizard Tony Clifton, wrestling women, insulting the entire citizenry of Memphis, Tennessee, or starring as the lovable Latka Gravas on the sitcom Taxi, Andy Kaufman lived his life as a relentless performance. In equal measure he inspired, excited, and enraged those around him and those watching him. Telling his story is the owner of the lmprov comedy club, Budd Friedman -- a man who was there from the beginning to the end of Andy Kaufman's meteoric career. Lost in the Funhouse is a wild, revealing, intimate ride inside a complicated mind and soul -- a ride like none you've ever taken before, and one you won't soon forget.

I took this to the gym with me as each side is approximately 45 minutes. I can only imagine what people thought watching me run around the track grinning, chuckling, sometimes even laughing out loud. Narrator Budd Friedman was mentioned in Zehme's book, so when reading those parts he uses the first person. Zehme refers to Andy Kaufman's parents as "Mommy" and "Daddy" a lot, which was a little strange.

I remember Andy Kaufman as mechanic Latka Gravas on the late 70s-early 80s TV sitcom "Taxi." (My mom loved Danny DeVito's character, Louie De Palma. "Oh, that dirty Louie!" she would say, shaking her head.) Childlike Latka was my favorite, and I thought he really had multiple personalities, including lounge lizard Vic Ferrarri and cabbie Alex Reiger (the character played on the show by Judd Hirsch). I don't know how old I was before I realized that Andy's intergender wrestling was performance art -- I just thought he was a sexist pig.

Mailed to rossshow in Hualapai, Arizona, USA, for the Anything Audio relay. Download a video of Tony Clifton on the Dinah Shore show at bedazzled.blogs.com.