Screen Picks

All Andy Kaufman, All Dancing

Even though Man on the Moon stiffs, it’s still a good excuse to fill the gaps in your Kaufman education and see what the man was really like. (You can also read Bob Zmuda’s tacky Andy Kaufman Revealed! or Bill Zehme’s more straight-up Lost in the Funhouse.) Keep in mind that an hour of Kaufman is barely enough to get warmed up: better to rent or buy as many as possible and watch them back to back. You head will reel, but that’s just how Andy would have wanted it.

Andy Kaufman: I’m from Hollywood (1992, $14.95 Video) A far better document than Man on the Moon, this movie on Kaufman’s sojourn in the wrestling ring was directed by his girlfriend Lynne Margulies (whom Courtney Love plays in a mercifully brief Moon turn). It shows the extent to which Kaufman was a master media manipulator, using TV and print to carry his redneck baiting to the Memphis wrestling arena and beyond.

My Breakfast with Blassie (1981, $9.95) Probably the most painful viewing experience of Kaufman’s video library, this hour-long film chronicles an elaborate stunt pulled on old-time wrestler Freddie "King of Men" Blassie. Taking him out to an L.A. eatery, Kaufman and Blassie share their annoyance with autograph hounds and obsession with cleanliness before Kaufman devolves into fighting with the women at the next table. Bob Zmuda makes a cameo as the customer who vomits on Kaufman.

Andy Kaufman: The Midnight Special (1981, $12.98 Video/$19.98 DVD) Newly released on video, this is actually an episode of a regular variety special called Bert Sugarman’s Midnight Special with Kaufman as host. Including performances by Slim Whitman and Freddy Cannon, it features some familiar bits (Elvis again) as well as featurettes on Kaufman’s wrestling and his job working in a Los Angeles deli. Overall, though, it feels like someone else is holding the reins.

Andy Kaufman: Sound Stage (1983, $14.99) Features an appearance by the Tony Clifton puppet, supposed Kaufman ex-girlfriend Elayne Boosler (they fight, of course) and another installment of the "Has-Been Corner."

The Andy Kaufman Special (1977, $9.99) Also known as Andy’s Fun House, Kaufman’s ABC network special features a face-to-face meeting with his childhood idol Howdy Doody.

—Sam Adams