Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond – Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (2017)

I like the TV show Taxi, though I rarely saw it as a kid.  I went and bought the DVD set and watched every episode of it.  I had an interest in Andy Kaufman before watching Taxi, but after doing so I wanted to see more.  I had watched the movie Man in the Moon, and was amazed at the things Andy Kaufman did.  I felt like I understood Andy Kaufman and what he was doing.  He wasn't trying to be a comedian or entertain the audience, he was entertaining himself, playing with the audience, trying to see how far he could pull his charade. I once read that Matt Groening had made the Simpsons yellow, to screw with the audience to make them think the color on their TV was off, and try to adjust it to the correct color.  It's the same thing, he wanted to do that piratical joke on the whole TV audience, because it amused him.

I spent a lot of time watching the various videos of Andy Kaufman's performances that were released on DVD and other that have appeared on the internet.  He certainly did things that no one else has done, nor probably every should do.  It's hard to say if he is even entertaining, but he never set out to be an entertainer.  I think he mostly set out to evoke a reaction from the audience, though often that reaction was negative.  And often the joke was also being pulled on the other cast members, talk show hosts and producers, who it appears were rarely in on the gag.

At the beginning of this film, Jim Carey said that the really story was what was going on behind the camera, and he was right (Even though Man on the Moon is an excellent film in it's own right).  Jim seems to have channeled Andy (and Tony) during the making of this film, and is off camera antics mimicked those of Andy, and nearly repeated them in several respects, often going so far as to make his co-workers uncomfortable with him.  He even repeated the "injury" Andy suffered at the hands of Jerry Lawler and was taking away in an ambulance.  And he repeated the stunt of having Tony Clifton show up at an event, with everyone assuming it was Jim Carey, only to have Jim Carey show up several hours later while Tony was still at the same event.

When I originally watched Man on the Moon, I felt that Jim Carey played Andy so well, that I forgot it was Jim Carey, and felt like I was watching Andy Kaufman.  Johnny Depp usually does his character equally as well, so that you don't feel like you are watching Johnny Deep.  These are some of the few actors in Hollywood that can really act.  In fact, while watching Jim Carey portray Andy, he even looked so much like Andy, I would forget I wasn't actually watching Andy.

In the end,  Andy's death tragic was especially tragic, as I feel like he was about to take a new direction, making a children's show.  I read that he gave his blessing to Pee Wee Herman, who was able to make a kids TV show, which I hope is in the spirit of what Andy wanted to do. (No disrespect intended to Paul Reuben, who is a excellent energetic and creative entertainer, who needs no help from anyone.)