Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman [Paperback]

Bill Zehme (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2001

From Bill Zehme, renowned journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin', comes this masterful biography of the late comic genius Andy Kaufman.

Based on six years of research, Andy's own unpublished, never-before-seen writings, and hundreds of interviews with family members, friends, and colleagues, Lost in the Funhouse takes us through the maze of Kaufman's mind to see, firsthand, the fanciful landscape that was his life.

Andy Kaufman was often a mystery even to his closest friends. Remote, aloof, impossible to know, his internal world was a kaleidoscope of characters fighting for time on the outside. He was as much Andy Kaufman as he was Foreign Man (tenk you veddy much), who became the lovably dithering Latka on the hit TV series Taxi. He was a contradiction, a paradox on every level, an artist in every sense of the word.

In Lost in the Funhouse, Bill Zehme sorts through a life of misinformation put forth by a master of deception to uncover the man behind the legend. Magically entertaining, it is a singular biography matched only by its singular subject.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Bill Zehme's biography of comic actor/performance artist Andy Kaufman (subject of the feature film Man in the Moon) is a meticulously researched, eminently readable, and very strange book--this last being perhaps no surprise given its subject. Written over a six-year period, Lost in the Funhouse is crammed with details gleaned from interviews with the actor's family, friends, teachers, coworkers, and unwitting participants in Kaufman's pranks. In particular, the book provides great insight into Kaufman's early life in Great Neck, NY, his relationship with transcendental meditation, and his first forays into nightclubs in the early '70s. Zehme, author of The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin', weaves together multiple narratives from varying perspectives, including passages in which the author appears to have entered his subject's brain. Zehme did have access to unpublished letters and manuscripts (which fans would certainly like to see published on their own one day), but the only person who could legitimately verify the accuracy of these passages is no longer with us.

At its best, the book approaches that apex of artful celebrity bi-fiction, Nick Tosches's Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams. The transitions from one perspective to the next are a bit jarring at first, but once the reader gives in to Zehmes's collage of multiple personalities, one is considerably closer to understanding the book's subject. Kaufman was nothing if not a collection of various intense personalities: the young boy continually mourning his grandfather's death; the likable and naive Foreign Man; the talentless and irascible lounge singer Tony Clifton; the bliss-seeking student of TM; the devoted and loving son who never had anything to do with his own child; and world champion of inter-gender wrestling. Lost in the Funhouse is the one Kaufman tome that will please neophytes as well as those with their own Andy Kaufman Web sites. --Mike McGonigal --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Already the subject of Bob Zmuda's recent memoir, Andy Kaufman Revealed, the avant-garde comedian receives more straightforward treatment at the hands of journalist Zehme (The Way You Wear Your Hat). Yet while Kaufman's life may be open to scrutiny, cracking the weird intricacies of his personality and motives is another matter. Growing up in Great Neck, N.Y., the young Andy honed his performance skills by hosting children's birthday parties before striking gold on the New York comedy scene with his creation of Foreign Man, a sweet, bumbling immigrant who would bomb with a series of unfunny jokes ("Tenk you veddy much"), only to veer into an uncanny impersonation of Elvis Presley. The character landed Kaufman a recurring guest spot on Saturday Night Live and a benchmark role as Latka Gravas on the sitcom Taxi. Eventually, his obnoxious alter ego, lounge singer Tony Clifton, and Kaufman's obsession with taunting and wrestling women audience members spurred Saturday Night Live viewers to vote by a wide margin to kick Kaufman off the show in 1982. A year and a half later, he was dead at the age of 35, the victim of lung cancer. Through the entertaining recollections of numerous friends, colleagues and family members, Kaufman comes across as either a genius or a lunatic, most likely a bit of both. Unfortunately, Zehme's mannered writing style (on Kaufman's part-time busboy job: "Plus, he could do funny things in the course of a shift not to be funny no really") detracts considerably from what is otherwise a balanced portrayal of his tumultuous career. 36 b&w photos not seen by PW. Agent, Chris Calhoun, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Delta (January 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385333722
• ISBN-13: 978-0385333726
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #902,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A journey into the mind of Andy Kaufman, December 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman (Hardcover)

Lost in the Funhouse is one of the most interesting biographies that I have ever read. The subtitle could not be more correct. Sure, the writing style is unorthodox, but since when was anything related to Andy Kaufman orthodox? This book takes you into the workings of a mind that was both complex and bizarre and the stylistic freedoms that Bill Zehme takes only help the reader understand the schizophrenic extremes that Kaufman's mind would go to. Andy's life is one that has left people guessing about the details. Mr. Zehme's book begins to help the reader find some answers. Maybe. His extensive research shows throughout while not becoming too overbearing. Do I now know who Andy Kaufman was because of reading this book? No. Do I better understand why he did what he did and what drove him to do them? Yes. That's all that we can realistically ask from a book about one who played with reality as if it were silly putty.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The North Star, December 30, 1999

By 

B. K. Momchilov "mistermom" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman (Hardcover)

I've read this book and it is a gem. Having kept the flame of Andy's legacy alive on the World Wide Web for the past four years, I must say that I read this book with a little more of a critical eye than your average Andy Kaufman fan. Bill Zehme did not let me down and I am happy to have a copy of this fine book in my possession. Bill's biography is fascinating and sheer poetry.

I know that Andy's family loves the book because I've spoken to them and they've told me so. I don't think a writer can receive higher praise than to receive it from the immediate family of the subject.

This biography will stand the test of time and years from now will surely serve as the only comprehensive biography of Andy Kaufman. Zehme is the guiding light, the North Star when it comes to the life and times of Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman.

Thanks Bill, I wish the movie "Man on the Moon" would have had half the content, spirit and meaning of your fine tome.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Autobiography that Andy never wrote, December 10, 1999

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman (Hardcover)

I heard Bill Zehme interviewed on public radio about Lost in the Funhouse. Zehme was thoughtful and articulate on the program, so I bought the book.

Zehme's writing style was not what I had expected. Characters shifting without warning, sentences lasting entire paragraphs, occasional lapses into stream of consciousness, and times when Zehme seemed to make no sense at all. There are passages in the book that that seemed to be written to be outright annoying. I could not believe that this was the same Zehme that I heard on public radio.

It was not until I was halfway though the book (duh) that I became convinced that Zehme was writing the autobiography of Kaufman that Andy will never be able to write. It's genius!

I recommend this book enthusiastically to anyone interested in learning more about this unique performance artist.