Customer Reviews

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

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3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Bill Zehme, one of America's more unique journalists, has created an enjoyable and easy to read journey into the mind of one of the greatest performance artists of all time--Andy Kaufman. It is a uniquely written chronicle of Andys life, weaving together Zehmes sometimes un-polished but always original writing, quotes and stories from Andys myriad of family and friends(the most interesting of which ranks as George Shapiro's recorded journals regarding his career as Andys agent and "big brother", presenting a great love and renown that George felt towards his amazing friend), and, Andys brilliant own original writing, which consists of everything from Beat-esque poetry to a bizarre one act play. Andy, it turns out, aside from being the most unique performer to come from a mysterious island near the Caspian Sea and beyond, is also an extremely talented writer. Andy, as a maginicent writer with an appreciation for literature (starting with his vast appreciation for beat writing, specifically Kerouac and his masterpiece "On the Road" as a teenager), would certainly enjoy reading this book about his fascinating life, dead or alive, where ever the hell the madman is.

I never really cared much about Andy Kaufman until I read Lost in the Funhouse over the holiday weekend. Some friends of mine, diehard Andy mavens, recommended it, and I'm glad they did. In a nutshell, Wow! In fact, I'm about to embark on a second reading, and that doesn't happen often. But once was just not enough to fully absorb and appreciate all the fascinating detail and nuance author Bill Zehme has injected into this thoroughly entertaining, though very tragic, tale of the real-life Boy Who Cried Wolf.

The interplay of voices and brilliant, often dizzying prose carries shades of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, another inventive novel that intrigued and affected me deeply from the start--and even more so after a second perusal. That's not to say that Funhouse requires two readings, though, because it doesn't. But when a book is this good, you don't want it to end, and so I guess a second time around is one way of sustaining my enjoyment and delaying the inevitable postpartum funk.

The vast majority of readers, Kaufman fans or not, will love this book. But even if they don't, that's just as well. Andy would have wanted it that way. Now that I know more about him, I'm certain Andy would have hated to see his life story receive wimpy, lukewarm responses, because those kind aren't from the gut. And Andy's performance art was all about the gut, even if it meant rubbing people the wrong way and getting booed off the stage. Then again, he was equally thrilled by a standing ovation.

Except for his stint on Taxi, a job Andy apparently despised, his was a world devoid of "jokes" and self-affirming laughter, something most comics thrive on. But Andy wasn't a "comic" in the truest sense (he fancied himself a "song-and-dance man"), and thus couldn't have cared less whether he got laughs or jeers. One was just as good as the other. In light of that, he was, it seems, the most intrepid, invincible performer who ever walked the earth. Zehme's book illustrates this unique quality and many others not only factually, but stylistically and emotionally. By marshaling illuminating detail, interspersing myriad voices, including the subject's own, and crawling under Andy's thick skin, Zehme has broken new ground and created something quite remarkable here.

I now realize that there is absolutely no way to effectively encapsulate the life and mind of Andy Kaufman with so-called "normal" prose. Only by literally and figuratively entering his roller- coaster world and his often bizarre and troubled psyche can one even begin to understand him. And since most of us have neither the inclination nor the ability nor the courage to take such a plunge, we're lucky to have someone who's done it for us. And masterfully, I might add. Mr. Zehme, you took a chance and did Andy and literature proud. Congrats and, on behalf of the man himself, tenk you veddy much!

The common theme most recently heard by most is that there was "no real Andy Kaufman." Many think he was crazy and a man without substance. Bill Zehme's ambitious and sometimes risky biography clarifies once and for all what motivated Kaufman to do the things he did.

Many know Andy Kaufman as the comedian who played the squeaky-voiced auto mechanic Latka Gravas on TV's 'Taxi.' Some believe he redefined comedy with his eccentric, often joke-free performances. His countless media stunts and hoaxes often engendered more confusion than appreciation, and countless many dismissed Kaufman and his intrepid approach to entertainment as simply insane. Some even regarded his bizarre death of lung cancer in 1984 as merely the latest of his many escapades. Fifteen years after the fact, there are still people convinced that Andy Kaufman faked his death to consummate the ultimate deception. Although considered a genius by many contemporaries, Kaufman's brand of comedy was offbeat, extremely confrontational, and always misunderstood. He was not an easy man to know or even to like on a personal level. Despite the contradictions, the popular fascination with the 'Dada of Ha-Ha' persists today. It will peak on December 22nd with the opening of 'Man on the Moon,' directed by Academy Award-winning director Milos Forman and starring Jim Carrey (as Andy), Danny DeVito and Courtney Love.

Bill Zehme, a senior writer at Esquire who has also written for Rolling Stone and Playboy, is renowned for his exceptional flair in authoring stylish celebrity profiles. Zehme's most successful book to date, The Way You Wear Your Hat: Frank Sinatra and the Lost Art of Livin' and two others he coauthored, one with Jay Leno (Leading With My Chin) and the other with Regis Philbin (I'm Only One Man!), may have served as practice for the challenge ahead, because his biography of Kaufman, Lost in the Funhouse, is distinguished in every respect. In writing this superb biography, Zehme effortlessly overcomes what many biographers would consider a major obstacle: sorting out the fact and fiction in Andy's life, much of which was cloaked in illusion, misdirection and lunacy. It was hard to really know what actually occurred behind the scenes as Andy cooked up his most provocative and controversial performances. But as Zehme amply documents in Lost in the Funhouse, Andy manipulated the media constantly, whether raising high-octane hatred from the city of Memphis as a bad guy 'rassler,' or calling in phony tips to the National Enquirer ('I'm fighting with Bernadette Peters while we film Heartbeeps'). His televised brawl on 'Fridays' was as orchestrated as the slap to his face from Jerry Lawler on Letterman's 'Late Night.' Sometimes (many would argue most of the time) his hoaxes backfired to his detriment. The last two chapters of Zehme's book sadly portray the extent of that damage. Zehme succeeds in shedding new light on Kaufman's short and peculiar life to produce a dynamic portrait of a misunderstood artist. After several years of exhaustive research, Zehme has crafted a book that succeeds on its own terms. It's not a conventional narrator-driven biography, but one that cleverly paints images and events in ways that are entertaining unto themselves. The book's roller-coaster narrative has all the thrill of an amusement-park ride. Not only does Zehme use Kaufman's own words and those of others, but he seemingly goes into the head of Kaufman to expose the unique way he viewed the world. Despite the adventurous method, Zehme provides the reader with great historical clarity and unmasks many of the myths and legends that have become associated with Kaufman's time in the spotlight. Zehme uses parcels of Kaufman's voluminous writings and candid interviews with Kaufman's family and closest friends to frame key episodes in his life. The book avoids much of the speculation and romanticism of others who have penned articles, websites, and books on Kaufman. In Lost in the Funhouse, Zehme reveals that Kaufman's bag of tricks and illusions was fully developed in his teenage years -- so much for claims by others who have been taking credit for many of Kaufman's signature achievements. Andy's nightclub performances, his Carnegie Hall show, and both TV specials (for ABC and PBS) were adult variations of the birthday-party shows he gave for small neighborhood children when he was in his early teens, in which he showed movies on the wall, lip-synched to records, performed magic tricks and led sing-alongs of 'The Cow Goes Moo' and other favorites. (Even his milk-and-cookies idea was something Kaufman thought of in college.) This is fine writing unfettered by sentiment. Zehme has channeled Kaufman in a way Jim Carrey could only dream of attaining. He illuminates the mysteries behind a recognized genius and performer extraordinaire who was also proud, difficult, arrogant, highly intellectual and consumed by self-obsession. Bill Zehme has accomplished what no one else could. He has found an uncanny ability to enter Kaufman's mind and leave us with a compelling impression of the complexities and frailties of a Boy Wonder mincing in a world of disbelieving adults. This epic biography takes us on an unforgettable journey through the funhouse inside of Andyland.

Bill Zehme's book somehow captures the uncapture-able, lending uncanny insight into a very strange, highly talented man who has not allowed death to stop him from continuing to play with our heads. I have rarely read a biography as beguiling and revealing as is "Lost in the Funhouse." You don't have to know Kaufman to appreciate Zehme's mesmerizing style in telling the tale of a performer who may have been crazier than we even thought. Compared to Bob Zmuda's self-serving and tabloidy "Andy Kaufman Revealed!", this book is masterfully crafted--as original as the subject it profiles. Kaufman fans and amateurs alike will be held spellbound, as was I. Bravo, Bill Zehme; you are a true craftsman.

I was never much of a Sinatra fan until I read Zehme's last book. It was so terrific and original that I developed a whole new appreciation for Sinatra. So, when this book came out, I have to say that I was more interested in reading Zehme's writing more than I was in his subject (Kaufman). I was not disappointed. I just finished the book tonight, and while I can't say I was transformed over Kaufman as I was about Sinatra, I can say that Zehme has written something extraordinary here. Around about half way through, as I was marveling at Kaufman's frenetic and madcap life on and off stage, it occured to me that it was Zehme's prose--also frenetic and madcap at times--that gave a compelling portrait of this unusual man. I had almost a visceral response to this book. It moves like a runaway freight. I have read a lot of biographies lately, Guralnick's Elvis and Thurman's Colette, and as good as those are, this is easily the best written. If you enjoy excellent writing, and in this case about a most unusual subject, don't hesitate to get this book.

I must admit that I have been obsessed with the Kaufman question for some time now. Was he crazy, or wasn't he crazy? Repeated viewings of "I'm from Hollywood", Taxi, and his other Comedy Central specials only clouded the issue even further. Was he insane, or a genius?

Part of the question involved the mystery of Andy's origin. Andy himself would talk about his past, growing up in Great Neck, Long Island, but what was fantasy and what was reality? Is what he said the truth? Did he himself even believe what he said?

This brilliant book is a meticulous attempt to answer these questions and more. Zehme is obviously driven by the truth through all the things that Andy (we all call him "Andy", just as if he were our nutty uncle) said and did over his extraordinary life. Here Zehme presents the fruits of his six years of research for our reading enjoyment.

It starts in Great Neck and ends in the hospital, and along the way we are treated to his manager George Shapiro's personal tape recorder, just enough reminiscence from Andy's mother, father, living grandparents and siblings, and countless quotables from everyone from Chevy Chase to David Letterman.

As a fan obsessed with the "was-he-or-wasn't-he" question, I found this book to provide me with all the insight I needed. Way to go, Mr. Zehme.

I'm a huge Andy-phile and I just love this book. I love it so much, I've read it twice. I love it so much, I came onto this site to buy more as gifts to my friends. Along the way I stopped to read some of the reviews expecting to find that other people loved it as much as I did. Some of them, frankly, caught me off guard. This book is loving, insightful, and an attempt to interpret and understand one of the most original yet complex comics/performers of our time. There are some terrific hilarious moments too. My favorite is the one about the handcuffed Andy at the college dorm party. It's priceless. The writing here is excellent...This book is a must-have for Andy-heads who want to know more about their hero, and the best introduction for the uninitiated who want to learn more about this brilliant yet complex man.