andy kaufman

"He would speak with conviction in his low growling voice and would order the people to listen to him. 'SWALLOWING FIRE IS NOT AN EASY THING! Just the idea of having a burning flame contact the inside of the tongue and mouth is dangerous and delicate and very few people in the world are capable of doing it! Those who do usually line their mouths with protective solvent! I DO NOT DO THAT! I AM THE ONLY ONE IN THE WORLD WHO CAN EAT FIRE WITHOUT THE PROTECTIVE SOLVENT!! DO YOU HEAR THAT, PEOPLE?! YOU ARE SEEING A TREAT!! YOU ARE SEEING THE ONLY MAN IN THE WORLD WHO DOES NOT NEED THE PROTECTIVE SOLVENT!! DO YOU HEAR THAT, BABY?! DO YOU READ ME, BABY-DOLL?! DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYING TO YOU?! NOW, WATCH THIS!!' Then he would proceed to light up his torches and stick the flames into his awaiting, open mouth."

- The Huey Williams Story by Andy Kaufman

1954 made an impact on five year old Andy Kaufman - impacting both his neck and his brain. He wrenched his neck wrestling around with his younger brother, which landed him in the hospital. That year he also learned how to write. He had so many thoughts and ideas and visions in his head, such an imagination, that he couldn't keep from writing. As a matter of fact, once Andy started writing he didn't stop. He wrote almost daily throughout his life. Like many angry young men Andy recorded in his notebook entries of angst, injustice and violence. He wrote poems of painful ostracism and debilitating shyness. His writings became part of him and he was truly, first and foremost, a writer. Once he read Jack Kerouac's On The Road, there was no turning back.

At sixteen he was published in his school newspaper. On The Road Again, Part II was the title of his story and it told the partially autobiographical tale of a fateful phone call from a hep, beat girl. He had already been writing for years at this point. Later in his sixteenth year he completed his first novel. He called it The Hollering Mangoo, and would come to remark that he wrote it, "to make people vomit". It is, as yet, unpublished.

Poems, plays, short stories, novels and later screen plays were all produced from his imagination and dedication to writing. One play in particular would be special. It was entitled, God, which would be toned down to G*d, or even, Gosh, as the Jewish religion refrains from writing the holy name of God out by hand. The surreal plot involves a performer named Larry Prescott who seems quite similar to Elvis Presley. Larry Prescott becomes very famous and empties out the Pacific ocean to build a vast amusement park in its place. At the center of this wonderland is God. Larry and God have a contest to see who is the greater entertainer. That's just one aspect of this amazing story. Andy would perform this epic drama as a one-man play, doing the character's voices and narration and action. If only this had been recorded on film or audiotape!

The legendary Kaufman tome among fans is his unfinished, partly autobiographical Huey Williams Story. This novel-in-progress was referred to in a Rolling Stone article by David Hirshey in April of 1981. Fans could only imagine the depths and heights its main character would traverse.

Andy Kaufman's writing might have most in common with Richard Brautigan and the Beat generation. This is Kaufman's literary birthplace. Andy loved the romantic desperation of Kerouac and the gritty, street realism of Hubert Selby's Last Exit to Brooklyn and Demon.

Eighteen years after that Rolling Stone article, Kaufman followers had an opportunity to read The Huey Williams Story. The Kaufman family formed Zilch Publishing, Inc., transcribed and printed softcover copies of three Andy Kaufman manuscripts. Poetry & Stories, God & Other Plays and The Huey Williams Story finally saw the light of print. Anyone who seriously appreciates Andy Kaufman's work should not be without these amazing books. When reading them, it's as if Andy Kaufman is back, playing tricks and making you laugh and wonder again.

The Kaufman family had a web site to promote and purchase the books from, but it has since been shut down.

Hopefully someday we'll be able to sit down with a copy of The Hollering Mangoo, or Andy Kaufman's Hate Mail.

andy's published writings