Viewers unfamiliar with the late Andy Kaufman might appreciate this enlightening glimpse at his unique (if indefinable) comic personality, detailing his exploits as the self-crowned 'inter-gender wrestling champion' of the world. Because any man would no doubt have beaten him to a pulp, Kaufman extended his competitive challenge only to (mostly smaller) women, but what began as an inflammatory prank soon evolved, in the words of Robin Williams, "from comedy to Roman Circus". Of course the real challenge was to audiences wondering if he was serious or not. Kaufman never pretended to be a conventional stand-up comedian so much as a masochistic exhibitionist, who liked to carry his 'act' into the outer limits of entertainment by refusing to admit the joke. And make no mistake, it might have become an obsession but it was, at the same time, a joke: note the ironic repetition of his brag "I'm from Hollywood!" (as if that somehow proved his superiority), and his facetious celebrity habit of suing everyone in sight. If nothing else he proved the truth behind the famous P.T. Barnum maxim: there is indeed a sucker born every minute, at least among wrestling fans in Memphis, Tennessee.
Review of I'm from Hollywood
