Andy Kaufman

Lately, I've been thinking about the late comedian, Andy Kaufman, and how, as a practical joker, he would be terribly amused that the election of Barack Obama turned out to be the re-election of George Bush. Ha ha! The joke is on everyone who thought they were voting for change, while the new administration perpetuates all the same foreign and war policies as the Bush Administration. People are so gullible. I could have told you this was going to happen... Wait, I did tell you this was going to happen.

My friend Gary knew Andy when he lived on Beach Hill, near the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, before he died in 1984. Gary says that Andy did all kinds of crazy things while he lived in this little beach community on the Central California Coast, and has told me a handful of funny stories. Apparently, Andy enjoyed going to our busiest tourist beach, where he'd strip naked and do yoga before going for a swim in the ocean. He could "not understand" why the police would tell him that he could not do that on a public beach. This happened regularly.

I love how Andy played with peoples' minds. He could really exploit a person's ignorance, and make him/her experience a myriad of emotions without ever really knowing what was going on. Sometimes Andy was the only one who got the punchline, and sometimes the punchline was that fact that there was no punchline. One of my favorite all-time comedians.

I miss Andy.



"Tank you veddy much"