I was just watching (on the side) some of the movie Man on the Moon. I highly recommend watching it for the many MJ hoax parallels that jump out at you.
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Man on the Moonis aYou are not allowed to view links.
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Plot
Andy Kaufman's You are not allowed to view links.
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Register or Login" character appears in black-and-white, declaring that (due to massive editing), this is actually the end of the film, not the beginning. He plays a phonograph record alongside the credits before walking off. Kaufman then comes back, and, in his normal voice, claiming he "had to get rid of the people who don't understand me, and don't want to try," he proceeds to show the story of his life on a film projector, starting with his childhood home in Great Neck, New York, c. 1957.
Kaufman is a struggling performer whose act fails in nightclubs because, while the audience wants comedy, he sings children’s songs and refuses to tell conventional jokes. As the audience begins to believe that Kaufman may have no real You are not allowed to view links.
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(With this hoax MJ seems to delight in tricking fooling in different ways hoaxers and non-hoaxers with various antics/controversies, TMZ news stories.)
He catches the eye of talent agent George Shapiro You are not allowed to view links.
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Invited to catch a different act at a nightclub, Shapiro witnesses a performance from a rude, loud-mouthed lounge singer, Tony Clifton, whom Andy wants to guest-star on
Taxi. Clifton's bad attitude is matched by his horrible appearance and demeanor. But backstage, when he meets Shapiro in person, Clifton takes off his sunglasses and we see that he is actually Kaufman. Clifton is a “You are not allowed to view links.
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Login character” created by Kaufman and his creative partner, Bob Zmuda Paul Giamatti). Once again, the gag is on the audience.
(This sort of reminds me of Conrad Murray the supposed killer, but who represent MJ (and possibly is in disguise as him IMO.)Kaufman's fame increases with his You are not allowed to view links.
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Login. When he travels to college campuses, audiences dislike his strange sense of humor and simply want to see his more famous TV characters, so he deliberately antagonizes them by reading The Great Gatsbyaloud from start to finish. Kaufman shows up on the
Taxi set as Clifton and proceeds to cause chaos until he is removed from the studio lot. He relates to Shapiro that he never knows exactly how to entertain an audience “short of faking my own death or setting the theater on fire.”
Kaufman decides to become a professional wrestler -– but to emphasize the “villain” angle, he would wrestle only women (hired actresses) and then berate them after winning, declaring himself "Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion." He becomes smitten with one woman he wrestles, Lynne Margulies (Courtney Love), and they begin a romantic relationship.
The wrestling Kaufman enjoys getting a rise out of the crowds and feuds publicly with Jerry Lawler, a professional male wrestler , who challenges Kaufman to a "real" wrestling match, which Kaufman accepts. Lawler easily overpowers and seriously injures Kaufman, resulting in the comedian wearing a neck brace. Lawler and an injured Kaufman appear on NBC's Late Night With David Letterman, theoretically to call a truce, but Lawler insults Kaufman, who throws a drink at the wrestler and spews a vicious tirade of epithets. It is revealed that Kaufman and Lawler were in fact good friends.
(Does this remind anyone of MJ and Tommy Matolla’s very public fight?)
Andy pays a price when he is banned from Saturday Night Live by a vote of audience members, weary of his wrestling antics. Shapiro calls to inform him that
Taxi had been canceled. An appearance on a live TV comedy show, ABC's
Fridays, turns into a fiasco when Kaufman refuses to speak his lines. His television special also is a flop.
Out of the blue, Kaufman calls together Lynne, Zmuda and Shapiro to disclose that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer and may die soon. They aren't sure whether to believe this, thinking it could be yet another Kaufman stunt, with Zmuda actually believing a fake death would be a fantastic prank. With short time to live, Kaufman gets a booking at Carnegie Hall, his dream venue. The performance is a memorable success, culminating with Kaufman inviting the entire audience out for milk and cookies. His health deteriorates. Desperate, he heads to the Philippines to seek a medical "miracle” (actually psychic surgery), where doctors supposedly pull out infected organs from the body; he discovers the scam and laughs at the irony. He dies soon after. Friends and loved ones do a sing-along with a video of Andy at his funeral.
(This totally reminds me of the memorial, funeral, etc.)
One year later, in 1985, Tony Clifton appears at Andy Kaufman's tribute at The Comedy Store's main stage performing, "I Will Survive". The camera pans over the crowd and reveals Zmuda in the audience, hinting that Kaufman’s legacy lives on through imitators; a neon portrait of Kaufman is shown among other comedy legends. During the final credits, Kaufman briefly peeks in black-and-white again.
(I honestly think this was another artist that Michael enjoyed and admired for his creative genius, and that he modelled his hoax after in some respects.
I looked to see if anyone had started a thread on him, and there was one that mentions him briefly.
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LoginSomeone has made a 5 part series on Youtube showing Michael Jackson and Andy Kaufman parallels. S/he includes TII, Moonwalker, the Memorial, and more. It’s quite interesting. It tells me another reason why we should be careful about jumping to conclusions too quickly about how MJ pulled this off. AK delighted in tricking the audience with hoaxes within hoaxes, even inciting their hatred in bringing about another purpose. Then he would laugh at them for being so gullible. In the end people grew to love him for his sheer genius in captivating their imaginations and making them think.
1-5 parts.
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