It cannot be argued that Elvis, Fabian, Slim Whitman, and Andy's "Papu" helped mold and shape the private and public persona that Andy carried through his life and
career. But according to Zmuda and Zehme, there were two others who seared upon that great and mysterious mind even more important, more indelible influence. The
lessons he learned from them became part of his permenant identity, both on and off of the stage.
In 1962, as Andy was (at the tender age of 13) developing and refining his own act, he encountered an act that clearly burned into his psyche for life. After paying his
price of admission to the "World's Greatest Magician," he was disappointed by a lame series of characters from a "Rock Lady" that was just a poor old woman with
psoriasis, to a "two-headed calf" which just happened to be dead, stuffed, and a poor fake, at that. Soon he had experienced a full range of emotions. These ranged from
excitement and anticipation, to bewilderment, then embarrassment (for the 'World's Greatest Magician' AND for himself in being duped) and disappointment, then anger
at this charlatan who had taken his money and who had delivered nothing of what he had promised. But then something amazing occured that changed Andy Kaufman's
life forever! "Suddenly the canvas parted across the room, and something seeming to be a huge bat flew towards us. We recoiled in terror as the flying menace buzzed
us, then stopped and jerked back toward the table." Turko the Half Man was truly half a man. At the base of his trunk was attached something that looked like a quarter
of a car tire, which he used to hop and rock on. In the next few minutes, Turko flung himself around the room, and at one point landed on a Coke bottle, rotated on the
bottle, flipped it open, drank it in one long gulp, then sang a stunningly touching rendition of "Beautiful Dreamer." You know the rest of the story from Zmuda's book.
The point is that from that day forward, Andy understood, internalized, and forever incorporated the concept of involving all of his audience's emotions, and of
manipulating those emotions for maximum impact. He became the MASTER of getting them to expect one thing, then delivering the other. The unexpected. The thrill
that would impact the audience from the gut.
<Think of the morphing of foreign man into Elvis in light of this “lesson.”>
Then in 1971, Andy, now 22, had what he had to consider, literally, an opportunity of a lifetime (and a life changing experience). He had an audience with His Holiness,
the Maharishi of transcendental meditation. Andy, to the great discomfort of the on looking bliss people (as Zehme calls them) began to question His Holiness about the
nature of humor. Again, this experience burned into, and shaped his psyche permanently. "---the comedian's craft, he said, was akin to building two walls side by side and
leaving a space in between. The mere presence of those two walls then creates a contrast based on an awareness of the space. And by building such contrasting walls of
oddness, the comedian is implicitly calling attention to the length and the depth of the SILENT SPACE that connects the two. AND WITHIN THAT SPACE, SAID
MAHARISHI, LIES THE HARMONY THAT THRILLS THE SOUL AND APPEALS TO THE HEART! ---But what makes the contrast so evident is the journey in
between, which is a journey through a field of silence. And it is the experience of this journey that creates delight. THE SILENCE, THEN, IS THE VERY IMPULSE
OF LIFE."
<Think of Andy's appearance on the debut show of Saturday Night Live (Mighty Mouse) in light of these words>
Many, many other factors, words and events influenced Andy's ultimate genius and onstage abilities, but I think these two events must have been EPIPHANY moments.