As most fans know by now, Kaufman’s style of comedy was more like performance art than traditional stand-up. Bob Zmuda (a major voice in Braverman’s doc) got it, becoming Kaufman’s longtime writer and collaborator. Yet, Kaufman could project the sad clown persona that came out in characters like Latka Gravas, his beloved character on the Taxi sitcom.
Kaufman also created his abrasive alter-ego, Tony Clifton, who was sadistically annoying to everyone around him. Braverman incorporates chaotic audio of Clifton’s ill-fated guest-starring appearance on Taxi, which compares to Orson Welles’ “Frozen Peas” radio commercial.
Arguably, Kaufman’s “inter-sex” wrestling displays get as much time as Clifton or Taxi, if not more. Understandably so, considering how Kaufman was vilified for what critics considered his loutish manhandling of women. Yet, nobody compares his provocations, which were intended to be outrageous, to a biological male beating a field of women swimmers by entire pool lengths, but seriously, what’s the difference?
So, everyone in Thank You Very Much is too much of a scaredy-cat to make the blindingly obvious comparison. Who knows, maybe Kaufman will. Several of Braverman’s interview subjects readily admit Kaufman often discussed the possibility of faking his death as part of an elaborate gag-hoax. According to Danny Devito, it took him a long time to finally accept the reality of Kaufman’s death.
In addition to Zmuda and Devito, Marilu Henner also talks about their Taxi days, but Judd Hirsch is only heard unloading on Kaufman in his troublemaking Clifton persona. Braverman does not enlist a huge platoon of talking heads, but Steve Martin and fellow merry prankster Bob Pagani offer a fair amount of insight into the subject.
