Tuesday, December 28, 1999

One of Kaufman's strangest characters disrupts press confab

You've heard the term Kafka-esque used to describe surreal situations. How about Kaufman-esque?
   One of the strangest characters the late comedian Andy Kaufman ever created was obnoxious lounge singer Tony Clifton. As depicted in the terrific new movie "Man on the Moon," Kaufman loved blurring the line between the real and surreal, never more so than when he portrayed the loathsome, drunken, ill-mannered Clifton.
   Kaufman was so adamant about separating his own persona from the hateful alter ego that he insisted on separate contracts and separate dressing rooms for himself and Clifton for appearances on "Taxi" and he always denied publicly even knowing Clifton.
   Toward the end of his too-brief life (Kaufman died of cancer in 1984 at age 35), he sometimes sent writer-pal Bob Zmuda onstage decked out in Clifton's bad tux, greasy wig and rubbery face makeup. David Letterman found out years later that it was Zmuda, not Kaufman, doing Clifton on his NBC late-night show in the early 1980s.
   So how weird was it a couple of weeks ago when a Hollywood press junket for "Man on the Moon" was interrupted by a cursing Clifton, who burst through the door and threatened actor Jim Carrey (who plays Kaufman spot-on in the film)?
   Clifton (Zmuda) then spray-painted the hotel door behind Carrey and scuffled with the actor, sending them both onto the table and then the floor.
   Carrey wasn't hurt, but he was shaken up and near tears from the encounter, according to reports published in USA Today and The Hollywood Reporter. When Carrey returned to the room nearly an hour later, Clifton attacked again, throwing pitchers of water and coffee at him.
   Universal Pictures denied setting up the incident as a publicity stunt, as did Carrey.
   Amazingly, for a town crawling with paparazzi, only one reporter, Alex Ben Block, had a camera with him. His photos and firsthand reportage of Clifton's mayhem can be found at www.eStar.com.
   Since the release of the movie last week, rumors have again arisen that Kaufman perhaps faked his own death and will one day reappear to reveal the world's strangest and longest practical joke. There's even a Web site called www.andylives.com that claims there's a conspiracy to keep Kaufman's existence a secret.
   In the past few days in Los Angeles, streets and walls have been plastered with hundreds of posters featuring Kaufman's face and the words "Andy Lives."
   He doesn't, of course. But Tony Clifton does. And that's truly Kaufman-esque.
   Local media notes
   Look for the stand-off between ABC station KIII and AT&T Cable to be resolved this week. Management from KIII and the cable company's bigwigs in Denver were scheduled to have a series of phone chats Monday to work out details of the station's retransmission consent agreement, which would keep KIII on the cable system for another three years. Without the agreement, AT&T would have to kick KIII off its cable lineup as of midnight Friday.
   KIII operations manager Bob White said he was "very optimistic something will work out" by the end of the week that will keep that from happening.
   All other stations in town have already signed their retransmission consents with AT&T.
   KRIS anchorman Carlos Vergara has recovered from the spell of racing heartbeats that put him in the hospital last Thursday. He was not back on the air at the NBC affiliate Monday evening, however. Dave Lozano filled in.
   So long to Nicole Vilencia, DJ at KMXR-FM/93.9. She's moving to Oklahoma right after the New Year. Vilencia has been part of the "Scott and Nicole in the Morning" show for a good part of this decade. Unusual for radio, Vilencia will be allowed a chance to say her farewells on the air with a special goodbye broadcast Dec. 30.
   ABC airs nine straight nights of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" starting Jan. 9.
  
  
  

 
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