Thank You Very Much

In his short, enigmatic life, Andy Kaufman entertained and transfixed audiences while simultaneously driving them away. His work dissolved the boundaries separating reality from fiction, and his commitment to performance, both on stage and off, rendered any distinctions between his characters and his real life useless. Was he a comic, an affable sit-com star, a washed-up lounge singer, a bus boy, a professional wrestler, a hoaxer, a provocateur or a pest? Nearly 40 years after his supposed death, one question still puzzles fans and haters alike: “was that for real?” Thank You Very Much is the definitive documentary look at how a shy, oddball kid from Long Island, New York, became the most polarizing performance artist of the 20th century. In his short, enigmatic life, Andy Kaufman entertained and transfixed audiences while simultaneously driving them away. His work dissolved the boundaries separating reality from fiction, and his commitment to performance, both on stage and off, rendered any distinctions between his characters and his real life useless. Was he a comic, an affable sit-com star, a washed-up lounge singer, a bus boy, a professional wrestler, a hoaxer, a provocateur or a pest? Nearly 40 years after his supposed death, one question still puzzles fans and haters alike: “was that for real?” Thank You Very Much is the definitive documentary look at how a shy, oddball kid from Long Island, New York, became the most polarizing performance artist of the 20th century. In his short, enigmatic life, Andy Kaufman entertained and transfixed audiences while simultaneously driving them away. His work dissolved the boundaries separating reality from fiction, and his commitment to performance, both on stage and off, rendered any distinctions between his characters and his real life useless. Was he a comic, an affable sit-com star, a washed-up lounge singer, a bus boy, a professional wrestler, a hoaxer, a provocateur or a pest? Nearly 40 years after his supposed death, one question still puzzles fans and haters alike: “was that for real?” Thank You Very Much is the definitive documentary look at how a shy, oddball kid from Long Island, New York, became the most polarizing performance artist of the 20th century. In his short, enigmatic life, Andy Kaufman entertained and transfixed audiences while simultaneously driving them away. His work dissolved the boundaries separating reality from fiction, and his commitment to performance, both on stage and off, rendered any distinctions between his characters and his real life useless. Was he a comic, an affable sit-com star, a washed-up lounge singer, a bus boy, a professional wrestler, a hoaxer, a provocateur or a pest? Nearly 40 years after his supposed death, one question still puzzles fans and haters alike: “was that for real?” Thank You Very Much is the definitive documentary look at how a shy, oddball kid from Long Island, New York, became the most polarizing performance artist of the 20th century.