Character created by Andy Kaufman
Cartoon of the Clifton character
Tony Clifton
is a character created by comedian and performance artist
Andy Kaufman
in the late 1970s. An absurdly foul-mouthed and domineering
lounge singer
claiming to hail from
Las Vegas
, the
tuxedo
-clad Clifton often led unsuspecting audiences through awkward yet elaborate lounge singer performances. Kaufman appeared as Clifton on stage and on television programs ranging from
The Merv Griffin Show
to
The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show
.
The character has also been performed on stage by longtime Kaufman friend
Bob Zmuda
. Clifton was portrayed by actor
Jim Carrey
(who also portrayed Kaufman) in the 1999 film
Man on the Moon
and in the documentary
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond
.
[1]
Origin
[
edit
]
Kaufman would sometimes claim that Tony Clifton was a real lounge singer whom Kaufman encountered
[2]
at the International Hotel in Las Vegas in 1969.
[3]
He said he was waiting for
Elvis Presley
to arrive so he could meet him.
[4]
Kaufman may have seen Clifton as the antithesis of the sweet, gentle "Foreign Man" character he was best known for (which was later adapted into
Latka Gravas
, Kaufman's character on
Taxi
).
[5]
Clifton would often attempt to improvise comical lyrics that were
intentionally unfunny
before giving up entirely without seeming to care. Clifton also tended to randomly insult patrons, passing off the abuse as the "comedy" portion of his act.
[3]
Adding to Clifton's annoying and unappealing presence was his tendency to rhyme various words at random in the middle of conversations. Clifton was often introduced as having "sold more records than Elvis and
The Beatles
combined."
For a brief time, it was unclear to some whether Clifton was a real person. News programs interviewed Clifton as Kaufman's opening act, but the interviews invariably would turn ugly whenever Kaufman's name came up. Clifton claimed Kaufman was using his name "to go places." Promoters who thought they had caught on to the joke would hire Clifton because he was cheaper than booking Kaufman. However, Kaufman had the last laugh, enlisting his brother Michael or his showbiz partner
Bob Zmuda
to play the role,
[6]
with Kaufman making unannounced appearances on stage during Clifton's act.
[7]
Rodney Dangerfield
was a big fan of Andy Kaufman, and he hired Clifton to open for him for two shows at
Bill Graham
's venue
Fillmore West
. After a disastrous first show, where Clifton took the stage with
Tony Bennett
's famous "
I Left My Heart in San Francisco
" and was summarily booed, he reappeared on the second night in
riot gear
amid a shower of rotten vegetables and other detritus.
Tony Clifton still makes occasional appearances, most notably in the days leading up to May 16, 2004, the twentieth anniversary of Kaufman's death. It was announced on May 16, 2008, that
Comic Relief
, in recognition of the 24th anniversary of Andy Kaufman's death, would present "The Return of Tony Clifton", with his "Katrina Kiss My Ass Orchestra". The national tour kicked off on June 27, 2008, at the
Georgia Theatre
in
Athens, Georgia
, to benefit Gulf Coast musicians, dancers, and singers affected by
Hurricane Katrina
. Clifton fronted the Katrina Orchestra along with the Cliftonettes. On August 15 they were at Chicago's
Chopin Theatre
.
[8]
In May 2011, they were featured headliners as part of the annual Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
[9]
Later that month he began hosting the
Tony Clifton Revue
at
The Comedy Store
in Los Angeles. He was interviewed on May 31, 2012, at the 284th episode of
Marc Maron
's podcast
WTF with Marc Maron
.
[10]
Television
[
edit
]
Taxi
[
edit
]
Clifton was hired to appear on an early episode of
ABC
's
Taxi
. In 1977, the producers of
Taxi
saw Kaufman's Foreign Man act at
The Comedy Store
and offered him a role in their show based on the character.
[11]
Kaufman was not a fan of sitcoms, but his manager,
George Shapiro
, convinced him that this would propel him to stardom, where he would make a lot of money, which he could then put into his act, which became
Andy's Funhouse
.
[11]
Kaufman agreed to appear as
Latka Gravas
in 14 episodes per season, approximately half of the entire series if Tony Clifton was also allowed to guest star in the series. The producers were well aware that "Clifton" was an alter ego of Kaufman but went along with the fiction that Clifton was a separate actor. They signed Clifton to a separate contract and announced to the cast that Clifton was being hired to portray the brother
[12]
[13]
of
Danny DeVito
's character Louie De Palma in the series 13th episode.
However, after the first day of rehearsal, the producers felt Kaufman as Clifton was not up to the acting challenge of playing the offered role. Informed of this, Kaufman asked that "Clifton" be fired in public, ostensibly for coming to rehearsal late.
[12]
Clifton reappeared on set for the next day of filming and was demanding, boorish and obnoxious. The producers not only fired Clifton in front of the press and network executives (who had gathered on set to witness the promised spectacle) but threw him off the set after he caused havoc and enraged series stars
Judd Hirsch
and
Jeff Conaway
. The role was hurriedly recast, and when Kaufman (as himself) returned to work for the following episode, he acted as if nothing had happened.
Sam Simon
, a season 5 writer and
showrunner
for
Taxi
, said in a 2013 interview with Marc Maron for the
WTF with Marc Maron
podcast that the story of Kaufman (as opposed to "Tony Clifton") having generally been disruptive on the show was "a complete fiction" created mainly by Bob Zmuda. Simon maintained that Zmuda has a "vested interest" in promoting an out-of-control image of Kaufman. In the interview, Simon stated that Kaufman was "completely professional" and that he "told you Tony Clifton was him", but he also conceded that Kaufman would have "loved" Zmuda's version of events.
[14]
However, while many
Taxi
staffers have corroborated the story that Clifton was a disruptive presence during his brief time on set in the first season, Simon himself had no association with
Taxi
until its third season, so he did not witness this specific event.
Other appearances
[
edit
]
Clifton (played by Zmuda) appeared once on
Late Night with David Letterman
, where he was interviewed and sang a medley with the band. In 1982, Clifton also appeared on
The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show
as the host's "new discovery," although the other
Muppets
and host
George Hamilton
remained skeptical of Clifton's talent.
Perhaps the biggest myth surrounding Tony Clifton's TV appearances comes from
Dinah Shore
's daytime talk show
Dinah & Friends
.
[15]
According to legend, Clifton arrived for the taping
drunk
and then pressured Shore in front of the studio audience to sing a duet with him although he had been previously told that she had a sore throat. This was a prearranged
bit
which featured messages from the producers telling the viewers at home that this was a "put on".
[16]
The myth continues that, after dumping eggs on Shore's head, the show's producers quickly cut to a commercial as Clifton was escorted out of the studio, and the videotape of the incident was "destroyed". In reality, the footage has been lost, and the entire event was staged, as with all of Kaufman's appearances.
Clifton was also a heckler on
The Green Room with Paul Provenza
and was escorted out of the room.
In 2009, Clifton appeared on
The Opie & Anthony Show
to promote a performance at
Santos Party House
in New York City.
[17]
In other media
[
edit
]
Films
[
edit
]
Tony Clifton biopic
[
edit
]
Kaufman and Zmuda wrote a screenplay for a Tony Clifton
biography
. However, the plan was sidelined after the box office failure of Kaufman's first major motion picture
Heartbeeps
, in which he co-starred with
Bernadette Peters
as a robot who falls in love. In the screenplay Clifton dies at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
in Los Angeles from cancer. Five years later, Kaufman died at the same hospital from lung cancer.
Man on the Moon
[
edit
]
Clifton is portrayed in the Kaufman biographical film
Man on the Moon
,
[18]
credited as "Himself".
Influence
[
edit
]
Kaufman's Tony Clifton character has influenced other "
anti-comedy
" acts, notably standup comedian
Neil Hamburger
and singer/comedian
Unknown Hinson
.
Maren Ade's
Toni Erdmann, the protagonist in the 2016 Oscar-nominated
German movie of the same title
, was influenced by Kaufman concerning appearance, humor and first name.
[19]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Tony Clifton"
.
paleycenter.org
. Paley Center for Media
. Retrieved
2021-04-24
.
- ^
Mullen, Michael; EDT (July 6, 2012).
"Andy Kaufman is dead, but Tony Clifton still wants your applause"
.
EW.com
. Retrieved
2022-04-03
.
- ^
a
b
"Tony Clifton lives! At least, he does at midnight at the Wranglers game - Las Vegas Weekly"
.
lasvegasweekly.com
. 2012-12-16
. Retrieved
2022-04-03
.
- ^
Zehme, Bill (1999).
Lost In The Funhouse: The Life And Mind Of Andy Kaufman
. London: 4th Estate. p. 108.
- ^
"On the Road with Tony Clifton"
.
www.vice.com
. 16 May 2013
. Retrieved
2022-04-03
.
- ^
Blanco, Jodee (2004-05-01).
The Complete Guide to Book Publicity: Second Edition
. Simon and Schuster.
ISBN
978-1-58115-996-7
.
- ^
Keller, Florian.
Andy Kaufman: Wrestling With the American Dream
. U of Minnesota Press. pp. 80?85.
ISBN
978-1-4529-0739-0
.
- ^
Rabin, Nathan (2008-08-18).
"Tony Clifton is Alive and Well and Kicking Ass in Chicago"
.
The A.V. Club
. The Onion
. Retrieved
2008-08-19
.
- ^
"Tony Clifton"
.
Hangout Music Festival
. Archived from
the original
on April 27, 2011
. Retrieved
2011-04-19
.
- ^
Maron, Marc (May 31, 2012).
"Episode 284 - Craig Finn / Tony Clifton"
.
WTF with Marc Maron
(Podcast). Marc Maron. Event occurs at 6:30
. Retrieved
May 31,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
"Andy Kaufman Oral History"
.
GQ Magazine
. Interviewed by Don Steinberg. republished online at bluedonut.com. December 1999. Archived from
the original
on 2006-12-06.
- ^
a
b
Archived at
Ghostarchive
and the
Wayback Machine
:
DeVito, Danny.
"Danny DeVito Archive of American Television Interview"
– via YouTube.
- ^
Danza, Tony.
"Tony Danza Discusses Andy Kaufman"
. Archived from
the original
on 2014-06-29 – via YouTube.
- ^
Simon, Sam.
"Sam Simon interview"
.
WTF with Marc Maron
(Podcast). Interviewed by Marc Maron. Marc Maron – via wtfpod.com.
- ^
"ANDY KAUFMAN: TONY CLIFTON APPEARANCES {MERV GRIFFIN, DINAH SHORE, DAVID LETTERMAN, MIDNIGHT SPECIAL} (TV)"
.
www.paleycenter.org
. Retrieved
2022-04-03
– via Archives of the Paley Center for Media.
- ^
"Tony Clifton aka Andy Kaufman on The Dinah Shore Show"
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-12-03 – via YouTube.
- ^
Archived at
Ghostarchive
and the
Wayback Machine
:
"Opie & Anthony: Tony Clifton In-Studio"
. Retrieved
2014-12-29
– via YouTube.
- ^
Travers, Peter (April 14, 2018).
"Travers on Milos Forman's Warmth and Mischief"
.
Rolling Stone
. Retrieved
April 23,
2018
.
- ^
Brian, Formo (December 26, 2016).
"
'Toni Erdmann': Maren Ade Talks Andy Kaufman and 'My Father the Hero' Parallels"
.
Collider.com
. Retrieved
October 22,
2017
.
External links
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