Andy Kaufman Shunned By SNL Documentary

Prior to faking his death, Andy Kaufman made Saturday Night Live a success with his groundbreaking appearance on its very first episode. Now a new SNL documentary attempts to "cover up" the truth by not even mentioning his name.

(PRWEB) February 22, 2005 -- In prime time, NBC already has mined the legacy of "Saturday Night Live," its late-night juggernaut, with clip specials and with a live party atmosphere reunion celebration. Sunday, it tries a third method: a documentary focusing solely on the show's original five-year salad days.

One of the tragedies of this effort is its blatant disrespect for Andy Kaufman. Appearing on the very first episode, Kaufman was a major influence on the success of the show. Kaufman appeared countless times on SNL culminating in a climactic vote to remove him from the show orchestrated by none other than Kaufman himself.

Writer-director-producer Kenneth Bowser is treading over some very familiar territory. In book form alone, the creative and combative highs and lows of "SNL's" 1975-80 years have been dissected by former New York Daily News TV editor Jeff Weingrad and, later, Tom Shales of The Washington Post.

In 2000 Bowser's attempts to produce a Sha Na Na documentary met with disastrous results. It comes as no surprise that he didn't want to "rock the boat" by pressing SNL alum to disclose facts about Kaufman and their inside knowledge of his "fake death".

Andy Kaufman met with Saturday Night Live producer Bob Tischler and writers Barry Blaustien and David Sheffield to discuss possible ideas he wished to execute in the new season. Tischler recounted "but then he (Andy) told the three of us, 'you know the hoax I'd really like to pull of is my death. But I'm afraid of doing it-because when I do these things, I do them for real, and so I wouldn't even be able to tell my parents. And I wouldn't want to hurt them'". More information on Kaufman faking his death can be found at www.andykaufmanlives.com But this is television, so we see the skits, the music clips and the interview-ees as they are today. Original cast members Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Garrett Morris and Laraine Newman take part; Jane Curtin and second-year Not Ready for Prime Time Player Bill Murray do not.

When Eric Idle says he considered Aykroyd "the only (other) person I ever knew who could have been in (Monty) Python," that's an incredible compliment. And when one person after another singles out Gilda Radner for praise, well-chosen clips of John Belushi and Murray sharing the stage with her illustrate that fondness perfectly.

Certain familiar "SNL" topics are sidestepped, or at least raced through. Drug use is mentioned, and Morris is frank about his own feelings of alienation as the one black member of the cast, and the interoffice romances are acknowledged. Thirty years later, there's no question that "SNL" deserves continued tributes, and deep respect. In fact, one measure of that respect would be for NBC to rerun shows from 1975-80 late on Saturday nights, as the network has done this month with selected shows from that era.

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