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In a recent interview, Albert Brooks revealed that Andy Kaufman became what he did, possibly because of him.
The comedian spoke to THR about Kaufman and more with his pal, Rob Reiner. The two recently worked together on the HBO documentary Albert Brooks: Defending My Life, which covers Brooks's career from comedy to late-night TV, animation, a novel — and much more.
During the interview, Brooks was asked about someone who said he influenced them.
Albert Brooks discusses Andy Kaufman
“Andy Kaufman came up to me early in his career and said, ‘I'm doing this because of you,'” Brooks said. “He came out onstage, and he certainly was the antithesis to, ‘Take my wife, please!' He changed the form.”
Kaufman was known for his off-the-wall, unique comedy and self-described himself as a “song and dance man.” He appeared on the first episode of Saturday Night Live and played Latka Gravas in Taxi. Additionally, he was a regular on late-night talk shows. Andy died of lung cancer in 1984 at the age of 35.
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As for Brooks, he reminisced about the old days of late night. When asked if he missed those days before things shifted to YouTube, he said, “One hundred percent.”
Brooks added, “I can tell you when it started to change. After the years of Johnny Carson, I went to Letterman. You didn't need to tell anyone you were on — it was in the zeitgeist: ‘Who's on Letterman tonight?' Then Conan came to NBC, and Jimmy Kimmel came to ABC, but that stopped. When I was on Carson, I never had to call anybody. That all went away in the early 2000s. People underestimate how the ability to time-shift what you watch on TV changed everything. I had this experience at lunch today. I was sitting with a friend and wanted to talk about a show, and I said, ‘Hey, did you see this?' And they said, ‘Don't say anything!'”
Also, Albert talked about Modern Romance and how it led to a friendship with famed director Stanley Kubrick because he admired the film. When asked whether they kept in touch, he said, “We spoke quite a bit. When I was writing Lost in America, he wanted to read a draft. He came back with the worst notes you've ever heard. But I spoke to him often. He was very nice to me. You want to know what his notes were for Lost in America?”
He continued, “Stanley Kubrick said, ‘When [Julie Hagerty] leaves you in the middle of the movie, she should never come back. And then when you go back to New York and take the job, one day, months later, you can round the order and she'll be standing there.' I said, ‘I hear you. But what I'm trying to do is talk about two people who made the biggest mistake of their lives. Really the movie is about eating s—t, and I don't see that ending.' You gotta be afraid to ask your heroes for anything.”
It's a good thing Albert Brooks didn't listen to Kubrick. It's also great that Kaufman took inspiration from him; otherwise, we may never have known the late comedian.
