Friday, May 21, 2004

Furthering the Rance/Andy Argument

Oh dear, I’ve been referred to on Defamer.

And here I was, lamenting my lack of readership.

You nice Defamer readers come here expecting more about the Andy Kaufman/Rance story.

So here goes, first, a commenter on the original post spake thusly:

[Even if Andy was still alive:] There is NO WAY ‘Rance’ is actually Kaufman. Andy was never that boring, insipid or trite. Rance’s hackneyed retelling of 4th generation Hollywood urban myths cannot be compared to Kaufman’s actual genius. You dishonor Andy’s legacy by attributing that pablum to him: he might be out there blogging but it would certainly be far more entertaining than the crap on ‘Rance,’ which is watered-down vanilla with a hint of the shit he has to eat as some mogul’s assistant. I’d hope after 20 years in hiding, Andy could come up with something better than tired cliches and children’s puzzles.
Tony_Clifton’s_Ballsaque

He has a serious point here. Rance’s blog is soooooo seeped in the verisimilitude of an person with a shallow life it’s hard to believe that Andy is that good. And further that Andy never had any interest in commenting on that part of our culture.

But I can defend that. Because as I understand Andy, he was always reinventing his performance art. And why not take it to another level on the internet? I’m old enough to remember Andy’s first appearances on Saturday Night Live. I remember his complete dedication to whatever he did - no matter what he faced, he threw himself into whatever his current role was.

As for the commenter referring to Andy never being boring or trite ... well, it’s easy to look back and say that, but in the moment, especially with Andy’s early performance pieces (the wrestling stuff) it was very easy to write the whole act off as offensive or just the wrong direction. It went to a place, for me, that was not terribly funny and made a point that I didn’t need to have made to me.

Mostly I hope that Rance is a deft parody to the point of complete surrender by his readership to his nuanced portrayal of Hollywood insipidness.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:58 pm    

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During November it's all about me writing a novel. Sometimes it's about whalewatching. You know, and then there's other stuff.