Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx To Tour As Holograms

HughPickens.com writes: Dave Itzkoff writes in the NYT that years after their deaths Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx will be united in a most unlikely way as Hologram USA, a technology company that specializes in visual recreations of celebrities, will present shows with hologramic likenesses of Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx across the country. "They're comedy icons. Both of them influenced so many comedians after them," says Alki David adding that the company is "working with other estates of famous funny guys and funny girls, these just happened to be amenable estates who see the vision." David says that the hologram shows featuring these comedians would include some of their best-known material — say, Andy Kaufman lip-syncing the "Mighty Mouse" theme on the debut episode of "Saturday Night Live" — as well as narrative segments that dramatize biographical details. The shows will have residencies in multiple locations in tourist-oriented cities across the country and will play several times a day for the first year and then eventually be put on a rotation with other acts. As for the future, "there are an awful lot of dead celebrities," concludes David. "There are an awful lot of dead people with a lot of followers. The fresher the memory, the bigger the star."

Comments

Besides the technology being imperfect

[guruevi]

The other reason people might not like this:
a) The Uncanny Valley
b) It's basically a replay of a video recording, not the real people, why pay out of the nose for a glorified YouTube vide.
c) It is always done the same, they are robots. There is no human interaction or improv. What makes comedians good is not a repetitive set of jokes you can see on Netflix, it is the improv with the attendees, with the set, with the people behind scene. I once went to a comedian who did an entire 10min improv bit with the translator for the hearing impaired, another one did a bit on his hotel and the town's name.

Re:Besides the technology being imperfect

[gstoddart]

Meh, Kaufman is easy .. just have it stand there awkwardly staring at the audience for 20 minutes.

And then a bunch of hipsters will rave about how cutting edge it was. Everyone else will want their damned money back.

Just like in real life.

Oh for fuck sake!

[mark-t]

I realize I'm probably preaching to the choir by commenting here, but the nytimes page linked to had no comment section, or else I would have said something there. But I really wish that people, and especially the media, would stop referring to this sort of thing as a hologram. It's called "pepper's ghost", it's a well-known illusion, and is not anything remotely like a hologram.

Can people PLEASE...

[vashfish]

...stop calling these things "holograms"?

Pepper's Ghost

[mbone]

The chances of these "holograms" being actual holograms is down there with the House Benghazi Committee actually accomplishing anything.

These will be Pepper's Ghost illusions, not holograms. Pepper's Ghost done well can be very effective, but the physics is rather different.

Re:Pepper's Ghost

[Parafilmus]

This trick is similar to pepper's ghost, in that a half-silvered mirror is used.

But in this case, the mirror isn't reflecting a 3D object. It's just reflecting a 2D movie.

Frank did it first

[mbone]

The Sinatra estate had Frank Sinatra on stage starting in 2006, using archival footage rescued by Keith Robinson (Frank was a pack-rat, and saved all of his movie and TV rushes, so there is lots of material). They are bringing the Frank Sinatra stage show back to London, so you can see it too if you want. (This has a live orchestra to give it some interactivity.)

Comedy doesn't work that way anymore

[rsilvergun]

comedians don't really improve or try out material. I forget who but someone pointed out that there's too much risk of somebody with a camera recording them bombing one night and it killing their careers. It's why comedy is getting so stale. There's no vaudeville or stand up circuit for them to take risks with. There's nowhere for them to weed out the c and b material from the a stuff.