read Zmuda's book. I haven't read it yet, but I bought it the other day. According to the reviews, Zmuda states whether Lawler was in on it or not. I heard a long radio show with Zmuda a few weeks ago, and although he didn't give away whether or not Lawler was in on the whole act or not, he did say that everything Andy did was a setup. Cussing out Lawler on Letterman? staged. Dave didn't know it was going to happen, but they got prior permission from some network higher-ups beforehand. Thing is, and this is what Zmuda said in this interview, you don't do the things AK did on TV and get to keep coming back unless you have permission beforehand. Kaufman, Zmuda, and Shapiro knew this.
Or at least, he never saw himself as such. He considered himself a performer - more than he wanted to push boundaries, he really wanted to perform. Even in his big comic successes like the Carnegie Hall show, he wasn't trying to be funny during probably 90% of the stuff the audience was laughing at. He was there to perform - to entertain - the same way he had been entertained by TV shows like Howdy Doody etc. when he was a child. Was he funny? Absolutely, but not exclusively.
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read Zmuda's book. I haven't read it yet, but I bought it the other day. According to the reviews, Zmuda states whether Lawler was in on it or not. I heard a long radio show with Zmuda a few weeks ago, and although he didn't give away whether or not Lawler was in on the whole act or not, he did say that everything Andy did was a setup. Cussing out Lawler on Letterman? staged. Dave didn't know it was going to happen, but they got prior permission from some network higher-ups beforehand. Thing is, and this is what Zmuda said in this interview, you don't do the things AK did on TV and get to keep coming back unless you have permission beforehand. Kaufman, Zmuda, and Shapiro knew this.
Or at least, he never saw himself as such. He considered himself a performer - more than he wanted to push boundaries, he really wanted to perform. Even in his big comic successes like the Carnegie Hall show, he wasn't trying to be funny during probably 90% of the stuff the audience was laughing at. He was there to perform - to entertain - the same way he had been entertained by TV shows like Howdy Doody etc. when he was a child. Was he funny? Absolutely, but not exclusively.