>>Last night I just caught the tail end of a film biopic essentially about the dissolution of Andy Kaufman, "Man on the Moon", played by Jim Carey.
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>>Now there have been several seminal TV sit-coms from the USA, that were loved over here: Rhoda, Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends. And Kaufman, as Latka, was one of the main draws. Apart from this, esp. as he died quite young, I don't think a lot was known of him over here. From this film though it appears that, outside of his role in Taxi, he was, to the British senses, about as funny as a dose of distemper in a dog's home. And he was nutsoid, arrogant, single-minded in his conviction of his own talent and funniness and self-destructive.
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>>Did you guys really find him all that interesting and hilarious, outside his Latka role?
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>I thought that his Latka role was annoying. The more I found out about him the less I liked him.

Well if you'd seen this film, it seems his life was one long car crash. American commedians today are very funny, what with "alternative" comedy, but those back in the 60s/70s, with their bu-dum kish! drum rolls to mark the punchlines, to English ears were excruciatingly bad (a classic portrayal would be Dinero (sp?) in "Broadway Danny Rose")