Why Norm MacDonald?
I love Norm, but why have him play Michael Richards? He's also in "Larry Flynt". Is Forman a fan of his comedy?
shareYa know, Ive always wondered this myself. Especially considering the fact that they went back and got the entire original cast of Taxi.. why couldnt they get Michael Richards to play Michael Richards?
shareBecause Michael Richards hated Kaufman, from what I hear. He was asked and refused to appear in the movie.
shareYa know, Ive always wondered this myself. Especially considering the fact that they went back and got the entire original cast of Taxi.. why couldnt they get Michael Richards to play Michael Richards?
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I saw the episode of Fridays back in the day--the cast was obviously pissed at Kaufman breaking character and stopping the skit midstream, and the worst part was that it wasn't funny at all. He left them high and dry on live TV, and they all looked pissed and embarassed. And nervous and uncomfortable.
Richards was obviously livid, and he really did grab the cue cards and plop them down in front of Kaufman.
I can see how the real cast would not have wanted to take part in recreating this scene--it was painful enough to live through once.
Michael "N-BOMB" Richards would have a problem with Kaufmans comedy? Really? Hmmmm.... I would not have gathered that. (Not sarcasm)
share"Michael "N-BOMB" Richards would have a problem with Kaufmans comedy? Really? Hmmmm.... I would not have gathered that. (Not sarcasm)"
I don't think it was that--I think it was Kaufman using them as unknowing and unwilling victims of the practical joke on live TV that made Richards & cast mad. You had to see it to know just how uncomfortable they looked to be part of a bit that bombed on live TV because Andy broke character and stopped it dead. They rehearsed it all week and they didn't appreciate Andy experimenting with their show and their skit.
Kaufman was a guest on their skit comedy show, and he treated it like it was his live gig to do whatever he wanted with.
It was a very tense and painful several moments of dead air on live TV with the Fridays cast sitting around the table dumbfounded until Richards got up and grabbed the cue cards and plopped them in front of Andy.
You could just about see the color drain out of their faces.
And it wasn't funny--it was just bad TV.
When Kaufman's stuff worked, it was beautiful, and when it didn't it, was just a guy acting weird and bombing.
Thie bit bombed badly, and he took them down with him.
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ya ok... super valid point.. guerilla comedy fails, badly sometimes, but why hold the grudge?
shareso YOU didnt think it was funny. Comedy is subjective, dude. I thought it was funny. Obviously Milosh and the majority found it to be funny, since they included it in Man on the Moon. And every time I watch that scene I laugh along with everybody else who is watching, whether it be the re-make or the real deal on you tube. This whole thing was brilliant magic, made possible by Andy.
and as far as the actors spending a week on rehearsing the scene and getting it right, give me a break man. if i didn't know Fridays operated off of scripts, I would think it was improvised. There is NOTHING to rehearse or memorize, its not hard to sit at a table and act stoned. If anything, Andy made the scene way funnier than it would have been, and history seems to agree with me, as that is the most famous clip from the show ever since.
I agree, I thought it was funny.....In a painfully awkward kind of way. Much like the humour in the UK Office that Ricky Gervais is marvelous with....Its just painfully hilarious.
shareso YOU didnt think it was funny. Comedy is subjective, dude. I thought it was funny. Obviously Milosh and the majority found it to be funny, since they included it in Man on the Moon. And every time I watch that scene I laugh along with everybody else who is watching, whether it be the re-make or the real deal on you tube. This whole thing was brilliant magic, made possible by Andy.
and as far as the actors spending a week on rehearsing the scene and getting it right, give me a break man. if i didn't know Fridays operated off of scripts, I would think it was improvised. There is NOTHING to rehearse or memorize, its not hard to sit at a table and act stoned. If anything, Andy made the scene way funnier than it would have been, and history seems to agree with me, as that is the most famous clip from the show ever since.
One of the first rules of acting, particularly live acting, is that you stick to the script. Unnecessarily ad-libbing and completely changing the premise of the bit as Kaufman did is not only insulting to the actors in the scene with you, but also the writers who wrote it, directors trying to tell the camera people where to position themselves, etc etc. There's a famous story from SNL where Damon Wayans decided to change a character he was playing in a sketch into a stereotypical gay man, and he didn't tell anyone. Lorne Michaels fired him mid-show (from my understanding, he wasn't even at the curtain call for that episode). Point is, it doesn't matter if the scene you're doing is hilarious or the worst thing ever written - if an actor agrees to it, they're on the hook for the integrity of what was written and rehearsed. Obviously things go wrong and things need to be ad-libbed at times, but actors try not to do that as much as possible.
And the reason the scene is in the film is because it's one of the most famous Kaufman pranks and probably a top-5 moment he's remembered for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItMJtA8vfpw share
well Id say it would have been alot worse if they played out the actual planned scene cause that just didnt sound funny in the slightest
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