Jim Cornette on Andy Kaufman & Jerry Lawler
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- From Episode 265 of the Jim Cornette's Drive Thru
Artwork by Travis Heckel!
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Give Andy credit. He protected the wrestling business. Andy sold everything that Lawler did to him.
To quite a further extent than most people seemed to realize until this episode of _Tales From The Territories_ came out.
And give director Milos Forman credit for taking Lawler’s advice on Man on the Moon, the scene where Andy tells his family who’s freaking out at the arena to not worry it’s not real. Lawler told Forman Andy would have never broken character like that so the scene was cut during production.
It’s crazy, right? For someone that had zero athletic ability nor training, he’s one of the few that actually understood kayfabe, what it would take for the angle to succeed, and sold it like a 20 year veteran. He committed to that angle as much if not more than any existing pro could at the time.
@@Meatball2022 It doesn't require athletic ability to understand kayfabe.
@@dildonius agreed. I worded that poorly, but I hope you get the point
The heartwarming part was the end when they mentioned Kaufman didn't cash a single check Memphis gave him.
Did he donate those proceeds to charity?
I know I figured he was paying them
Heyman would’ve loved him
@@emilioamaro2790 Classic
@@bradpaton3927 the cheques were never cashed. Andy's parents found them sometime after his death.
One of the funnies bits from this is Andy’s remote video to Lawler from “Hollywood”(love how he always emphasized that) where he wrestlers some random large woman in his back yard to intimidate Jerry.
“327 pounds! That’s a LOT more than you weigh Mr Lawler!”
And those promos from “Hollywood” were shot in Lawler’s garage (at least some of them according to the king), and he wrote the insults that Kaufman hurled at the ppl of Memphis. Written by the king of Memphis. Lol
Or his “lawyer” Bob Zmuda
"She can't sue me, she's poor"~Andy kaufman
Andy Kaufman defeated every woman he ever faced. He deserves be in the WWE Hall of Fame.
He was the undertaker of the intergender division.
@@johansmallberries9874 lol! That is funny. Kudos.
No, Vince turned him down. Andy approached him first.
@@iceteehehe754 Vince Sr...you know Jr. Would have taken him in a minute! Somewhere on UA-cam there's a clip from the late 70s of vince Jr interviewing him at intermission & he's laughing throughout
i mean..at least he did what all wrestlers do. and he was amazing doing it
Kaufman, for someone who came in so raw and having no background in the business managed to create one of the greatest heels EVER. Still boggles the mind.
Who knows from where he got it, but Kaufman's entire career is predicated upon being able to predict psychological reactions and using it to reverse expectations. What could be more pro wrestling than that?
He was a good actor and stand up comedian, his stand up probably helped him understand the mood and vibes of the crowd
He was insanely talented and miles and miles ahead of his time.
Kaufman was phenomenal such a great heel the people wanted to see him get his ass kicked, Kaufman would have made such a great heel manager
The guy was truly brilliant.
The best angle in wrestling history. Kaufman had the immortal line about wrestling Foxy: "if she wins, she gets to marry me." LOL.
They really should say Andy Kaufman was an entertainer and professional wrestler. He had more respect in the business and art of professional wrestling. Just Jerry Jarrett saying that it made Bill Watt mark out was something that almost no one else probably ever did.
I'm still mad over this. I spent years believing Lawler hated Kaufman. The heat between them and how well it was sold made me think these guys hated each other. Especially the attack on Letterman. These guys sold this angle so well it was believable. Wrestling has not sold a match better than this. Props to Lawler for keeping the angle alive even after Kaufman passed away.
Why are you mad?
I believed it until just now
convincing
@@SoulforSale😂😂😂
For years people actually thought his death was a work. That's how good he was .
he'll be back, just you wait
I started watching wrestling in Louisville during that time, Kaufman vs Lawler was one of the first things that introduced me to the business. Honestly until his thing with Lawler, except for Latka in Taxi, I was never really much of a fan of Andy Kaufman. But Andy's run with Jerry? That was pure magic. Some people thought Andy Kaufman was a comedian, but he wasn't, by Andy's own admission he never told a joke in his life, what Andy was was the father of Performance Art. Andy's passion was evoking emotions from his audience, not just laughter and mirth but Irritation, annoyance, even anger, and to Andy pro wrestling was the greatest Performance Art that was ever created, and his chance to perform with Lawler was his ultimate dream come true. I never saw anyone with a greater grasp of ring psychology than Andy, if he had been a bit bigger and had any athletic ability, and if he hadn't come down with cancer, he would have been one of the best wrestlers in history.
Tales from the Territories is turning out to be a great show. The Kaufman /Lawler episode is worth watching two or three times.
Andy was a fantastic heel, and protected the business. He was a reality star before reality stars were a thing. He was a troll to everyone before internet forums existed.
Kaufman was way ahead of his time. Some people called him the original troll. He was practically doing his own version of kayfabe like that Friday episode where he would get into a fight with the director and co-stars. You never really knew where he was taking you such as legitimately having cookies and milk after his live performances. But by far my favorite Andy Kaufman wrestling segment was the backyard tape with him wrestling that 300 lbs woman. He had so many good lines in that where he insulted all the people from Tennessee and talked about having brains because he's from Hollywood. My favorite line in that video was where he says, "She can't sue me. She's poor!" I almost felt like he was watching someone like Bobby Heenan to get his snarkiness. That one video was far better than almost everything produced today by a long shot because Andy got it instantly. If he survived, he could've been a natural manager in wrestling at the very least.
I don’t watch wrestling anymore but I could listen to Jim Cornette go on and on. Honky Tonk Man is also funny as hell.
People are talking about how Andy sold his performance, but what Lawler did for the entertainment part of these events was really amazing, groundbreaking even. He's the very first living evidence that wrestlers can be terrific actors. They were amazing, and this entire thing is wholesome on so many levels!
More than any of the celebrities already inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, Andy Kaufman actually deserves it. And, truth be told, he's probably the only one that deserves induction. Andy actually had so much heat that they had a contest on SNL where people voted in to determine whether he would ever be back on SNL again, and voters voted "NO" by a huge margin. What other entertainer would go to such lengths for wrestling? I bet Bad Bunny or Logan Paul wouldn't.
Imagine the first Wrestlemania with a main event of Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs Roddy Piper and Andy Kaufman. I'm sure Piper would have hated being paired with Kaufman at first but would have grown to love Andy for his commitment to the business.
Andy was just so able to sell anything. Not just in wrestling, but any of the gags he pulled, his comedy, his characters. He was just amazing. The thinking he put into the detail to make it convincing. I seriously believe that one day someone is just gonna pull off a mask and it's gonna be Andy.
Except tickets in Memphis after the initial angle and match.
A quick Goggle search will produce a good picture of a VERY young Cornette, camera in hand, looking down at Kaufman as they were taking him out on a stretcher.
Yep. It's a classic! 👍
"Modern day wrestlers are fans of the performance of wrestling instead of the concept of wrestling." - Jim Cornette
@studio732jrl2 I think the "performance of wrestling" the modern wrestlers are fans of are also the fake backstage segments, bad comedy and the lack of psychology in every angle they are doing... but you are right too.
@studio732jrl2 Modern fans are not even fans of that. They are fans of feeling special for liking wrestling because no one else does it. That's why they are so clueless.
Kaufman's involvment in wrestling is the reason I hate when modern wrestling involves celebrities. Kauffman actually behaved the way someone who's not involved in wrestling would be if they were thrust into that world. He gets his ass kicked in humiliating fashion, while the WWE brings in Bad Bunny and has him going over people who've trained their whole lives in wrestling or has Snoop Dogg clotheslining stars. I absolutely hate that.
The only modern celebrity I thought was like Kauffman was Will Sasso from "Mad TV", who had a match with Bret Hart in WCW where he lost in like 30 seconds. That's the way it should be.
Sasso also got smashed by Stone Cold.
The old TV documentary "I'm From Hollywood" is a great resource on this. It's from the 80s. I saw it one random late night in 97-98ish when I was first getting into wrestling.
That was my intro to the madness.
I was there when it happened too, but those videos from Andy Kaufman where he teaches Memphis what soap was and how to wash themselves.
BRILLIANT
And the King of Memphis wrote those insults of Memphis folks. Hilarious!
When I was a teenager I had a stack of wrestling magazines full of Jim's photography. With respect to the other contributors, Jim's name is the one I've always remembered because he was far and away the most prolific.
Lol...sure you did....😂
Kaufman was a genius who was WAY ahead of his time. Whether happy, sad or angry, in the end, every crowd had been entertained.
Always a good subject to hear about...
I love listening to this episode and just how fondly Jim speaks of this time in his life as a photographer and this era of Memphis Wrestling. It was truly such a great time to be a Wrestling fan.
I hope one day soon especially after this episode of Territories that there is a new push to put Andy in the WWE HOF. He deserves this! To see Jerry induct him and his close friend Danny Devito in the audience with a huge smile on his face and Andy getting the standing ovation he truly, truly deserves.
I never get enough of the Lawler-Kaufman feud talk! BTW, Lawler said on Steve Austin’s podcast that Kaufman said, before they went on Letterman, “Why don’t you just slug me?” Yet this is the 2nd video where I’ve heard someone say it wasn’t predetermined. Which is it? Does Lawler have selective memory?
I think it's just how Lawler sometimes tells the story....they didn't just decide to do it during the Letterman segment as it was going on....but they also didn't plan it before they got to NYC...it was supposed to be a segment where they "reconciled" with each other while talking to Dave....Andy, like a few hours before they went on, came up with the whole slapping thing. So it was predetermined...but on the spur of the moment as well....kind of a predetermined swerve. Lawler didn't fly to NYC knowing he'd be slapping Kaufman on national network TV.
My introduction to the wonderful world of pro wrestling when I was little was my grandmother (R.I.P) yelling at the tv saying get him and hurt the bastard to the Lawler vs Kaufman match!!!🤕
Andy was one in a million. RIP.
One in infinity...FIFY...
I’m still waiting for Andy to show back up and pull off the greatest joke ever.
Great point and excellent UA-cam name, 👍👍
Appreciate the hustle & grind Brian & Corny!!!!!!
How is just talking a grind? Trying doing a 15 hour shift. That’s a proper grind, not talking about wrestling lol.
@@charlesthoreson4162 mark deez 🥜
@@carter3369 worked 16 hour shifts weekly for 25 years, you missed the point
Had Kaufman not been an actor, if he had been in the business, he would've been one of the greatest heel managers of all time. He could piss people off all OVER the territories.
Could you imagine Kaufman as a manager in mid-south? The fans would've wanted to cut him every single night.
In my personal opinion, Andy Kaufman changed the business in a way no other performer could. He created the blueprint for the heel and he did everything he could to make it real for everyone. A genius and he deserves much more praise than he gets!
Been waiting on this since the new episode dropped, DSotR and TFtT are awesome and hearing Cornette's thoughts on each episode really adds context and background info that helps a newcomer like me learn. S/o Jim and Brian
Sounds like X-Pac has a lot of work coming up with that “I was there” show 😂😂
X-Pac gonna be on every “I was there” episode
If you look at a picture of Hiroshima after the nuke, you might see X-PAC in the background.
@@wilcee238 he’s in his DX gear on the Bayeux Tapestry
@@talabackland8127 😂
If you look at footage of the Titanic wreckage you can see X-Pac's DX t-shirt adorning a hand crafted Victorian fireplace on the upper class deck.
They took the bounty hunters gimmick to southwest championship wrestling, but Andy was the babyface, and Lawler was the heel.
Lawler sent a video of him singing "I'm evil, so don't mess around with me".
Andy actually brought MORE legitimacy to wrestling with this stunt. He protected it and my hat is off to him. But at the same time Jim needs to understand the business couldn't be protected forever. The late 90s early 00s. It was over. Now with the popularity of MMA, UFC.
Lol I felt the love when Corny talked about Mama Cornette
Greatest kayfabe heel ever. A total pro and respected the wonderful art of pro wrestling. I love Andy Kaufman. Lawler too, total legends both of them.
Andy and Jerry on David Letterman, the slap heard around the world. And it happened on my birthday!
Kaufman's gimmick was that he was disrespecting the business but in reality took it very seriously. For example requesting an ambulance to sell the hell out of that piledriver. He treated the business with more respect than Olivier and the Bucks. He can be taken more seriously as a wrestler than them.
And Andy did it for FUN.... He never cashed the checks he got from Jerry Jarrett, who ran the Memphis territory .........
Greg Gagne will say it was his idea and convinced Andy and Jerry to do it. He also called David Letterman and told him to let them on his show.
I'm sure Russo said he created it bro
And X Pac was there! He saw it all with his own glazed over eyes!
THe Gagnes were supposed to get a piece of Andy's merch money but Lawler screwed them.
I believe Lawler still has the AWA belt in his safe at home. Lmao!
That was an excellent 45 minutes of television (ep 2 of ToT). I was glued and even my non-wrestling fan wife and daughter loved it
The wrestling business today would never, could never pull something like this off. Mid-south was what wrestling should be all about. Yes, it's fake, but that doesn't mean the wrestlers should admit it. Brilliance. If Kaufman didn't pass away, he would've been a great booker.
Easily the greatest feud in wrestling history. My none wrestling family all discussed tuning into see Lawler and Kaufmann on David Letterman.
I'm old enough to remember that when Jerry slapped him and like Corny would say slapped the taste out of his mouth!!
Andy knew how to tell a story.
One of the greatest wrestling angles of all time. Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman both pulled it off perfectly. I didn't see it originally as I was five and into wrestling at the time. And my family and I still lived in Florida in 1982. We moved to Tennessee and I got into Memphis Wrestling a few years later starting when I was eight years old. But I digress.
But I saw it at first on the I'm From Hollywood documentary and the special done by Jim Carrey. And I then would watch earlier videos on it. Everything done, the buildup, the matches, the story itself, was all brilliant. No wonder Vince McMahon was pissed that his father, Vince, Sr., passed on the offer to do it before it landed in the lap of Jerry Lawler and Jerry Jarrett.
An angle like this hasn't been done since and would never be able to duplicate the magnitude that it originally brought anyway as both Lawler and Kaufman brought in raw emotion that rubbed on all the fans since wrestling fans have now smartened up to the business. At the time in the early 1980s, this was pure fucking gold.
Early in Cornette's shoot video career I remember him shitting on this program Lawler/Kaufman much more than he has done in recent years. I dont know if he came around on the program or its just better for him story wise and more opportunity to make some money on some interviews.
Being one who grew up watching Memphis wrestling I can honestly say that those were the great days of wrestling boy we hated Kaufman we all wanted to tear him to pieces but now I know that it was just a show and Andy Kaufman did a good job at being a heel and was probably the most hated in Memphis wrestling history, unfortunately Andy Kaufman died at only 35 of lung cancer
still waiting for his comeback
He was an expert on getting “heat”
If Andy wasn't an actor I think he would have been a great heel manager.
If he were a heel manager - he would have to be a good actor......... 😉
@@csnide6702 he will pass 👍
14:00 I'm not sure if Mark James has his website up any longer, so I can't confirm this. From what I remember, on April 5 (not May 5 as Corny states here), Lawler wrestled a regular match and the Kaufman match was billed as a special attraction following the regular card. It did draw about 8,000. I'm pretty sure Corny is wrong about previous weeks' attendance, as the match followed the conclusion of Lawler's feud with Dutch Mantel. They had a falls count anywhere match on March 22 and a barbed wire match on March 29. I believe both drew around 10,000.
Crazy to think he would have continued for who knows how long if he hadn’t passed away. He was much more passionate about wrestling than sitcoms or standup. Rest his soul
Hell yeah Spartanburg on the map. I'm from Spartanburg too.
It's a shame Kaufman went so early, he definitely would've been a part of the first Mania and could've been great in the WWF.
Jim Carrey actually believed that Kaufman and Lawler hated each other in real life.
What a dummy.
Jim Carrey got worked.
@@TheFailedmessiah into a shoot
Kaufman laid the ground work for the Tom Greens, Ashton Kutchers, and UA-cam pranksters of the world
Don’t hold that against him…
Met Jerry a few years ago. I commented how I'd seen the docu I'm from Hollywood as a kid, and all I could see what Andy was a nut. Then when I saw Man In the Moon, and the bit that revealed that Jerry and Andy were just trolling everyone, I laughed my ass off on in the theater. Jerry was NOT a fan of Carrey though. I guess staying in bizzare character even when not filming was upsetting?
Lawler and Kaufman wete obviously very good friends given the amount of trust between them, it must be odd when you have someone imitating your dead friend right in front of you.
@@DarthPerkins I think it was more when Carrey stayed IN CHARACTER the whole time that probably irritated the hell out of him.
Even if you were kinda smart to wrestling back then, Kaufman was such a convincing heel, and went so far in being really obnoxious (especially for a network TV star of the time) that it was easy to buy that he was genuinely making a mockery of wrestling, and Memphis, and that Lawler just wasn't having it. The Letterman appearance is where it could have fallen apart, but that went off so perfectly, it really cemented the mythic reality of the feud.
They released the youtube bit with you jim it was awesome
i've seen the clip where Andy beat Foxy, but is there a clip anywhere of their first match? Is Foxy still alive and well?
andy kaufman is a better heel than modern heels in the last 10 years.
Better wrestler too.
I wonder what Andy would have thought about them breaking kayfabe now about the Kaufman Lawler match?
Surely they “smartened up” the big lady whose head he slammed into the ground in the promo.
jim cornette for president.
Kaufman was so great at what he did
Fooled me but not my Dad! He knew, and could "beat both Lawler and Kaufmann at the same time!"
Jimmy C says Andy never broke character....but on Letterman..Andy was all nice and not heel like...until later on..so was it Andy just pretending to be a good guy or was Andy real until the smack? Epic stuff!
Which celebrity do you think had a bigger impact in wrestling: Cyndi Lauper or Andy Kaufman? I'd love to get Corny's take on it.
Andy by a mile IMHO...
My bad he has better material, Cyndi helped wrestling on a national stage. Because more people saw her contribution thanks to MTV and major news outlets.
Lauper has the advantage of a longer life. However, Kaufman's associates lasted longer in the business, so it depends on how one looks at things.
I've said it once,I'll say it again. At of people don't like WWEs Celebrity Wing of the HOF (Not me, I'm OK with it) but if anyone should be in, it should be Kaufman
PUT ANDY KAUFMAN IN THE WWE HOF!!! He was the prototype for Mr T, Mike Tyson, Dennis Rodman, etc.
I've always heard of the Lawler/Kaufman rivalry in documentaries and wrestling lists of top rivalries and other places but I never knew just how big it was until I watched this episode. All I can say is WOW! The fact that the orangutan ex president is in the HOF but Kaufman isn't is absolutely laughable.
Trump drew
@@chrischar9428 So did Kaufman. And he actually gave a sh!t about wrestling instead of just attention like the orange orangutan.
The TDS is strong in this one.
I honestly thought this already happened years ago.
Andy was an anti-comedy/performance artist/entertainer genius.
didn't (Andy) Kaufman treated some fans, after a gig at Carnegie Hall, by taking them out for milk and cookies ?!?!
Andy at least, made me believe that what he was trying to do was real. Roman Reigns will never be able to do that.
7:44 pawn not prawn you prawn
I remember when this started I said well damn wrestling can't come up with nothing better than this but I still watched it and hated Kaufman and Lawler then all these years later I watched that episode and found out the plan was for people to hate him and he was so dedicated that he took it to his grave and the whole time he was the happiest man alive during that I was amazed and kinda felt bad for hating those matches so bad but glad I saw it when it was happening Kaufman was a legend nobody gave more to wrestling than he did and he should be recognized for it
Andy believed in kayfabe more than most modern day wrestlers
Why does Cornette look either like: Kane or Brother Love ?!?!
I'd like to hear if Jim knows exactly how much money that angle made for Memphis
First match didn't sell out
Kaufman was ahead of his time. Amazing troll.
I wish we could see tales from the territories in Australia.
Are wrestling territories a big thing down under?
@@FoxNewsChannelSux no but I'm fascinated by the days of the territories & find the history of wrestling interesting.
Internet is a great place to do it
@@NexLevelMusic2k Where's that?
id be curious to see if jim had a relationship with kaufman.. as he was a manager by the end... did he know andy.. was he as close as lawler was
The greatest rivalry of all time
I can't think of another celebrity who sacrificed all their fame and fortunes for the world of wrestling.
I'm from Hollywood is a great documentary about the fued.
andy kaufman sold the shit out of that neck injury
lots of AEW talent could learn a thing or two from this fued
I really enjoyed watching the Andy Kaufman in Memphis wrestling angle at the time it happened. I always thought he should have had a gaudy World Inter-Gender Wrestling Championship belt made up so he could parade around with it before and after his matches with women.
I can't see Foxy,not knowing it was a work til Man On The Moon.It was all over when Vince admitted it in 1987. And then again in 93. When was Man On The Moon? 01?
Who would win if Andy Kaufmann fought a wrestling woman like Madusa Miceli or Sherri Martel in a shoot wrestling match?
Foxy belongs in the Hall of Fame
This one of my all time favorite wrestling stories.
In wrestling it’s an Angle/feud not a story
Wrestlers try to be actors today, and Andy Kaufman try to be a wrestler, turned out to be a legend
I mean if she's trying to pin him and he's trying to pin her, is that really a work?
Brian Zane did this for wrestling with wregret
Any knew how to fire up the trailer park like no one else, he was great !