At first Andy Kaufman was just an odd little man to me. I had been some what interested in him. But then I was in a book store and I look over my shoulder to a book. A book about Andy Kaufman. I though it might be good so I bought it. I read this with great interest. Ever page learning more and more about this genious. It was the first book to make me hold back tears as I read the final chapters. It is a very funny book as well. Bob Zmuda does a wonderful job of telling his stories. He also tells the truth of what was really happening between Jerry Lawler and Andy. As well as the truth about Tony Clifton. It also gives us an inside look at the real Andy. And the friendship between Andy and his best friend Bob Zmuda. What he was really like. I was actually a little bit sad when I finished it. I just wanted more. I wanted to know more about Andy. After reading this I became extremly interested in Andy Kaufman. I want to know everything now. This is I think the best book I have ever read. A great book about a great preformer. I don't want to call him a comedian because he didn't like being called that. We will never have anyone like Andy Kaufman again. But his legacy will live on. Any of you who have the smallest interest in Andy Kaufman read this book. Learn more about the man, the the misunderstanding, the legend, that is Andy Kaufman.

I was absolutely captivated by this book! The pages almost literally turned themselves. Thank the entertainment gods that someone as erudite and articulate as Bob Zmuda crossed Andy Kaufman's path so that he could document the course of the Kaufman tornado and all of the "carnage" left in its wake.

Zmuda does an excellent job of documenting Andy's rise to reluctant sit-com star and the subsequent metamorphasis to Tony Clifton and beyond. It's impossible to even scratch the surface on the anecdotes Zmuda presents as evidence of Kaufman's genius, his lunacy and his ultimate (or seeming) demise.

While the book does appear to be somewhat self-serving at times for Zmuda, who cares? Zmuda obviously paid his dues. He spent almost his entire career in the shadow of the great Andy Kaufman and he is the only person on the planet who can tell this story. Not even Andy's parents would have been able to approximate the depth and breadth of this story. Zmuda can be forgiven for taking the credit for much of Kaufman's genius.

But, the book is truly not about that. It's more about how they grew together as comic and writer, not how Bob Zmuda made Andy Kaufman a star. Either one without the other probably would not have been half of what they were together. They FED off of each other and that is what makes this book so interesting. Zmuda pulls no punches.

He filled his book with page-turning story after story about Kaufman's (and, yes, HIS) antics as they honed their comedic talents. It's impossible to tell one person's story without telling the other. They were becoming the same person -- and, in fact DID become the same person for a brief period of time (read the book and you'll know what I mean).

Buy this book and sit down and read it from cover-to-cover. You won't have a problem with that even if you've never read a book in one sitting.

Bob Zmuda portrays his late friend with great insight. While the film "Man on the Moon" merely displayed Andy Kaufman's offbeat brand of humor and unusual behavior, Bob Zmuda goes further and deeper by telling us why Andy felt motivated to entertain and/or baffle his audience. The big money film production gave us a one-dimensional view of Andy Kaufman. I highly recommend you shell out your money for this book instead; the biography is much more fascinating than the film. The story of Kaufman and Zmuda's friendship is moving, and very well told. Zmuda avoids putting his pal on a pedestal; he describes Kaufman's creative strengths, but also explores his susceptibility in believing many "new age" theories. This book is a great biography, even if you're not a fan of Andy Kaufman.