Kaufman’s Bastard Child

by Donna Coe

The recent infusion of Generation X art intrigues me, a bouncing baby boomer. I love to see their redefining of what I lived through, namely the 1960s and ’70s. So off I went to see “Language Instruction: Love Family vs. Andy Kaufman” at the Here Theater in SoHo.

The premise is borrowed from an actual 1979 Carnegie Hall concert given by the late comedian Andy Kaufman. The original show is memorable for many reasons. During the entire performance an elderly woman quietly sat on stage.

Introduced as Kaufman’s grandmother, “she” was actually Robin Williams in a forshadowing of “Mrs. Doubtfire.” Also appearing was the eponymous Love Family — a singing and dancing trio who were unceremoniously laughed off the stage.

After the show, the audience boarded school buses for another location to have milk and cookies. And the next day it was ice cream on the Staten Island ferry for those who refused to let the moment end.

All of those things were unprecedented: “Language Instruction” seeks to give meaning to the absurd and/or put those events in historical context and/or totally confuse us.

The new show bombards us with Kaufman trivia, foreign languages (real and fictitious) and a multimedia circus of overlapping sights and sounds — including Kaufman’s offer of $1,000 and his hand in marriage to any woman who could pin him in wrestling. “Language Instruction” also touches on Kaufman’s relationship with comic Elayne Boosler, and Latka, a character he played on the TV series “Taxi.”

Leo Marks plays Kaufman as a combination of Danny Elfman and Ralph Malf in “Happy Days.” Yet he captures the dementia and glimmer of genius that drove the comedian. Wendy Johnson, as Alice Love, has a face that compels you to watch her. Unfortunately, the character of Elayne Boosler is irrelevant and not much like the outspoken stand-up.

Is this production a glimpse into the bemused mind of Andy Kaufman or an alteration of the Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times and see interesting plays”?