Shtik It to the Guy

by Michael Musto

Andy Kaufman’s life story wouldn’t exactly lend itself to one of those musty old Sir Richard Attenborough film biographies. Kaufman’s kinetic persona and talent — wrapped up in layers of quirky genius and deception — couldn’t possibly be summed up with a beginning, a middle, an end and a score by John Barry.

That’s why “Language Instruction: Love Family vs. Andy Kaufman,” Elevator Repair Service’s stab at an “avant-garde, post-modern, dadaist, deconstructivist comedy,” may be just the ticket.

Rather than shoot for a traditional bio of Kaufman — known for his bizarre appearances on “Saturday Night Live” as well as his portrayal of Latka Gravas on “Taxi” — the play goes for the late comic’s essence, gleefully rolling around in the confusion of all his shifting realities without forcing any sense onto it.

While the result sometimes comes off like a parody of experimental theater, more often it’s a fresh and hilarious meeting of style and subject. A lot of mayhem goes on onstage, but it’s all very ordered and precise. As Kaufman (Leo Marks) does his angsty, wide-eyed shtik, actors portraying the Love Family (the troupe that performed with Kaufman during a 1979 Carnegie Hall performance) offer bouncy narration and his grandmother rails against his “disgusting” comedy.

Sudden outbursts of choreography and appearances by the actors in a video monitor add to an amorphous, constantly evolving presentation that’s wacko enough to be truly inspired.

A typical set piece has Andy counting aloud into the hundreds as Grandma screams, “Someone get me outta here before I rip my own head off!” Another uses Elayne Boosler (Colleen Werthmann) as an icon of empty, traditional standup comedy, while Kaufman is, of course, the lovable kamikaze, a dada demon who goes for the punch more than the punchline.

“This is the real me,” all the comic’s incarnations announce at one point, and though it’s meant to be ironic, the remarkable work has stumbled onto the real Kaufman. What’s next — Gandhi-a-Go-Go?