Is This Guy for Real?: The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman

by Brian "Box" Brown

Overview

2019 Eisner Award Winner for Best Reality-Based Work

Comedian and performer Andy Kaufman’s resume was impressive—a popular role on the beloved sitcom Taxi, a high-profile stand-up career, and a surprisingly successful stint in professional wrestling. Although he was by all accounts a sensitive and thoughtful person, he’s ironically best remembered for his various contemptible personas, which were so committed and so convincing that all but his closest family and friends were completely taken in.

Why would someone so gentle-natured and sensitive build an entire career seeking the hatred of his audience? What drives a performer to solicit that reaction? With the same nuance and sympathy with which he approached Andre the Giant in his 2014 biography, graphic novelist Box Brown's Is This Guy For Real? takes on the complex and often hilarious life of Andy Kaufman.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626723160
Publisher:	First Second
Publication date:	02/06/2018
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Brian “Box” Brown is an Eisner Award–winning author whose comics have appeared in the New York Times, Playboy, and New York magazine. His books include the New York Times–bestselling Andre the Giant: Life and Legend, Tetris: The Games People Play, Is This Guy for Real?: The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman, Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America, Child Star, and Accidental Czar (with writer Andrew S. Weiss). boxbrown.com

Editorial Reviews

01/29/2018
Brown (Andre the Giant: Life and Legend) once again explores the world of professional wrestling, this time through the biographical lens of that larger-than-life comedian, Andy Kaufman. From his childhood—raised on a diet of cartoons, Elvis Presley, and professional wrestling—Kaufman is shown developing an approach to comedy that represents a yearning to be the kind of showman he grew up watching. Brown draws a connection between Kaufman’s fascination with heel characters and the heel personas he adopted in his comedy routines, like his abrasive Tony Clifton alterego. Brown’s approach to illustration, with his penchant for dot-eyed, curvy-limbed characters, is well-suited for the graphic biographies of celebrities, because there is something eminently humanizing in his linework. Readers will appreciate what Brown does with this story, as well, paralleling Kaufman’s rise with that of his future “nemesis” (but secretly good pal), wrestler Jerry “The King” Lawler. It is a well-researched, enjoyable yarn written by the one author working in the comics medium who fans would want to tell Kaufman’s story. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Cartoonist Box Brown has a talent for crafting nonfiction comics that use visuals to illuminate and energize real-world events... [Is This Guy For Real?] is a thorough character study that doesn’t shy away from macro topics, giving readers a comprehensive look at Kaufman’s rise to fame." —The AV Club, from their "10 Most Anticipated Comics of 2018"

"[Is This Guy For Real?] is a well-researched, enjoyable yarn written by the one author working in the comics medium who fans would want to tell Kaufman’s story." —Publishers Weekly

"Box Brown exercises his trademark commitment to dogged research, elegant story construction, and compellingly cartoony artwork in this story about Kaufman’s lifelong connection to the squared circle."—Vulture, from their "The Best Comics to Read This February"

"[Kaufman's] fascinating, complicated persona is brought to gorgeous life in Brown's book, as are several fascinating tidbits."—Entertainment Weekly

From the Publisher

05/01/2018
Brown tells the story of actor and comedian Andy Kaufman in this biography. Teens may not be aware of Kaufman, who's best known for his character on the TV series Taxi, but his story makes for good reading. Inspired by the over-the-top wrestling villains he loved as a child, he created despicable characters in his comic acts to goad audiences into hating him. After appearing on Saturday Night Live and starring in Taxi, Kaufman found his way into the world of wrestling by challenging female opponents. Brown did extensive research on Kaufman's life, including several in-person interviews with those who knew him well—truly necessary to get through the layers of the actor/comedian's public personas. The black-and-white art is simple but gives life to the humor and situations. VERDICT A sympathetic tale about a challenging subject. Hand to teens interested in pro wrestling or the entertainment industry.—Allison McLean, Elkhart Public Library, IN

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