A solid book, a good look at a portion of Kaufman's life that's less discussed and considered. Box Brown does a really nice job with this kind of material.

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.

Fantastic work, as ever from Brown. A great attempt at unpacking the strange machinations of one of the 20th Century's great comic genius figures. And the perfect realisation of medium and subject.

I somehow had no idea that this book existed until I found it on display in my local library. I also didn't know until then that I needed to read an illustrated biography of Andy Kaufman. Which is funny, because I only get Kaufman maybe half the time--although I think very few people got him all of the time. I watched Taxi with my parents and we all liked Latka as long as he was a minor character; the later Latka-centric episodes, not so much. The Mighty Mouse bit was funny...the first time. I d...

I was pretty disappointed that this book is pretty much only about Andy's wrestling obsession. Out of all the weird things he did in his life, wrestling is the least interesting to me.

Quite an informative and fascinating look at the life of the late comedian, Andy Kaufman. Although a lot of the graphic novel focused on his attempts at wrestling, his character was also emphasized as quite a playful and witty person. The best part of the entire book was near the end, when the author, Box Brown, was interviewing Michael Kaufman and he told the story of Andy at the amusement park, (Coney Island) and how he realized that one of the kids running the game wasn't bringing in any mone...

Reviewed at Splitsider: http://splitsider.com/2018/02/andy-ka...Around 2010, I worked at a coffee shop for a man who believed Andy Kaufman was still alive. It had been a generation since Kaufman’s apparent death, in 1984, from lung cancer. My old manager isn’t alone, either; Kaufman’s career onstage included comedy, songs, impersonations, wrestling, sitcom stardom, and elaborate pranks that still have audiences interrogating what was “real” and what wasn’t. Raised on Long Island, Kaufman is perh...

I may never have fully appreciated Andy Kauffman, though this was especially true of his later work, when he was wrestling women and saying demeaning things about them, though this could indeed have been a commentary on machismo wrestling culture, I was never sure. I loved—as his mother did—his Elvis impersonations. At the risk of sounding hopelessly conventional, I very much liked his role of Latka on Taxi. I never knew at the time that he was seriously into professional wrestling, so when he w...

This one was a great read. I’m a huge fan of Box Brown and I’ve read his Tetris book, Andre the Giant book, several comics, pieces in anthologies and a bunch of Retrofit titles from his micropress. He does quality work.What I liked about this book was the well researched forays into the world of professional wresting. Andy Kaufman was a talented comedian, actor (Taxi), performer (Elvis impersonator) and his time spent in the wrestling ring seemed to be the pinnacle of all of these talents.Well w...

I received a free copy of this book from First Second Books through NetGalley.Box Brown certainly has a talent for making compelling, comprehensive graphic-novel biographies! And he definitely has a passion for, and a vast knowledge of, wrestling. I barely knew anything about Andy Kaufman before this book. I saw the Jim Carey movie a long time ago - and is it my memory, or was there no wrestling there? I feel like I would have remembered that. Now I want to watch this movie again, knowing that

I loved Box Brown's Andre the Giant, and I loved Is This Guy for Real?...I think I just love all of his comics that incorporate wrestling. But really, this one I loved because it got me thinking about Andy Kaufman, how I don't know if I love him or hate him, which is exactly what he intended, and it got me thinking about art and the art of pushing boundaries. This doesn't answer any questions, but I love that about this, too. I'm almost kinda bummed that I read this as part of Day One in the #24...

Once again, Box Brown takes on the life story of another celebrity...and as with his Andre the Giant book, this topic also involves wrestling. And while I enjoyed that earlier graphic bio and thought it was well done, I eagerly awaited and consumed this look at Andy Kaufman. I've been intrigued by Kaufman for years. His brand of comedy, off-beat, confrontational, and provocative, is right up my alley. His ability to push the boundaries, or to cross them, is what made him stand out as an entertai...

Fun fast read, and I learned stuff I didn't know.

Is This Guy For Real? The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman is a First Second graphic novel written and drawn by Box Brown. This book tells the biography of Andy Kaufman and how he got into comedy, television, and professional wrestling. Andy Kaufman was way ahead of him time, diving into deep character studies that he wouldn't break in front of the audience. This lead many people to think, even to this day, that he really was a chauvinistic asshole. This was an incredibly in-depth look at the mind of A...

Box Brown returns to the subject that gave him his breakthrough in Andre the Giant: Life and Legend - wrestling, in Is This Guy For Real? And it’s for real a decent biographical comic on the great comic Andy Kaufman, mostly focused on Andy’s wrestling. What little I know about Kaufman outside of his comedy is thanks to the Milos Forman film Man on the Moon, though Brown’s book doesn’t really add much to that so I guess it was a pretty thorough biopic! I did find out though that Andy’s wrestling

Andy Kaufman was for real. He was born in 1949 New York City – a member of the baby boomer generation – and raised on a modern invention: the television. Rather than a passive receptacle of the programming he was watching, he ingested images of Mighty Mouse, Elvis Presley, and wrestling, and he was inspired. A natural showman and impersonator, he liked to entertain. The writing was on the wall for Kaufman: an entertainer in the making.For most people today, Kaufman is not a known household name....

As a kid in the Midwest in the '70s, I was confused by Andy Kaufman's appearances on Saturday Night Life, alternately left scratching my head or wondering why this jerk was allowed on the show. Though I liked him on "Taxi," I never really followed his career aside from reading occasional tabloid stories about his wrestling injury and possibly faked death. This book capably filled in the gaps of my knowledge and gave me a better appreciation of what Andy was going for at least. I'm not sure I lik...

Andy Kaufman was one of the funniest people in modern show biz. Like his contemporary, John Belushi, Kaufman only had to step on stage in one of his hilarious personas and he'd crack you up. Kaufman' death at 35!was shocking. It wasn't drugs, or alcohol. No, cancer came out of nowhere and ripped his lungs out for no good reason. Box Brown for see the format of a graphic novel to chronicle Kaufman's life and it is surprisingly successful in ways this format often isn't. It fleshes out Kaufman's b...

Going in to this, I really didn't know much about Andy Kaufman apart from his reputation as a stand-up comedian. I am not sure I know a *ton* more about him now, but I certainly have a better idea of his impact on the world of wrestling. Brown depicts Kaufman through the lens of his wrestling endeavors more than through focus on his comedy or his stint on Taxi, and this technique works to capture him in a unique, compelling way.

In this simply illustrated surface-level bio of Kaufman, Brown hits most of the marks that you would expect but doesn't really go any deeper. I do wonder if instead of trying to just get through it all, there could have been a better book just focused on a few years. I've always enjoyed Kaufman as a proto-alt comedian and I did enjoy this quick run-through on his life.