Was This Man a Genius?: Talks with Andy Kaufman

Just as Andy Kaufman subverted traditional forms of comedy, Julie Hecht, with her deadpan wit and highly original style, subverts the traditional form of the profile with her acclaimed nonfiction book, Was This Man a Genius?, reissued in trade paperback.

Following Andy Kaufman—from an appearance at his old high school to performances at Town Hall and Carnegie Hall—Julie Hecht talked with the entertainer during 1978 and 1979 whenever he came to New York City. She withstood nerve-racking experiences: at a party for Kaufman at his parents’ house, on a visit to his childhood bedroom—packed with bags of his teenage poems and elvis clippings—and as a passenger in a car he drove, no hands, while singing and trying to dance to radio music at 3 a.m. on an icy road. She was able to discover the truth behind the stories Andy Kaufman made up for interviewers and to discover the secret of his inspiration. “What made you finally tell me all this?” Hecht asked him at the end of their last meeting. “Because you persevered,” he said.

This is a book of bizarre incidents and frequently hilarious conversations between one of our most fascinating performers and a writer of short stories who found the story of Kaufman’s life and work to be out of this world and worth the trip. It will entertain the many fans of both the author and her subject, and through its surprising dialogue and surreal encounters, it paints an intense portrait of Andy Kaufman and explains how he came to do what he did.

Julie Hecht is the author of Do the Windows Open?, The Unprofessionals, and Happy Trails to You. Her stories have been published in The New Yorker and Harper’s. She has won an O. Henry Prize and received a Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives on the east end of Long Island in winter and in Massachusetts in summer and fall.