Show Business: Laughter from the Toy Chest

Andy Kaufman, comedy's stand-up Pirandello

Awkwardness. Embarrassment. Gradual. . . shame. The eyes start to bulge. The body tries to move, but the feet stay still. He runs in place from the waist up. Perspiration starts to form on the upper lips. There is just the suggestion . . . yes . . . a smile. But it is camouflage, a thin subterfuge hiding disorientation, incipient humiliation, blind panic.

He tries to speak, manages a halting, coverall "Thank you very much" delivered in some unheard-of accent that sounds like south-of-the-border Maltese. Then he dives ahead,...