Thank You Very Much
Alex Braverman / United States / 2023
With his gonzo, boundary-shattering comedy, Andy Kaufman provoked, and often outraged, audiences. For those who got the joke, that outrage was the very point; Kaufman’s genius was in making people confront their own presumptions. Now through never-before-seen archival footage and intimate recollections of friends, colleagues and family members, filmmaker Alex Braverman excavates the all-too-short life and career of the enigmatic legend whose impact is felt all the more today with the blurring of artifice and reality that defines our present age.
In his short but enigmatic life, Andy Kaufman entertained and transfixed audiences while simultaneously driving them away. His work dissolved the boundaries separating reality from fiction, and his commitment to performance on stage and off rendered any distinctions between his characters and his real life useless. From Executive Producers Morgan Neville (Roadrunner, Won’t You Be My Neighbor), Josh and Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems, Good Time), Rick Rubin, and first time feature director Alex Braverman comes Thank You Very Much, the definitive documentary look at how a shy, oddball kid from Long Island became the most polarizing performance artist of the 20th century.