The GoFather Of Math: What I Learned On The Saddest Night Of Andy Kaufman's Life

It began as the GODFATHER OF MATH, evolved into the GOODFATHER OF MATH. Now this. Go figure...

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The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for five seconds and think for ten minutes = G. CARLIN...Stain glass, engraved glass, frosted glass
–give me plain glass = JOHN FOWLES ... Music is the mathematics of the gods=PYTHAGORAS ... Nothing is more fluid than language = R. L. SWIHART

I cannot live without the oxygen of laughter = DAWN POWELL ... !!! ... But laughter cannot survive without the hydrogen of gravitas = PAUL OLIVERIO

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Monday, July 4, 2016

What I Learned On The Saddest Night Of Andy Kaufman's Life

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Bruno Sammartino, not Buddy Rogers,
was my wrestling hero.

May 29, 1964 was eleven days
after my 14th birthday.

As a bonus, belated gift,
my parents got me 2 tickets
to take a friend
to Madison Square Garden
for this Championship Match.

I cheered maddeningly when Bruno Sammartino
applied a back-breakingly hold
on Buddy Rogers to win the title
in forty-eight seconds.

What I learned on the
"saddest night of Andy Kaufman's life"
occurred in a taxi when we left the Garden
to meet my father at Rockefeller Center.

The fare was 95¢ and I handed the cabbie $1

When I told him to "keep the change,"
he handed me a nickel and said
"You probably need this
more than I do."

[In 1964, almost all cabbies spoke English]

Despite the sarcasm in his voice,
I said "Thank you, sir"
but learned that tipping
only five percent is like
not tipping at all.

PS
I didn't know it in 1964
but today I believe
Andy Kaufman
was a genius
of mystery
and comedy.