As comedians, Redd Foxx and Andy Kaufman could hardly be more different. Foxx, the pioneering nightclub performer and star of “Sanford & Son,” who died in 1991, was candid, socially conscious and unapologetically obscene. Kaufman, the standup, sometime wrestler and “Taxi” co-star who died in 1984, was experimental, obtuse, playful and perplexing.
But now these two comics will be united in a most unlikely way: both are being turned into holograms to perform and tour again.
On Friday, Hologram USA, a technology company that specializes in these visual recreations of celebrities, plans to announce that it will use the likenesses of Kaufman and Foxx and parts of their previously recorded routines to create hologram shows that will be presented across the country next year.
“They’re comedy icons,” said Alki David, the founder and chief executive of Hologram USA. “Both of them influenced so many comedians after them.”
Mr. David, a billionaire entrepreneur, said in an interview that while the company is “working with other estates of famous funny guys and funny girls, these just happened to be amenable estates who see the vision.”
Foxx, who released more than 50 albums of his material, was among the first black comedians to find popularity with white audiences and to star in his own network sitcom.
Kaufman was a prankish provocateur and frequent guest of David Letterman’s “Late Night” program. He was the subject of the 1999 biographical film “Man on the Moon,” in which he was played by Jim Carrey. (He also appeared on Mr. Foxx’s short-lived ABC variety show in 1977.)
Michael Kaufman, the comedian’s brother and a representative of his estate, said in an interview that the hologram show was “the right platform for the new generation of audiences to experience Andy.”
In Andy Kaufman’s heyday, when he was picking fights on live television or feuding with the wrestler Jerry Lawler, Michael Kaufman said, such incidents “made it to the newspapers — that’s as much as you could do back then, as far as hoopla.”
If his brother were getting up to the same antics today, Mr. Kaufman added, “I think it would have busted the Internet. This keeps him alive.”
Mr. David said that the hologram shows featuring these comedians would include some of their best-known material — say, Andy Kaufman lip-syncing the “Mighty Mouse” theme on the debut episode of “Saturday Night Live” — as well as narrative segments that dramatize biographical details.
Noting that Malcolm X had known Foxx before his stand-up fame and described him as “the funniest dishwasher on this earth,” Mr. David said, “We’re going to have a scene with Malcolm X. We’re going to have various notable names featuring in his story.”
Mr. David said these shows “will have residencies in multiple locations in tourist-oriented cities across the country.”
“They will play several times a day for the first year and then eventually they’ll be put on a rotation with other acts,” he said.
Hologram USA, which is based in Beverly Hills, Calif., has previously created projections of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (allowing him to appear at a Nantucket, Mass., conference from political asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London); and the late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel (so he could host a country-music awards show in Nashville while remaining in Los Angeles).
The company is preparing holographic versions of Billie Holiday to perform at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and of Whitney Houston for a worldwide concert tour next year. It is also working with the National Comedy Center, an attraction being built in Jamestown, N.Y., to create a club dedicated to hologram performances from bygone comics, including Foxx and Kaufman.
Mr. David, whose FilmOn.com website will also offer online broadcasts of the hologram comedy shows, said that Hologram USA had spoken with the families and estates of many artists, as well as publishing and recording companies, before arriving at Kaufman and Foxx.
“There are an awful lot of dead celebrities,” he said. “There are an awful lot of dead people with a lot of followers. The fresher the memory, the bigger the star.”
Still, it is far from certain whether audiences are interested in these virtual resurrections.
At best, the shows offer fans fresh opportunities to see the work of artists who each had a significant impact on comedy but have been out of the cultural consciousness for decades.
At worst, the holograms risk seeming like crass exploitation of dead performers unable to decide for themselves how their work and likenesses are used.
Samantha Chang, the director of licensing at CMG Worldwide, the licensing agency that represented the Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx estates in the Hologram USA deal, acknowledged that the idea behind such projects can be potentially off-putting.
“You can now be in multiple places at once, and literally come back from the dead,” Ms. Chang wrote in response to email questions. “This idea can be uncomfortable for some, but for others, it’s groundbreaking.”
She added that the estates she represents would be working closely with Hologram USA “to create an authentic experience,” and ensuring “that every project is done with the utmost respect for the person’s life and work.”
Mr. David said these holograms were no different from other forms of nonfiction storytelling.
“So what is a biopic?” he said. “What is a biography? Personally, I love the controversy. The curiosity factor certainly brings people in.”
The quality of these hologram performances, Mr. David said, is what will ultimately draw audiences, but until then: “The more shock value at the opening, the better. It’s entertainment, right?”
Michael Kaufman said he tried to approach any potential controversy with the same equanimity his brother would apply: “If someone was having an argument and they looked to Andy to settle it, he would say, ‘I think you’re right, and I think you’re right.’ ”
With a nod to those Andy Kaufman cultists who believe the comedian’s death was actually his grandest practical joke, and that he is still alive somewhere, Michael Kaufman said the hologram project was a fitting tribute to his brother, “31 years after he allegedly died.
“I can’t not put the word ‘allegedly’ in,” he added. “I would feel very disloyal if I didn’t put it in.”
Then again, Mr. Kaufman said, “What if Andy actually jumps out of the technology and really appears? He’d be 66 and nobody would recognize him.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/a...r-death.html&eventName=Watching-article-click
But now these two comics will be united in a most unlikely way: both are being turned into holograms to perform and tour again.
On Friday, Hologram USA, a technology company that specializes in these visual recreations of celebrities, plans to announce that it will use the likenesses of Kaufman and Foxx and parts of their previously recorded routines to create hologram shows that will be presented across the country next year.
“They’re comedy icons,” said Alki David, the founder and chief executive of Hologram USA. “Both of them influenced so many comedians after them.”
Mr. David, a billionaire entrepreneur, said in an interview that while the company is “working with other estates of famous funny guys and funny girls, these just happened to be amenable estates who see the vision.”
Foxx, who released more than 50 albums of his material, was among the first black comedians to find popularity with white audiences and to star in his own network sitcom.
Kaufman was a prankish provocateur and frequent guest of David Letterman’s “Late Night” program. He was the subject of the 1999 biographical film “Man on the Moon,” in which he was played by Jim Carrey. (He also appeared on Mr. Foxx’s short-lived ABC variety show in 1977.)
Michael Kaufman, the comedian’s brother and a representative of his estate, said in an interview that the hologram show was “the right platform for the new generation of audiences to experience Andy.”
In Andy Kaufman’s heyday, when he was picking fights on live television or feuding with the wrestler Jerry Lawler, Michael Kaufman said, such incidents “made it to the newspapers — that’s as much as you could do back then, as far as hoopla.”
If his brother were getting up to the same antics today, Mr. Kaufman added, “I think it would have busted the Internet. This keeps him alive.”
Mr. David said that the hologram shows featuring these comedians would include some of their best-known material — say, Andy Kaufman lip-syncing the “Mighty Mouse” theme on the debut episode of “Saturday Night Live” — as well as narrative segments that dramatize biographical details.
Noting that Malcolm X had known Foxx before his stand-up fame and described him as “the funniest dishwasher on this earth,” Mr. David said, “We’re going to have a scene with Malcolm X. We’re going to have various notable names featuring in his story.”
Mr. David said these shows “will have residencies in multiple locations in tourist-oriented cities across the country.”
“They will play several times a day for the first year and then eventually they’ll be put on a rotation with other acts,” he said.
Hologram USA, which is based in Beverly Hills, Calif., has previously created projections of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (allowing him to appear at a Nantucket, Mass., conference from political asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London); and the late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel (so he could host a country-music awards show in Nashville while remaining in Los Angeles).
The company is preparing holographic versions of Billie Holiday to perform at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and of Whitney Houston for a worldwide concert tour next year. It is also working with the National Comedy Center, an attraction being built in Jamestown, N.Y., to create a club dedicated to hologram performances from bygone comics, including Foxx and Kaufman.
Mr. David, whose FilmOn.com website will also offer online broadcasts of the hologram comedy shows, said that Hologram USA had spoken with the families and estates of many artists, as well as publishing and recording companies, before arriving at Kaufman and Foxx.
“There are an awful lot of dead celebrities,” he said. “There are an awful lot of dead people with a lot of followers. The fresher the memory, the bigger the star.”
Still, it is far from certain whether audiences are interested in these virtual resurrections.
At best, the shows offer fans fresh opportunities to see the work of artists who each had a significant impact on comedy but have been out of the cultural consciousness for decades.
At worst, the holograms risk seeming like crass exploitation of dead performers unable to decide for themselves how their work and likenesses are used.
Samantha Chang, the director of licensing at CMG Worldwide, the licensing agency that represented the Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx estates in the Hologram USA deal, acknowledged that the idea behind such projects can be potentially off-putting.
“You can now be in multiple places at once, and literally come back from the dead,” Ms. Chang wrote in response to email questions. “This idea can be uncomfortable for some, but for others, it’s groundbreaking.”
She added that the estates she represents would be working closely with Hologram USA “to create an authentic experience,” and ensuring “that every project is done with the utmost respect for the person’s life and work.”
Mr. David said these holograms were no different from other forms of nonfiction storytelling.
“So what is a biopic?” he said. “What is a biography? Personally, I love the controversy. The curiosity factor certainly brings people in.”
The quality of these hologram performances, Mr. David said, is what will ultimately draw audiences, but until then: “The more shock value at the opening, the better. It’s entertainment, right?”
Michael Kaufman said he tried to approach any potential controversy with the same equanimity his brother would apply: “If someone was having an argument and they looked to Andy to settle it, he would say, ‘I think you’re right, and I think you’re right.’ ”
With a nod to those Andy Kaufman cultists who believe the comedian’s death was actually his grandest practical joke, and that he is still alive somewhere, Michael Kaufman said the hologram project was a fitting tribute to his brother, “31 years after he allegedly died.
“I can’t not put the word ‘allegedly’ in,” he added. “I would feel very disloyal if I didn’t put it in.”
Then again, Mr. Kaufman said, “What if Andy actually jumps out of the technology and really appears? He’d be 66 and nobody would recognize him.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/24/a...r-death.html&eventName=Watching-article-click
