Great Lives

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Factual: Life Stories

Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

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Matthew Parris

Iain Lee

Oliver Double

Miles Warde

Great Lives: Iain Lee on Andy Kaufman

Iain Lee on Andy Kaufman

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Iain Lee on Andy Kaufman

Cult legend Andy Kaufman chosen by Iain Lee as his great life.

Broadcaster Iain Lee chooses performance artist, wrestler and star of TV’s Taxi, Andy Kaufman. With Matthew Parris. From 2017.

There were so many hoaxes in Andy Kaufman's brief career that for years his fans believed that he wasn't really dead. 

Kaufman's best known as Latka Gravas in the American TV sitcom Taxi, and his life was undoubtedly weird. Performance artist, Elvis impersonator, wrestler - he's difficult to pin down. 

Nominator Iain Lee believes he was a genius, while Olly Double of the University of Kent school of arts reckons Kaufman didn't really care if his audience laughed or not. 

Presenter Matthew Parris draws his own conclusions about Kaufman's extraordinary life, later turned into a film starring Jim Carrey called Man on the Moon.

Produced at BBC Bristol by Miles Warde.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2017.

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