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from the non-zombie-post-death-survival dept.
Dave Itzkoff writes in the NYT that years after their deaths Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx will be united in a most unlikely way as Hologram USA, a technology company that specializes in visual recreations of celebrities, will present shows with hologramic likenesses of Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx across the country. "They're comedy icons. Both of them influenced so many comedians after them," says Alki David adding that 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." David says 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. The shows will have residencies in multiple locations in tourist-oriented cities across the country and will play several times a day for the first year and then eventually be put on a rotation with other acts. As for the future, "there are an awful lot of dead celebrities," concludes David. "There are an awful lot of dead people with a lot of followers. The fresher the memory, the bigger the star."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by wonkey_monkey on Sunday October 25 2015, @08:50PM
Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx to Tour as Holograms
...if you're happy with the word "hologram" being used to describe a reflection of a 2D image, anyway.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Sunday October 25 2015, @09:55PM
They called them comedy icons too. You would have to be roughly WWII generation, maybe early boomer, to be contemporary. They're so far back in technology that they're more like archaeology hieroglyphs than icons.
Kaufman was roughly contemporary with the original battlestar galactica or Buck Rogers or the original star wars trilogy, and died right around the time of the original cosmos tv series. He died incredibly young of some weird lung cancer; donno if that means too much weed smoke or not enough LOL.
Foxx was a little older than the WWII generation and his peak of fame was likely standup in the very early post WWII era, toward the end of his career he was fairly successful on one of the "all in the family" spinoffs (around the final Apollo moon mission timeframe).
I think my parents would remember these guys, but they definitely predate gen-X by a couple decades. I can just barely vaguely remember Foxx toward the end of his career being a funny grouchy elderly man for hippies.
They're definitely from an era when TV was culturally relevant and dominant. They would be on some late-night show and people actually cared.
(Score: 3, Informative) by RedGreen on Sunday October 25 2015, @10:36PM
"Foxx was a little older than the WWII generation and his peak of fame was likely standup in the very early post WWII era, toward the end of his career he was fairly successful on one of the "all in the family" spinoffs (around the final Apollo moon mission timeframe)."
Not much for history are you. That would Sherman Hemsley as George Jefferson in The Jeffersons for the spinoff, Sanford and Son for Red Foxx a rip off of Steptoe and Son a british comedy.
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 26 2015, @05:33PM
Foxx was funny as hell. In his standup and on TV.
I never thought Kaufman was particularly funny. His character on Taxi was humorous enough, but he came off sort of like a jerk in his other work. I guess I never "got" him, and I never understood why he was labeled a "genius", other than the fact that he died young (one of the best career moves you can do is to die young).