Sunday night: Tony Clifton

For the uninitiated, Tony Clifton (who's doing a rare performance tonight at Lakeshore)  is supposedly a Las Vegas lounge singer “discovered” by anti-comedian Andy Kaufman in 1969. As further proof that Kaufman isn’t Clifton, the belligerently unfunny performer intermittently dusts off his specious nose putty, fake moustache, and horrible wig and abuses audiences with poor taste and chestnuts like, “What’s the worst part of being a child molester? Getting the blood off your clown costume!” People will be offended; Clifton will undoubtedly dump a drink or two on an audience member. Here, Clifton will appear (during the 25th anniversary of Kaufman’s death) in a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert with a band called the Katrina Kiss-My-Ass Orchestra. Timely.
Many speculate that Clifton is actually Kaufman's writing partner Bob Zmuda and probably the best proof it's actually him beneath the costume is how vehemently Zmuda denies the accusations. Regardless of who's spouting the hateful jokes and conceptual comedy that isn't that funny, Clifton has served as a sort of prototype for more contemporary anti-comedians like Neil Hamburger. Still, nothing can better sum up Clifton than seeing him in action. Here's a clip of vintage Clifton wreaking his typical havoc on David Letterman long ago: