The Process of Developing "Latka"
In 1977, the producers of Taxi saw Kaufman's Foreign Man act at The Comedy Store. They had already created the main characters for the pilot but they enjoyed Kaufman so much they immediately offered him a role based on the character.
Kaufman hated sitcoms and did not want to take the role, but his manager George Shapiro convinced him by saying the exposure and the salary would be good for his nightclub act. Kaufman and the producers developed the Foreign Man character into "Latka Gravas", but Kaufman felt he would tire of playing the same character repeatedly so the producers agreed to give Latka multiple personality disorder, which allowed Kaufman to portray different characters sometimes.
Read more about this topic: Latka Gravas
Famous quotes containing the words process and/or developing:
“Consumer wants can have bizarre, frivolous, or even immoral origins, and an admirable case can still be made for a society that seeks to satisfy them. But the case cannot stand if it is the process of satisfying wants that creates the wants.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)
“Every society consists of men in the process of developing from children into parents. To assure continuity of tradition, society must early prepare for parenthood in its children; and it must take care of the unavoidable remnants of infantility in its adults. This is a large order, especially since a society needs many beings who can follow, a few who can lead, and some who can do both, alternately or in different areas of life.”
—Erik H. Erikson (1904–1994)