References in Popular Culture
According to the film Man on the Moon which centered partially around Andy Kaufman's role on Taxi, Kaufman negotiated a certain number of appearances for his alter ego, Tony Clifton, into his contract with ABC. The film goes on to show a scenario in which Kaufman deliberately attempted to sabotage the taping of an episode of Taxi in the guise of Tony Clifton because, as the film explains, Kaufman was severely disappointed in his casting as Latka and truly wanted nothing to do with the show, but felt obligated by his friendship with George Shapiro and the money he was being offered for the role. However, a preface to the film by Kaufman (played by Jim Carrey) explained that the movie was a fictionalized, embellished and chronologically inaccurate portrayal of his life and the viewer was not expected to leave the film with a clear and true picture of it, therefore the reality of the event, as are much of the events in the film, is in question. Parts of this story have been confirmed by Danny DeVito in the book Hailing Taxi.
Read more about this topic: Taxi (TV series)
Famous quotes containing the words popular culture, popular and/or culture:
“Popular culture is seductive; high culture is imperious.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“I do not see why, since America and her autumn woods have been discovered, our leaves should not compete with the precious stones in giving names to colors; and, indeed, I believe that in course of time the names of some of our trees and shrubs, as well as flowers, will get into our popular chromatic nomenclature.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“As the end of the century approaches, all our culture is like the culture of flies at the beginning of winter. Having lost their agility, dreamy and demented, they turn slowly about the window in the first icy mists of morning. They give themselves a last wash and brush-up, their ocellated eyes roll, and they fall down the curtains.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)