{"id":12207,"date":"2012-02-16T00:01:30","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T08:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/?p=12207"},"modified":"2012-02-15T21:45:59","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T05:45:59","slug":"andy-kaufman-maharishi-mahesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/andy-kaufman-maharishi-mahesh\/","title":{"rendered":"ANDY KAUFMAN, MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI, AND RADIO ADVERTISING"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"comedy<\/a><\/p>\n

The late American *comedian Andy Kaufman<\/strong><\/span> was a devotee of Transcendental Meditation.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (*He never referred to himself as a comedian. He called himself a “Song & Dance Man.”)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

At a TM gathering on May 5, 1971, Andy questioned Maharishi Mahesh Yogi<\/strong><\/span> (the guy The Beatles<\/strong><\/span> were entranced with) about comedy.<\/p>\n

According to the account in LOST IN THE FUNHOUSE: THE LIFE AND MIND OF ANDY KAUFMAN,<\/em> Maharishi explained that what a comedian does is “akin to building two walls side by side and leaving a space in between. The mere presence of those two walls then creates a contrast based on an awareness of the space.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, I don’t meditate. I have enough trouble concentrating on anything, much less on nothing.<\/p>\n

When I came upon that message, I was prepared to scoff at whatever Maharishi offered as an explanation of comedy.<\/p>\n

But doggone if that guy didn’t nail it.<\/p>\n

The impact of the humor occurs in the spaces between the words.<\/p>\n

One of comedy’s key elements is surprise.<\/p>\n

In radio advertising, the question is not, “Can we surprise the audience?”<\/p>\n

The question is, “Can we make the audience want to experience that radio commercial for the 20th or 30th time by making them anticipate the surprise each time?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The late American *comedian Andy Kaufman was a devotee of Transcendental Meditation. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (*He never referred to himself as a comedian. He called himself a “Song & Dance Man.”) At a TM gathering on May 5, 1971, Andy questioned Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (the guy The Beatles were entranced with) about comedy. According to the account […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\nANDY KAUFMAN, MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI, AND RADIO ADVERTISING - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danoday.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/andy-kaufman-maharishi-mahesh\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ANDY KAUFMAN, MAHARISHI MAHESH YOGI, AND RADIO ADVERTISING - DAN O\u2019DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The late American *comedian Andy Kaufman was a devotee of Transcendental Meditation. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (*He never referred to himself as a comedian. He called himself a “Song & Dance Man.”) At a TM gathering on May 5, 1971, Andy questioned Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (the guy The Beatles were entranced with) about comedy. 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