As a response to the documentary Dinner With Andre (filmed with the late, great wrestling hero Andre the Giant), two young filmmakers convinced comic Andy Kauffman to make his own similar film and this is the result. This was filmed during a time when the WWE (then WWF) was about to go global on the coattails of larger than life wrestling personality Hulk Hogan and Kauffman was enjoying the wild success of Taxi and wrestling women. In fact, shortly before the filming of this breakfast Kauffman had wrestled his first man (Jerry Lawler) and had gotten his neck broken, hence the neckbrace.
This commemorative edition includes lost raw footage of Kauffman, bonus footage of “Classy” Freddy Blassie, Legendary Graffiti Home Movies, a Making Of documentary, photos, and footage from the film premiere, in addition to the feature film. The Making Of documentary is every bit as good as the film itself as a matter of fact. The film, for those unfamiliar, is reality TV before anyone knew what that meant. Kauffman and wrestling personality “Classy” Freddie Blassie meet up for breakfast in L.A. and a film crew takes it all in. They talk about everything from healthy ways of eating to autograph hounds to wrestling to grems and a few things in between. Honestly, if I had seen this at the time it premiered I wouldn’t have thought much of it but through the lens of someone in the year 2009, Blassie is one of the rudest, most offensive, two-sided people I’ve seen in awhile. And political correctness? Forget about it! Blassie is a shoot from the hip bad cop while Kauffman plays the good cop (perhaps intentionally, perhaps not).
There are basically two things that come to mind when watching this. The first is that Kauffman was likely a genuinely good guy. The grand debate has always been how much acting was taking place and how much was true reality but it feels to me like both guys were pretty genuine here, whether you appreciate or not. This is an A+ documentary even today that any fan of Kauffman, wrestling, or both, should own.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
