BEVERLY HILLS, CA–(Marketwired – October 2015) – Comedians Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx will be recreated for 21st Century audiences, Hologram USA CEO Alki David and Samantha Chang, Director of Licensing of CMG Worldwide announced today. Hologram USA will use its patented technology to create the holograms with the help and approval of CMG. FilmOn Studios, also owned by David, will create the content for the shows and distribute via FilmOn.com and its 70 million monthly unique users. Live shows will debut at major U.S. venues and tour the United States in 2016.
Andy Kaufman is one of the most important comedians of the late 20th Century. He changed America’s comic sensibility forever by actually avoiding the telling of jokes-his acts were essentially performance art. The great Carl Reiner said of Kaufman’s many characters from Latka on the celebrated ABC show Taxi to his mean-spirited lounge singer, Tony Clifton: “Nobody can see past the edges, where the character begins and he ends.” Kaufman appeared on the debut episode of Saturday Night Live in 1975, and was a regular until his death in 1985.
Redd Foxx broke ground for the comedy genre in the late sixties with revolutionary work that violated taboos from race to sex. He was also one of the first black comedians to break the color barrier on the Las Vegas strip. He was already famous for his explicit comedy records-over 50 of them which have sold over 15 million copies-before becoming a bonafide superstar as the beloved character Fred Sanford from the NBC hit Sanford and Son. He went on from Sanford and Son to produce his own variety show and to become a major Las Vegas headliner until his death in 1991. His cultural significance is vast, as his fearlessness helped change American sensibilities well beyond comedy. Comedians such as Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock and Jamie Foxx have cited him as a guiding influence.
“Who knew that the persistent rumors that Andy Kaufman would return from death would come true?” said Hologram USA CEO Alki David. “We have the opportunity to resurrect him and present his genius with the same vitality and joy that his first audiences experienced 40 years ago. As for our other debut comedy hologram legend: Redd Foxx is a hero who helped change the game not just in comedy but in how Americans talk about race and sex.”
Samantha Chang, Director of Licensing of CMG said: “We’re delighted to work with Hologram USA to celebrate Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx, two comedians who changed the genre forever. As with all our work with legendary artists, we insure that every project is authentic and created with the utmost respect for the person’s life and work.”
“I grew up listening to Redd Foxx records and watching Andy Kaufman standup,” said SVP of Hologram USA Sales David Nussbaum, a comedy veteran in his own right. “So bringing them back to entertain future generations is a tremendous honor. Acts like Kaufman and Foxx will help drive awareness to the futuristic qualities Hologram USA brings to live entertainment.”
FilmOn Studios will work with the estates and CMG to create the shows which will include some of the stars’ famous characters and catch phrases, such as Kaufman’s Mighty Mouse routine, to Foxx’s famous fake heart attack line, “It’s the big one! I’m comin’ to join you Elizabeth!”
The Andy Kaufman and Redd Foxx hologram performances will also be excerpted and presented at the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY at the world’s first Hologram Comedy Club, powered by HUSA. The NCC broke ground in August.
Hologram USA owns the exclusive North American patent to the technology that creates the only life-like HD holograms. It recently announced the 2016 launch of a hologram Whitney Houston tour, and a partnership with the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem to create the long term public hologram stage in the U.S. and hologram performances around the venue’s historic entertainers. The first will be Billie Holiday in late 2015.
Hologram USA and FilmOn Studios are also creating hologram shows with the estates of Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, Bing Crosby, and many more. The technology has also been used to create live appearances including beaming ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel to the Country Music Awards in Nashville, Julian Assange into the United States and virtual town halls across India that helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi win the election.
As featured in the Wall Street Journal, Hologram USA is using its technology and partnerships with celebrity estates to create branded content as well. And all projects are supported by Alki David’s Anakando Media Group of companies: performances will be live streamed onFilmOn.com, digitally distributed by MondoTunes, and given social influencer support by Class15.
