Melt Downs and Put Ons

Andy Kaufman did it right. (Unbleeped.)

Crispen Glover did it wrong. Twice.

Joaquin Phoenix just did it.

See my point? Kaufman faked it, and he did it well. Because he tapped into his real weirdness, but it was under control. Glover faked it, just trying to be weird -- no matter how weird he really is -- and the seams of the performance are obvious in a vulgar way. He was performing. It's just irritating to me.

And then there's Joaquin Phoenix. How can there be any controversy? I don't know what the substance was, but he was on drugs. Maybe alcohol. I wouldn't know. But I know what's real. And he was barely able to formulate words. Same deal as Farrah Fawcett, a few years ago -- oh, 12 years. Ugly to watch. Real reality TV, like a death caught on film. As for Madonna, she was just playing.

Performance art should be art. Artful, as in competent. Genuine stupidity, and tragedy and self-destruction, should be private.


J