The Brothers Kaufman

"Equal parts Andy Kaufman, Henry Kaufman, and Walter Kaufman. And seltzer."

That's a little hermetic even for me. Here's a guide:

Andy Kaufman: Latka, prime Mighty Mouse advocate, champeen wrestler, not welcome in Memphis, Tennessee.

Henry Kaufman: Longtime economist at Salomon Brothers. Dry, grandfatherly, but very informative writer. In a characteristic flourish, he writes of his wife, Elaine: "She has been the center of my world for more than four decades, and has shared all the strains and triumphs of my life and career." Ya gotta like him.

Walter Kaufman: Professor of Philosophy at Princeton. Copious translator of Nietzsche. Oh too prone to footnoting himself, as if nobody else had written anything on a given subject. Liked to treat his introductory essays to school of thought anthologies as if they were equally weighted with the selections, so the table of contents would go: Kaufman, Kierkegaard, Dostoievskii, Heidegger and so on.

Seltzer: My beverage of choice.