This article is about the entertainer. For the former basketball player, see
Andy Kaufmann
.
Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman
(
KOWF
-m?n
;
[1]
January 17, 1949?? May 16, 1984
[2]
) was an American entertainer and performance artist. While often called a "comedian", Kaufman preferred to describe himself instead as a "song and dance man". He has sometimes been called an "
anti-comedian
".
[3]
He disdained telling jokes and engaging in comedy as it was traditionally understood, once saying in an interview, "I am not a comic, I have never told a joke. The comedian's promise is that he will go out there and make you laugh with him. My only promise is that I will try to entertain you as best I can."
[4]
Andy Kaufman
|
---|
![a black-and-white photo of Kaufman in a military uniform](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/da/Andy_Kaufman_1979.jpg/220px-Andy_Kaufman_1979.jpg) Kaufman in 1979, playing his "Foreign Man" character
|
Born
| Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman
(
1949-01-17
)
January 17, 1949
|
---|
Died
| May 16, 1984
(1984-05-16)
(aged?35)
|
---|
Resting place
| Beth David Cemetery
|
---|
Occupations
|
- Actor
- comedian
- singer
- dancer
- performance artist
- professional wrestler
|
---|
Years?active
| 1971?1984
|
---|
Style
| |
---|
Partner
| Lynne Margulies (1982?1984)
|
---|
Children
| 1
|
---|
After working in small comedy clubs in the early 1970s, Kaufman came to the attention of a wider audience in 1975, when he was invited to perform portions of his act on the first season of
Saturday Night Live
. His Foreign Man character was the basis of his performance as
Latka Gravas
on the hit television show
Taxi
from 1978 until 1983.
[5]
During this time, he continued to tour comedy clubs and theaters in a series of unique performance art/comedy shows, sometimes appearing as himself and sometimes as obnoxiously rude
lounge singer
Tony Clifton
. He was also a frequent guest on
sketch comedy
and
late-night talk shows
, particularly
Late Night with David Letterman
.
[6]
In 1982, Kaufman brought his
professional wrestling
villain
act to Letterman's show by way of a staged encounter with
Jerry "The King" Lawler
of the
Continental Wrestling Association
. The fact that the altercation was planned was not publicly disclosed for over a decade.
Kaufman died of lung cancer on May 16, 1984, at the age of 35.
[7]
As pranks and elaborate ruses were major elements of his career, persistent rumors have circulated that Kaufman
faked his own death
as a grand hoax.
[6]
[8]
He continues to be respected for the variety of his characters, his uniquely counterintuitive approach to comedy, and his willingness to provoke negative and confused reactions from audiences.
[6]
[9]
Kaufman was born on January 17, 1949, in New York City, the oldest of three children. He grew up with his younger brother Michael and sister Carol in a middle-class Jewish family in
Great Neck
,
Long Island
.
[10]
His mother was Janice (nee Bernstein), a homemaker and former fashion model, and his father was Stanley Kaufman, a jewelry salesman.
[11]
Kaufman began performing at children's birthday parties at age 9, playing records and showing cartoons.
[12]
Kaufman spent much of his youth writing poetry and stories, including an unpublished novel,
The Hollering Mangoo
, which he completed at age 16.
[13]
Following a visit to his school from Nigerian musician
Babatunde Olatunji
, Kaufman began playing the
congas
.
[14]
After graduating from
Great Neck North High School
in 1967, Kaufman took a year off before enrolling at the now defunct two-year
Grahm Junior College
[15]
in Boston,
[16]
where he studied television production and starred in his own campus television show,
Uncle Andy's Fun House.
[5]
In August 1969, he hitchhiked to Las Vegas to meet
Elvis Presley
, showing up unannounced at the
International Hotel
. Soon after, he began performing at coffee houses and developing his act, as well as writing a one-man play,
Gosh
(later renamed
God
and published in 2000).
[16]
After graduating in 1971, he began performing stand-up comedy at various small clubs on the
East Coast
.
[17]
[18]
Foreign Man and Mighty Mouse
edit
Kaufman first received major attention for his character Foreign Man, who spoke in a meek, high-pitched, heavily accented voice and claimed to be from "Caspiar", a fictional island in the
Caspian Sea
.
[18]
It was as this character that Kaufman convinced the owner of the famed New York City comedy club
The Improv
,
Budd Friedman
, to allow him to perform on stage.
[19]
[20]
As Foreign Man, Kaufman would appear on the stage of
comedy clubs
, play a recording of the theme from the
Mighty Mouse
cartoon show while standing perfectly still, and
lip-sync
only the line "Here I come to save the day" with great enthusiasm.
[21]
He proceeded to tell a few (intentionally poor) jokes and concluded his act with a series of celebrity
impersonations
, with the comedy arising from the character's obviously hopeless ineptitude at impersonation. For example, in his fake accent Kaufman announced to the audience, "I would like to imitate
Meester Carter
, de president of de United States" and then, in exactly the same voice, say "Hello, I am Meester Carter, de president of de United States. T'ank you veddy much."
At some point in the performance, usually when the audience was conditioned to Foreign Man's inability to perform a single convincing impression, Foreign Man would announce, "And now I would like to imitate the
Elvis Presley
", turn around, take off his jacket, slick his hair back, and launch into a rousing, hip-shaking rendition of Presley singing one of his hit songs. Like Presley, he took off his leather jacket during the song and threw it into the audience, but unlike Presley, Foreign Man would immediately ask for it to be returned. After the song's finale, he would take a simple bow and say in his Foreign Man voice, "T'ank you veddy much."
[
citation needed
]
Portions of Kaufman's Foreign Man act were broadcast in the first season of
Saturday Night Live
. The Mighty Mouse number was featured in the October 11, 1975, premiere, while the joke-telling and celebrity impressions (including Elvis) were included in the November 8 broadcast that same year.
[22]
Kaufman with
Carol Kane
in a promotional picture of
Taxi
, 1982
The Foreign Man character was changed into Latka Gravas for
ABC
's sitcom
Taxi
, appearing in 79 of 114 episodes in 1978?83.
[
citation needed
]
Bob Zmuda
confirms this: "They basically were buying Andy's Foreign Man character for the
Taxi
character Latka."
[23]
Kaufman's longtime manager
George Shapiro
encouraged him to take the gig.
Kaufman disliked sitcoms and was not happy with the idea of being in one, but Shapiro convinced him that it would quickly lead to stardom, which would earn him money he could then put into his own act.
[
citation needed
]
Kaufman agreed to appear in 14 episodes per season, and he initially wanted four for Kaufman's alter ego
Tony Clifton
. After Kaufman deliberately sabotaged Clifton's appearance on the show, however, that part of his contract was dropped.
[7]
His character was given
multiple personality disorder
, which allowed Kaufman to randomly portray other characters. In one episode of
Taxi
, Kaufman's character came down with a condition that made him act like
Alex Rieger
, the main character played by
Judd Hirsch
. Another such recurring character played by Kaufman was Latka's womanizing alter ego Vic Ferrari.
[24]
Sam Simon
, who early in his career was a writer and later
showrunner
for
Taxi
, stated in a 2013 interview on Marc Maron's
WTF
podcast
that the story of Kaufman having been generally disruptive on the show was "a complete fiction" largely created by Zmuda. Simon maintained that Zmuda has a vested interest in promoting an out-of-control image of Kaufman. In the interview Simon stated that Kaufman was "completely professional" and that he "told you Tony Clifton was him", but he also conceded that Kaufman would have "loved" Zmuda's version of events.
[25]
Kaufman was nominated for the
Golden Globe Award
for
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Limited Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
for
Taxi
in 1979 and 1981.
[26]
Another well-known Kaufman character is Tony Clifton, an absurd, audience-abusing
lounge singer
who began opening for Kaufman at comedy clubs and eventually even performed concerts on his own around the country. Sometimes it was Kaufman performing as Clifton, sometimes it was his brother Michael or Zmuda. For a brief time, it was unclear to some that Clifton was not a real person. News programs interviewed Clifton as Kaufman's opening act, with the mood turning ugly whenever Kaufman's name came up. Kaufman, Clifton insisted, was attempting to ruin Clifton's "good name" in order to make money and become famous.
As a requirement for Kaufman's accepting the offer to star on
Taxi
, he insisted that Clifton be hired for a guest role on the show as if he were a real person, not a character.
[7]
After throwing a tantrum on the set, Clifton was fired and escorted from the studio lot by security guards. Much to Kaufman's delight, this incident was reported in the local newspapers.
[27]
Saturday Night Live
Elvis sketch incident
edit
On the January 30, 1982, episode of
Saturday Night Live
, while impersonating Elvis Presley in a sketch, Kaufman broke character by removing his wig and apologizing to the audience.
[28]
Kaufman explained this incident on the February 17, 1982, episode of
Late Night with David Letterman
. He said that he had apologized because he disagreed with how Presley was portrayed in the sketch, which involved Presley instructing two young women from his audience to visit him backstage, where they would wrestle topless in mud. Kaufman said that he had initially declined to perform the sketch but was pressured into it. He also alleged that
SNL
staff threatened to ruin his reputation in the industry if he did not perform the sketch.
[29]
The sketch was a reference to an incident alleged by
Albert Goldman
's controversial 1981 biography of Presley. Critics of the biography derided its scornful tone and charged that it was intended as an expose. Kaufman said that Goldman threatened to sue him after the episode aired, but Kaufman challenged Goldman to a public debate on Presley's character.
[30]
[31]
At the beginning of an April 1979 performance at New York's
Carnegie Hall
, Kaufman invited his "grandmother" to watch the show from a chair that he had placed at the side of the stage. At the end of the show, she stood, removed her mask, and revealed to the audience that she was actually comedian
Robin Williams
.
[32]
Kaufman also had an elderly woman (Eleanor Cody Gould) pretend to have a heart attack and die on stage, after which he reappeared on stage wearing a Native American
headdress
and performing a dance over her body, "reviving" her.
[33]
[34]
Kaufman ended the show by taking the entire audience, in 24 buses, for milk and cookies. He invited anyone interested to meet him on the
Staten Island Ferry
the next morning, where the show continued.
[35]
The
Taxi
deal with
ABC
included a television special/pilot for Kaufman. He proposed
Andy's Funhouse
, based on a routine that he had developed while in junior college. The special was taped in 1977 but did not air until August 1979. It featured most of Andy's famous gags, including Foreign Man/Latka and his Elvis Presley impersonation, as well as a host of unique segments (including a special appearance by children's television character
Howdy Doody
and the "Has-been Corner").
[36]
The program also included a segment with fake television screen static as part of the gag, although ABC executives feared that viewers would mistake the static for broadcast problems and would change the channel?which was the comic element that Kaufman wanted to present.
[37]
Andy's Funhouse
was written by Kaufman, Zmuda and Mel Sherer, with music by Kaufman.
[38]
In March 1980, Kaufman filmed a short segment for an ABC show called
Buckshot.
The segment was just over six minutes long and was called
Uncle Andy's Funhouse
. It featured Kaufman as the host of a children's show for adults, complete with a
peanut gallery
and Tony Clifton puppet.
[39]
In 1983, a show very similar to
Andy's Funhouse
and
Uncle Andy's Funhouse
was filmed for
PBS
's
SoundStage
program called
The Andy Kaufman Show
. It too featured a peanut gallery, and
opened in the middle
of an interview in which Kaufman was laughing hysterically. He then proceeded to thank the audience for watching and the credits rolled.
[
citation needed
]
In 1981, Kaufman made three appearances on
Fridays
, a variety show on ABC that was similar to
Saturday Night Live
. In the last sketch on his first appearance, the cast were to deliberately break the scene and improvise an argument.
[40]
Kaufman broke character first, announcing that he "felt stupid" and refusing to say his lines.
[41]
In response, cast member
Michael Richards
walked off camera, returned with a set of cue cards, and dumped them on the table in front of Kaufman, who responded by splashing Richards with water. Coproducer
Jack Burns
stormed onto the stage, leading to a fake brawl on camera before the show cut to a commercial.
[42]
Richards claimed that what was going to happen was known only to him, Burns and Kaufman,
[43]
but
Melanie Chartoff
, who played Kaufman's wife in the sketch, said that just before airtime Burns told her, Richards, and
Maryedith Burrell
that Kaufman was going to break the
fourth wall
.
[40]
Kaufman appeared the next week in a videotaped "apology" to the home viewers. Later that year, he returned to host
Fridays
. At one point during the show, he invited
Lawrence Welk Show
singer
Kathie Sullivan
to the stage to sing some gospel songs with him and announced that the two were engaged to be married. He then talked to the audience about his newfound faith in Jesus (Kaufman was Jewish), but the scene was a hoax.
[44]
Later, following a sketch about a drug-abusing pharmacist, instead of introducing
Pretenders
, he delivered a nervous speech about the harmfulness of drugs while the band stood behind him ready to play. After his speech, he informed the audience that he had talked too long and that the show needed to pause for a commercial break.
[
citation needed
]
Although Kaufman made a name for himself as a guest on
NBC
's
Saturday Night Live
, his first prime-time appearances were several guest spots as Foreign Man on the
Dick Van Dyke
variety show
Van Dyke and Company
in 1976.
[45]
He appeared four times on
The Tonight Show
in 1976?78, with Foreign Man doing his imitation of
Johnny Carson
's sidekick
Ed McMahon
, with no change in voice: "Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. How hot
was
eet. Ha ha ha." Kaufman also appeared three times on NBC's late-night concert series
The Midnight Special
in 1972, 1977, and 1981.
[46]
Kaufman appeared on
The Dating Game
in 1978, in character as Foreign Man, and cried when the bachelorette chose Bachelor #1, protesting that he had answered all the questions correctly.
[47]
His
SNL
appearances started with the
first show, on October 11, 1975
. He made 16
SNL
appearances in all, doing routines from his comedy act, such as the Mighty Mouse singalong, Foreign Man, and the Elvis impersonation. After he angered the audience with his female-wrestling routine, Kaufman in January 1983 made a pretaped appearance (his 16th) asking the audience if he should ever appear on the show again, saying he would honor their decision.
SNL
ran a phone vote, and 195,544 people voted to "Dump Andy" while 169,186 people voted to "Keep Andy".
[48]
During the
SNL
episode with the phone poll, many of the cast members stated their admiration for Kaufman's work. After
Eddie Murphy
read both numbers, he said, "Now, Andy Kaufman is a friend of mine. Keep that in mind when you call. I don't want to have to punch nobody in America in the face", and
Mary Gross
read the Dump Andy phone number at a rate so fast that audiences were unable to catch it. The final tally was read by
Gary Kroeger
to a cheering audience. As the credits rolled, announcer
Don Pardo
said, "This is Don Pardo saying, 'I voted for Andy Kaufman.'"
[49]
Kaufman made a number of appearances on the daytime edition of
The David Letterman Show
in 1980, and 11 appearances on
Late Night with David Letterman
in 1982?83. He made numerous guest spots on other television programs hosted by or starring celebrities like
Johnny Cash
(1979 Christmas special),
[50]
Dick Van Dyke
,
[45]
Dinah Shore
,
[51]
Rodney Dangerfield
,
[52]
Cher
,
[53]
Dean Martin
,
[54]
Redd Foxx
,
[5]
Mike Douglas
,
[5]
Dick Clark
,
[55]
and
Joe Franklin
.
[56]
He appeared in his first theatrical film,
God Told Me To
, in 1976, in which he portrayed a murderous policeman.
[57]
He appeared in two other theatrical films, including the 1980 film
In God We Tru$t
, in which he played a
televangelist
,
[58]
and the 1981 film
Heartbeeps
, in which he played a robot.
[59]
Laurie Anderson
worked alongside Kaufman for a time in the 1970s, acting as a sort of "straight man" in a number of his
Manhattan
and
Coney Island
performances. One of these performances included getting on a ride that people stand in and get spun around. After everyone was strapped in, Kaufman would start saying how he did not want to be on the ride in a panicked tone and eventually cry. Anderson later described these performances in her 1995 album,
The Ugly One with the Jewels
.
[60]
In 1983, Kaufman appeared on Broadway with
Deborah Harry
in the play
Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap
.
[61]
[62]
It closed after just two performances.
[63]
[64]
Professional wrestling
edit
Kaufman wrestling with
Debbie Harry
and
Caitlin Clarke
in 1983
Inspired by the theatricality of
kayfabe
, the staged nature of the sport, and his own tendency to form elaborate hoaxes, Kaufman began
wrestling women
during his act and proclaimed himself "Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World", taking on an aggressive and ridiculous personality based on the characters invented by professional wrestlers. He offered a $1,000 prize to any woman who could pin him.
[65]
[66]
He employed performance artist
Laurie Anderson
, a friend of his, in this act for a while.
[67]
Kaufman initially approached the head of the
World Wrestling Federation
(WWF) ? now World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE ?
Vince McMahon Sr.
, about bringing his act to the New York wrestling territory.
[68]
McMahon dismissed Kaufman's idea, as the elder McMahon was not about to bring "show business" into his Pro Wrestling society.
[68]
Kaufman had by then developed a friendship with wrestling reporter/photographer
Bill Apter
.
[68]
After many discussions about Kaufman's desire to be in the pro wrestling business, Apter called Memphis wrestling icon
Jerry "The King" Lawler
and introduced him to Kaufman by telephone.
[68]
Kaufman finally stepped into the ring (in the
Memphis wrestling circuit
) with a man?Lawler himself.
[21]
Kaufman taunted the residents of Memphis by playing "videos showing residents how to use soap" and proclaiming the city to be "the nation's
redneck
capital".
[21]
The ongoing Lawler?Kaufman
feud
, which often featured
Jimmy Hart
and other
heels
in Kaufman's corner, included a number of staged "
works
", such as a broken neck for Kaufman as a result of Lawler's
piledriver
and a famous on-air fight on a 1982 episode of
Late Night with David Letterman
.
[69]
[70]
For some time after that first match, Kaufman appeared wearing a neck brace,
[21]
insisting that his injuries were much worse than they really were. Kaufman continued to defend the Inter-Gender Championship in the
Mid-South Coliseum
and offered an extra prize, other than the $1,000: that if he were pinned, the woman who pinned him would get to marry him and that Kaufman would also shave his head.
[71]
Eventually it was revealed that the feud and wrestling matches were staged works,
[72]
and that Kaufman and Lawler were friends. This was not disclosed until more than 10 years after Kaufman's death, when the Emmy-nominated documentary
A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman
aired on
NBC
in 1995.
Jim Carrey
, who revealed the secret, later went on to play Kaufman in the 1999 film
Man on the Moon
.
In a 1997 interview with the
Memphis Flyer
, Lawler said he had improvised during their first match and the
Letterman
incident.
Although officials at St. Francis Hospital stated that Kaufman's neck injuries were real, in his 2002 biography
It's Good to Be the King ... Sometimes
, Lawler detailed how they came up with the
angle
and kept it quiet. Even though Kaufman's injury was legitimate, the pair exaggerated it. He also said that Kaufman's furious tirade and performance on
Letterman
was Kaufman's own idea, including when Lawler slapped Kaufman out of his chair. Promoter
Jerry Jarrett
later recalled that for two years he mailed Kaufman payments comparable to what other main-event wrestlers were getting at the time, but Kaufman never deposited the checks.
[73]
Kaufman appeared in the 1983 film
My Breakfast with Blassie
with professional wrestling personality
"Classy" Freddie Blassie
. The film was a parody of the art film
My Dinner with Andre
.
Lynne Margulies, sister of the film's director,
Johnny Legend
, appears in it, and became romantically involved with Kaufman.
In 2002, Kaufman became a playable character in the video game
Legends of Wrestling II
and a standard character in 2004's
Showdown: Legends of Wrestling
. In 2008,
Jakks Pacific
produced for their WWE Classic Superstars toy line an action figure two-pack of Kaufman and Lawler, as well as a separate figure release with a royal blue robe.
On March 20, 2023, Kaufman was announced as the third inductee into the
2023 WWE Hall of Fame
. He was inducted by
Jimmy Hart
.
[74]
Kaufman never married. His daughter, Maria Bellu-Colonna (born 1969), was the child of an out-of-wedlock relationship with a high-school girlfriend and was placed for adoption.
[75]
Bellu-Colonna learned in 1992 that she was Kaufman's daughter when she traced her biological roots. She soon reunited with her mother, grandfather, uncle, and aunt.
[76]
Bellu-Colonna's daughter Brittany briefly appeared in
Man on the Moon
, playing Kaufman's sister Carol as a young child.
[77]
In December 1969, Kaufman learned
Transcendental Meditation
at college.
[78]
According to a
BBC
article, he used the technique "to build confidence and take his act to comedy clubs." For the rest of his life, Kaufman meditated and performed
yoga
three hours per day.
[79]
From February to June 1971, he trained as a teacher of Transcendental Meditation in
Mallorca
, Spain.
[
citation needed
]
Lynne Margulies, who met Kaufman during the filming of
My Breakfast with Blassie
, was in a relationship with Kaufman from 1982 until his death in 1984.
[80]
Margulies later codirected the 1989 Kaufman wrestling compilation
I'm from Hollywood
, and published the 2009 book
Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts!
.
[81]
Kaufman kept his personal life secret and instead engaged in pranks and stunts to further obscure it, such as claiming in a September 22, 1983, appearance on David Letterman's show to have adopted three sons.
At
Thanksgiving
dinner on
Long Island
in November 1983, several family members openly expressed worry about Kaufman's persistent coughing. He claimed that he had been coughing for nearly a month, visited his doctor, and was told that nothing was wrong. When he returned to Los Angeles, he consulted another physician and then underwent a series of tests at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
. A few days later, he was diagnosed with
large-cell carcinoma of the lung
, typically associated with smoking.
[82]
After audiences were shocked by his gaunt appearance during January 1984 performances, Kaufman acknowledged that he had an unspecified illness that he hoped to cure with
natural medicine
, including a diet of all fruits and vegetables, among other measures. Kaufman received
palliative
radiotherapy
, but by then the cancer had spread from his lungs to his brain. His final public appearance was at the premiere of
My Breakfast With Blassie
in March 1984, where he appeared thin and with a
mohawk
hair style (radiation treatments had caused the loss of his hair).
[83]
The next day, Kaufman and Margulies flew to
Baguio
, Philippines, where, as a last resort, he received treatments of a
pseudoscientific procedure
called
psychic surgery
(now recognized as explicitly deceptive
medical fraud
).
Afterward, Kaufman initially said that he felt better and returned to the U.S., but he died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on May 16, 1984, at the age of 35. He is buried in
Beth David Cemetery
in
Elmont, New York
.
[5]
[7]
[84]
Kaufman's death certificate
Kaufman often spoke of
faking his own death
as a grand hoax, with rumors persisting, often fueled by sporadic appearances of Kaufman's character Tony Clifton at comedy clubs after his death.
[85]
Kaufman's official website describes the faked death story as an "
urban legend
" and includes a picture of his death certificate.
[
citation needed
]
"Clifton" performed a year after Kaufman's death at
The Comedy Store
benefit in Kaufman's honor, with members of his entourage in attendance, and during the 1990s made several appearances at Los Angeles nightclubs.
Jim Carrey
, who portrayed Kaufman in
Man on the Moon
, stated on the NBC special
Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman
that Bob Zmuda had been performing as the Clifton character.
In 2013, responding to rumors that Kaufman was still alive and following the appearance of an actress who claimed to be Kaufman's daughter, the
Los Angeles County coroner
's office rereleased Kaufman's death certificate to confirm that he was indeed dead and had been interred at
Beth David Cemetery
.
[2]
[85]
[86]
[87]
[88]
In 2014, Zmuda and Margulies coauthored
Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally
, a book claiming that Kaufman's death was indeed a prank, and that he would soon reveal himself, as his upper limit on the "prank" was 30 years. Kaufman did not reappear.
[89]
Comedian
Elayne Boosler
, who dated and lived with Kaufman and credits him with encouraging her comedy career, wrote an article for
Esquire
in November 1984 in his memory.
[90]
[91]
She also dedicated her 1986
Showtime
special
Party of One
to Kaufman.
[92]
An audio recording of Kaufman offering encouragement to Boosler is featured in the intro.
[93]
In 1992, the band
R.E.M.
released the song "
Man on the Moon
", a tribute to Kaufman.
[94]
[95]
The song's video featured footage of Kaufman.
[96]
On March 29, 1995, NBC aired
A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman
. The special featured clips of many of Kaufman's performances, as well as commentary by some of his friends, family and colleagues.
[6]
During the special, comedian
Richard Lewis
said: "No one has ever done what Andy did, and did it as well, and no one will ever. Because he did it first. So did
Buster Keaton
, so did Andy."
[97]
Carl Reiner
recalled his distinction in the comedy world:
Did Andy influence comedy? No. Because nobody's doing what he did. Jim Carrey was influenced?not to do what Andy did, but to follow his own drummer. I think Andy did that for a lot of people. Follow your own drumbeat. You didn't have to go up there and say "take my wife, please".
[98]
You could do anything that struck you as entertaining. It gave people freedom to be themselves.
[99]
Reiner also said of Kaufman: "Nobody can see past the edges, where the character begins and he ends."
[100]
Carrey portrayed Kaufman in the 1999 biopic film
Man on the Moon
, directed by
Milo? Forman
. The film took its title from R.E.M.'s
song of the same name
. R.E.M. also performed the score for the film and recorded another Kaufman tribute song, "
The Great Beyond
".
[101]
Carrey's portrayal was met with critical acclaim, earning him a
Golden Globe Award
for his performance. Forman named his twin sons Andrew and James after Kaufman and Carrey.
[102]
[103]
In July 2012, Kaufman's play
Bohemia West
was staged in
Providence, Rhode Island
.
[104]
Comedian
Vernon Chatman
compiled and produced Kaufman's first album,
Andy and His Grandmother
, via
Drag City
in 2013.
[105]
Kaufman is one of the featured celebrities in the 2005 children's book
Different Like Me: My Book of Autism Heroes
.
[106]
Actress
Cindy Williams
, who was a close friend of Kaufman, devoted an entire chapter of her autobiography,
Shirley, I Jest!: A Storied Life,
to him.
[107]
[108]
The Chris Gethard Show
paid homage to the Kaufman
Fridays
incident with comedian
Brett Davis
throwing water on someone's face.
[109]
A neon likeness of Kaufman is on display at
The Comedy Store
in Los Angeles. The club's menu features the Andy Kaufman Special, which consists of "two cookies and a glass of ice cold milk."
[110]
The Vic Ferrari Band took its name from Kaufman's
Taxi
character.
[111]
[112]
According to executive producer
Bill Oakley
, the 1996
The Simpsons
episode "
Bart the Fink
", in which
Krusty the Clown
fakes his death, was partially inspired by the rumors of Kaufman's faked death.
[113]
Al Jean
, cocreator of the animated series
The Critic
, has said that the first-season drawing of
Jon Lovitz
's character
Jay Sherman
was loosely based on Kaufman.
[114]
In 2015, a bottled fragrance called Andy Kaufman Milk & Cookies was created.
[115]
[116]
German filmmaker
Maren Ade
has said that her 2016 film
Toni Erdmann
, which was nominated for the
Palme d'Or
at the
Cannes Film Festival
, was partially inspired by Kaufman and Tony Clifton.
[117]
[118]
[119]
Since 2004, the Andy Kaufman Award competition has been held annually as "a showcase for promising cutting-edge artists with fresh and unconventional material, for those willing to take risks with an audience, and for those who do not define themselves by the typical conventions of comedy."
[120]
Winners include
Reggie Watts
,
Kristen Schaal
,
Brett Davis
,
Marcus Monroe
,
Brent Weinbach
,
Suzanne Whang
, Nick Vatterott, Harry Terjanian, and Dru Johnston. For the 2015 Andy Kaufman Award show,
Two Boots
Pizza created a special Andy Kaufman pizza.
[121]
On June 20, 2019, it was announced that Kaufman would be honored with a posthumous star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
in the television category. He was part of the class of 2020.
[122]
The Russian band
Korol' i Shut
recorded the song "Endi Kaufman" on its album
Teatr Demona
.
On March 20, 2023, Kaufman was inducted to the
WWE Hall of Fame
as part of the celebrity wing of
the class of 2023
.
[74]
Three books of Kaufman's writings have been posthumously published:
- Kaufman, Andy (1999).
The Huey Williams Story
. Zilch Publishing.
ISBN
9781930410008
.
, a novel
- Kaufman, Andy (2000).
God...and Other Plays
. Zilch Publishing.
ISBN
1930410018
.
, the script for a one-man play Kaufman did in college
- Kaufman, Andy (2000).
Poetry and Stories
. Zilch Publishing.
ISBN
1930410034
.
, a collection of his adolescent writings
- ^
"I-L"
.
NLS
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Archived
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. Retrieved
February 10,
2010
.
- ^
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"Andy Kaufman recalled as bizarre, gifted"
.
New York Daily News
; Reading Eagle
. Retrieved
August 6,
2016
.
- ^
Brennan, Sandra (2008).
"Full Biography"
. Movies & TV Dept.
The New York Times
. Archived from
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on June 10, 2008
. Retrieved
April 9,
2012
.
I am not a comic, I have never told a joke. ... The comedian's promise is that he will go out there and make you laugh with him. ... My only promise is that I will try to entertain you as best I can. ... They say, 'Oh wow, Andy Kaufman, he's a really funny guy.'
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"TELEVISION REVIEW; Andy Kaufman's Beloved Antics"
.
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. Retrieved
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.
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d
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"Kaufman's many faces made him one of a kind"
.
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. Retrieved
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2016
.
[
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]
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"Tip-off"
.
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. March 30, 1995
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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.
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman
. Delacorte Press. p.?
12
.
ISBN
9780385333719
.
- ^
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- ^
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. Random House Publishing Group.
ISBN
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.
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.
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.
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Alan Graham (producer) (February 21, 2008).
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"Whole Family Joins Johnny For Special"
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.
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. Retrieved
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"
"Comedy World" Premieres"
.
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- Zehme, Bill (1999),
Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman
, Delacorte Press.
ISBN
978-0-385-33371-9
- Zmuda, Bob; Hansen, Matthew Scott (1999),
Andy Kaufman Revealed!
: Best Friend Tells All
, Back Bay Books.
ISBN
0-316-61098-4
- Hecht, Julie (2001),
Was This Man a Genius?
Talks with Andy Kaufman
, Vintage Books.
ISBN
0-375-50457-5
- Keller, Florian (2005),
Andy Kaufman: Wrestling with the American Dream
, University Of Minnesota Press.
ISBN
0816646031
- Zoglin, Richard (2008),
Comedy at the Edge: How Stand-up in the 1970s Changed America
, Bloomsbury USA.
ISBN
1582346240
- Margulies, Lynne; Zmuda, Bob (2009),
Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts!
, Process.
ISBN
1934170089
- Knoedelseder, William
(2009),
I'm Dying Up Here: Heartbreak and High Times in Stand-Up Comedy's Golden Era
, PublicAffairs.
ISBN
158648317X
- Margulies, Lynne; Zmuda, Bob (2014),
Andy Kaufman, The Truth Finally
, BenBella Books.
ISBN
9781940363059
- Andy Kaufman
at
Curlie
- Andy Kaufman
at
IMDb
- The New Yorker
, November 22, 1999, Issue. "
Was This Man a Genius? A Year with Andy Kaufman, the Consummate Straight Man.
" by Julie Hecht
- The Village Voice
, November 9, 1999, Issue. "
Waking Andy Kaufman.
" by Bill Jensen
- Dave Hirshey, "Andy Kaufman: Beyond Laughter"; Rolling Stone, April 30, 1981.
- Andy Kaufman's profile at
Cagematch.net