Andy Kaufman - Biography

By Patrick Bromley, About.com Guide

Comedian Andy Kaufman at the reopening of The Improv in 1979.

Photo by Fotos International/Getty Images

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Born:

January 17, 1949

Died:

May 16, 1984

Quick Andy Kaufman Facts:

Andy Kaufman began performing at age 8, when he would do magic at birthday parties and broadcast an imaginary TV show from his bedroom.
He started doing stand-up on the East Coast after graduating college in 1971.
He joined the cast of Taxi in 1978, where he played Latka Gravas until 1983.
Later in his career, he reinvented himself as a professional wrestler but would only wrestle women. He dubbed himself "Intergender Wrestling Champion of the World."
A life-long health freak, Kaufman was diagnosed with a rare lung cancer in 1983. He died in 1984 at age 35.

Andy Kaufman Overview:

Never just a typical stand-up comedian, Andy Kaufman actually spent much of his career deconstructing the idea of being a stand-up. A self-described "song and dance man," Kaufman loved entertainment and spectacle (one of the reasons he loved pro wrestling) but set out to provide anti-entertainment. His comedy came from not paying the audience off; he deliberately tried to elicit a negative response. He transformed traditional stand-up comedy into experimental performance art, and his legacy can be seen in the work of comedians like Sascha Baron Cohen (Borat).

Young Andy Kaufman:

Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman was born in New York City in 1949. Growing up in Long Island, he became interested in performing at a very young age. By age 8, he was performing children's shows and magic at birthday parties. After graduating from Graham Junior College in Boston, Kaufman landed his first stand-up job at My Father's Place, a Long Island club in 1971. There, he was seen by Budd Friedman, owner of the Improv comedy clubs, and began performing at Improv clubs in both New York and Los Angeles over the next few years. His act included several regular features, such as "Foreign Guy" and a spot-on Elvis impression.

Moving to Television:

In 1975, America got its first real glimpse of Kaufman when he performed on the premiere episode of Saturday Night Live. He performed his famous "Mighty Mouse" routine, in which he played a record of the cartoon theme song and waited nervously to lip synch along with a single line: "Here I come to save the day!"

Over the next three years, Kaufman continued to perform stand-up at clubs across the country, including The Improv, The Bitter End and The Comedy Store. He also made regular television appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and became a cast member on the short-lived Van Dyke and Co.

Taxi and Tony Clifton:

Though he admittedly disliked sitcoms, Kaufman joined the cast of the sitcom Taxi in 1978, where he played mechanic Latka Gravas (a variation on his "foreign man" character he developed in his stand-up act) until it was canceled in 1983.

A regular feature started to appear in Kaufman's act around the same time: sets from sleazy nightclub singer Tony Clifton, who Kaufman played in disguise to actively annoy audiences. Kaufman actually insisted that Taxi producers hire "Clifton" for regular spots on the show, but he was fired after two episodes for being difficult. Kaufman couldn't have been happier with that result.

The Intergender Wrestling Champion:

Another feature of Kaufman's act involved the comic -- a lifelong fan of pro wrestling -- inviting women from the audience to wrestle him. In 1979, Kaufman crowned himself the "Intergender Wrestling Champion of the World" and regularly offered $1,000 to any woman who could pin him. Like Tony Clifton, Kaufman's wrestling persona was designed to anger audiences. It worked.

In the '80s, he began a feud with wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler. At a 1982 match in Tennessee, Lawler seriously injured Kaufman with a pile-driver. Both the feud and injury were later revealed to be a hoax.

Everybody Hates Andy Kaufman:

Though he had tried for years to get a film career going, he never found success as a movie actor. His only real starring role, 1981's Heartbeeps (in which he starred with Bernadette Peters as a housecleaning robot), was a notorious flop. Years spent performing stunts to anger and alienate audiences had paid off, and by the '80s Kaufman's popularity began to fall. His regular club and concert appearances started to dry up, and other than Letterman, no one would book the comic for TV appearances. Though Kaufman had been a regular guest on SNL, a 1983 stunt backfired and audiences voted to ban him from the show forever.

Andy Kaufman Says Goodbye:

In 1983, Kaufman -- a lifelong non-smoker, vegetarian and overall health nut -- was diagnosed with lung cancer. Though he tried a number of treatments -- including an all-natural diet, chemotherapy and even traveling to the Philippines for "psychic surgery" -- the cancer spread. Kaufman died in Los Angeles in May of 1984.

As though even his death was an elaborate hoax, one year later Tony Clifton made a public appearance at the Comedy Store. It was actually Kaufman's lifelong friend and co-conspirator Bob Zmuda in the Clifton costume.

Additional Andy Kaufman Facts

After a 1979 concert at Carnegie Hall, Kaufman took the entire audience of 2,800 out for milk and cookies.
While on Taxi, Kaufman also worked as a busboy at Jerry's Famous Deli in California.
When audiences at comedy clubs grew familiar with his act and would demand specific routines, Kaufman would instead read them The Great Gatsby live.
Kaufman made two wrestling-inspired films. The first, My Breakfast with Blassie, was an interview with wrestling legend (and one of Kaufman's heroes) Fred Blassie. The second, I'm From Hollywood, documented his wrestling career and feud with Jerry Lawler.
Kaufman inspired the R.E.M. song "Man on the Moon" ("Andy, are you goofing on Elvis?"). In 1999, Jim Carrey played Kaufman in a Milos Forman-directed biopic of the same name.