Andy Kaufman
Birthday: Born in 1949-01-17 in
Deathday: 1984-05-16
Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman (January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer, actor and performance artist. While often referred to as acomedian, Kaufman did not consider himself to be one. He disdained telling jokes and engaging in comedy as it was traditionally understood, referring to himself instead as a "song-and-dance man." Elaborate hoaxes and pranks were major elements of his career. His act maintains a cult following and he continues to be respected among comedians for his original material, performance style, and unflinching commitment to character.
TV Credits
Taxi
Character: Latka Gravas
Louie De Palma is a cantankerous, acerbic taxi dispatcher in New York City. He tries to maintain order over a collection of varied and strange characters who drive for him. As he bullies and insults them from the safety of his “cage,” they form a special bond among themselves, becoming friends and supporting each other through the inevitable trials and tribulations of life....
Van Dyke and Company
Character: Self
Short-lived variety show starring Dick Van Dyke and assorted guests. The show was best known for Dick's pantomime acting and a recurring skit about the dumbest family in the world, coincidently named "The Bright Family". Van Dyke & Co also featured appearances by the Los Angeles Mime Company....
O.J.: Made in America
Character: Self (archive footage)
The rise and fall of American football star, O.J. Simpson, from his days growing up in Los Angeles to his murder trial that polarized the country....
Saturday Night Live
Character: Self - Stand-up Act
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest....
Saturday Night Live
Character: Foreign Man
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest....
Saturday Night Live
Character: Self
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest....
Saturday Night Live
Character: Andy Kaufman
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest....
Saturday Night Live
Character: Self - Special Guest
A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest....
Stick Around
Character: Andy, The Robot
Stick Around was an unsold television pilot for ABC, starring Andy Kaufman. Only one episode was ever made, airing on May 30, 1977. Kaufman portrayed Andy, a run-down servant robot in the future. He used the same voice of his "Foreign Man" character that would one day become the signature voice of Latka Gravas on Taxi. The pilot also starred Nancy New and Fred McCarren as Elaine and Vance Keefer, a married couple in the year 2055. The plot of the episode revolves around Andy the robot's inadeq...
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character: Self
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time....
Movie Credits
God Told Me To
Character: Police Assassin
A repressed Catholic NYPD detective uncovers a netherworld of deranged faith, alien insemination and his own unholy connection to a homicidal messiah with a perverse plan for the soul of mankind....
WWE Hall of Fame 2023
Character: Andy Kaufman (archive footage)
The 2023 WWE Hall of Fame is scheduled to be held on March 31, 2023, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, the night before WrestleMania 39. It will air live at 10 pm Eastern Time on Peacock in the United States and on the WWE Network internationally, immediately after the airing of WWE's regular Friday night program, SmackDown. On March 10, 2023, Rey Mysterio was announced as the first individual inductee for the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2023....
I'm from Hollywood
Character: Himself (archive footage)
I'm from Hollywood is about the adventures of late performance artist Andy Kaufman in the world of professional wrestling. This film includes interviews with Taxi co-stars Marilu Henner and Tony Danza and interviews with comedian Robin Williams, wrestler Jerry Lawler, wrestling commentator Lance Russell, and Kaufman's best friend, Bob Zmuda. Other people seen in the film include TV host David Letterman and Jimmy Hart of Continental Wrestling Association. The film's title refers to a phrase spoke...
My Breakfast with Blassie
Character: Self
My Breakfast with Blassie is a movie starring Andy Kaufman and professional wrestler "Classy" Freddie Blassie. It is a mostly improvised parody of the popular art film My Dinner with Andre and is set in a restaurant where Kaufman and Blassie have a discussion over breakfast. Also featured is Kaufman's partner Bob Zmuda, who plays a nosy fan. Lynne Margulies, who would later become Kaufman's girlfriend, also plays a role; in fact, she and Kaufman met for the first time on camera....
The Rodney Dangerfield Special: I Can't Take It No More
Character: Self / Various / Dr. Vinnie Boombatz
Rodney Dangerfield special, featuring stand-up and sketches....
Heartbeeps
Character: Val
Two domestic robots fall in love and run off together....
The Real Andy Kaufman
Character: Himself (archive footage)
The majority of the footage in The Real Andy Kaufman consists of a 1979 performance the actor/comedian/performance artist performed in the Catskills. In addition to some of his classic routines, the film offers interviews with friends and colleagues....
R.E.M.: In View 1988-2003 (The Best of R.E.M.)
Character: Self (segments "Man on the Moon" and "The Great Beyond")
In View: The Best Of R.E.M. 1988–2003 is a DVD featuring videos by the rock band R.E.M. during 1988–2003, released as a companion to the Warner Bros. compilation In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003. All but two of the songs included on the audio CD made the DVD—the exceptions being "All the Right Friends" (which had no official music video) and "Animal" (the video not having been shot until early 2004.)...
Andy Kaufman: The Midnight Special
Character: Himself
The big mystery about Andy Kaufman's work is in trying to figure out what's serious, what's an act, why he is doing what he's doing, and whether he even knows the differences himself. His performances are among those rare examples where you feel extremely uncomfortable watching them, but at the same time you can't pull yourself away because it's hysterical in a twisted and bizarre sort of way....
In God We Tru$t
Character: Armageddon T. Thunderbird
A naive monk, named Brother Ambrose, is sent by the abbot on a mission to raise $5,000 in order to save their monastery from closing. He goes to Hollywood where he encounters a number of eccentric characters....
The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show
Character: Tony Clifton
Taped in Toronto between August 9-24, 1982, Miss Piggy hosts her own variety show, with special guests John Ritter, George Hamilton and Tony Clifton (Andy Kaufman). Under the direction of Kermit the Frog, the Muppets work in the control room and, amidst chaos, manage to keep the show on the air. Throughout the show, a romantic triangle develops among Piggy, Ritter (who is smitten with the pig) and Hamilton (who is deeply uncomfortable with the star's romantic inclinations)....
Andy's Funhouse
Character: Himself / Latka Gravas / Tony Clifton
This special was taped in 1977 but did not air until August 1979, on ABC. 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"). There also is a segment that included fake television screen static as part of the gag, which ABC executives were not comfortable with, fearing that viewers would mistake the st...
Thank You Very Much
Character: Self (archive footage)
In his short, enigmatic life, Andy Kaufman entertained and transfixed audiences while simultaneously driving them away. His work dissolved the boundaries separating reality from fiction, and his commitment to performance, both on stage and off, rendered any distinctions between his characters and his real life useless. Was he a comic, an affable sit-com star, a washed-up lounge singer, a bus boy, a professional wrestler, a hoaxer, a provocateur or a pest? Nearly 40 years after his supposed death...
Saturday Night Live: 40th Anniversary Special
Character: Self - Guest Performer (In Memoriam)
Former members of Saturday Night Live come together to remember the past 40 years of Saturday Night Live....
The Death Of Andy Kaufman
Character: Himself (archive footage)
The Andy Kaufman Project explores the possibility that avant-garde performance artist Andy Kaufman may have faked his death....
"Tank You Vedy Much!" - The Many Faces of a Comic Legend
Character:
Andy Kaufman was one of the most original comedians of the 20th century. He definitely danced to his own drummer. He could play a shy, lovable man like Latka Gravas on "Taxi", and then turn around and play Tony Clifton, an obnoxious, crude Lounge Lizzard. He was also one of the Great "Put on Artists" of our time. He also put on the world with his wrestling fiasco involving Jerry Lawler who eventually slapped Andy out of his chair on The Letterman Show. It was all staged!! Come on along with us ...
The 2nd Annual HBO Young Comedians Show
Character: Self
Young Comedians Show is HBO's long running showcase of young stand-up comedians....
Jerry Before Seinfeld
Character: Self (archive footage)
Jerry Seinfeld returns to the club that gave him his start in the 1970s, mixing iconic jokes with stories from his childhood and early days in comedy....
Andy Kaufman Plays Carnegie Hall
Character: Himself
Andy Kaufman's legendary sold-out Carnegie Hall performance, featuring all of Kaufman's classic routines, including Foreign Man, Elvis, conga drums, plus Andy wrestling women and even taking on a real male wrestler! Also appearing is a menagerie of Kaufman's collection of human oddities, including the infamous Tony Clifton, The Love Family (a sub-Partridge Family singing group who do a bang-up version of "The Age of Aquarius" complete with synchronized dance movements), Grant Bowman the "Happy N...
Andy Kaufman: The Andy Kaufman Show: Soundstage
Character: Himself
From the PBS series "Soundstage" comes this special broadcast of Andy Kaufman's satirical talk show, which includes "The Has-Been Corner," a spoof segment with a washed-up celebrity, and a routine featuring his marionette alter ego, Tony Clifton. In other highlights, Kaufman and ex-girlfriend Elayne Boosler publicly expose their turbulent relationship, and one of Kaufman's guests is unmasked as a charlatan....
Andy Kaufman World Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion: His Greatest Matches
Character: Himself
The story of famed performance artist Andy Kaufman's bizarre quest to find a woman who could defeat him in the wrestling ring. Footage taken from Kaufman's personal archives highlight his reign as the "World's Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion," a title that earned him the wrath of liberated females all across America....
The Demon: A Film About Andy Kaufman
Character:
Andrew Kaufman (1949 - 1984) was an American entertainer, actor, writer, performance artist and professional wrestler. A charismatic persona poured out of a bucket....
Cher... and Other Fantasies
Character: Adam
Cher... and Other Fantasies is a 1979 prime time network special starring singer and actress Cher, featuring songs from her latest album "Take Me Home". In this special, Cher finds herself trapped in a strange building, where various fantasies await her behind every door. The memorable opening number “Aint Nobody’s Business” sees Cher on a tour of fashion from Eve in the Garden of Eden to disco at Studio 54 all while parading in dozens of stunning Bob Mackie creations. There's also a roller skat...
The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1979
Character: Self
For the 1979 broadcast, Cash's annual CBS Christmas special returns to Nashville after taping the previous year's program in Los Angeles. This time he features his father, Ray Cash, and older brother Roy Cash in a visit to the small home in Dyess, Arkansas, where Johnny and his siblings were raised. Guests include Canadian pop and country star Anne Murray ("You Needed Me"), who was enjoying the most successful period of her career, and country music's Tom T. Hall, whom Cash introduces as "my ver...
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond
Character: Self (archive footage)
Offbeat documentarian Chris Smith provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Jim Carrey adopted the persona of idiosyncratic comedian Andy Kaufman on the set of Man on the Moon....
It's Good To Be The King: The Jerry Lawler Story
Character: Himself
You hear his voice calling the action every week on WWE's flagship show, Monday Night Raw, but there is more to being king other than having the best seat in the house! In this regal new documentary, Jerry "The King" Lawler shares the amazing story of his rise to royalty. Follow the WWE Hall of Famer from his early days to his championship-laden career in the ring, his incomparable reign at the broadcast table and a king-sized list of accolades along the way. Friends and peers also join The King...
Stick Around
Character: Andy, the Robot
It's the year 2055 and things are better for the human race, except for Vance. The Keefer family deals with daily life in the future and their older and malfunctioning robot servant, which Vance is tired of....