History Creator / AndyKaufman

Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman (January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was perhaps the most eccentric performer to emerge from the comedy scene of the 1970s.

Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman (January 17, 1949 -- May 16, 1984) was perhaps the most eccentric performer to emerge from the comedy scene of the 1970s.

By the end of '82, Kaufman was so unpopular that a viewer vote (his idea) banished him from ''[=SNL=]''. Although it was deeply damaging to his career, while ''Taxi'' was cancelled in early 1983, he continued to make ''Letterman'' appearances, wrestle, and so forth -- even turning his rejection by the masses into new material for his act! But at the end of '83, he was diagnosed with a rare, inoperable form of lung cancer despite not smoking cigarettes. Because so much of Kaufman's career was based on tricking audiences -- and he ''had'' considered faking his death, to the point where his best friend Bob Zmuda mentioned he was almost obsessed with the idea -- many people did not think he was actually dying. He occasionally performed while battling the disease, shocking fans with a gaunt appearance. Despite everything from radiation therapy to healing crystals and "psychic surgery", he (apparently) died on May 16, 1984, age 35. Having always claimed that if he faked his death he would return 20 years later, many fans eagerly awaited 2004 in hopes of TheReveal of the ultimate Kaufman prank. Sadly, he has yet to resurface, but to this day some insist that HesJustHiding. Kaufman's estate maintains that the death hoax theory is an "urban legend" and has released his death certificate to the public in response.

In particular, he challenged women to wrestle him in his stage act, virtually always pinning them and proclaiming himself "The Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World". He played the {{heel}} so well -- professional wrestling was one of his great lifelong passions because of {{kayfabe}} -- that audiences believed he actually was a sexist pig. (He loved women, rather, and dated quite a few of his opponents, often using the matches to secretly flirt with them.) His alter ego Tony Clifton, a repellent LoungeLizard who [[AlterEgoActing had to be treated as a separate entity from Andy]], caused almost as much trouble -- whether he was serving as Kaufman or Creator/RodneyDangerfield's opening act, doing his own solo engagements, or ''almost'' appearing as a guest star on ''Taxi'' (only to behave so badly that he was fired, with Kaufman's permission). Kaufman even arranged with the producers of ''Series/{{Fridays}}'', another sketch comedy show, to completely derail it the night he hosted in February 1981. After behaving erratically through most of the show, in a sketch about a double-dating couple sneaking off to the bathroom to get high on marijuana, Kaufman stopped the sketch by saying, "I can't play stoned," which angered Michael Richards and embarrassed Maryedith Burrell and Melanie Chartoff. After Creator/MichaelRichards takes the cue cards and throws them on the table, Kaufman hurls a glass of water in Richards' face. One of the stagehands tells Kaufman to back off and do the sketch, but Kaufman punches the stagehand in the face and the entire sketch degrades into a fight that turned out to be an elaborate prank[[note]]the movie ''Man on the Moon'' has this moment, with Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman, former ''SNL'' cast member Creator/NormMacDonald as Michael Richards, Creator/CarolineRhea as Melanie Chartoff, and Creator/MaryLynnRajskub as Maryedith Burrell[[/note]].

Between 1981 and 1983, Kaufman frequented Memphis, Tennessee furthering his wrestling career via a lengthy feud with Wrestling/JerryLawler that initially climaxed in a brutal match where Lawler appeared to break the taunting Kaufman's neck with repeated piledrivers. The feud gained national attention in '82 when the two appeared on ''[[Creator/DavidLetterman Late Night With David Letterman]]'', ostensibly to make up. To the shock of many, including Dave, Jerry smacked Andy (wearing a neck brace at the time) out of his chair; Andy responded with a barrage of obscenities. This would now be called a WorkedShoot, as Kaufman and Lawler knew what was going to happen but they didn't tell anyone else besides Letterman what was in store -- and he didn't reveal he was in on it for ''decades''. Many fans and wrestlers of that era and otherwise feel that Kaufman missed his true calling and that he always should've been involved in professional wrestling because of how innately he understood the business. Kaufman would eventually get his wrestling due on March 20, 2023 when Wrestling/{{WWE}} announced he would be part of that year's induction class of the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame (specifically in the celebrity wing).

Born and raised in Great Neck, Long Island, Andy was something of a [[TheGadfly gadfly]]. As he began to stake out a career as a professional entertainer, he unveiled a colorful variety of strange acts on the comedy club circuit; some he conceived as a child, others were... more complex -- all were based on defying audience expectations.

One signature routine worked as follows: When Andy appeared on stage he was already in character as "[[FunnyForeigner Foreign Man]]", [[HighHopesZeroTalent stumbling through weak jokes and wretched impressions in broken English]], to the audience's displeasure since they did not know this ''was'' a character. But then came the last impression, "de Music/ElvisPresley". Revealing that his suit was a disguised Elvis outfit, the resultant ''serious'', extremely accurate impression was enough to bring the audience to their feet. To their applause, the Foreign Man reverted back to his "normal" voice -- "Tank you veddy much." -- and the act ended. (And this was in the days before doing an Elvis impression had [[ElvisImpersonator become a cliche]]. Reportedly, [[ApprovalOfGod Elvis himself thought Kaufman's impression was the best he had seen.]])

Andy's big break into the mainstream came as a special guest on the first ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' in 1975, where he performed a childhood routine: simply standing next to a record player playing the ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse'' theme song and doing little other than standing there nervously until each appearance of the line "Here I come to save the day!", which he would grandly lip-synch. Over the years Andy made many guest appearances on ''[=SNL=]'', usually adapting his stage material, ranging from further Foreign Man exploits to a "serious" reading of ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby''. The unifying thread of these acts was a total commitment to his chosen character, no matter what reaction he got, so long as '''a''' reaction was evoked. This commitment often extended to his offstage behavior as well.

One signature routine worked as follows: When Andy appeared on stage he was already in character as "[[FunnyForeigner Foreign Man]]", [[HighHopesZeroTalent stumbling through weak jokes and wretched impressions in broken English]], to the audience's displeasure since they did not know this ''was'' a character. But then came the last impression, "de Music/ElvisPresley". Revealing that his suit was a disguised Elvis outfit, the resultant ''serious'', extremely accurate impression was enough to bring the audience to their feet. To their applause, the Foreign Man reverted back to his "normal" voice -- [[CatchPhrase "Tank you veddy much."]] -- and the act ended. (And this was in the days before doing an Elvis impression had [[ElvisImpersonator become a cliche]]. Reportedly, [[ApprovalOfGod Elvis himself thought Kaufman's impression was the best he had seen.]])

* ElvisImpersonator: One of the first! It was typically set up by an "impression" or two that would be simply him saying "Hello, I am [fill-in-the-blank]" and perhaps mangling their {{Catchphrase}} in the same Foreign Man voice, then blowing the audience away by how good an impressionist he could really be.

* FakingTheDead: It's long been rumored that Kaufman faked his death in 1984 as part of the ultimate practical joke against society. For the 20th anniversary of his death in 2004, collaborator Bob Zmuda staged his "return" with a series of live appearances (himself in Tony Clifton's costume) and internet postings. Some believe that Kaufman actually [[LogicBomb faked faking his death]], tricking the general public into thinking that he ''was'' faking his death, then making them wait for the punchline that had long since passed them by.
** In the dedication to his tell-all biography of Kaufman, Zmuda wrote: "Andy, if you're alive, I'll kill you."

* HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight[=/=]DepravedKidsShowHost: His ExcitedKidsShowHost persona turned out to be bossy and contemptuous of his audience "off screen" -- but it's suggested in the 1977 special and his ''Soundstage'' episode that he's just jaded after all these years and not a bad person at heart.

* {{Kayfabe}}: Andy's fascination with this was just one reason he loved wrestling, and he applied it to the rest of his work as well.

* OldShame:
** His appearance as Tony Clifton on ''Dinah!'' Kaufman got too drunk before shooting, and as a result, he reportedly felt really embarrassed about how he acted on set (though arguably it added more to his character).
** He felt awful about how ''Film/{{Heartbeeps}}'' turned out and told David Letterman he'd refund anyone who paid to see it in a theater. Letterman replied "Well, you'd better have change for a twenty."
** '''Parodied''' with his two appearances on ''Series/{{Fridays}}'' following his WorkedShoot gig. First, his appearance on the following week's show to explain what actually happened saw him break down in tears and claim his entire life was going downhill in its wake. Later in 1981, when he hosted the show's third season premiere, he was on '''more''' than his best behavior -- verging on StepfordSmiler -- doing only inoffensive routines like "Mighty Mouse" and revealing he'd turned his life around thanks to becoming a born-again Christian -- whereupon he performed with an ''actual'' gospel performer, Kathie Sullivan, whom he claimed was his fiance. The "worst" thing that happened was after the first "Drugs R Us" skit of the season, he delivered a DrugsAreBad lecture to the audience that "delayed" Music/ThePretenders' first musical number to the next stretch of the show.
* OverlyLongGag: He was renowned for holding a beat until his audiences were squirming in their seats waiting for him to do something to break the tension. In fact, some of his gags could last ''months'' and there are people who sincerely believe that his death is the longest gag of them all.

* SmallNameBigEgo: This was key to Tony Clifton's persona; he claimed Andy was using him to get places. This was also Andy's Heel persona, especially when he took it to Memphis and constantly bragged about his Hollywood stardom and superiority to the "hicks" of the deep South. The ''real'' Andy did have a lot of quirks and demands that could make him difficult to work with but how much of this was ego and how much was just his eccentric nature is hard to fathom.
** Zig-zagged with his day-to-day shooting on ''Taxi''; Kaufman not only demanded he only work two days a week versus the five the rest of the cast did, but also that he only appear in half the episodes per season (fewer than that in the late seasons). He didn't want Latka to be overexposed, but his reduced schedule and aloof nature didn't make him any friends. On the other hand, Andy had an eidetic memory so he showed up not just knowing his lines, but everyone else's lines, meaning he only needed two days to shoot anyway thanks to the minimum of retakes. He also requested time for meditation before shooting, which made him extra-focused.

Andrew Geoffrey "Andy" Kaufman (January 17, 1949 -- May 16, 1984) was perhaps the most eccentric performer to emerge from the comedy scene of the 1970s. Born and raised in Great Neck, Long Island, Andy was something of a [[TheGadfly gadfly]]. As he began to stake out a career as a professional entertainer, he unveiled a colorful variety of strange acts on the comedy club circuit; some he conceived as a child, others were... more complex -- all were based on defying audience expectations. One signature routine worked as follows: When Andy appeared on stage he was already in character as "[[FunnyForeigner Foreign Man]]", [[HighHopesZeroTalent stumbling through weak jokes and wretched impressions in broken English]], to the audience's displeasure since they did not know this ''was'' a character. But then came the last impression, "de Music/ElvisPresley". Revealing that his suit was a disguised Elvis outfit, the resultant ''serious'', extremely accurate impression was enough to bring the audience to their feet. To their applause, the Foreign Man reverted back to his "normal" voice -- [[CatchPhrase "Tank you veddy much."]] -- and the act ended. (And this was in the days before doing an Elvis impression had become a cliche. Reportedly, [[ApprovalOfGod Elvis Presley himself]] thought Kaufman's was the best he had seen.)

In 1978, Andy embarked upon his biggest mainstream success, the ensemble sitcom ''Series/{{Taxi}}'', where his Foreign Man character had been developed into the mechanic Latka Gravas. The following April he sold out Carnegie Hall for a one-night-only performance -- one that famously ended with him taking the entire audience out for milk and cookies (''and then'' continued the following day on the Staten Island ferry, for anyone still interested). However, he would soon become one of the most loathed performers of his era as more experimental, challenging work took precedence.

In particular, in his stage act he challenged women to wrestle him, virtually always pinning them and proclaiming himself "The Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World". He played the {{Heel}} so well -- professional wrestling was one of his great lifelong passions because of {{Kayfabe}} -- that audiences believed he actually was a sexist pig. (He loved women, rather, and dated quite a few of his opponents, often using the matches to secretly flirt with them.) His alter ego Tony Clifton, a repellent LoungeLizard who [[Main/AlterEgoActing had to be treated as a separate entity from Andy]], caused almost as much trouble -- whether he was serving as Kaufman or Creator/RodneyDangerfield's opening act, doing his own solo engagements, or ''almost'' appearing as a guest star on ''Taxi'' (only to behave so badly that he was fired, with Kaufman's permission). Kaufman even arranged with the producers of ''Series/{{Fridays}}'', another sketch comedy show, to completely derail it the night he hosted in February 1981. After behaving erratically through most of the show, in a sketch about a double-dating couple sneaking off to the bathroom to get high on marijuana, Kaufman stopped the sketch by saying, "I can't play stoned," which angered Michael Richards and embarrassed Maryedith Burrell and Melanie Chartoff. After Creator/MichaelRichards takes the cue cards and throws them on the table, Kaufman hurls a glass of water in Richards' face. One of the stagehands tells Kaufman to back off and do the sketch, but Kaufman punches the stagehand in the face and the entire sketch degrades into a fight that turned out to be an elaborate prank[[note]]the movie ''Man on the Moon'' has this moment, with Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman, former ''SNL'' cast member Creator/NormMacDonald as Michael Richards, Creator/CarolineRhea as Melanie Chartoff, and Creator/MaryLynnRajskub as Maryedith Burrell[[/note]].

Over 1981-83, he frequently was in Memphis, Tennessee furthering his wrestling career via a lengthy feud with Wrestling/JerryLawler that initially climaxed in a brutal match where Lawler appeared to break the taunting Kaufman's neck with repeated piledrivers. The feud gained national attention in '82 when the two appeared on ''[[Creator/DavidLetterman Late Night With David Letterman]]'', ostensibly to make up. To the shock of many, including Dave, Jerry smacked Andy (wearing a neck brace at the time) out of his chair; Andy responded with a barrage of obscenities. This would now be called a WorkedShoot, as Kaufman and Lawler knew what was going to happen but they didn't tell anyone else besides Letterman what was in store -- and he didn't reveal he was in on it for ''decades''. Many fans and wrestlers of that era and otherwise feel that Kaufman missed his true calling and that he always should've been involved in professional wrestling because of how innately he understood the business. Kaufman would get his wrestling due on March 20, 2023 when Wrestling/{{WWE}} announced he would be part of that year's induction class of the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame (specifically in the celebrity wing).

By the end of '82, Kaufman was so unpopular that a viewer vote (his idea) banished him from ''[=SNL=]''. Although it was deeply damaging to his career, while ''Taxi'' was cancelled in early 1983, he continued to make ''Letterman'' appearances, wrestle, and so forth -- even turning his rejection by the masses into new material for his act! But at the end of '83, he was diagnosed with a rare, inoperable form of lung cancer despite not smoking cigarettes. Because so much of Kaufman's career was based on tricking audiences -- and he ''had'' considered faking his death, to the point where his best friend Bob Zmuda mentioned he was almost obsessed with the idea -- many people did not think he was actually dying. He occasionally performed while battling the disease, shocking fans with a gaunt appearance. Despite everything from radiation therapy to healing crystals and "psychic surgery", he apparently died the following May, age 35. Having always claimed that if he faked his death he would return 20 years later, many fans eagerly awaited 2004 in hopes of TheReveal of the ultimate Kaufman prank. Sadly, he has yet to resurface, but to this day some insist that HesJustHiding. Kaufman's estate maintains that the death hoax theory is an "urban legend" and has released his death certificate to the public in response.

Andy Kaufman's life and work, ''Taxi'' excepted, is still argued about. Haters think he was self-indulgent and perhaps insane. Lovers think he was as close as comedy will come to UsefulNotes/{{Dada}}. Though he claimed not to be a comedian -- he usually referred to himself as a "song-and-dance man" -- he genuinely understood comedy conventions and was often friendly with those who were comics. (In particular, he encouraged Elayne Boosler, who started her showbusiness career as a singer, to become a comedian instead during their early 1970s professional/romantic relationship.) For many of them, he is seen as an iconoclast who made comedy safer for experimentation. A "comedian's comedian", said Creator/RobinWilliams, another friend and ardent supporter. Performers in acknowledged debt to Kaufman include Creator/PennAndTeller, Creator/TomGreen, Creator/SachaBaronCohen, and [[Series/CrissAngelMindfreak Criss Angel]], but his influence can be seen in performance art collectives like Music/BlueManGroup and Creator/CirqueDuSoleil too, and he's been given credit for helping bring professional wrestling into mainstream American entertainment in the 1980s.

* "Man on the Moon": This Music/{{REM}} song and subsequent video, originally appearing on ''Music/AutomaticForThePeople'', invokes Andy to illustrate the song's theme of the tendency of people to wonder what is and is not real -- such as the conspiracy theory that the 1969 moon landing was faked. The song became the title for...

** ''Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond'' is a 2017 retrospective documentary about this film's production and the intense more-than-MethodActing Carrey used to play Kaufman (and Tony Clifton) throughout the shoot. Carrey felt this was the only way to properly honor Kaufman and his work and found the experience, while exhausting, both creatively and personally freeing.

!!"I'd like to trope you all out for milk and cookies now":

Over 1981-83, he frequently was in Memphis, Tennessee furthering his wrestling career via a lengthy feud with Wrestling/JerryLawler that initially climaxed in a brutal match where Lawler appeared to break the taunting Kaufman's neck with repeated piledrivers. The feud gained national attention in '82 when the two appeared on ''[[Creator/DavidLetterman Late Night With David Letterman]]'', ostensibly to make up. To the shock of many, including Dave, Jerry smacked Andy (wearing a neck brace at the time) out of his chair; Andy responded with a barrage of obscenities. This would now be called a WorkedShoot, as Kaufman and Lawler knew what was going to happen but they didn't tell anyone else besides Letterman what was in store -- and he didn't reveal he was in on it for ''decades''. Many fans and wrestlers of that era and otherwise feel that Kaufman missed his true calling and that he always should've been involved in professional wrestling because of how innately he understood the business. Kaufman would get his wrestling due on March 20, 2023 when Wrestling/{{WWE}} announced he would part of that year's induction class of the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame (specifically in the celebrity wing).

Over 1981-83, he frequently was in Memphis, Tennessee furthering his wrestling career via a lengthy feud with Wrestling/JerryLawler that initially climaxed in a brutal match where Lawler appeared to break the taunting Kaufman's neck with repeated pile drivers. The feud gained national attention in '82 when the two appeared on ''[[Creator/DavidLetterman Late Night With David Letterman]]'', ostensibly to make up. To the shock of many, including Dave, Jerry smacked Andy (wearing a neck brace at the time) out of his chair; Andy responded with a barrage of obscenities. This would now be called a WorkedShoot, as Kaufman and Lawler knew what was going to happen but they didn't tell anyone else besides Letterman what was in store -- and he didn't reveal he was in on it for ''decades''. Many fans and wrestlers of that era and otherwise feel that Kaufman missed his true calling and that he always should've been involved in professional wrestling because of how innately he understood the business. Kaufman would get his wrestling due on March 20, 2023 when Wrestling/{{WWE}} announced he would part of that year's induction class of the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame (specifically in the celebrity wing).

In particular, in his stage act he challenged women to wrestle him, virtually always pinning them and proclaiming himself "The Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion Of The World". He played the {{Heel}} so well -- professional wrestling was one of his great lifelong passions because of {{Kayfabe}} -- that audiences believed he actually was a sexist pig. (He loved women, rather, and dated quite a few of his opponents, often using the matches to secretly flirt with them.) His alter ego Tony Clifton, a repellent LoungeLizard who [[Main/AlterEgoActing had to be treated as a separate entity from Andy]], caused almost as much trouble -- whether he was serving as Kaufman or Creator/RodneyDangerfield's opening act, doing his own solo engagements, or ''almost'' appearing as a guest star on ''Taxi'' (only to behave so badly that he was fired, with Kaufman's permission). Kaufman even arranged with the producers of ''Series/{{Fridays}}'', another sketch comedy show, to completely derail it the night he hosted in February 1981. After behaving erratically through most of the show, in a sketch about a double-dating couple sneaking off to the bathroom to get high on marijuana, Kaufman stopped the sketch by saying, "I can't play stoned," which angered Michael Richards and embarrassed Maryedith Burrell and Melanie Chartoff. After Creator/MichaelRichards takes the cue cards and throws them on the table, Kaufman hurls a glass of water in Richards' face. One of the stagehands tells Kaufman to back off and do the sketch, but Kaufman punches the stagehand in the face and the entire sketch degrades into a fight that turned out to be an elaborate prank[[note]]the movie ''Man on the Moon'' has this moment, with Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman, former ''SNL'' cast member Creator/NormMacDonald as Michael Richards, Creator/CarolineRhea as Melanie Chartoff, and Creator/MaryLynnRajskub as Maryedith Burrell[[/note]].

Over 1981-83, he frequently was in Memphis, Tennessee furthering his wrestling career via a lengthy feud with Wrestling/JerryLawler that initially climaxed in a brutal match where Lawler appeared to break the taunting Kaufman's neck with repeated pile drivers. The feud gained national attention in '82 when the two appeared on ''[[Creator/DavidLetterman Late Night With David Letterman]]'', ostensibly to make up. To the shock of many, including Dave, Jerry smacked Andy (wearing a neck brace at the time) out of his chair; Andy responded with a barrage of obscenities. This would now be called a WorkedShoot, as Kaufman and Lawler knew what was going to happen but they didn't tell anyone else besides Letterman what was in store -- and he didn't reveal he was in on it for ''decades''. Many fans and wrestlers of that era and otherwise feel that Kaufman missed his true calling and that he always should've been involved in professional wrestling because of how innately he understood the business.

* "Man on the Moon": This Music/{{REM}} song and subsequent video, originally appearing on ''Music/AutomaticForThePeople'', invokes Andy to illustrate the song's theme of the tendency of people to wonder what is and is not real -- such as the UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory that the 1969 moon landing was faked. The song became the title for...

* SuperOCD: Andy had a number of quirky habits he absolutely refused to break including waking up at 11AM every morning, never using the same toothbrush twice, and always boarding an airplane with his right foot. When Andy was really sick with cancer, Bob Zmuda saw Andy board a plane with his left foot and knew then that he was a goner.

* NonSpecificallyForeign: "Foreign Man". Ostensibly he was from the island of Caspiar in the Caspian Sea -- which has no islands of any kind. But then again, Foreign Man came to the United States after it abruptly ''sank!''

By the end of '82, Kaufman was so unpopular that a viewer vote (his idea) banished him from ''[=SNL=]''. Although it was deeply damaging to his career, while ''Taxi'' was cancelled in early 1983, he continued to make ''Letterman'' appearances, wrestle, and so forth -- even turning his rejection by the masses into new material for his act! But at the end of '83, he was diagnosed with a rare, inoperable form of lung cancer despite not smoking cigarettes. Because so much of Kaufman's career was based on tricking audiences -- and he ''had'' considered faking his death, to the point where his best friend Bob Zmuda mentioned he was almost obsessed with the idea -- many people did not think he was actually dying. He occasionally performed while battling the disease, shocking fans with a gaunt appearance. Despite everything from radiation therapy to healing crystals and "psychic surgery", he apparently died the following May, age 35. Having always claimed that if he faked his death he would return 20 years later, many fans eagerly awaited 2004 in hopes of TheReveal of the ultimate Kaufman prank. Sadly, he has yet to resurface, but to this day some insist that HesJustHiding Kaufman's estate maintains that the death hoax theory is an "urban legend" and has released his death certificate to the public in response.

!!"I'd like to trope you all out for milk and cookies":

** When Kaufman appeared on ''Series/TheDatingGame'' in November 1978, he was in character as Foreign Man and only referred to/credited as "Baji Kimran". Kaufman came up with this proper name for the persona some time prior to the show, but rarely used it in practice. (In the ''Taxi'' episode "Louie Sees the Light", Latka mentions that he has a cousin named Baji, which may or may not be a shout out to this.)
* ConsummateProfessional: Despite his chaotic reputation, Andy gave his all for TV and stage appearances, even if he didn't get along with his castmates or if the audiences were rude.

* CryingWolf: According to Bob Zmuda, there were fans who saw Andy as he was wasting away from cancer who outright told him what a great gag he was playing...
* DeadAir: Andy Kaufman's first appearance on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' was supposed to invoke the TV equivalent of this: He stared at the camera for an uncomfortably long moment, then turned on a recording of the ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse'' theme song, and lip-synched the line "Here I come to save the day!" and nothing else. As Creator/LorneMichaels later said in an interview: "The humor wasn't that he was lip-synching the Mighty Mouse Theme; the humor was that he only lip-synched ''one part'' of it, and the rest of the time he was just patiently waiting for his cue."

* ExcitedKidsShowHost: One of his personas was Type 1 -- by treating his adult audience as if they were children. He actually worked as an entertainer at birthday parties as a teen and hosted a children's [=TV=] show in college, and some of his simpler early acts (most famously the lip-syncing routines like "Mighty Mouse") were developed then.

* GlurgeAddict: He had a sentimental streak that occasionally surfaced in his act. In particular, the Fabian song "This Friendly World", which he sometimes covered (most famously as the singalong finale of his [=ABC=] special) really was his favorite because he believed so much in its message. He also might be the only person to ''subvert'' ItsASmallRide. When he performed "It's a Small World" in his act, though the African drum troupe backing him would be completely poker-faced, his singing was only a touch exaggerated in its cheerfulness.

* RefugeInAudacity: According to Andy[[note]]so take it with a grain of salt[[/note]], Foreign Man AKA Latka Gravas was created when Andy he almost mugged on the street. Thinking fast, he started crying and rambling in a made-up language to make it seem like he was a foreigner who didn't have any money worth stealing. The muggers left him alone and his most famous character was born.

* AudienceParticipationSong: Many, ranging from the self-penned "The Cow Goes Moo" to the Fabian song "This Friendly World".

* [[RecordedAndStandUpComedy Stand-Up Comedy]]: ''Kind'' of? It's a commonly applied label to his act, but only because there was really no other frame of reference for what Andy was doing. As mentioned above, Andy didn't think of himself as a comedian so much as he did a "song-and-dance man", as he put it, and whatever the joke was, there was rarely a "punchline" per se. It should be noted that Andy ''did'' live up to his self-proclaimed billing as many of his bits had a musical component to them, including but not limited to the Elvis impersonation, Tony Clifton, the ''Mighty Mouse'' gag, "The Cow Goes Moo", and the conga drums.

** '''Parodied''' with his two appearances on ''Series/{{Fridays}}'' following his infamous WorkedShoot gig. First, his appearance on the following week's show to explain what actually happened saw him break down in tears and claim his entire life was going downhill in its wake. Later in 1981, when he hosted the show's third season premiere, he was on ''more'' than his best behavior, doing only inoffensive routines like "Mighty Mouse" in his monologue and then revealing he'd turned his life around thanks to becoming a born-again Christian -- whereupon he performed with an ''actual'' gospel performer, Kathie Sullivan, whom he claimed was his fiance. There's a real StepfordSmiler feel to the whole business, and of course it's all another hoax.

In particular, in his stage act he challenged women to wrestle him, virtually always pinning them and proclaiming himself "The Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion Of The World". He played the {{Heel}} so well -- professional wrestling was one of his great lifelong passions because of {{Kayfabe}} -- that audiences believed he actually was a sexist pig. (He loved women, rather, and dated quite a few of his opponents, often using the matches to secretly flirt with them.) His alter ego Tony Clifton, a repellent LoungeLizard who [[Main/AlterEgoActing had to be treated as a separate entity from Andy]], caused almost as much trouble -- whether he was serving as Kaufman or Creator/RodneyDangerfield's opening act, doing his own solo engagements, or ''almost'' appearing as a guest star on ''Taxi'' (only to behave so badly that he was fired, with Kaufman's permission). Kaufman even arranged with the producers of ''Series/{{Fridays}}'', another sketch comedy show, to completely derail it the night he hosted in February 1981. In a sketch about a double-dating couple sneaking off to the bathroom to get high on marijuana, Kaufman stopped the sketch by saying, "I can't play stoned," which angered Michael Richards and embarrassed Maryedith Burrell and Melanie Chartoff. After Creator/MichaelRichards takes the cue cards and throws them on the table, Kaufman hurls a glass of water in Richards' face. One of the stagehands tells Kaufman to back off and do the sketch, but Kaufman punches the stagehand in the face and the entire sketch degrades into a fight that turned out to be an elaborate prank[[note]]the movie ''Man on the Moon'' has this moment, with Jim Carrey as Andy Kaufman, former ''SNL'' cast member Creator/NormMacDonald as Michael Richards, Creator/CarolineRhea as Melanie Chartoff, and Creator/MaryLynnRajskub as Maryedith Burrell[[/note]].

** When Kaufman appeared on ''Series/TheDatingGame'' in November 1978, he was in character as Foreign Man and only referred to/credited as "Baji Kimran". Kaufman came up with this proper name for the persona some time prior to the show, but rarely used it in practice.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: He rarely appeared as his actual self on TV, stage, etc., but by all accounts, he really was this in RealLife.

* EccentricArtist: His offstage behavior was at least as unusual as what he did onstage, as the other tropes listed here go to show. The neckbrace he wore everywhere for six months after his first match with Jerry Lawler? He didn't actually need it (and indeed removed it for things like shooting ''Taxi'' or going swimming); he was just committing to a bit and only gave it up when it started to smell bad!

* HighHopesZeroTalent: Foreign Man often subverted this trope, ''seeming'' to be an absolutely dreadful would-be entertainer until a turning point — he might suddenly burst into sobs ("I don't know if you're laughing at me, or weeth me!") that slowly became more rhythmic and led into a startlingly good performance on conga drums, or his last impression would be what's often been described as the best Elvis Presley impersonation ever performed. Elayne Boosler, in her ''Esquire'' magazine tribute to Kaufman, recalled a performance he did at a seedy disco in TheSeventies that saw the jaded audience love Foreign Man from the get-go because he was so determined to entertain them, making the subversion all the sweeter when it took place.

* PersonaNonGrata: Several stars have been banned from ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' over the years, but Andy is unique in that his ban was his idea, inspired by the then-recent "Larry the Lobster" vote (in which people could call in to determine whether a lobster would be cooked or not). Because of the controversy around his wrestling stint, he suggested that SNL viewers phone-in votes for or against banning him from the show. The majority picked banning, and although there was talk about subverting this by having him turn up again after a little time had passed as a surprise, it was instead played straight and he never performed on SNL again (though a few weeks later a commercial he recorded asking New Yorkers to reconsider aired as part of ''Weekend Update''). He ''might'' have been brought back for the Creator/JoanRivers-hosted episode later in Season 8 -- as she requested the producers do so -- had he not been busy with the Broadway play ''Teaneck Tanzi: The Venus Flytrap'' (a wrestling-themed comedy toplined by Debbie Harry) at the time; adding insult to injury, that play only had one official performance so it was AllForNothing.

** 1989's ''Andy Kaufman: I'm From Hollywood'' is about his wrestling career -- albeit with the catch that it doesn't break {{Kayfabe}}. He was actually working on it prior to his death, and his colleagues completed it later.
** 2000's ''The Real Andy Kaufman'' was assembled by Seth Schultz, who as a young friend of Kaufman's interviewed him for a separate documentary about a comedy club. The interview took place on Thanksgiving weekend 1979 immediately after the latter's disastrously-received performance at a resort in the Catskills (which went off the rails in the early going because Kaufman brought his other family members on stage to show off their talents and the crowd became bored), and aside from a few in-character bits at Schultz's request, was an excellent record of his offstage self. The finished program combines the interview with highlights of the resort performance and many "ordinary" friends of Kaufman sharing their favorite/typical memories of him.