The Untold Truth Of Andy Kaufman

In its list of greatest stand-up comics of all time, Rolling Stone ranks Andy Kaufman at No. 14, referring to him as a "legend" who utilized "audience-baiting" masterfully. Yet, to describe Kaufman as merely a stand-up comic leaves out much of what made him so special and unique as a performer. The genius of Andy Kaufman, as written in The New Yorker, was partially the mystery surrounding how he became Andy Kaufman, the performer, a man who didn't want to be called a comedian, but wouldn't have minded being compared to Charlie Chaplin.

Kaufman was a complicated and sometimes perplexing figure, constantly pushing boundaries and challenging audiences (and even colleagues) in the comedy world, seemingly unconcerned as to whether people were in on the joke or not. As described by The Guardian, Kaufman wanted audiences to perceive what they were witnessing as a disaster, but what he was really attempting to do was to "perform inside the audience's mind."

In 1982, an interviewer with the New York Daily News said talking to Kaufman made one feel "a little nuts" and that he "walks on the wild side, on a thin edge between reality and fantasy" (via The Day). The uniqueness of this approach, and his success at doing it, is what has cemented Andy Kaufman as one of the all-time greats in comedy and performance art. "Andy Kaufman had guts," read an obituary in The Boston Phoenix, following Kaufman's death in May of 1984. 

As James Greenberg, onetime film critic for Los Angeles magazine, once put it: "Love him or not, there's never been a performer quite like Andy Kaufman."

While he was exceptionally creative from a young age, young Andy Kaufman had difficulty following the structured days of his public schooling and nearly failed classes on numerous occasions. In Phil Berger's "The Last Laugh," the author describes how Kaufman was advanced beyond his peers in many ways, but was mostly indifferent to his school studies, instead prioritizing his own personal interests such as writing and poetry (via Deadspin).

According to AndyKaufman.com, along with having little interest in school, Kaufman also had no interest in sports — although he demonstrated athletic ability — and spent most of his free time focused on his writing, performing his poetry, playing his conga drums, and working on his impressions (particularly of Elvis Presley).

As his mother put it, Andy Kaufman was the "problem child" of the three Kaufman siblings, and even though he had seen psychologists and psychiatrists from a young age, his mother told Rolling Stone she believed it was all an act — even back then (via The Daily Beast). Despite his disinterest in his studies, Kaufman still managed to graduate in 1967, in the midst of the Vietnam War; he received a deferment from the military draft after failing the psychological test (per Biography).

After earning his degree, Andy Kaufman left Boston and returned to New York City, where he would begin doing stand-up comedy (per Britannica). Despite performing stand-up, particularly in the beginning at New York City's The Improv Comedy Club, Kaufman often insisted throughout his career that he was not a comedian. During these early sets, he often experimented with characters and used a variety of different voices.

Budd Friedman, legendary owner of The Improv, took Kaufman under his wing and supported his acts which often confused audiences. In Friedman's autobiography "The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club That Revolutionized Stand-up," he recalled that the first time Kaufman played at the club, he was actually frustrated and angry by the performance — before he began to understand it (via Paste Magazine). Kaufman was, according to Friedman, an "enigmatic provocateur," who "blurred the line between imagination and insanity almost beyond recognition."

As told by Biography, Kaufman once simply read from F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" on stage, while another time, he brought out a sleeping bag and took a nap in front of the audience. Despite sometimes leaving his audiences befuddled with his performance art, he started to build a following, and soon he had representation by George Shapiro, the same manager who represented Carl Reiner and Dick Van Dyke.

In Phil Berger's "The Last Laugh," Berger explains how Kaufman also began to utilize characters that he would later become very well-known for, such as Foreign Man and Tony Clifton (via Deadspin). During this time, he also met Bob Zmuda, who would become his closest friend (per AndyKaufman.com).

One of Andy Kaufman's most infamous characters was Tony Clifton, a loud-mouthed longue singer purposely meant to confuse and irritate people. Beginning in 1977, he had The Comedy Store "hire" Clifton to be his opener (per AndyKaufman.com). In "Was This Man a Genius?: Talks with Andy Kaufman," writer Julie Hecht recalled how once, when Kaufman came out on stage as Clifton, the crowd seemed to be in on the joke that Clifton was actually Kaufman, as Kaufman as Clifton would troll the audience by smoking up on stage in the smoke-free lounge while singing bad renditions of Frank Sinatra songs. He'd also insult everyone in his path (per Los Angeles magazine).

Sometimes Kaufman would have other people perform as Tony Clifton, making it even more confusing. According to The New York Times, Kaufman would even deliberately confuse his colleagues. Once when John Belushi told him how much he liked the Clifton character, Kaufman stated that he had retired the act. When Belushi responded that he had just seen him do his Clifton character, Kaufman responded that Belushi had seen the real Clifton (of which there, of course, wasn't really one).

In 1982, on "Late Night with David Letterman," Clifton appeared on the show and Letterman pointed out that many people believed he was Andy Kaufman. "Kaufman's been using my name to get places," Clifton declared, except it's now known that this appearance wasn't Kaufman as Clifton, but his friend, adding to the deliberate confusion. When Kaufman was offered a role on the sitcom "Taxi," Kaufman agreed, but only under one condition: They had to hire Clifton for two episodes (per AndyKaufman.com).

Andy Kaufman's increased visibility and fame paid off. In 1979, he performed his legendary show at Carnegie Hall. Even before his show, Kaufman was already up to his antics. As described by Bob Zmuda in "Andy Kaufman Revealed!: Best Friend Tells," days before Kaufman's scheduled show, a "deranged" man was outside of Carnegie Hall shouting at ticket-buyers that Andy Kaufman was the antichrist. That man, according to Zmuda, was Kaufman in disguise (and done without the knowledge of management). 

The show itself was no less bizarre. On stage, in front of an audience of 2,800, Kaufman opened with his Tony Clifton character. He did his Elvis impersonation and wrestled a woman (per AndyKaufman.com). He invited his grandmother up on stage, only to reveal at the end of the show that it was actually fellow comedian Robin Williams (per Far Out Magazine).

In its review of the event, The New York Times described Kaufman's comedy act as an "oddball ... variety show" that ended with a mostly (but not entirely) receptive audience ... only to have Kaufman invite them all onto 24 charter buses to go out for milk and cookies and watch a circus show of Kaufman's creation. "I'm not a comedian," he told New York Magazine in 1979, saying he was a song-and-dance man instead. "The audience is merely witnessing what I've done in my room all my life."

While perhaps not surprising with hindsight, when Andy Kaufman began to wrestle — often against women — many believed it was a real attempt at the sport (a lifelong interest of Kaufman's, after all); it wasn't revealed to be a long-term, elaborate prank until a decade after his death. In 1979, The Associated Press reported on one of these wrestling matches, where Kaufman wrestled and defeated a 26-year-old gym teacher named Diana Peckham, making misogynist comments, such as women belonging in the kitchen (via Bangor Daily News).

In 1982, in a long-ranging interview where he cycled through nearly all his characters, Kaufman told a reporter that women could peel potatoes and take care of babies, but not wrestle (per Boca Raton News). After getting a lot of flack for his misogynistic comments and wrestling women, Kaufman would — in character — challenge the top male wrestlers across the country (via The Boston Phoenix). 

By 1980, Kaufman was wrestling numerous matches a year, many with the Continental Wrestling Association (per AndyKaufman.com). In 1982, The New York Times reported on a "feud" between Kaufman and professional wrestler Jerry Lawler, which ended up with the two getting into a planned fistfight on the set of "Late Night with David Letterman," again leaving audiences confused as to if it was real or a prank. Years later in 2010, Lawler will recall the pretend feud between the two, saying it provided him with unique fame that often didn't come to professional wrestlers at the time (per Bleacher Report).

Years after his death, it was revealed that Andy Kaufman, who never married, had a daughter. In the 1990s, a woman named Maria Colonna discovered that her biological father was Andy Kaufman, who along with his high school girlfriend put her up for adoption in 1969 when he was only 17 years old, according to Biography. It is a fact that he kept close to his chest during his life, only once discussing it with his friend Bob Zmuda (per "Andy Kaufman Revealed!: Best Friend Tells All"). 

"I wonder sometimes to myself, how different would it have been if I had grown up with my biological father?" Colonna asked on the documentary podcast "Knowing Andy Kaufman" in 2021. Despite never knowing him, Colonna has since become close to her extended family on the Kaufman side. Before his death in 2013, Andy's father Stanley said he had reunited with Maria after she discovered her lineage and that they had become extremely close, saying Maria was the greatest gift his son, Andy Kaufman, had given him (per CNN).