[static sounds] Okay, my movie, it begins, it begins with the climax.

[laughing, screaming, drumming] And you zoom out, and then it says, "The End," and then the credits.

[applauding] And then you have some blank space, like about a minute of black.

-[footsteps] -Shh.

And you know what then happens?

You got the climax again.

[singing, chaos] And then it says, "The End" again.

-[applauding] -[flute playing] And then the climax again.

[wrestling, chaos] But each time there's a little something different, and it tells a story.

So it's a whole, you know, it's like you thought you saw the climax already, but then when you finally see it, you see there's more to it than that.

-[woman 1] No.

-No?

[static sounds] [tense music playing] I know very little about you, [Tom] but I'd like to find out a little bit if I may.

[cymbal sounds] I always believe in being honest.

I always believe in telling the truth.

-[waves crashing] -[static sounds] [Charlie] Is there any controversy about his death?

I didn't believe it.

I thought it was another of his pranks.

[static sounds] [Bob] This messing with reality, is everything that Andy's about.

[tense music accelerates] Release the energy.

Bum!

[cars honking] [reporter] If you're a struggling comedian or comic actor trying to break into movies or television, this is the place to start.

-[crowd whistling, applauding] -[slow music playing] [Budd] A fellow who owned a club in Great Neck, Long Island, called and said he had a comedian he'd like me to see.

We chatted for five minutes, and introduces himself as Andy Kaufman.

"I am here to perform for you tonight."

And I said, "Great, where you from?"

And he says, "I am from an island in the Caspian Sea."

You know, okay.

-[crowd laughing] -[pants] I... There was two penguins on a piece of ice, and they loved each other very much.

-[crowd continue laughing] -So, uh... So one day the ice is broken, and so the two penguins are crying.

They are crying because they're never to see each other again.

So they go away, you know, away from each other, and one day they, to see each other.

So they get closer and closer, and one of them say... -[gibberish] -[crowd laughing] You know, because they never see each other again.

[crowd laughing] Thank you very much.

[crowd applauding] [Bob] You know, the first time I saw Andy Kaufman, I went to the Improv.

[Andy] Right now I would like to do some imitations for you.

[Bob] And I don't know, and I think it's real.

"Thank you very much" with this guy.

[Bob] He's got his hair plastered down, and he looks like some foreign guy that's just got off the bus.

I would like to imitate my Aunt Esther.

[crowd laughing] "You come into the house right now, put on your coat, and eat everything that's on your plate."

-[crowd laughing, applauding] -Thank you very much.

[Bob] And Budd's sitting in the back and people are coming up and saying, "Get this guy off.

This is terrible."

I'm convinced this is how the kid talks, and he's doing he's act, and getting laughs.

I said, "That's a little silly."

Not exactly my cup of tea.

Last but not to be the least, I would like to imitate the Elvis Presley.

[crowd cheering] Yeah!

[dramatic music playing] [crowd laughing] He looks just like Elvis Presley, and you're waiting for that "thank you very much" voice.

But instead... [imitates Elvis] Thank you very much.

♪ Well it's one for the money ♪ ♪ Two for the show ♪ ♪ Three to get ready now ♪ ♪ Go, cat, go ♪ ♪ But don't you step on ♪ ♪ My blue suede shoes ♪ ♪ Well you can do anything But lay off ♪ ♪ Of my blue suede shoes ♪ -Let's go cat!

-[crowd cheering] [Bob] We the audience now are hit with a baseball bat.

Like, what?

[crowd cheering] -Thank you very much.

-[crowd applauding] Could I please have my thing back?

[crowd laughing] [Bob] I wait around after.

I'm very confused about this.

And I see him getting into this car.

And he was crying, he was, this man who was in tears.

I felt very bad.

I went over and I said, uh, "Can I help you?"

And he says, he said... I knew it was Andy.

He says, he says, "Yeah."

He says, you know, "My arm hurts and I can't pick up that luggage."

And he's going on like this, so I take it.

He has the congas and I'm lifting all this stuff.

[Bob] I'm lifting all this crap for him.

I no sooner get everything in and he closes the trunk, and he turns to me, he says, "Thank you very much, sucker."

[laughs] Just like that, he gets in the car, and he drives off.

This is my friend, Bob.

Say hi, Bob.

Bob's my writer.

Bob's my writer.

He writes all my stuff.

I gave him a job.

Ah, get out of here you disgusting... [laughs] Crawl!

Bob Zmuda was a kindred soul, you know?

They're hard to find when you're Andy Kaufman and you're weird.

[Bob] Besides being Andy's writer, you know, Andy and I were best friends.

- I can't take it!

- Get out of here!

-No, I can't take it!

-No, no, no, no!

-I was only fooling.

-Put the knife away.

[Bob] But let me kind of reel it back in here a little.

The question always comes up, "Who was the real Andy Kaufman?"

Oh, yeah, it's always good to be yourself and go out there and show the people who you really are.

-[male announcer] Andy Kaufman.

-[crowd cheering] [Dick] And now here is the real Andy Kaufman.

-[crowd cheering] -[Steve] So that was really you out there, and what are you doing now?

-Right now this is really me.

-Oh.

So now are you are speaking as you really speak.

Because this show is interested -in the truth.

-[crowd laughing] Really, I'm only fooling.

This is really me, and everything else... What I was just doing before was just a character.

[Bob] So he's an artist, and his art form was his act.

That's who he is.

I would like to imitate eh... [crowd chuckling] [Bob] And what the act is all about... [crowd laughing] [Bob] ... was embarrassment.

That premise of a guy that really shouldn't be there.

[crowd laughing] I don't understand one thing.

[crowd continue laughing] No, seriously.

Why everyone is... going "Boo!"

on, like, the jokes when I tell some of the jokes.

And then when I don't want you to laugh, you're laughing.

[crowd laughing] Like right now.

I don't understand.

[crowd stop laughing] It's not working, so... [crowd start laughing again] I think... so I think, um, thank you very much.

And I'm sorry, and there's other acts, and so, I really shouldn't have done this.

[sobs] You know, I'm not trying to show any talent.

I'm not trying... All I'm trying to do is have some fun.

This is like when I get together with friends and we go home and have some fun, and I wanted to believe we were friends having fun.

[sighs] It doesn't work.

I have no business being here and I wanna thank you all for showing me where I'm at.

[crowd laughing] You really showed me where I'm at tonight.

[sobs] I was just trying to do my best... [goofy sob] but you ruin everything.

[goofy sob] Every time I've tried, it goes wrong.

[goofy sob] I'm trying to do my best.

[goofy sob] [goofy crying turns into rhythmic beat with drums] [drums playing] [crying, drumming in beat, clapping along with the crowd] Working for Andy was almost like working for Harry Houdini.

[Bob] These were illusions.

We wanted the audience to leave the room and say, "Was that for real?"

That's it.

That's all we want.

I followed him a couple of times.

It was always interesting to walk into the vortex left after him, 'cause people are like this.

The audience would all look like deer in front of a Peterbilt, like... They had that stunned look like you right now.

That very special kind of... He sings, he dances, I don't know what he'll do tonight.

Here's Andy Kaufman.

[crowd cheering, applauding] [Steve] All comedians had to think, "What's new?"

And I think that's what Andy Kaufman did.

[gibberish] He might've thought, "This is not even weird."

[gibberish] [Bill] Comedy became less jokey right around then.

That was the new generation.

He was right in on that, and his stuff was even stranger.

[Bill] It wasn't something Johnny Carson would understand.

Where are you from originally?

From Caspian.

-It's an island.

Yeah.

-[Johnny] Caspian?

Caspian Island.

[crowd laughing] [Bill] He wasn't really a stand-up comic.

It was something that he kind of invented.

[singing and hitting cymbals] [Andy] When I was starting, comedians would go up and do 20 minutes of joke-telling, usually.

I never did that.

I've never told a joke in my life really.

-[continues singing] -[crowd laughing] [crowd applauding] [Bob] Actually, he was more excited if he could get them upset and leave.

That's what The Great Gatsby was about.

-Chapter one.

-[crowd laughing] [clears throat] "In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since."

[Lorne] Andy read The Great Gatsby , and that was it.

It wasn't that he read The Great Gatsby and then he fell into a hole.

[Lorne] That was it.

And so it was conceptual and it was pure.

I wish I could say it was popular.

-[crowd booing] -Wait.

Now hold on.

-If I hear any more... -[crowd laughing] I want it quiet.

Literally, four or five hours later, he's reading that damn book.

If I hear one more sound I'll close this book and forget the whole thing.

[Bob] It's torture.

Just as much torture if you tied somebody to a chair and you were cutting them, with a razor blade.

That's it.

Good night.

I'm closing it, forgetting about the whole thing.

[crowd cheering] I... No, I'm only fooling.

I wouldn't do that to you.

[crowd laughing] [Pagani] He's say, "I don't care if it's positive or negative.

I just want it to be real."

[Pagani] And that's okay.

A what-the-f***-is-he-doing reaction is okay.

-[melodic music] -[crowd applauding] [Pagani] Everybody thinks you're nuts, but, Andy would always say to people like... - "They laugh at us.

-[all laughing distortedly] [Pagani] We laugh at them.

Everybody laugh."

[chuckles] That's like, it's like a fortune cookie thing.

It's like, you know, a Zen koan.

[music stops] [static sounds] -[piano notes playing] -[footsteps] Isn't this fun?

See how much fun?

See how-- [static sounds] -[cheerful music] -[announcer] From Hollywood, the dating capital of the world, -it's The Dating Game .

-[crowd cheering] [Jim] We grabbed the first man we saw hanging out on Hollywood Boulevard and threw him into chair number three.

We know virtually nothing about this man, only that he calls himself Baji Kimran.

Baji, -welcome to The Dating Game .

-[crowd applauding] -[sighs] -[director] It's amazing.

"The Dating Game" is, 'cause nobody knows who he is.

Bachelor number three, it's the holiday season and I'm Santa.

You're on my lap.

Little boy, take it away.

-What?

-[crowd laughing] [Andy] Wait a minute.

Wait.

I don't know what, what she looks like.

-Could I see?

-[Jim] No, you can't.

-You can't, number three.

No.

-Oh, all right.

[Jim] That's the game.

You just have to sit -and answer as best-- -What's he doing now?

Oh, he's playing with the medium.

[Jim] Patrice didn't choose you, Baj.

But I answered all the questions the right way.

[Jim] Come on.

Come on over, Baji.

-No!

-[Jim] She'll give you a kiss.

-No!

I did not lose.

-[crowd laughing] -I won this fair and square.

-[Jim] He doesn't want to meet you.

Let me tell you something about the bachelor.

Oh, here he comes.

Come on, Baj.

[crowd laughing] [Jim] Aww, give him a hand.

Did a great job.

[crowd applauding] I answered all the questions the right way.

-[Jim] There is no right.

-[static sounds] [cameraman] Okay, Andy, we're recording, and if you'd like to say a few things, we're ready.

And you're on.

[muffled and wacky pronunciation of final words of each line] Faster than a speeding bullet.

more powerful than a locomotive.

able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Look.

Up in the sky.

It's a bird.

It's a plane.

No.

It's Superman.

Yep.

Superman.

Strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond a mortal man.

Super... [Dick] I saw Andy, and from the beginning I was amazed.

I mean, he'd been working certain parts of his act for quite some time, and they were really polished.

Fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way.

[Dick] I didn't even know what the show was but I told Andy he'd be on the first show.

[crowd laughing] [music playing] [male announcer] NBC's Saturday Night!

[crowd cheering] [male announcer] Here's Andy Kaufman!

[crowd applauding] [record crackling] ["Mighty Mouse Theme Song" music playing] ♪ Mr.

trouble never Hangs around ♪ ♪ When he hears This Mighty sound ♪ -[mouths] -♪ Here I come to save the day ♪ -[crowd laughs] -[crowd clapping] -♪ That means That Mighty Mouse ♪ ♪ Is on the way ♪ Everything would shift.

It's like when you look at one of those things for a while, and all of a sudden it goes like... It's art.

It's performance art.

I was like, "Whoa!"

[Steve] There's two things that are really funny about it, that are very hard to do in a comedy routine.

One, "Here I come to save the day!"

[laughs] ["Mighty Mouse Theme Song" music playing] [Steve] But he's also funny while he's waiting.

[tense music playing] [Melanie] The audacity he had to burn up stage time drinking a glass of water, listening to a Victrola.

He didn't care about boring or making the audience uncomfortable.

In fact, I think he really relished taking us prisoner.

[Pamela] There was a sense of suspension in time.

What is he doing?

Why is he doing it?

And in that moment of silence, you go to a deeper part of yourself.

[Pamela] You're not so caught up in the thinking mind, and he lets things percolate.

[laughing] [Lynne] Everyone tries to project this thing on him of what a... and he was a genius, but he was just having fun.

-[crowd applauding] -Hi, Little Red Riding Hood!

[high-pitched] Hi, Andy!

[gibberish] -[crowd laughing] -Oh, really?

[Lynne] I don't know if it was conscious that he was trying to retain his childhood, or if it was just a natural thing that happened to him.

-[grunts] Ah!

-[Lynne] Escaping into these happy characters was his way of staying a child.

-[crowd laughing] -My next guest was one of the first television personalities ever on television.

His show was on from 1947 to 1960, and for me, he was the first star that I was ever aware of in my whole life.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor and privilege to present the original, yes, the original, Howdy Doody.

[crowd cheering] Ever since he was a little kid, he was living in this kind of fantasy world.

-Hi, Howdy.

-Ho, ho!

Well, hi, Andy!

He never let it go.

So like, you're the first friend I ever had, and probably the closest, I think.

I always wanted to meet you, and now I finally am.

Well, Andy, I... I'm glad to meet you, too.

[children singing distortedly] [Andy] I was once in your peanut gallery when I was five years old.

[heavenly music playing] [Andy] I was kind of depressed seeing what everyone was like when they weren't on camera.

And I could see the man who was working your strings.

And I must say, even though I could, you know, even though I could see your strings and everything, to me you're just as real as anyone else who's on this show.

I feel like I'm really talking to a real person.

He was part magician.

He was part comedian.

He was part actor.

[Dennis] And then when he could allow other people into that fantasy, it was a world that he controlled.

Is there anything you'd like to say to all the boys and girls?

Well, I just want them to know that even though they're all grown up now, they'll always be a place for them in my heart.

[Pamela] He never really felt safe in the world.

He had the ability to evoke emotion in other people, but he didn't really quite understand the complexity of his own emotional life.

[Laurie] I think we all wanted to analyze Andy.

Like, what kind of parental damage was done to this boy?

[Bob] That is the million-dollar question.

What kicks this off in Kaufman?

Where does it come from?

[spatial sounds] [Steve] You know, it's like if you're looking at the universe and it's all exploded.

and then you go, "Let's go backwards."

[Steve] And it shrinks down to the sort of -' Big Bang focal point'.

-[rewind sounds] [Steve] I see that as his bedroom.

[slow music playing] [Bob] And he's a normal kid at first, 'till he's about four, five years old.

[Andy] I started standing in the living room, and I would stare out the window, just stare, and I would be very sad.

[Tom] Do you remember what you were sad about?

[Bob] His best friend is his grandfather they called Papu.

And he loved this little boy to death, and the little boy loved him to death.

They were always joking around, singing songs, this and that.

[Bob] And one day, the grandfather doesn't show up anymore.

And Andy started asking the parents, "Where's Papu?

Papu?"

The grandfather had died, and they thought a little boy could not deal with the concept of death.

So they lied, and they made the greatest mistake.

They said, "Well, he went traveling out of the country."

[Andy] So I'd say, "Why didn't he take me with him?"

If he was my friend, you know?

-Then I pictured-- -[Tom] "If he loved me... -Yeah.

-...he'd have taken me."

But it turned out that that might've been the wrong thing to tell someone like Andy, because Andy kept looking for Papu Sy to come back.

And I suspect maybe that's why he was looking out the window, and maybe that's why he was sad.

And this is where it all starts.

There'd be no Andy Kaufman if it wasn't for this.

And think of the pain of that, okay?

The pain of rejection.

[tense music playing] [Bob] Embarrassment.

- Rejection.

-Oh.

[Bob] This is the magic ingredient that happened as a youth.

And at that point, that little boy then, just gets closeted in his room.

[male announcer] "Uncle Andy's Funhouse!"

["In My Little Corner Of The World " playing] ♪ Oh come along with me ♪ ♪ To my little corner Of the world ♪ [Andy] I'd lock myself in my room, and I'd imagine that there was a camera in the wall.

And I used to really believe I was putting on a television show and it was going out to somewhere in the country or in the world.

I had about four hours of programming every day.

-[Jim chuckles] -I called my station Channel 5 because the street address was five.

[Andy] When I got older, my mother really began worrying, and she said, "You cannot do this anymore unless you have an audience."

What are we gonna do this week?

Well, today, I'm gonna teach you -the hula dance!

-Oh.

[Stanley] Unknownst to us, Andy put in his own ad in the local PennySaver [Stanley] telling people that he would entertain at children's parties.

[Bob] He's doing magic acts, puppets, and he's singing songs.

And he said, "I would only be happy when I would start doing my act, because then it was fun, and I was happy, and I wasn't sad anymore."

♪ So welcome ♪ ♪ To my little corner Of the world ♪ -[Andy's mom] Andy!

-[Andy] What?

-[Andy's mom] Come upstairs!

-No!

[Andy's dad] Andy, you hear your mother call you?

- You get up here right now!

-Okay!

What do you want?

I'm in the middle of a show for 22 million people.

I want to eat dinner.

I'm hungry.

Everything's getting cold.

Dinner's getting so cold.

[spatial music playing] [Simmons] In high school, there was one afternoon where there was kind of a group gathered around him, and he was doing an Elvis impersonation.

And I was like, "Oh, Andy, please, no.

Don't do it."

I just felt so... [Simmons] I felt like everyone was just finding him strange and weird.

When you grew up in Great Neck, it was very hard to be different.

[Simmons] There was a pressure to conform.

Well, you know, you can't please all the people all the time.

[Standley] Andy and I had difficulty in talking to each other.

[Stanley] I would make a point about a factual situation, indisputable in my mind, [Stanley] and I'd say, "For crying out loud, one and one is two!"

And he'd look at me and he'd say, "Not necessarily."

When Andy was about 16 or 17 years old, Andy ran away from home.

[Bob] And this is for, like, a year.

He's living in the city park for a year, underneath a park bench.

[Andy] I used to drink very, very heavily, smoking marijuana every day, taking DET, LSD, DMT, Dexedrine, all kinds of things.

We were scared stiff.

[piano notes] Jack, uh, I got a couple of square questions, but the answer may be interesting.

How long did "On the Road" take to write?

-Three weeks.

-[Allen] How many?

-Three weeks.

-[Allen] Three weeks?

That's amazing.

How long were you on the road itself?

-Seven years.

-[Allen] Seven years.

[Stanley] This was Andy's bible.

And Andy, he asked me, "Dad, please, I'd like you to read this book."

[Stanley] And I remember very vividly in the middle of the afternoon, the sun streaming in the bedroom window, I came across a passage that was very, very moving.

It was a story that related to a father and son relationship, [Stanley] and I started to cry.

And the tears are streaming down my face, and at that moment Andy came into the bedroom and he saw me.

And he knelt down beside me, and we started reading together, and we both started to cry.

[Stanley] I had a tremendously increased understanding of what Andy was trying to say.

He was right.

One and one isn't necessarily two.

[Stanley] It depends on what you're talking about.

[trumpets playing] Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is a simple man with a simple message.

He is a guru, a teacher of a technique of meditation based on traditions originated thousands of years ago.

Much has been written and said about the involvement of people like The Beatles and Mia Farrow with this Eastern philosophy.

His teachings are totally opposed to the so-called mind-expanding drugs.

The prospective meditator is given a mantra, one of a number of key words or sounds to aid in achieving a transcendental state.

I didn't know you were into transcendental meditation.

Oh, yeah, I started a few years ago and I found it to be a very helpful to me.

[Andy] The last time I took any drugs of any type was November 20th, 1968.

That was 15 days before I started meditating.

[George] If not for TM, Andy would be on drugs, he'd be an alcoholic, he'd be in jail, he'd be in a loony bin, or he would be dead.

[waves crashing] [Pamela] The surface of the ocean, is very rough with the waves, but as you get deeper and deeper, there's a kind of silence at the bottom of the ocean.

And he liked that experience.

That's why he continued doing it.

It wasn't like he was meditating for a goal.

The goal was the process itself.

[happy music playing] [Buzz] Andy's a little unusual in that he's actually a teacher of TM.

That's where I first met him, on my teacher training course when he and I both were studying with Maharishi directly.

[indistinct talking] [Buzz] The way that course was structured is there were several thousand people hearing Maharishi lecture every night.

And to ask a question, you'd often have to stand in line sometimes for days.

[Buzz] It was rare that anybody would ask a frivolous question.

So when Andy got up to the mic, he began to ask Maharishi about, he was concerned about, uh... [static sounds] Mm.

Andy's angle, obviously, was one that not many people had mined.

-[crowd laughing] -Huh?

[crowd laughing] [crowd laughing] At that point then Andy began asking about what the nature of comedy is.

And the way he posed the question, he said, "Well, what if--" [crowd laughing] -[tranquil music playing] -[waves crashing] [Maharishi] [Buzz] The primary source of life is in the gaps between one creative event and another.

This is basically what Maharishi's whole teaching was.

The origin of thought.

[Buzz] I think it's something he thought about deeply for a lot of his career.

He became very sensitive to creating that great contrast.

But where does the contrast come from?

[Roth] Silence.

Meditation doesn't make you all the same.

Meditation makes you more of who you are.

To transcend means to go beyond ordinary human limitations.

I think Andy was a vehicle for the transcending.

[exhales] He didn't take you out.

He took you in... to sort of go for the Andy ride.

Did that answer your question?

-[tranquil music playing] -[waves crashing] [Maharishi] [static sounds] [drums playing] [Andy] I went to college, and I said to myself, "What do I want to do with my life?"

Do I wanna keep getting stoned?

Which I don't really enjoy all that much.

Or really do something with my life?

You know?

I wanna be on television.

I wanna be successful at what I do.

[Bijan] I went to Grahm Junior College in Boston.

Andy Kaufman was studying television performance, and I was studying television production.

I was probably the only friend, you know, he had at that time.

You would not believe that I came from Goodwell stock, that I was purer-blooded than the white trash here, and of more direct lineage than the New Englanders and Virginians of Spoon River.

[Bijan] Living in America at that age, coming from Iran, not knowing so much, you know, English, [Bijan] it was very difficult.

I had difficulty talking with people, and it was difficult for them to wait, to learn, what I'm saying.

[Bijan] But he always helped me.

He always listened to me.

This is the most important part of my relationship with Andy.

-[director] Why?

-Well, because I asked him, "You know, Andy, what are you gonna do after you know, you finish Grahm?"

He said, "Well, I'm going to be a comedian."

I said, "Andy, if you want to be a comedian, a comedian has to have a unique character."

I said, "Imitate me."

[TV host] He calls himself Baji Kimran.

And what do I do?

And that's what he did.

[Bijan] But after that, he never mentioned what he wanted to do with my accent.

- Welcome, Andy.

- Thank you very much.

[Bijan] He would say, "Thank you very much."

But I wouldn't say that.

I would probably say, -"Thank you... very much."

-[mysterious music playing] [Orson] Where did you find that original voice?

I don't know.

I grew up in New York, and you hear a lot of different voices there.

And-- -[Orson] You don't hear that one.

-[crowd laughing] [Bijan] Andy Kaufman's character is me.

I am the real Latka Gravas.

[director] So are you saying he stole your identity?

No, it was a gift from me to him.

[male reporter] In the TV series Taxi , Kaufman drew widespread attention as an immigrant mechanic who fractured English and logic all at the same time.

-Hello.

I am Latka Gravas.

-[crowd laughing] I went to the Comedy Store, and Andy was doing Foreign Man , which was the sweetest comedy you ever saw in your life.

[gibberish] [scoffs] [gibberish] He had the part immediately.

He had it before he had a read.

He was so sweet and kind of, he had those huge eyes.

-[crowd laughing] -Oh!

[Marilu] And that delivery that he had... [speaking made-up language] [speaking made-up language] Oh.

That's the sweetest thing anybody ever said to me.

-[crowd laughing] -I think.

Even though he was always a little oddball and his rhythms were really different... [sobs] I, I've been looking forward to seeing you all day.

[Marilu] I mean, he was just, [laughs] he was adorable.

[Danny] First day of Taxi.

First day, okay?

Down at the end of the table was Andy sitting all alone, sitting there like this.

Got a tape recorder in front of him.

Got a headset on.

Going like this.

So I'm looking at the guy.

15, 20 minutes, he's sitting there all alone.

And to break the ice, I say, "Hey, Andy, what kind of music are you listening to?"

Right?

He gives it to me, the headset.

-This is what I hear.

-[Charlie chuckles] -[speaking made-up language] -[Charlie laughs] "Thanks, Andy."

I give it back to him.

-Now, you go two ways.

-[Charlie] Right.

You say he's a consummate actor, sitting down there, studying the lines that he's created for this character of Latka, the Foreign Man.

Or he's sitting down there for 20 minutes waiting for some sucker to ask him what kind of music he's listening to.

[cheerful music playing] [James] When you gave him a note, it'd be Latka startled there was a guy in show business giving a note for what?

[James chuckles] You know?

Just... It was like the real person existed.

[speaking made-up language] [speaking made-up language] You know Latka's language?

[Marilu] What was the country song?

[singing in made-up language] Something like that.

I don't know.

[both singing in same made-up language] [crowd laughing] [happy music playing] [Marilu] Andy was the breakout star that first year.

Everybody loved Latka.

Come on.

You know?

[mimics Latka] All the s*** that he was doing.

[Lorne] Now remember that Andy is the strangest thing on Saturday Night Live in that first year, and the following year, he's in a sitcom.

No!

Now, remember what a leap that is.

[Lorne] You can't get him on television, and then they want him in prime time.

[exciting music playing] [Bob] In the height of this, he decides to take on a busboy job over at Jerry's Deli.

Latka?

Latka?

The way I can describe Andy Kaufman, basically, is excellent, hard-working, very serious in his work.

[Andy] Sometimes in show business there's a separation between the performer and the public.

They don't get to walk around among people, and being a busboy keeps me in touch with people.

-[director] Why do it?

-[Howard] People contact.

See how they react.

See what they do.

[Howard] And also look for people like myself saying, "Is he for real?

What is he doing?

Why is he doing that?"

Finished?

Okay, um, um... I would still like to know who the real Andy is.

[cheerful music playing] Do you mind if I get to the head of the line?

I only have one piece of cheese.

-Go to the back.

-Excuse me, lady.

I'd like to pay for this cheese right now, okay?

-No.

-I'd like to pay for this cheese!

I would like to pay... Get your hands off me!

You're not getting in front of me.

I got the feeling that Andy was almost always performing.

[Geogre] He did all these bits with Bob Zmuda, pretending to be different characters even in his leisure time.

I'm sorry about, I'm sorry about all that.

I apologize for all those people.

Okay.

Swiss cheese.

-$1.72.

-Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

I don't have any money.

He would say to Lynne Margulies: "Let's make-believe we're fighting."

[Lynne] We'd pull up in a car next to someone and he'd reach over and start choking me.

And I would reach over and I'd go, "Help me, help me!"

And the car would speed off.

Are you finished -with your salad?

-No, I'm not.

Are you finished with your salad?

He used to have some really crazy ideas we'd talk about.

One time, we were talking and he asked me, "Do you think you could rent the Atlantic Ocean?"

Did he really think anybody could possibly...?

But he talked about what he wanted to do if he could.

[Pamela] What drove people crazy, the one thing was, was the Baskin and Robbins.

The 30 flavors.

[Pamela] They would give you the taste test.

Andy would stand there forever.

He would get a taste of every ice cream and infuriate everyone who was behind him in line.

Our very first Thanksgiving, Judd and I were doing publicity in New York, [Marilu] and we were walking down the street in the Bowery.

And all of a sudden he said, "Is that Andy panhandling?"

And he was on the street corner panhandling, you know.

And it was like, "Andy?

Andy?"

And he was like, "Oh, hi.

Marilu and Judd.

Oh, hi, yeah."

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm getting money."

You know, he was just... [chuckles] [crowd cheering] [George] He always said, "I'm not a comedian.

I'm a song and dance man."

So he always dreamed of doing Carnegie Hall.

[male announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, Andy Kaufman!

[crowd cheering] That's why he did Taxi .

Because he said, "Hey, man, with fame and money, I can do all this other stuff now."

He was really having fun doing what he was doing.

Whether they got it or not was up to them.

-[crowd cheering] -[upbeat music playing] Oh.

♪ Oooooo-klahoma where the... ♪ [inaudible] ♪ Oooooo-klahoma Where the wind comes... ♪ [cheerful music playing] [Greg] For a non-rehearsed show, it came off without a hitch.

I'm sure it's the craziest show that was ever at Carnegie Hall.

[Pagani] And there was a homeless guy that Andy met in Times Square.

On the corner of 45th Street and Broadway, I saw a crowd of people in a circle, and they were all watching this one man, and he's with us tonight.

And the guy was singing -this song... -Happy New Year!

-Happy New Year!

-[crowd] Happy New Year!

-Happy New Year!

-[crowd] Happy New Year!

[George] Later on, he brought a lady that was a dancer in the '30s and she had a heart attack on stage.

[crowd laughing] Am I supposed to laugh at that?

[Pagani] 'Cause that's real s****.

[Bob] Is there a doctor in the house?

Seriously.

Is there a doctor in the house?

Please.

Will you shut these lights off?

Teddy, will you shut the side lights off here, please?

[George] And I guess she died.

And the next day the headlines were all over The Times.

Forgot about that.

That's a.

.. How do you know this isn't part of their show?

Maybe this is part of the show.

-[static sounds] -A few years ago, when I was starting in show business, I said "Grandma, one day I'm gonna be playing at Carnegie Hall."

She said, "Oh, come on."

I said, "Yup.

Grandma, I promise you.

And when that day comes, I'm going to give you the best seat in the house."

[crowd laughing] So anyway, there's my grandma.

[Robin] I played his grandma once on stage, in full makeup.

And I got to sit there for an hour and a half as his grandmother while he abused people.

I mean, he played with people.

You could think of us as objects in a sandbox and Andy was sort of getting people to do things.

[crowd cheering] After the show was over, he comes out on the stage.

He says, "Now, there's something special.

We're gonna go out.

When you walk outside..." [Andy] I'd like to take you all out for milk and cookies.

So, if you'll all, please, in an orderly manner, there's 20 buses waiting for you outside.

Seriously?

You walk outside, and sure as s***, there's, like, ten buses lined up on 57th Street.

Come on, everybody.

[George] And they got in the buses.

Andy led everyone in like the Pied Piper.

[Dennis] He was like a magician.

He wanted you to not see it coming, and then all of a sudden, wow.

[exciting music playing] [Pagani] He told me he lost 40 grand on that.

For milk and cookies.

[Pagani] He said, "I don't care.

It's what I wanted to do."

It's no restraint, just like a kid has when they're playing.

"Today, I'm a cowboy."

[Pagani] It's about that.

It's being in the moment and really feeling what you feel.

Tomorrow, the show will be continuing, one o'clock at the Staten Island Ferry.

[crowd cheering] All right!

[waves crashing] [happy music playing] [Olatunji] The relaxation of the mind is total commitment.

[two drumbeats] The reality of the beauty of the rose is the sap.

And how do we find this reality of rose?

By going deeper into the petal.

When we arrive at the level of the sap, [Maharishi] there we find the reality of this rose.

-[waves crashing] -[Danny] Latka!

Latka!

Latka!

[coughs] So anyway, um, I was doing all these far-out things on television shows but when Taxi came along, it was just one character, Latka, and I kind of felt inhibited by it, that, you know, I was just able to do the one character.

I wanted to have more freedom creatively to do these other things like I used to do on Saturday Night Live and stuff, -and um... -[Bob] Taxi.

He didn't want to do Taxi , 'cause it was a sitcom.

They say, "Don't look at me" with the cannon.

"Don't look at me."

They think I talk like that, you know?

Little do they know, huh?

Little do they know.

They think I'm this lovable, wonderful guy.

[giggles] [Bill] He didn't want to be a slave to the TV grind.

So he fashioned his own deal.

Andy had it in his contract, that, if he agreed to play Latka, the character of Tony Clifton would have to be in one episode.

[upbeat music playing] Now you are probably asking yourself right now, who is Tony Clifton, right?

Hey, you look like a good crowd.

[unintelligible] [male reporter] But the people here at Harrah's swear that Tony Clifton is a big name.

I mean, after all, they put his name up on the billboard.

♪ Jambalaya, catfish pie Chicken gumbo ♪ ♪ 'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my maraschino ♪ [male reporter] How can an act this bad get into the lounge of Harrah's?

Well, there are some people who will tell you that this man, Tony Clifton, is actually Andy Kaufman.

♪ If you're happy And you know it ♪ -♪ Clap your hands ♪ -[clapping sounds] [male reporter] He also sometimes makes carrot juice.

Honestly.

No talking, no singing, just making carrot juice.

Says it's good for his aging body.

I really wasn't that impressed.

I was expecting to see something with a little class.

I can't see mass appeal, if that's what you're looking for.

[reporter] I understand, you have a beef with a gentleman by the name of Andy Kaufman.

Okay, that's it.

Shut off the camera.

[reporter] There's a lawsuit?

Will you shut it off?

Just shut off the camera.

-[reporter] Okay.

-Shut it off.

Then we'll discuss this with the camera off.

-[reporter] The camera off?

-Shut it off.

[reporter] No cameras.

Go ahead.

Cut it off.

-Is it off?

-Okay.

I was under the understanding you were not to mention his name.

Well, it almost came out in the news today about how you're filing suit-- I'm suing him.

Yes.

-I'm suing him.

-Why?

Because he's using my name to get places.

-You're kidding.

-You may want to film this.

Oh, turn the camera back on then.

I'd rather not talk about Tony.

Wait, can you turn the... [Tony] All the news media gather around me.

-[reporter] Yeah.

-All the presses gather around me.

All the girls, all the chickaroonies gather around me.

So he goes round and he starts saying he's me.

He thinks, 'cause he can't get a girl on his own.

[Bob] Andy was a good, nice Jewish boy.

But when he started to embody these characters, he would get stuff out of it.

Foreign Man allowed him to be a child.

Elvis allowed him to be sexy.

-But Clifton... -Get your own act together and mess it up!

-[Bob] allowed him to be an asshole... -Bozo!

...which was great power.

-[snaps] -[Tony clearing throat] Everybody has anger inside of them -to some extent.

-[man 1] Yeah.

And everyone has peace of mind, inside of them to some extent.

I have both.

There is that serial killer to him.

[Bob] He's been injured deeply as a child, so that's always underneath it.

You think you're gonna come and watch a nice little show.

Nuh-uh.

Yeah, I just came back from the east.

Let me tell you something, it was so cold there-- [man 2] How cold was it?

I don't ask you.

I didn't ask you.

Can we start this again?

Hey, I didn't ask you.

-[crowd laughing] -I didn't ask you.

Come on up here.

Why don't you come up here?

[Pagani] Tony Clifton is just, is just, you know, just a complete piece of s***, horrible person.

It's very liberating, you know what I mean, to go out there and portray someone who doesn't give a s**# what anybody thinks about what he says.

Most people have that constraint.

They can't tell their boss off.

[Pagani] This guy steps out and goes, "You're all f******* idiots, you a*******."

It's psychotic.

But it's, wow, you know what I mean?

Where else do you get to do that?

You wanna see humor?

Yeah, I'll show you humor.

-That's humor.

-[crowd cheering] That's humor, pal!

That's humor!

Aww, everybody say, "Aww."

Come on.

Aww!

Well, I guess I'm what you call maybe a passionate man because I don't hold back.

When I'm talking about anger, -I become angry.

-[man 1] Yeah.

And I won't try and disguise it.

I won't try and hold myself back, or I'll get ulcers.

Then I'll die young.

[indistinct chatter] [Marilu] His genius was he was both people, that he was the provocateur and the sweet boy.

Nobody talks about that incredible yin and yang that was constantly the two forces going on all the time.

[scatting] [scatting] ♪ There's nowhere else on earth That I would rather be ♪ But here's what really got strange.

[Bob] When he got stressed out, like on Taxi and anything, I'd get the phone call.

[Bob] "Hey, Bob, I'm leaving town for a few days and Tony Clifton's going to be staying at my place."

I'd go over and Andy wasn't at that house.

[Bob] It was Tony Clifton.

♪ Dance to the music Dance to the music ♪ ♪ Dance to the music ♪ [Bob] Andy never drank, never smoked.

Vegetarian, holistic medicine.

Clifton was the opposite.

[tense music playing] [Bob] Steaks rare.

Chain-smoker.

Booze, Jack Daniels.

Wow.

You know, heavy stuff.

[ball music playing] [Bob] And Andy never got kinky, whereas Clifton.

.. ♪ Sing the song!

♪ [crowd applauding] [whistles] [country music playing] [Jim] The episode came where Tony Clifton appeared.

It was an episode where Tony was going to play Louie De Palma's brother.

Your brother's coming into town?

Due in today.

I'm expecting him any minute.

-I told you about him.

-Andy is Tony Clifton, but it's not Andy.

It's Tony Clifton.

Okay.

What?

-[upbeat music playing] -[Danny] And suddenly the f****** door opens and in comes.

.. [Danny] this f****** makeup, like, pounds of makeup on.

Like... [blehs] [Danny] He's got two hookers.

Dressed to the nines, their ... Two prostitutes who were the most on-the-nose casting casting ever to take place on that stage.

And he smells!

[Danny] It's like when you're in an elevator with, like, "What the f*** is this?"

Holy s***.

That room suddenly became like... [whoops] [wheals] And we're all, like... [squeals] [music abruptly stops] ...looking at this thing.

And I go out there and start rehearsing.

And, it's not gonna work.

[mimics Tony] "Yeah, you're big stars, are you?

You got a great show.

Oh, wow, wow, wow.

Ooh, you're a big hit.

You're a big, you're the best!

Oh, yeah, yeah.

I got some notes.

And it, this s***..." This is what kind of actor Tony Clifton was.

I remember the line, especially.

It was like, [mimics Tony] "You know Ma.

Sometimes she's sad, sometimes she's glad."

[mimics Tony] I mean, everything... was talking... like that.

The cast will say, "We're getting our lawyers.

[Bob] Forget what's in the contract.

I'm not gonna look like an idiot when we shoot this on Friday, 'cause Andy Kaufman's playing this character and f****** everything up."

-[slow music playing] -And they were gonna kill him.

And now everybody's going, "Wait a f****** minute.

Are we gonna what?"

So we got Andy on the phone and explained to him that it's just not working out.

He can't act.

He's just terrible [George] Andy says, "I'll tell you what, you could fire Tony, if you do it in front of everybody."

[James] To fire him live.

I knew that a bunch of it was a setup.

Some of it had to be.

You know, I was called and told to be there.

"Bring your camera."

Something was gonna happen.

[James] Ed came in and said to Andy as Tony, -"You're fired."

-But he calls him Andy.

[Bob] And Clifton goes berserk because he's not Andy Kaufman.

[Danny mimics Tony] "I don't like Andy Kaufman at all!"

And Tony refused to go.

[mimics Tony] "I'm not leaving."

[car starting] [Bob] Security is called.

They haul him off the set.

[Marilu] So we were a huge success.

This was a huge opportunity to us, and then all of a sudden, we have this insane situation, [Marilu] totally giving into somebody that we love and adore.

And it's like, "Why is..." [stutters] Why?

I think it's to f*** me up, maybe.

I don't know why.

[Bob] And by now, all the press is like, "Andy Kaufman has lost his mind."

[Lorne] I couldn't really penetrate whether it was what Tony wanted, what Andy wanted, but the pictures were good, and I thought his sense of humor about it was great.

-[director] Thanks.

-Remember those photos?

-[Bob] Absolutely.

Yeah.

-It was like, [Lorne] yeah, I know, and I'm going, so you wanna show me these pictures, but Tony got into trouble and he got thrown off the lot.

But are the hookers real?

-[Bob] Yeah, they were.

-[Lorne] I'm sure.

But I'm saying, "But, Andy, did you, did you know you were in Tony's body when this happened?"

[laughs] [mysterious music plays] [Laurie] Around 1978... I met the comedian Andy Kaufman.

We became friends, and I acted as Andy's straight man in clubs, and field trips.

We would go to Coney Island to try out some of Andy's theories on cutting-edge comedy.

We'd stand around the test your strength games, the one with the big sledgehammer and the bell, and Andy would make fun of all the guys who were swinging away.

Finally, Andy would step up to the big thermometer and take a swing.

Pong!

And it just goes up like this.

This far.

Like, [sizzles] "Try again, weakling."

And he's like, "This is rigged.

I wanna see the manager."

And I was like, "Oh, God.

This is so great."

[chuckles] And I'm just like, "I know.

The manager.

Get the manager."

It was, [Laurie chuckles] he was like the angel of opportunity.

Andy always chose the perfect moment to make people squirm.

A cyst, in case you don't know, is a sort of collection of, -it's a collection of pus.

-[crowd laughing] But for those in the audience who are just curious or who doubt, I'm gonna give you all a chance, those who would like to, to come up here and you can touch the cyst.

[crowd laughing] [Laurie] He wasn't looking for, [claps] "Oh, wonderful.

So smart."

He was looking for... [making gross noises] [Andy] Not too hard now.

-Just gently.

-[woman 2] Squeeze it!

[Andy] No, no, no.

Just gently, seriously.

[Laurie] He wanted a reaction, to make them feel something.

Getting the opportunity to just go, uh, ah.

You know, "Let's see who you are and what you think, and let me see if I can mess with it."

[Laurie] Are you for real?

I mean, really.

-I mean, Is that real?

-Okay.

[Laurie] Is that, I said-- [woman 3] No!

He's full of crap!

You're all full of crap, okay?

-[Laurie] I-- -Lady, you're full of crap.

Are you for real?

Lady, are you for real?

[Laurie] The hardest part of working with Andy was in clubs when I was the one who was supposed to be the heckler.

[Andy] What are you, women's lib?

Look at that lady.

I should call her Women's Lip.

Always a lot of lip service.

I'm sitting there in the club just drinking whiskey after whiskey, kind of working up my nerve and hoping I would still hear the cue.

Want my respect?

Earn it.

The day you can come up here and knock me down, you'll get my respect.

Till then, stay in the kitchen.

That was my cue to get up... I'd like to, okay.

...and, you know, wrestle with him.

Get off the stage!

Get off the stage.

-I'm not getting-- -Get off the stage.

Get off the... [scuffles] -Oh -[crowd chattering] I've always been attracted to bad boys, [Laurie] and I also was attracted to the violence in Andy's work.

[Andy grunts] Just, why you, get... Get out of here!

Get your hands off me.

Get your hands... Get your hands off me.

We live in the most violent country in the world.

[crowd chattering] [Laurie] So I really loved anybody who would subvert this idea of this perfect American place.

He was a mirror.

[crowd booing] And people didn't like what they saw a lot of the time.

[crowd cheering] One day this happened.

A woman, postal service, walks in with a package for somebody.

And Andy all of a sudden said, "Why are you taking that job from a man?"

"What, Andy?

What, what, what?"

"Why are you, why?

That's a man's job.

A man should be delivering packages.

You're putting some guy out of work."

He provoked her until he challenged her to a wrestling match because she was, should've been in the kitchen doing dishes.

What the f***?

-[wrestling bell ringing] -[tense music playing] [Andy] $10,000 to any woman that can beat me in a wrestling match!

I'll take you right out of the audience.

-Get lost, baby.

I'd beat you.

-[crowd chattering] You ever hear the screeching of tires on the car and you listen to whether there's gonna be a crash?

[crowd cheering] That's how it felt with Andy.

[crowd cheering] [Andy] Before television, wrestlers used to go from town to town and offer $500 to any man that could last in the ring with him for three minutes, but I couldn't challenge men in the audience because I'd get beaten right away.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to wrestle tonight.

This is not a comedy routine.

[Andy] This is real.

I am here - to wrestle a woman.

-[crowd cheering] [Andy] So I figured if I challenge women, there are enough women who are almost as big or as big as me who they would have a good chance to beat me.

Even if a woman was to train hard for a long time, I don't think she'd be physically capable, and also, a woman isn't mentally capable to-- -[crowd booing] -No, no, no, wait!

Because you really need a certain, you really need a certain kind of way of thinking.

-[inaudible] -[crowd chattering] [Andy] I'm not saying women are mentally inferior to men because when it comes to things like cooking and cleaning, washing the potatoes, scrubbing the carrots, raising the babies, mopping the floors, they have it all over men.

Let's get some competition here!

I have the brains.

The man has the brains.

[wrestling announcer] Blatant kick in the stomach.

He spoke of his mother before.

I wonder where she is now.

I'll send you back to the kitchen where you belong.

I'll have you scrubbing the potatoes and washing, washing carrots... [imitates teasing sounds] [continues making teasing sounds] raising the little baby, because that's where you belong, ladies.

[wrestling announcer] It's sick.

You gotta wonder what kind of misogynist lurks inside this guy's mind.

-[Andy] Wanna see us dance?

-Yeah.

-I wanna see that.

-[Andy] Okay.

[slow music playing] [Joe] A little display of affection from a man who really and truly adores his grandmother.

[Bob] So now I'm gonna go back a little to Kaufman's childhood again, when he's a little boy.

His grandma Pearl, [Bob chuckles] for some reason, this little, this woman was into professional wrestling, and she would take to him to Madison Square Garden.

[crowd cheering] [Bob] Back then, when Andy was a little boy, they made the audience believe that that was real.

Pin him, pin him!

[Bob] So Andy's first sense of theatrics, is not a Broadway show where there's that fourth wall, you know?

You believed it.

[wrestling announcer] In this corner, Buddy Rogers!

[crowd cheering] [Lynne] You know, Andy, he idolized this wrestler named "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers.

[Lynne] Buddy Rogers was the bad guy wrestler who would taunt the audience.

He was just horrible.

I remember the frenzy that he brought to the crowd.

He was the most magnetic, energetic, exciting, I've never seen a crowd -get that worked up over a man.

-[interviewer] Oh, they did.

[Lynne] He wanted to be that bad guy wrestler, and the more anger he got from the audience, the funnier it was to him.

-[imitates chicken clucking] -[music playing] [Pagani] He was being a classic wrestling heel.

They get to go, and for a few hours, they see a guy who's a monster.

-[siren] -[Pagani] He represents everything they hate in the world.

[Andy] I am from Hollywood.

I'll sue you, baby!

[Pagani] And they get to boo the s*** out of him.

-[bell ringing] -[crowd booing] [Pagani] Andy tells me, "It's the most perfect thing I'll ever do."

You've got a crowd hanging on your every word.

Shut up!

I'm talking right now!

What started out as a joke a few years ago as part of my concert act now has become such a serious thing.

I'm now the World Intergender Wrestling Champion.

-This is no joke.

This is really true.

-[crowd applauding] -He's not kidding.

This is molded plastic.

-And I... [coughs] -[crowd laughing] -No, it's real.

It's real.

[tense music playing] [Andy] You fans who started booing and hissing me tonight, don't try that again!

I am a star, and the next time I come here, I want you all to get down on your knees and bow down to me and if I pass you by, -kiss my feet.

-[man 3] Come on.

And this was the time when women's lib was exploding.

[news intro music playing] [reporter] A new movement for women's liberation is launched, and once again protesters take to the street to support their demands for total freedom.

God, man, woman, dog.

[director] Were you a fan of the wrestling?

No.

The fact that he'd always been such, to me, a nice Jewish boy, that he would be so violent with women really shocked me.

He was kind of breaking all the rules.

Was it feminist?

Was it misogynistic?

-[Simmons] Was it humorous?

-Hooray!

[Simmons] I think it's all of those things, but I still didn't like it.

I think he's a stupid, little wimp weasel.

This guy's name is Andy Kaufman.

You may have seen him on Saturday Night Live or in Taxi .

He says he can beat any woman at wrestling.

[male reporter] More than 900 females from all over the country disagree with the funny man, and are ready - to take him on.

-[thumps] [man 4] This is from a current issue of Rolling Stone about Andy's career.

Andy is a serious threat to the moral climate of the United States of America.

They bought it hook, line, and sinker.

They never thought, "Oh, is this an act?"

This type of smut being on the airwaves.

This should never be shown on public network television.

[Andy] That was wrestling match.

Giving women an equal chance to compete with a man.

[Lynne] If they thought it was an act, they thought it was a terrible act.

I just thought he was misguided.

He's a real nerd.

A real jerk.

[laughs] They wanted sweet Latka.

[crowd cheering] And so they'd see this other stuff, and they'd say, "Oh, my God.

That's so awful."

I will pay $1,000 to any woman that will beat me in this ring!

And as an extra prize, she will get to marry me!

I think a lot of people got it, but a lot of people didn't get it at all, and they hated his guts.

[slow music playing] [announcer] And now it's time for "The Going-Too-Far Corner."

[crowd applauding] -Oh!

-How are you?

-Nice to see you, Andy.

-Nice to see you, too.

I've got a little thing I'm gonna show you here.

-Okay, you wanna do it for us?

-Yes, it's just like... -What is it?

-It's eating eggs, -you know?

-Oh, it's a raw egg?

-Yeah, two of them.

-Okay, let's see.

-[vomits] -[crowd disgusting] -[crowd grossing out] -Oh... [crowd laughing] [vomits] That's disgusting.

He's gone too far.

-You could say that again.

-Oh, no.

I can't take this.

-[vomits] -[crowd grossing out] Hi, I am Robin Kelly, -AKA, the Red Snapper.

-[music playing] I was undefeated as a female mud wrestler.

[Robin] So I kind of had a following when I walked in there to wrestle Andy.

Everybody knew that I was gonna be able to take him down.

Andy was a great wrestler.

He was a fun wrestler.

He had the basics down.

[crowd cheering] [Robin] If there's any doubt as to if pinned him or not, just watch the clip.

[crowd cheering] [Robin] The referee, Bob Zmuda, came under considerable criticism because it took him ten seconds to count to three.

She had her three minutes.

Come on.

[woman 4] Fight, you g****** a******!

[crowd booing] [Robin] At the time, I was a little upset that Andy did not give me credit for pinning him.

But two days later, he called me and we did some private wrestling.

[chuckles] [Robin] So I got my payment out of him.

[hallow music playing] [Robin] Wrestling is very sexual, whether people wanna admit it or not.

You know, they got a** in their face.

[laughs] They got balls in their face.

Needless to say, a super turn-on.

.. [Robin] because it was all about control.

[wrestling announcer] His poor shoulder.

Look at the agonized look on his face.

[Robin] The reason that Andy only wrestled women was because he knew for a fact it would get him laid.

I think that was genius, actually.

[laughs] You know, were we a couple?

Were we dating?

I mean, I never, Andy was with a lot of women.

He was kind of a sex addict in a way.

[frenzy music playing] [Pamela] He didn't have the ability to really be intimate.

I used to jokingly say to him, "Andy, isn't there gonna be any intimacy after sex?"

And so Andy would look at his watch, and he'd say, "Okay.

I'm gonna give you a minute of intimacy."

And then he would say, [Pamela] "My little creampuff, my little lampshade," and he would just kind of mimic this character who was giving intimacy.

And then he'd say, "Oh, minute's up.

-Let's go to breakfast."

-[crowd cheering] [Pamela] Andy had a way of getting his needs met.

He was playing out his psychological issues and letting the chips fall where they may.

[Andy] For the last year and a half, 50 matches undefeated against women from all over the country.

-[wrestling sounds] -[crowd cheering] [male anchor] Kaufman says if he loses, he will give the girls $1,000, quit wrestling, and shave his head.

-Pat.

-Oh, I just love a guy like that.

In Israel, a rabbinical court has ordered a 32-year-old man to have sexual relations with his wife or pay 36 grains of silver a week until he does.

Should the husband disobey the three rabbi panel, the woman would become eligible for a divorce.

Asked why he refuses to have relations with his wife, the man told the rabbis, "I'm fed up with her."

[news outro music playing] He was beginning to lose the power to please us a little bit with his perverse tricks.

He was kind of desperately reaching for a new idea or a new thought that would take him up to the top again.

[slow music playing] He'd gone onto a whole other realm of alienating comedy.

[crowd laughing] -Thank you very much.

-[Bob] Thank you very much.

I am very happy to be here, but one thing I don't like about New York... -Is the traffic.

-[Andy] is too much traffic.

And it was so much traffic it took me an hour and a half to get here.

[crowd laughing] -[Bob] Go ahead.

-What?

If you did new material, I wouldn't know what you're gonna do next.

I have a lot of new stuff that I could do.

[Bob] Okay, fine, I'll shut up then.

Do something new.

[chuckles] [Andy] What do you... [somber music playing] I have nothing new.

[sobs] You know, I was trying-- [Bob] See, now this is the old crying routine, bombing.

I thought I would do my best today.

-[Andy] I just... -...from my room.

-You've seen me do that?

-[Bob] Yes!

People were losing their patience.

[Bob] Look, I don't consider wrestling women to be funny, to be creative.

-[crowd applauding] -Okay.

Let me just ask you-- If Taxi goes off the air, what are you possibly gonna do?

-Many things.

-[Bob] You can't do movies.

-[Andy] Why not?

-Come on.

What was your last movie?

- Heartbeeps ?

-Yeah.

A piece of s***.

That was a bomb.

Charm computes as an irrelevant exchange of random data.

Therefore it cannot increase efficiency, correct?

-It's about as thrilling as a cold potato pancake.

-I think it's a terrible film.

[Andy] I was considered a very original comic.

[Bob] And "was" is the key word right there.

You said it yourself.

He did wanna be a success, but he wanted to do it on his terms.

I can't imagine he didn't care about the fact that it was coming apart at the seams.

[male announcer] Live from the Las Angeles Basin... [Michael] This was Fridays.

A late-night comedy show.

And Andy Kaufman was our guest star for the week.

You know, ladies and gentlemen, this is live, you know, and I've never hosted a show live before, but, but I just realized I can do anything I want up here and they can't do anything to me.

-[laughs] -[crowd applauding, cheering] [Melanie] At a certain point, maybe out of desperation or contempt, he began to kind of **** where he slept.

[Melanie] For example, the last sketch, which took place in a restaurant, we're sitting at the table.

[crowd laughing] He had a line, and he wasn't delivering the line, and we sat there for a while.

-[Michael] Just say it.

-[all laughing] I feel really stupid.

-You feel stupid?

-Yeah.

[Melanie] We were Andy's prisoners, and whatever he wanted to do with us we would have to do.

-[tense music] -[waves crash] [Melanie] I began to feel sorry for him.

I wasn't sure anymore who his audience was.

[crowd cheering, whistling, applauding] Bobby, go to commercial, man!

What?

Why do you have to be such a... -What?

What?

What?

-What?

What?

Come on, man!

[Andy] I'd like to take on his lady right here.

Come on.

Okay, come on.

We'll move the cameras out.

What now?

How else are you gonna wreck your career?

-[woman 4] Yeah!

-[chuckles] -It was all... [grunts] -[crowd cheering] [Howard] You're making it difficult, Andy.

- Difficult.

-[Danny] But could she have been a plant?

[reporter] So which character is the real Andy Kaufman?

[Melanie] It was all real, -but it was not in a.

.. -[music stops] -Everything he pulled off was real, -[music continues] but it was just not a socially conventional reality that we had all agreed to.

[exhales] It was wild.

Because back in 1981, this was something that no one had ever done, -broken the fourth wall.

-[music ends] Can I help you?

Oh, um... -How much is this one?

-It's about $900.

[whistles] Wow, that's, uh... All right, I'll think about it.

[reporter] Have you ever got stuck in one of your characters?

No.

And if I do get stuck [clears throat] in a characte, it's a wonderful thing.

[upbeat music playing] You see?

[wrestling announcer] The winner, Andy!

[Andy] At the start, if you look closely, you can see she was even taking advice from the great Jerry Lawler.

Even with Jerry Lawler's advice, she still couldn't do it.

-[crowd cheering] -[bell ringing] [indistinct shouting] [wrestling announcer] Wow, ha.

[Dennis] Like a jazz musician, he had a plan, but improvised and changed like that.

So Andy did, he took it one step further.

You know what, Mr.

Lawler?

I've heard what you've been saying on television.

You wanna wrestle me?

You wanna wrestle me Memphis style?

Well, Andy, I got news for you.

I'm gonna show you what it's like to be a real professional wrestler.

Because it's very different from climbing in the ring with women when you're in the ring with me.

I'm gonna wipe the floor with you, Mr.

Lawler!

I'll give you a little sample.

This is what's gonna happen when you and I wrestle each other in Memphis.

Come here.

What's your name?

Susan.

How tall are you, Susan?

Six foot.

And how much do you weigh?

327.

327 pounds.

That's a lot more than you weigh, Lawler, okay?

Watch this.

Let's go.

[wrestling noises] [pants] [pants] Come on, baby!

That's what's gonna happen to you, Lawler!

-See?

Come on, baby!

-You're hitting her head.

-Come on.

-You're hitting her head.

Andy, I think you really hurt her.

It doesn't matter.

She has no money.

-Are you okay?

-She's poor.

She can't sue me.

-[upbeat music playing] -[crowd cheering] [Andy] Until I hear silence I do not get in the ring!

[indistinct shouting] [Andy] I want complete silence -right now!

Complete silence!

-[bell ringing] [wrestling announcer] And here he comes.

He's going at it.

He says he does this hours at a time.

Whoa, there.

He's gonna take it on a suplex.

And there goes Kaufman.

Only the second move by Lawler, -and bang goes Kaufman.

-[bell ringing] Kaufman is talking -but he is not moving.

-[crowd shouting] [woman 5] No wonder you wrestle women!

You can't handle it when it's a man!

[siren wailing] [male anchor] Kaufman is in the intensive care unit at St.

Francis Hospital.

He has had a battery of tests.

I always thought wrestling wasn't real.

But apparently, I guess, at this least one was.

[Lynne] He started to suck you in, and even if you knew, if something in your mind you're going, "Nah, this is an act" he'd hold it long enough that you're going, like, "Wow.

Maybe, is he...?"

[crowd applauding] [Andy] I didn't realize that some people don't have a sense of humor.

I'm not really sure what I wanna do.

I just know not to wrestle anymore.

I don't know if I even want to do anything.

I don't know.

We're going to pause here for station identification.

-Get the hoses out here.

No, no.

-[crowd cheering] -[slaps] -[music stops] ["Be Not So Fearful" song playing] [bus honking] ♪ Be not so nervous ♪ ♪ Be not so frail ♪ ♪ Someone watches you You will not fail ♪ ♪ Be not so nervous Be not so frail ♪ ♪ Be not so nervous Be not so frail ♪ [Lynne] I was living in this area called Hat Creek up in the mountains.

But I moved back to LA, and the day I got to LA in my little Volkswagen Bug with all my belongings in the back, my brother Johnny Legend was shooting this video called My Breakfast with Blassie.

Have you read the latest article on herpes?

Uh, no, but I heard about it.

Christ.

It's terrible, I tell you.

-Butter?

-Yeah.

[Lynne] And I said, "Well, I'll come help."

You know, what the heck?

[Lynne] They put us at a table behind them as extras.

They said, "Don't talk to them.

Just don't say anything.

Just eat."

[Andy] Have a seat.

-Sit down, honey.

-Sit down.

[Lynne] But in the middle of filming, Andy and Fred pulled me in [laughs] and had me sit at their table.

So I actually met Andy on tape in My Breakfast with Blassie .

[laughs] That was our first meeting.

♪ Be not so fearful ♪ -♪ Be not so pale ♪ -[indistinct talking] [Lynne] I had no idea who Andy Kaufman even was.

I didn't watch TV.

But it turns out that our sense of humor was identical.

A lot of the time, I will mention to someone that Andy Kaufman was my boyfriend and a lot of women would go, "Oh, my God!

I hated him.

That wrestling was so horrible."

I thought it was funny.

[chuckles] We were kind of inseparable after that.

[chuckles] [Gary] Tonight, you people at home are going to have the opportunity to participate in a unique television event.

For tonight, you will decide whether one man will ever appear on this show again.

-[crowd laughing] -That man is Andy Kaufman.

[George] Andy and Dick Ebersol, who was producing the show, agreed to have a vote to determine whether the Saturday Night Live audience would ban him from the show.

[Eddie] Should Andy Kaufman be allowed on Saturday Night Live ?

My answer would be no.

Well, I think he's funny, but I think he's obnoxious.

-I don't understand him.

-He's sick.

He's great.

He's wonderful.

He's a jerk.

[chuckles] I think he's really hot.

[Lynne] Andy assumed he would get voted off, so the whole thing was this put-on... I never want to see his face on TV again.

[Lynne ] ... between him and Dick Ebersol.

[crowd applauding] Hi, I'm Dick Ebersol, Saturday Night Live 's executive producer [Lynne] They'd agreed.

They were gonna have a vote, and they were going to say: "Oh, we're never having Andy back on the show again."

And then later on, he was gonna come back in like as Tony Clifton, as a washerwoman or something.

And then pull his wig off and go "Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

You know?

But then in fact when that happened, Ebersol really didn't like Andy anymore.

And in my opinion, Andy Kaufman is not funny anymore.

-[crowd cheering] Yeah!

-And I believe you, -the audience here, agree with me.

-[man 4] Yeah!

[Stanley] Of all the people in the world that I have an intense dislike for, Dick Ebersol would be number one.

[Dick] And I hope this sets the record straight.

Ebersol is the guy who discovered Kaufman.

[Bob] It wasn't Lorne Michaels.

It was Ebersol who went into the Improv.

[Bob] So in a way, it's Frankenstein and his monster.

So Ebersol went, "You son of a b****.

I created you.

I'm gonna destroy you."

♪ I trusted you, I trusted you I trusted you, I trusted you ♪ ♪ I trusted you, I trusted you I trusted you, I trusted you ♪ ♪ I trusted you, I trusted you I trusted you, I trusted you ♪ [George] Also, the meditation people, had a problem with Andy's wrestling and all of those other stunts.

[Lynne] They were saying his wrestling was not becoming of someone in the movement and they didn't want to be associated with him anymore.

[crowd laughing] [Lynne] That was his anchor, you know?

Kicked him out basically.

"Really?

What does that mean?

I mediate.

How did they kick me out of that?"

♪ Whoa oh ♪ [crowd cheering, applauding] ♪ I trusted you, I trusted you I trusted you, I trusted you ♪ You don't have anything new to do.

He can't even do Elvis.

He needs a wig now 'cause he's losing his hair, to do Elvis.

♪ I trusted you, I trusted you I trusted you, I trusted you ♪ Ladies and gentlemen, the moment of truth has arrived.

♪ I trusted you, I trusted you ♪ ♪ I trusted you, I trusted you ♪ [Gary] To keep Andy, ladies and gentlemen, 169,186 votes.

-[crowd applauding] -To dump Andy, -One... -[crowd applauding] ♪ I trusted you, ah I trusted you, ah ♪ It was nothing but a double-cross.

Period.

Exclamation point.

Sorry, Andy, you'll never be on Saturday Night Live again.

-Goodbye.

-[Gary] Yeah!

-[Andy shouting] -[crowd cheering] Hi, I'm Andy Kaufman, and as you probably know I've been banned from Saturday Night Live because of a poll that was taken on the show.

The only way I can get back on the air during the showtime is to buy commercial time at my own expense.

Well, I can't afford to do that on the network, so I'm going around to individual cities until I reach everyone, hopefully.

I can only hope that in the near future there'll be... another show that might allow me on the air.

If and when that happens, I don't know.

But until we meet again.

-[static sounds] -[Bob] And then Taxi is taken off the air.

Everything starts falling apart.

Destroyed.

His career's being destroyed.

And he's loving every minute of it.

You're so stupid, you people!

-You're so stupid.

[laughs] -[woman 6 shouting] [Dennis] The happiest moments of his life were when he did that stuff.

People would be angry at me.

"Why don't you talk to him?

Why do you let him do that?," "Oh, you think I have any control?

You do realize it's an act?"

They'd say, "No, I saw him and..." You know, they would, like, oh, God.

[Pagani] I know it sounds insane, but everything in America is wrestling.

-[crowd cheering] -[wrestling bell ringing] [tense music playing] You're performing for an audience that doesn't know it's watching a show.

Matter of fact, that is why he hired me tonight to come here and criticize him.

[Bob] Am I a plant?

Is this another Kaufman put-on?

[Pagani] You can't trust anything in our society.

People will stand there and tell you, "I am the most devout Christian in the world."

And you go, "You f***** a pornstar."

But I am here as a favor to get the ratings to go up.

If not for me, there'd be no ratings on this show.

[Pagani] Everything is an act.

[tense music accelerates] [Pagani] They laugh at us, we laugh at them.

Boo!

Everybody laughs.

You will never be able to get rid of me!

You can't get, you see my face?

You don't like it?

You don't like it?

Try and turn it off.

Try and turn it off.

You can't do it.

Because I'm gonna be on every show.

And even you old ladies out there that voted against me, I'm gonna be on your soap operas.

on your quiz shows, your variety shows, your com-- [police actor] Kaufman, this'll teach you a lesson.

Keep your warped sense of humor here -for a few years, you bum.

-[waves crashing] [Bob] Then we started talking and I said, "Andy, who knows?

Your career's over.

You should have something that you could fall back on."

-[seagulls squawking] -Oh, no.

Yes, it was hard.

You know, he was p*****.

[Bob] But then slowly he realizes, if you can destroy your own life, you're in control.

[music playing] Think of that, faking his death.

Where did Andy get that premise from?

His parents!

-[drums playing] -[crowd cheering] [Bob] They faked Papu's death!

They faked it!

They said he didn't die.

♪ Row row row your boat ♪ ♪ Gently down the stream ♪ The lie, the cherished lie, can change reality.

-♪ Merrily merrily merrily ♪ -♪ Life... ♪ [Bob] Reality can always be maneuvered and controlled.

This is very important.

♪ Merrily merrily merrily ♪ Oh, my God.

-[coughs] -[interviewer] Shortly-- -[woman 7] Quickly.

-[interviewer] Shortly after... -Yeah.

[interviewer] ...Andy began to, -what?

What are you gonna say?

-Became ill.

[interviewer] Andy became ill.

And we really didn't realize how serious it was at the time, but it turned out to be very serious.

[interviewer] Then we're out of there.

I think, I think, you know... [coughs] So... And uh... [coughs] Okay, who else wants [coughs] to come up here?

He just had this cough that wouldn't go away.

[George] We went over to Cedars-Sinai Hospital, and they told him he had lung cancer.

He had large-cell carcinoma, which is an aggressive lung cancer.

[Lynne] They told him, "We can't do anything about it.

You're gonna die.

You're gonna die.

You have maybe six months left to live."

He calls me and tells me, "I have cancer."

My first reaction was, "B*******.

You don't have cancer.

Don't do this to me.

I don't need this."

[Danny] This guy didn't smoke or drink, ate health food, did yoga, was a TM guy.

It's a knock-out.

Talking about the guy who's pulling the rug out from under everybody getting rug pulled out from under him.

[slow music playing] [Lynne] It never occurred to him that he couldn't beat it.

He almost lived in this magical thinking kind of universe, like, "I've got cancer.

Okay, I've just gotta get rid of it."

[Lynne] And so some friend of his had called him and told him about these faith healers in the Philippines.

You know, and he just said, "That sounds good."

[tense music playing] [car engine working] [thunders striking] [Lynne] It was the spiritual manifestation of disease is what he was pulling out of your body.

I mean, it was chicken guts.

[Lynne] He palms them, and then does this and says it's the spiritual manifestation of disease.

[Lynne] And I just kept an open mind, you know?

If Andy believes it, then... The doctors can't do anything for him so what the hell, you know?

We stayed in touch, and then he came back, they said they healed him, but, you know, they didn't.

[static sounds] [male announcer] Good evening, wrestling fans, and welcome to the world-famous Nuart Theatre.

-[crowd applauding] -[slow music playing] [sighs, sniffs] The last time I saw Andy was they were having a screening of his movie My Breakfast with Blassie.

[Budd] Leave it to Andy, his hair was falling out from the chemotherapy, so he had a Mohawk down the middle.

My wife and I then, we just said, "Why don't you bring all your friends over to the Improv?

We'll have a little party."

Now, what were you gonna say?

Just to say thank you very much to everybody who came.

I'm glad that people like the movie.

[Budd] George Shapiro, his manager, told me that it was the best night he had had since he had gotten sick.

We plied him with chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream which he loved, and it was a wonderful night the last time we saw him.

[crowd chattering, cheering] [Marilu] He was just so frail and vulnerable, and you never felt that about Andy.

[sighs] You don't wanna lose your friend that way.

It's sad when someone dies, you know?

He loved me.

We'll wrestle our hearts out tonight, right?

[somber music playing] [Melanie] He succumbed to a very virulent cancer, and the sad thing was that a lot of people didn't believe it.

They thought it was just another trick he was playing, that he would be back again.

[George] I got calls from The Washington Post and The New York Times , these type of prestige publications, asking me if this was a put-on.

[George] Andy had the world so confused by his actions.

[Danny] Carol Kane, she went to the funeral.

She said she went up to the casket and poked him.

Poked him.

Because even at the moment, [scoffs] she didn't think that Andy had gone.

That's how he had us.

[scoffs] That's how he had us.

Yeah.

[waves crashing] [heartbeats] [Bob] So this is why I have to watch what I say, guard myself here, because.

.. did Andy Kaufman fake his death or not?

[reporter] A few years ago, there were rumors he was living in Taos, and in 2005, a claim that Andy Kaufman was seen panhandling at an Albuquerque Walmart.

One thing I do know, [Bob] had Andy Kaufman not died, what would he be doing?

He'd be faking his death.

We used to talk about it, like how many years he would have to stay away, you know, to really, and the years kept getting longer and longer because one year wasn't enough.

Then it would be ten years.

"Oh, maybe ten years.

Maybe, like, 20 years?

What about 30 years?"

Then it's like, Will people still remember me in 30 years if I come back?"

And I would say, "They will if you come back."

[chuckles] [hallow music playing] [Pagani] It's almost 40 now, you know what I mean?

But on the other hand, God damn, would I admire his commitment to the bit.

[laughs] You know what I mean?

I'd go, "Well, holy s***, dude, you hung in."

You know, I mean?

"You sold that.

Jesus Christ, you sold that," you know?

-[crowd cheering] -To you folks at home, please, I'm sorry you gotta go.

But we'll be here again next week.

And remember, here's the words of wisdom for this week.

And they are... "Whatever is unknown is magnified."

So don't be afraid of what you don't know, because remember it always seems a lot worse than it really is.

[Andy's voice echoes] [heavenly music playing] [Lynne] After we had the premiere of My Breakfast with Blassie , he looked at me, and he was very serious, and he said, "Lynne, I want you to promise me to keep my work alive.

I want my entire life to be seen as one long, confusing, beautiful performance.

Like if it was a pebble dropped into water, it would ripple out and just keep rippling and rippling and rippling and... it never stops.

It just never stops."

[crowd cheering distortedly] [Stanley] I see him, I hear him, I hear about him.

I read about him.

It's like he's here.

[Lynne] So we are all still wondering whether it was real or not, and that's the act.

Isn't it more fun to not know?

[Andy] What have you been doing since?

They just stored me in a box.

Well, that's terrible.

Oh.

No, Andy, it's okay.

-You see, it's a regular box.

-Yeah.

And I'm folded a certain way, and I just stay in the box.

The only thing, you see, when I'm in the box, well, I, I look like this.

[crowd laughing] But, yeah, but, Howdy, -isn't it boring?

-Oh, yeah, sure, it's kind of boring, 'cause, well, there was nothing for me to do for all those years, and, that's why I really enjoyed being on your show tonight.

-Well we-- -In front of the lights and seeing all the boys and girls again, it's, oh, boy, it's really wonderful.

Well, it's really wonderful to see you again, too.

You know, I just always wanted to do this, you know?

I always wanted to meet you, and I have so much that I'd like to tell you, and I wish you could talk more.

But, you know, I want you to know that I love you, and this is really something for me.

[happy music playing] [crowd cheering, applauding, whistling] [Andy] What'd I'd like to do for you right now, it's called eating ice cream.

So I'd like to do it for you now.

[crowd laughing] ["Rose Marie" song playing] ♪ Oh Rose, my Rose Marie ♪ -♪♪♪ Oh Rose Marie, I love you ♪ -[clinks] ♪ I'm always dreaming of you ♪ ♪ No matter what I do I can't forget you ♪ ♪ Sometimes I wish That I never met you ♪ [crowd laughing] ♪ Of all the queens That ever lived I choose you ♪ ♪ Yes I choose you ♪ -♪ To rule me, my Rose Marie ♪ -[crowd cheering] [crowd applauding] [music ends] [crowd chattering]