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(#10) Kaufman Worked As A Busboy While He Was On Taxi
The story that Kaufman worked as a busboy is an interesting part of his mythology, but was it actually true? Or was it just one of his lies that went over like gangbusters? Multiple articles say that Kaufman was a busboy, but none of them can agree where he worked. Grantland reported that "[after] he was famous, he took a night job as a busboy at the Posh Bagel restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard, just to see what would happen."
But a 1981 People Magazine article said that he worked "one night a week as a busboy at Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City." Maybe it never even happened.
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(#21) He Drove A (Fake) Woman To (Fake) Suicide
During Andy's special Andy's Funhouse, he brings out a former child star named Gail Slobodkin who starred in a Broadway production of The Sound of Music and antagonizes her for the better part of a segment. After she performs a song he asks, "What was it like when you first felt you weren’t going to make it in show business?" And, “How does it feel to be a has-been?” before telling her that he really hopes that she makes it, adding: “Personally, I don’t think you will...”
She keeps it together during the show, but in Bob Zmuda’s book, Lost in the Funhouse: The Life and Mind of Andy Kaufman, Zmuda says that Slobodkin committed suicide shortly after her appearance on the show and mentioned Andy's special in her suicide letter. But here's the thing, there was never a Gail Slobodkin. It was all an elaborate Kaufman prank.
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(#11) During One Act, All He Did Was Sing "One Hundred Bottles Of Beer On The Wall"
During what seems like a particularly hectic couple of weeks in 1981, writer David Hirshey followed Kaufman through New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco for an issue of Rolling Stone. One of the craziest stories from that time recounts how Kaufman performed at the Improv and sang "One Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall" to a confused, and then bemused, and then stressed-out crowd.
Hirshey wrote, "By seventy-seven, worried glances. Is he really going all the way? The voices change as he starts doing impressions. But the song goes on. George C. Scott sings 'Sixty-six bottles of beer on the wall, sixty-six bottles of beer.' Elvis takes us down to fifty-three. At fourteen bottles of beer on the wall, he leaves the stage. Suddenly, six people are screaming, 'Don’t stop. Please, Andy, do it.' After he finally returns to the stage "applause erupts when he returns and completes the ordeal. He struts offstage, pumping his arms like Bruce Jenner in a Wheaties commercial. He’s euphoric."
After the show, over ice cream, Kaufman told Hirshey, "'A Hundred Bottles of Beer’ has always been a fantasy of mine. But there’s a little voice that says, ‘Oh, no, you can’t do that, that’s breaking all the rules.’ That’s the voice of show business. Then this other little voice says, ‘Try it.’ And most of the time, when the voice comes on and says, ‘No,’ that’s the time it works.”
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(#8) He Let A Group Of Nurses Beat Him In A Wrestling Match
Andy's brother Michael, who has tried to keep some mystique around Andy's life since his death, told a story in a Vice interview about how sweet Kaufman could be - even when he was being super weird. Michael said:
"Andy went to visit a girl who was dying. She was a fan of his, and when his plane was delayed in Chicago on its way to Washington, he drove out to Demotte, Indiana, to visit her. Word got out at the hospital and Andy wrestled three people. I have pictures. They were supposedly nurses and maybe one patient's mother. It's the only time he ever lost a match. He let them beat him. And then there's a letter from the mother, thanking Andy for doing that. Seven weeks after his visit, she died. That whole correspondence will be there. Andy never told anyone about that. I only knew about it because I went through the stuff."
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(#1) He Once Took An Entire Audience Out For Milk And Cookies After A Show
In 1979, rather than end a Carnegie Hall Show in some old-fashioned, outdated way (by just ending it), Kaufman took the entire 2,800-person audience, which included Tony Danza, out for milk and cookies.
And if that wasn't enough Kaufman for them, he invited anyone who was interested to meet him on the Staten Island Ferry the next morning where he continued the show.
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(#6) He Cried On The Dating Game
Before Andy Kaufman was established as the Loki of the comedy world, he was just working out his act in New York City. While he was still working out his "foreign guy" character that would later be fully exploited on Taxi, he was booked as a guest on The Dating Game, and he was 100% amazing.
The two hot '70s bros that he was playing against were really into hooking up with a woman on TV, and Kaufman went out of his way to make the audience stew in the awkward soup he made. After the swingin' '70s babe picked dude #2, Kaufman burst into tears and protested that he correctly answered all the questions.
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Andy Kaufman is the most famous American comedian in the 1970s. He is known for his unique and alternative performance style on stage and TV. Although audiences have mixed praise and criticism for his humorous expressions, his many performances and roles are still for a generation of audiences. It left a deep impression and also had an important influence on the history of American comedy.
Although his life is so short, as the most famous American comedian since the 1970s, his outstanding achievements and performances will never be forgotten. The random tool introduced 22 fun facts about the legendary actor you never know.
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