Friend (Bob Zmuda): Andy Kaufman is still alive

[mountaineer]

Friend: Andy Kaufman is still alive
By Larry Getlen
September 28, 2014 | 9:28am

In 1980, legendary comedian Andy Kaufman and his writing partner, Bob Zmuda, wrote a script for a film called “The Tony Clifton Story,” based on a character of Kaufman’s.

On Page 124, there is a block of dialogue intended for Kaufman to speak as himself, informing viewers of Clifton’s demise. Among the lines:

“On June 12, 1980 . . . Tony Clifton, at the age of 45, died of cancer at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Hollywood, California.”

Four years later, at age 35, Kaufman himself would, supposedly, die — from cancer at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Hollywood, Calif.

It was no coincidence, Zmuda reveals in a new book, “Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally” (BenBella Books), written with Lynne Margulies, Kaufman’s girlfriend.

Not only does he firmly believe that Kaufman faked his death, but that Kaufman will be emerging to reveal his great prank to the world very soon.

Longtime obsession

Zmuda believes the germ of this idea — and, it appears, many of Kaufman’s mental-health issues — began with an incident in his childhood.

As Zmuda tells it, Kaufman, who first appeared to be “a normal young boy,” had a grandfather he adored called “Papu” with whom he would “sing songs, play games and just have a great time.” But when Papu died, Kaufman’s parents made “a horrible mistake.”

Instead of telling young Andy, his parents, fearing his heartbreak, said Papu “went away to another country far, far across the ocean and wasn’t coming back.” So rather than learning to deal with death, Kaufman thought he had been abandoned.

This, Zmuda says, is when Kaufman began withdrawing from the world. He would “lock himself in his room and start talking to the walls.”

But it also, Zmuda believes, planted the idea that life and death “could be manipulated.”

“It was here where I believe Andy would develop the concept of ‘bending reality’ to suit his needs,” writes Zmuda. “If his parents could fake his grandfather’s not dying, Andy would just fake himself dying.”

Kaufman, a “Saturday Night Live” regular who rose to fame on the sitcom “Taxi” and was immortalized by Jim Carrey in 1999’s “Man on the Moon,” was known for stunts, such as once taking his entire Carnegie Hall audience out for milk and cookies after a performance.

He began talking with Zmuda about faking his death several years before his “actual” death.

When SNL’er John Belushi died in March 1982, Kaufman was very upset — not for normal reasons, but because, as he told manager George Shapiro, “John Belushi is pulling my stunt, faking his death.”

Shapiro, who recalls in the book that Kaufman truly believed this for a time, says Kaufman spoke often of faking his own death. “Could you imagine how this is going to blow everyone’s mind?” he would say.

To ‘die’ laughing

Zmuda presents transcripts of several of his conversations with Kaufman on this topic.

Sometime in 1982, Kaufman called Zmuda at 4 in the morning, telling him he had decided to fake his death and insisting he meet him right away.

A half-hour later, as Kaufman devoured a bowl of chocolate ice cream at Canters Deli in Los Angeles, Zmuda told him what he was planning was illegal and refused to have any part in it.

Another time, they argued after Kaufman admitted telling a woman he was going to “fake my death by making people believe I had terminal cancer.” (The woman’s response, according to Kaufman? “She thought it was disgusting, and if I ever brought it up again, she’d never talk to me.” Zmuda had to tell him that “people ­really get wigged out when you start f- -king with death.”)

Zmuda also recalls a conversation in which Kaufman started coughing, and Zmuda said: “Stop with the coughing, already. I think it’s a dead giveaway.” Kaufman replied, “I don’t know. Everyone seems to believe it.”

Early on, Kaufman told people he was dying because he “ate too much chocolate.” He had read a book called “Sugar Blues” that said that “too much chocolate can kill you.”

“Maybe I’ll just stick with cancer,” Kaufman said, after which Zmuda asked how long he planned to stay dead. ...

Read the rest of the story at New York Post

[jmyrlefuller]

Yeah, I'm not buying it.

If there's one thing that Kaufman and Zmuda are good at, it's trolling. But it works both ways. By sowing doubt that Kaufman is dead, Zmuda is following in the pure Kaufman tradition of blurring the line between reality and fiction.

Kaufman's dead.

[GourmetDan]

Yeah, I'm not buying it.

If there's one thing that Kaufman and Zmuda are good at, it's trolling. But it works both ways. By sowing doubt that Kaufman is dead, Zmuda is following in the pure Kaufman tradition of blurring the line between reality and fiction.

Kaufman's dead.

Me neither.  20 years is too long for a 'joke'...

[alicewonders]

Me neither.  20 years is too long for a 'joke'...

Yeah, I think so too.  Five years maybe - but not twenty.  I wish he were still alive, he was a truly unique person. 

[GourmetDan]

Yeah, I think so too.  Five years maybe - but not twenty.  I wish he were still alive, he was a truly unique person.

Yes, he was hilarious as Latka Gravas in Taxi.  Particularly later in the series when he morphed into several different characters, like Vic Ferrari.

I think he was probably insane to some extent though.  Wrestling women and things like that were just too weird...

[alicewonders]

Yes, he was hilarious as Latka Gravas in Taxi.  Particularly later in the series when he morphed into several different characters, like Vic Ferrari.

I think he was probably insane to some extent though.  Wrestling women and things like that were just too weird...

I agree Dan.  I didn't really like the women wrestling.  I do think he went crazy - and he very well may have floated the idea that he was going to fake his death when he found out he had cancer - just to make people think his impending death was not real. 

Don't you think most comedians are a little bit crazy?  Kind of like clowns - laughter on the outside, tears on the inside?

[GourmetDan]

Don't you think most comedians are a little bit crazy?  Kind of like clowns - laughter on the outside, tears on the inside?

I think most 'people' are a little bit crazy.

I know I am...   

[alicewonders]

I think most 'people' are a little bit crazy.

I know I am...   

Touche!  I sure am.