Name: Andy Kaufman Goes Panhandling In Dave's Audience | Letterman
Uploaded: 2022-06-22T14:11:05.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Andy Kaufman Goes Panhandling In Dave's Audience | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-06-22. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Andy Kaufman Goes Panhandling In Dave's Audience | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-06-22. Transcript available.

You've seen my next guest on Saturday Night Live, and he was seen on the hit
series Taxi as Latka.
However, he has not been on television much lately. He's been, I guess, busy
doing other things.
Nonetheless, I'm glad that he has agreed to be with us here this morning.
Please welcome Mr. Andy Kaufman.
Andy, thank you, sir.
I really, I really appreciate you being here this morning. It's nice to see you.
Tell me about, tell me about Taxi.
Was, would you like a tissue?
Can I, would you like a tissue?
Um.
Yeah, give me that. Give me that.
Have a little, uh, have a little, have a little, just a little bit of something
in here.
So, um, tell me about, um.
See, the people sometimes eat, eat breakfast while they watch the show again.
Um.
Now, the, uh, this, the, there was a TV strike, you know, and, uh, some shows
were not in production,
but now they're, they're going back into production and, uh, are you gonna, I
guess, are you gonna be on Taxi?
You mentioned before the show, you mentioned before the show, you mentioned
before the show, you mentioned before the show there were some problems.
Uh, yeah, I quit the show.
You quit the show?
Yeah.
You're no longer gonna be on Taxi?
Right.
You're no longer gonna be on Taxi?
Right.
You have your own show?
You have your own show?
No, um, there, I'm not doing much, uh, special right now.
No, but, um, this is, you know, I'm once in a while making appearances, like,
on this show.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know you're, you're probably going to do movies.
Hopefully, I hope.
And I guess you'll be, you used to be on Saturday Night Live an awful lot, so.
I don't know, I really don't, um, have any control of that, and if they asked
me, I would do it, but I don't really, there's nothing, um, planned right now
in the, for the near future.
Yeah, um, you're doing a lot of nightclubs, though?
Um, occasionally appearing at the, uh, Improvisation in New York, this is a
place I started out at.
Yeah, yeah.
Uh, um, not really much, I'm just staying, I'm living in New York now.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, but things are, things are okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
Tell us about your wrestling.
Well, so, you know, a woman mentioned you, well, you, you, you, you...
Um, you, uh, can I get you a mint?
Um, yeah, I know you wanted to, your, um, do, you had a little, uh, you're
gonna do a little piece for us this morning.
You wanna, you wanna go to that now, or what do you wanna do?
Um, if you'd like, okay.
We have a stool there, you wanna do it?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Andy Kaufman, ladies and gentlemen.
I'd just like to, before I begin, um, I would like to just say thank you very
much to David Letterman and the producers of this show and the people that run
this show for having me as a guest.
And it's a very pleasure to come on the show and be here.
Uh, I'd like to talk about my marriage.
My wife...
I met my wife, uh, several years ago when I was struggling in New York,
performing every night at the improvisation nightclub.
I would perform every night for free and once in a while I would get jobs
elsewhere for maybe $50 a night and stuff.
And I met her while I was driving up from southern New Jersey one time, she was
a cocktail waitress.
And, uh, we went out a few times, fell in love and got married and she kind of,
she worked as a waitress while I was working for free in nightclubs.
And we lived together right outside of New York City and we had two children
and, uh, names were Mark and Lisa.
And, um, Saturday Night Live, it, uh, discovered me.
I'm not, I'd rather if you don't, uh, laugh because, um, I'm not trying to be
funny right now.
Uh, and shortly after that I went to California and things really started
happening.
Um, I started, I had a manager, I got a manager, Shapiro West and Associates,
George Shapiro, a wonderful man.
And he was my manager for, uh, for next few years.
And then Taxi came along and I was doing all these far out things on television
shows,
but when Taxi came along it was just one character, the latke.
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 and the
things I used to do on Saturday Night Live and stuff.
Um, um, so anyway, I quit the show and my wife, uh, at that time I was
wrestling women on Saturday Night Live.
I got a lot of hate mail and, um, no producer would hire me after that.
So one day I was at my manager's office trying to get an engagement for a
dinner theater in Wisconsin.
And I got a call from my wife's lawyer. She wanted a divorce.
And she got a divorce, she got the kids, the house, she got all my money.
Oh, not all my money, but some, anyway, she got everything.
I moved to New York and now that's what I'm doing now, living in New York.
And I, um, I, I don't really have anything.
Um, so anyway, um, if anybody could, I, I know this sounds like a cliche, but,
uh, if you could, any extra money that you have, I would appreciate it.
Don't throw it, I'll just throw it.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Please, you have to please come here.
We have to go.
We can't do this here, so we have to go.
Come on, come on.
Be a good boy.
That's it.
Stop.
I'm not kidding.
All right, fine.
Well, all right, there we go.
It's always a pleasure to have...
Always a pleasure to have the young talent on the show.
We'll be right back.