Name: Andy Kaufman on Letterman , February 17, 1982
Uploaded: 2015-10-09T01:41:54.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Andy Kaufman on Letterman , February 17, 1982' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2015-10-09. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Andy Kaufman on Letterman , February 17, 1982' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2015-10-09. Transcript available.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Welcome back to the Motown story. Andy Kaufman
is one of the stars
of the ABC television series Taxi. He is also a professional busboy, a
professional wrestler,
a stand-up comedian, and one of the finest Elvis Presley impersonators in the
business.
Please welcome Andy Kaufman.
You look, folks are crazy about you. You look good. You look like you feel good.
Yes. You feel good.
And the reason I mention that, maybe you don't want me to bring this up, but
the last time you and I
appeared on a program together about two years ago, you were a shell, a shadow
of your actual self.
You had fallen on hard times and things are obviously better now, huh?
Things are much, much better now.
That's good. That's good.
Andy had some problems and you were kind enough to be very frank with us one
morning.
I always believe in being honest. I always believe in telling the truth.
And if I'm going through a bad time, then I have nothing to hide. I'll just
talk about it. And if I'm going through a good time, I'll talk about that, too.
Well, fortunately, we're in, I guess, a good time now, huh?
Yeah, it's a good time for me.
Okay.
I think so.
What I wanted to talk to you about now, when I first knew you, a regular
feature of your performance was your Elvis Presley impression.
And then you stopped doing it?
I stopped when Elvis Presley passed away because I felt it just wasn't right,
you know?
And what I found that during the next year, after he passed away, I found
people who had known him, who really knew him and worked with him and were
known to know him,
would constantly come up to me and tell me that he had always said that out of
all the people that imitated him, he liked me the most.
And that it would be okay for me to imitate him.
And I said, I don't know.
Finally, Johnny Cash, who was a friend of Elvis Presley, had a Christmas
special about a year after Elvis' death and asked me to do the imitation from
the Grand Ole Opry on his Christmas special.
And I thought, okay, I'll do it, but I'm a little scared.
I don't know if it's right.
And I did it.
And the crowd down there in Nashville just loved it.
And ever since then, I do it every once in a while just as a special thing.
So things where you were quite well received doing it.
That's good, huh?
Yeah.
Now, there was a show, Saturday Night Live, a couple of weeks back where you
were doing it.
And then I didn't see the show.
I saw the tape of what happened.
You sort of stopped in the middle.
Well, that's because they asked me to do the imitation.
And I said, well, this is very special to me.
And I just want to make sure it's done tastefully.
So I did the imitation.
But then I was asked to do this sketch where I asked, as Elvis, I asked two
girls to wrestle each other with nothing but their panties on.
And I said, this is a reference.
This is a reference to a book by Albert Goldman.
Right.
It's supposed to be an expose of Elvis' personal life.
And I didn't want to do the sketch.
But, you know, then they pressured me into it.
You know, they being Saturday Night Live pressured me into it.
You don't do this.
We'll ruin you.
You'll never work again in this business.
We'll ruin your reputation.
And I said, yeah, really, we'll spread it around that you're hard to work with.
You'll never get another job in this business again, you know.
So I said, okay, okay, I'll do it.
I'll do it.
I mean, you know, really.
So I did the sketch, but I just couldn't find it within my conscience to
continue with it.
So I took off my Elvis Presley wig.
I looked in the camera and I said, ladies and gentlemen, I can't do it.
I just don't do this.
This is a reference to that book by Albert Goldman.
I don't approve of that book.
And I don't approve of what I just did.
And now as a result, I hear that Albert Goldman wants to sue me.
And I tried to, you know, get him.
I said, well, he wants to sue me.
I don't think I did anything wrong, you know.
But if he wants to sue me, let's talk about it.
I knew I was doing your show.
I said, well, let's get him here.
You know, let's talk about it.
Let's debate.
I say I don't approve of the book, and he apparently does, I guess.
So I said, let's, because he wrote it.
So I said, well, let's debate.
Let's have a debate on the show.
Well, you know what?
He wouldn't, he wouldn't do it.
He refused to appear on the same show with me.
He said he doesn't want to have anything to do with me.
He doesn't, he doesn't want to debate me.
Well, I say this.
I think that the man is afraid to face me in the debate.
Okay?
I think it's because I'm alive.
The man does not want to, it's true.
Let me, let me just, let me ask you before you, I know you're building to
something here,
but have you actually read the book?
No, I've read parts of the book.
No, I haven't.
Look, I don't need to read the book to know that, what it says.
And, and all I know is that he's trying to destroy Elvis Presley's image.
And I'm, I'm not a fanatic or anything.
It's just that I know that as a teenager, I was in a lot of trouble.
And when I started idolizing Elvis Presley, it changed my life because it gave
me something
to look up to.
And there are a lot of thousands of people who look up to that image.
And this man's trying to destroy that image.
And I just would like the chance to debate with him on the show.
And I just think that all he likes to do is write books about people who are
dead, who
cannot defend themselves.
And when someone who's alive, who can talk back to him, challenges him, he
chickens out.
I think he's a wimp.
And I just want to say...
And if I may, can I say something to him right now?
Okay, now, okay.
We want to look at something else, but quickly go ahead and say this.
I just want to say, Mr. Goldman, if you're watching this show right now, I'd
like to
say this in front of millions of people who are watching this, just so they
know that
I'm challenging you right now.
I would like you, I think that you're a wimp.
I think you're afraid of me.
I think that you're afraid to face me in a debate on a one-to-one situation,
because
all you like to do is write about people who can't answer you back.
Well, I'm challenging you right here.
I will debate you on this show anytime, anyplace.
I will fly from anywhere in the country, no matter where I am, I'll fly in here,
and I'll
debate you on this show.
Let's see if you can answer that challenge.
I don't think you will, because I think you're afraid.
I think you're a wimp.
I understand you also enjoy gardening.
Now, we want to talk now a little bit about your wrestling career.
Okay.
We have some videotape, and tell us what we're going to take a look here.
Okay.
Andy Kaufman, wrestling, who and where?
What started out as a joke a few years ago as part of my concert act now has
become such
a serious thing.
I offer $1,000.
It was $500.
Now it's $1,000 to any woman who could beat me in a wrestling match.
And this challenge to anyone in the country or in the world, actually.
It started as a joke, and now people are taking it so seriously.
I'm getting challenges from all over the country.
So I've started wrestling in professional arenas, the kind like Madison Square
Garden, and with
professional, on professional wrestling shows with professional wrestlers.
And this is a tape from just one of my matches I've had in Memphis, Tennessee.
Memphis, Tennessee.
Andy Kaufman.
First, I'm challenging them, then the match.
Okay, fine.
Shut up!
I'm talking right now!
I'm talking right now!
I want silence when I speak!
Okay, now just be quiet!
I will pay $1,000 to any woman that will beat me in this ring!
I will not only do that, I will shave my head completely bald if I am beaten
here!
And any woman that will beat me, as an extra prize, she will get to marry me
right here!
She will take my hand in marriage!
I will offer my hand in marriage if she beats me right here!
Well, here we go with the first challenge.
Andy Kaufman, undefeated!
Coming in here after a successful defense,
in an unusual 18-minute match from Atlantic City's Playboy Club,
Kaufman going against Julie Jackson of Memphis, Tennessee.
Remember the rules state that Kaufman must be pinned!
He does not have to pin her!
We're now in the first 30 seconds of the three-minute match,
and Kaufman on top, going for a pin!
One, two, three!
Andy, you've turned out to be quite a fine young man!
Thank you!
Yeah, and...
I just want to say that now there's an inter-gender wrestling commission that
they've awarded me with this championship belt.
I'm now the world inter-gender wrestling champion, and this is not a joke.
This is really true.
I am wrestling all over the country, defending my title.
I'm undefeated.
This is covered in sports pages in every city that I do it.
He's not kidding.
This is molded plastic.
No, it's real.
It's real.
Yeah, that's nice.
It's a real belt.
And this is Playboy magazine.
In the February issue, they covered a 10-page spread of a wrestling match I had
against one of their centerfolds.
In this article, they said that I cheated, and they wanted me to have a rematch,
and she wanted me to have a rematch,
so that she says she could beat me, and that I didn't win fair and square.
Right.
Now, look, David.
I won that match fair and square.
She had her own referee.
She says I used a cricket referee.
It was her referee.
I called them immediately upon reading this article.
I said, Playboy, I will give her a rematch.
You're going to call these people wimps, too?
No, no, no, no, no.
I'm just saying that Playboy, they challenged me to a rematch in the magazine.
They're lying to the public because they challenged me to a rematch.
I called them up and said, I want a rematch, and they wouldn't even.
They said, no way, no way.
Andy, thank you.
I think that.
Thank you.
I will challenge students with any time, any time.
Seriously, any time.
Any time, baby.
I'll take the money around.
Thank you.