Name: Andy Kaufman on Letterman, January 7, 1983
Uploaded: 2015-08-28T14:19:03.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Andy Kaufman on Letterman, January 7, 1983' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2015-08-28. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Andy Kaufman on Letterman, January 7, 1983' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2015-08-28. Transcript available.

Thank you very much.
Welcome back.
We have a great show for you tonight.
Let me bring out my first guest here,
and then later in the show,
David Johansson will be here,
and also Twiggy.
My first guest tonight
is an actor, singer, Elvis impersonator,
professional wrestler,
sword swallower,
and one of the stars of NBC's Taxi.
Of course, we're talking about Judd Hirsch.
No, no, no, no.
Please welcome Andy Kaufman.
Thank you, thank you for being here,
and it's nice to see you for a change
without that brace you had on your neck for a while.
Thank you.
How have things been going?
What have you been doing?
What's new?
Oh, everything's fine.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Have you been doing anything unusual or interesting?
Well, I just finished filming a movie with Fred Blassie
called Breakfast with Blassie.
Mm-hmm.
Freddie Blassie is a...
Tell the people who Freddie is.
Freddie Blassie is...
He was a professional wrestler.
He was the world's champion about 20 years ago,
and now he's a manager of wrestlers,
and we made a film together called Breakfast with Blassie.
Did you ever see My Dinner with Andre?
No, but I know of the film.
Oh, well, it's like the Dinner with Andre Omos.
Right.
It's us eating breakfast in a restaurant.
Now, will this be in general release, maybe, or art houses?
Yeah, it'll be...
Well, I hope it'll be shown...
I don't know where it's going to be released.
It's being edited now,
and then it'll be ready for release soon.
I guess it'll be either on cable TV or midnight movies,
or maybe regular movies.
Maybe regular movies, yeah.
Yeah.
Now, how is your personal life now?
I know you're doing well professionally.
Uh-huh, and personally...
Oh, I just finished taking a weekend workshop.
It was called the Making Love Workshop.
And it's where...
It's a workshop where they teach you opening yourself up
and to love everybody
and to accept love from people.
And, you know, if you're closed off,
it opens you up and everything.
And I took that weekend a few weeks ago,
and it was a seminar, you know.
Now, who sponsors this activity?
Is this a...
It's been...
It's given by a lady and man called Barbara and Johnny.
And, uh...
No.
Barbara and Johnny.
Barbara and Johnny...
Barbara DeAngelis and Johnny Gray.
And it's called the Making Love Workshop.
And they are both psychologists,
and they give it.
And I took it.
A lot of my friends had taken it
and told me that I should take it.
It was fun.
So I did, and it was great.
I just came out...
Now, what did you learn there
that you didn't know before, or...?
Well, I learned how to hug people
and tell people I love them.
Now I tell people I love them,
and I hug them.
But you couldn't have done this
without Barbara and Johnny, though, huh?
No.
And I never thought of it before, you know.
But, yeah.
So I...
Do you feel that it's made
a legitimate change in your life?
Oh, yeah.
I feel so much better.
Now I feel so friendly,
loving towards everybody, you know.
Yeah.
It's true.
It's a good thing.
It's very, very nice.
I'm more open,
and I can be more honest with people.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I could tell people I love them
and hug them and stuff.
Right.
I love you.
Wait a minute.
You just...
Hold it, hold it.
You don't need to...
Now you're just...
Now you're going to hug me.
That's all you're going to do.
It's not going to be one of those deals
where one of us gets punched, is it?
No, no.
Okay.
There we go.
What do you want me to do, Andy?
No, here.
Thank you.
That's it.
You learned that, huh?
And I can say that to...
I love...
Let's see.
Paul.
Paul.
Show business.
We do this.
I love...
I love...
Robert.
Andy.
I love Barry.
I love Morton.
Thank you.
I love...
And I love...
Okay.
I love...
I love everybody here.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
What a long line is over there.
Oh.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
All right.
Help.
Oh, my.
So, uh...
I love you.
I, uh...
I used to, uh, do kind of a trick.
I'd put a little dog treat in my mouth, and a dog would kind of jump up and
take it out.
I love you.
Um, I'll tell you, while we try and retrieve Mr. Kaufman from the audience, we
have to go away for a commercial.
We'll be right back.
And, uh, I'll tell you, uh, I'll tell you, uh, we'll be right back to the show.
Good evening, and welcome back to the show.
Uh, later tonight, we will, uh, be showing you a rare glimpse behind the scenes
of show business.
Uh, the making of late night tonight, the making of the opening remark.
And, uh, David Johanson is here, Twiggy is here, and, uh, one or two other
surprises.
Uh, Monday, Miss America, oh, Miss America, Andy, come back and wrestle her.
Uh, Bob Shaw and, uh, Grace, uh, Slick from, uh, Jefferson Starship will be
here.
Now, uh, that's interesting what you learned there about hugging folks.
Yeah, yeah.
And, and, and, you know, there's, there's two people, seriously, and more, more
serious note.
There's two people, the most, the two, two most important people in my life.
I've never, uh, told them that I love them.
And, uh, I would like to do that for the first time in my life on your show.
Two people in your life that, uh.
Yeah, yeah, and that's my, my, my mom and dad, my parents.
And so I'd like to do that.
I've never told them that I love them before, and I'd like to do it on your
show.
You've never told your parents?
No, no.
Oh, Andy.
Um, but, well, he's gonna, but you're gonna do it tonight.
I'd like to do it tonight.
All right.
Do you want to introduce your parents?
Yeah.
All right.
Go ahead.
This is my mommy and daddy.
Willie.
I'm sorry, what was your name?
Stanley Kaufman.
Nice to meet you, sir.
And?
Janice.
Janice.
Janice, nice to meet you.
And, uh, this is a pretty exciting being on TV with your son, huh?
It is very exciting.
Okay.
Andy, uh, I, I feel like I'm kind of eavesdropping here on a family event.
Okay.
I just want to say, mommy and daddy, uh, I never told you this before, but I
just want to say
that I love you, uh, I love you both very much, uh, I love you both very much,
and, uh, I'm sorry for, for, if I, I know I was a hard kid growing up, I gave
you hard times, and I'm sorry for all the hard times I gave you, and I want to
thank you, and I appreciate all the good, you know, things bringing me up, and
all the good things you've given me, and just being my parents, and I really
appreciate you.
I'm very grateful to have you both as my parents, and I love you both very much,
and we love you too.
Very nice, very nice, very nice, Andy.
It's, uh, a little like queen for a day out here now, uh, now, uh, we're, if
you folks don't mind, you can come over, and we'd like to talk with you just a
little bit, I've never, uh, but we need to bring the couch out for Andy's
parents, if we can, so there's room over there, if we can, uh, yeah, sure,
applaud the, the changing, oh, thanks, here we go, all right.
So just take a few minutes.
Did you, did you have, you live in the area?
Yeah, we live, we live nearby.
Oh, good.
All right.
That's beautiful.
Look at that.
Transforming a TV studio into a furniture showroom.
I don't know.
Andy in the middle?
Yeah, uh, yeah, what did, uh, Mrs. Kaufman, why don't you sit here, and Mr.
Kaufman there, and Andy, you sit right over there.
Okay.
Now, are you comfortable?
Let me, uh, let me ask you, uh, a couple of questions about, uh, your reaction
to, to what, what Andy does.
Uh, for example, wrestling women, how do, how do you respond to that?
Oh, I hate it.
You don't care for that?
I hate it.
Yeah.
Uh, how about when Andy wrestled, uh, men, Jerry Lawler, and so forth?
Well, I thought it was a fool.
That, that still upsets me.
That, why, no, why?
I have not ever seen the tape.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Now, what, what about that upsets you?
The fact that Andy was injured, or?
Well, of course.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, and, uh, Mr. Kaufman, uh, how did you respond to, to that sort of thing?
I was very angry at Jerry Lawler.
Uh-huh.
I, I, I was absolutely incensed.
Yeah.
That he would, uh, take advantage of, uh, Andy's, uh, amateurism, and, uh,
really go out to really do damage.
Yeah, but it.
I was furious.
It seemed to me like Andy sort of goaded him into it at the time.
Well, uh, Andy does a lot of, uh, goading.
I think that's part of it.
It's, it's part of the wrestling scene.
Yeah.
But, uh, I don't think, uh, that hold is, uh, an illegal hold.
And, uh, I don't think it was called for, and I was very upset about it.
Now, uh, Janice, uh, uh, of all of the things that Andy does as a performer,
which do you like best?
You don't like his wrestling?
No.
I love his Elvis.
Uh-huh.
Well, uh, what kind of a, uh, a kid was Andy around the house?
Don't look at me.
Well, Andy was, uh, brought up in, uh, in the 60s.
Uh-huh.
And, uh, they were pretty rough times.
And Andy was very inquisitive.
And he wanted to know what all the various situations of that time were about.
And he went out to find out.
And we, of course, were relative newcomers.
He was our first son.
And, uh, we had to learn.
And he taught us a lot.
Yeah.
Andy did.
He taught us a lot.
Did, uh, did you know from early on that he was going to be a performer, a
comedian?
Not really.
Well, sort of.
He had tendencies toward it.
Yeah.
But not, no.
Yeah.
Now, he did some things, uh, when he was about 10 years old in the area.
What would he do when he was 10 years old?
Well, he was one of the first kids to, uh, decide that, uh, birthday parties
needed a
little hyping up.
And, uh, he, he decided that he would entertain at children's birthday parties.
Uh-huh.
He was the first one to do it.
And I think he would, he gave a two-hour performance, I think, for about $5
when he started out.
Yeah.
He was eight years old.
He was about eight years old.
Eight years old, yeah.
Okay.
And, uh, he would show, uh, home movies.
And, uh, his grandfather had given him a, uh, sound camera.
Mm-hmm.
Which weighed about two tons.
And I had, I had to lug that thing to all the parties that he did, wherever
they were.
Yeah.
But he loved it.
Yes, Andy.
Yeah.
Tell, tell him about the time when I was nine months old.
Mommy, tell him about the time I was nine months old.
I used to stand in the, I used to stand in the crib and put on the records and
lip-sync the
records.
That's true.
He actually would play?
That is true.
Uh, not, uh, change the records.
Now, is it, I understand you, let me ask you about now when, uh, Andy was
getting
a lot of, uh, hate, uh, response when he was wrestling women.
That, that must have upset both of you, huh?
Sure.
Yeah.
Well, how, did you try and talk him out of it?
Tell him about how you couldn't go in the beauty parlor.
Because they...
You couldn't go into the beauty parlor?
No, she couldn't go in the beauty parlor because they, she was embarrassed.
Yeah.
Well, that's, that's awful.
I mean, you, you sound like you, you're proud of that, Andy.
You're...
Terrible, terrible thing.
Uh, now you, you all, you, you, you can, you're going to sing for us.
Is that correct?
Yeah, but aren't we going to call my grandmother?
You want to call your grandmother?
Yeah.
All right.
Uh, when do we, can we do that now?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Have you got the number, Andy?
Yeah.
Where, where does, uh, this is your mother, uh, Stanley?
My mother, yeah.
Okay.
Uh, give me the number, Andy.
Here, write it down.
I'll never, I'll never, never mind.
Have you ever been on television before?
Once before, yeah.
When was that?
In California.
Uh-huh.
With, with Andy?
With Andy.
Andy had a skit going up and, uh, and they needed parents.
Are you proud of Andy?
Very.
Very much.
Okay.
And we're calling, where is this, Andy?
Area code 305.
It's, uh, Florida.
Okay.
And, and who are we going to be talking to?
Grandma Lily.
You forgot the last digit.
You forgot the floor.
Oh, okay.
This is Grandma Lily.
You folks don't miss a thing.
Grandma Lily?
All right.
I don't, I don't know what to say to her.
What am I, I'm calling this woman for?
We'll all talk to her.
Don't be sure.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
I call her Lily?
I'm going to tell her I love her.
Call her Grandma Lily.
Oh, okay.
Calling Andy Kaufman's grandmother, if you just tuned in, ladies and gentlemen.
Who knows, tomorrow night, maybe we'll call your grandmother.
Sounded like Lily may have stepped out.
No, she can't.
Well, let me, let me try this.
No.
Oh, hello, uh, Lily?
Yes.
Uh, my name is David Letterman.
I'm calling from New York City.
Uh, are you, are you Andy Kaufman's grandmother?
Yes.
Oh, uh, Andy is here and he, he wanted me to call you and he has something he
wants to tell
you.
Okay.
She couldn't be more excited, Andy.
Hello, Grandma?
Yes, darling.
Hi, how are you?
I'm fine.
Oh.
So, I'm fine?
Yeah.
I just want to say, Grandma?
Yes.
I love you.
And I love you.
Very nice, isn't it?
I love, I, I love you very much.
And I do, too.
Okay.
What else are you doing?
Well, we're on television right now.
That's good.
Yeah.
You're not going to wrestle anymore, are you?
What?
What?
You're not wrestling anymore.
No, no, I'm going to wrestle right now.
What do you think?
No, no, no wrestling.
Okay.
Okay, then I won't.
All right, darling.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay.
Here's David, he wants to talk to you again.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay, I love you.
I love you.
Okay.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
Hello, Lily?
Yes?
Yeah, we're going to go away for a commercial, but can you hang on for a little
while?
Yes, I will.
Okay.
What part of Florida are you in?
In Hollywood.
Hollywood.
How's the weather?
The weather today was pretty good.
Yeah?
It's warm.
Warm, yeah?
Do you watch this program a lot?
I watch your program practically every night.
Well, there you go.
And if I know my English, I know my English.
Let me, hang on here a second, Lily.
Let me figure out what we're doing.
What exactly are we doing?
We're doing what?
Oh, we're going to do it right now?
Oh, okay.
Lily, do you want your grandmother in on this?
Yes, she can do it, too.
She's in the camp at that.
You know that your son Stanley and his wife Janice are here tonight.
Oh, that's nice.
And Andy is going to arrange a song for everybody.
Oh, that's good.
He was cut off the other night.
Oh, Andy was cut off?
Oh, that's right.
He was at the end of the song and your program was over.
Okay.
Let me figure out what's going on here, Lily.
Now, you're going to sing?
Roll, roll, roll.
Okay.
Tell them they're going to sing.
I feel like Senior Winches here.
Now, what are we doing?
They're going to sing now?
Yeah.
Okay.
Now, are you going to do it from the couch or are you going to?
Yeah, so we'll sing.
Okay.
I'll have to get.
Can I just get on the phone?
Sure.
There's Lily.
I'll just be outside.
Okay, Grandma.
We're going to sing row, row, row your boat.
For me?
Yeah.
Oh, come on.
Cut it out.
Okay.
It's you and me and Mom and Dad.
Yeah.
So, you.
I'll start.
Then you're second.
The Mommy and Daddy is third.
No.
Never mind.
Maybe we should do it without Grandma.
Well, come on, Grandma.
Don't do it without me and it'll be much better.
Okay, so Lily doesn't want to play along.
What?
She doesn't want to play along.
Okay.
She's kind of like me.
Okay.
You don't want to waste California time with me.
Huh?
You don't want to waste California time with me.
No, they're going to go sing and you and I will just sit here and swap recipes.
That's right.
Okay, Lily.
Annie, go on over there with your mother and father and just go ahead.
Are you going to do it there?
Yeah.
Okay, they're going to do it there.
Okay.
I'll start.
Now, you second and your third.
Okay.
Do you do this a lot at home?
No, we never did.
I just thought it would be fun if we did it for the first time.
Okay, well, let's do it.
Truth and I, we've been rehearsing for the last couple of days.
Okay, let's see what happens.
Row, row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily, merrily,
merrily, life is but a dream.
Okay, we're going to go away for a commercial, ladies and gentlemen.
We'll be back right after this.
The chat with Andy Kaufman and Claire family.
Hi there.
Hi there, and welcome back to the show.
At this point, we're going to have to say goodbye to Mr. Andy Kaufman and his
lovely mother, Janice, and his father, Stanley.
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for being here, Andy.
Nice to meet you, Janice.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Nice to meet you, sir.
Andy, take care.
Thank you so much.
Nice to meet you again.
Nice to see you, too.
Andy Kaufman, ladies and gentlemen.
All right.
Well, we're having fun now, aren't we?
Having almost too much fun.
All right.
Now, have you ever wondered?

Andy Kaufman on Letterman, January 7, 1983

Thank you very much.
Welcome back.
We have a great show for you tonight.
Let me bring out my first guest here,
and then later in the show,
David Johansson will be here,
and also Twiggy.
My first guest tonight
is an actor, singer, Elvis impersonator,
professional wrestler,
sword swallower,
and one of the stars of NBC's Taxi.
Of course, we're talking about Judd Hirsch.
No, no, no, no.
Please welcome Andy Kaufman.
Thank you, thank you for being here,
and it's nice to see you for a change
without that brace you had on your neck for a while.
Thank you.
How have things been going?
What have you been doing?
What's new?
Oh, everything's fine.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Have you been doing anything unusual or interesting?
Well, I just finished filming a movie with Fred Blassie
called Breakfast with Blassie.
Mm-hmm.
Freddie Blassie is a...
Tell the people who Freddie is.
Freddie Blassie is...
He was a professional wrestler.
He was the world's champion about 20 years ago,
and now he's a manager of wrestlers,
and we made a film together called Breakfast with Blassie.
Did you ever see My Dinner with Andre?
No, but I know of the film.
Oh, well, it's like the Dinner with Andre Omos.
Right.
It's us eating breakfast in a restaurant.
Now, will this be in general release, maybe, or art houses?
Yeah, it'll be...
Well, I hope it'll be shown...
I don't know where it's going to be released.
It's being edited now,
and then it'll be ready for release soon.
I guess it'll be either on cable TV or midnight movies,
or maybe regular movies.
Maybe regular movies, yeah.
Yeah.
Now, how is your personal life now?
I know you're doing well professionally.
Uh-huh, and personally...
Oh, I just finished taking a weekend workshop.
It was called the Making Love Workshop.
And it's where...
It's a workshop where they teach you opening yourself up
and to love everybody
and to accept love from people.
And, you know, if you're closed off,
it opens you up and everything.
And I took that weekend a few weeks ago,
and it was a seminar, you know.
Now, who sponsors this activity?
Is this a...
It's been...
It's given by a lady and man called Barbara and Johnny.
And, uh...
No.
Barbara and Johnny.
Barbara and Johnny...
Barbara DeAngelis and Johnny Gray.
And it's called the Making Love Workshop.
And they are both psychologists,
and they give it.
And I took it.
A lot of my friends had taken it
and told me that I should take it.
It was fun.
So I did, and it was great.
I just came out...
Now, what did you learn there
that you didn't know before, or...?
Well, I learned how to hug people
and tell people I love them.
Now I tell people I love them,
and I hug them.
But you couldn't have done this
without Barbara and Johnny, though, huh?
No.
And I never thought of it before, you know.
But, yeah.
So I...
Do you feel that it's made
a legitimate change in your life?
Oh, yeah.
I feel so much better.
Now I feel so friendly,
loving towards everybody, you know.
Yeah.
It's true.
It's a good thing.
It's very, very nice.
I'm more open,
and I can be more honest with people.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I could tell people I love them
and hug them and stuff.
Right.
I love you.
Wait a minute.
You just...
Hold it, hold it.
You don't need to...
Now you're just...
Now you're going to hug me.
That's all you're going to do.
It's not going to be one of those deals
where one of us gets punched, is it?
No, no.
Okay.
There we go.
What do you want me to do, Andy?
No, here.
Thank you.
That's it.
You learned that, huh?
And I can say that to...
I love...
Let's see.
Paul.
Paul.
Show business.
We do this.
I love...
I love...
Robert.
Andy.
I love Barry.
I love Morton.
Thank you.
I love...
And I love...
Okay.
I love...
I love everybody here.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
What a long line is over there.
Oh.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
All right.
Help.
Oh, my.
So, uh...
I love you.
I, uh...
I used to, uh, do kind of a trick.
I'd put a little dog treat in my mouth, and a dog would kind of jump up and
take it out.
I love you.
Um, I'll tell you, while we try and retrieve Mr. Kaufman from the audience, we
have to go away for a commercial.
We'll be right back.
And, uh, I'll tell you, uh, I'll tell you, uh, we'll be right back to the show.
Good evening, and welcome back to the show.
Uh, later tonight, we will, uh, be showing you a rare glimpse behind the scenes
of show business.
Uh, the making of late night tonight, the making of the opening remark.
And, uh, David Johanson is here, Twiggy is here, and, uh, one or two other
surprises.
Uh, Monday, Miss America, oh, Miss America, Andy, come back and wrestle her.
Uh, Bob Shaw and, uh, Grace, uh, Slick from, uh, Jefferson Starship will be
here.
Now, uh, that's interesting what you learned there about hugging folks.
Yeah, yeah.
And, and, and, you know, there's, there's two people, seriously, and more, more
serious note.
There's two people, the most, the two, two most important people in my life.
I've never, uh, told them that I love them.
And, uh, I would like to do that for the first time in my life on your show.
Two people in your life that, uh.
Yeah, yeah, and that's my, my, my mom and dad, my parents.
And so I'd like to do that.
I've never told them that I love them before, and I'd like to do it on your
show.
You've never told your parents?
No, no.
Oh, Andy.
Um, but, well, he's gonna, but you're gonna do it tonight.
I'd like to do it tonight.
All right.
Do you want to introduce your parents?
Yeah.
All right.
Go ahead.
This is my mommy and daddy.
Willie.
I'm sorry, what was your name?
Stanley Kaufman.
Nice to meet you, sir.
And?
Janice.
Janice.
Janice, nice to meet you.
And, uh, this is a pretty exciting being on TV with your son, huh?
It is very exciting.
Okay.
Andy, uh, I, I feel like I'm kind of eavesdropping here on a family event.
Okay.
I just want to say, mommy and daddy, uh, I never told you this before, but I
just want to say
that I love you, uh, I love you both very much, uh, I love you both very much,
and, uh, I'm sorry for, for, if I, I know I was a hard kid growing up, I gave
you hard times, and I'm sorry for all the hard times I gave you, and I want to
thank you, and I appreciate all the good, you know, things bringing me up, and
all the good things you've given me, and just being my parents, and I really
appreciate you.
I'm very grateful to have you both as my parents, and I love you both very much,
and we love you too.
Very nice, very nice, very nice, Andy.
It's, uh, a little like queen for a day out here now, uh, now, uh, we're, if
you folks don't mind, you can come over, and we'd like to talk with you just a
little bit, I've never, uh, but we need to bring the couch out for Andy's
parents, if we can, so there's room over there, if we can, uh, yeah, sure,
applaud the, the changing, oh, thanks, here we go, all right.
So just take a few minutes.
Did you, did you have, you live in the area?
Yeah, we live, we live nearby.
Oh, good.
All right.
That's beautiful.
Look at that.
Transforming a TV studio into a furniture showroom.
I don't know.
Andy in the middle?
Yeah, uh, yeah, what did, uh, Mrs. Kaufman, why don't you sit here, and Mr.
Kaufman there, and Andy, you sit right over there.
Okay.
Now, are you comfortable?
Let me, uh, let me ask you, uh, a couple of questions about, uh, your reaction
to, to what, what Andy does.
Uh, for example, wrestling women, how do, how do you respond to that?
Oh, I hate it.
You don't care for that?
I hate it.
Yeah.
Uh, how about when Andy wrestled, uh, men, Jerry Lawler, and so forth?
Well, I thought it was a fool.
That, that still upsets me.
That, why, no, why?
I have not ever seen the tape.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
Now, what, what about that upsets you?
The fact that Andy was injured, or?
Well, of course.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, and, uh, Mr. Kaufman, uh, how did you respond to, to that sort of thing?
I was very angry at Jerry Lawler.
Uh-huh.
I, I, I was absolutely incensed.
Yeah.
That he would, uh, take advantage of, uh, Andy's, uh, amateurism, and, uh,
really go out to really do damage.
Yeah, but it.
I was furious.
It seemed to me like Andy sort of goaded him into it at the time.
Well, uh, Andy does a lot of, uh, goading.
I think that's part of it.
It's, it's part of the wrestling scene.
Yeah.
But, uh, I don't think, uh, that hold is, uh, an illegal hold.
And, uh, I don't think it was called for, and I was very upset about it.
Now, uh, Janice, uh, uh, of all of the things that Andy does as a performer,
which do you like best?
You don't like his wrestling?
No.
I love his Elvis.
Uh-huh.
Well, uh, what kind of a, uh, a kid was Andy around the house?
Don't look at me.
Well, Andy was, uh, brought up in, uh, in the 60s.
Uh-huh.
And, uh, they were pretty rough times.
And Andy was very inquisitive.
And he wanted to know what all the various situations of that time were about.
And he went out to find out.
And we, of course, were relative newcomers.
He was our first son.
And, uh, we had to learn.
And he taught us a lot.
Yeah.
Andy did.
He taught us a lot.
Did, uh, did you know from early on that he was going to be a performer, a
comedian?
Not really.
Well, sort of.
He had tendencies toward it.
Yeah.
But not, no.
Yeah.
Now, he did some things, uh, when he was about 10 years old in the area.
What would he do when he was 10 years old?
Well, he was one of the first kids to, uh, decide that, uh, birthday parties
needed a
little hyping up.
And, uh, he, he decided that he would entertain at children's birthday parties.
Uh-huh.
He was the first one to do it.
And I think he would, he gave a two-hour performance, I think, for about $5
when he started out.
Yeah.
He was eight years old.
He was about eight years old.
Eight years old, yeah.
Okay.
And, uh, he would show, uh, home movies.
And, uh, his grandfather had given him a, uh, sound camera.
Mm-hmm.
Which weighed about two tons.
And I had, I had to lug that thing to all the parties that he did, wherever
they were.
Yeah.
But he loved it.
Yes, Andy.
Yeah.
Tell, tell him about the time when I was nine months old.
Mommy, tell him about the time I was nine months old.
I used to stand in the, I used to stand in the crib and put on the records and
lip-sync the
records.
That's true.
He actually would play?
That is true.
Uh, not, uh, change the records.
Now, is it, I understand you, let me ask you about now when, uh, Andy was
getting
a lot of, uh, hate, uh, response when he was wrestling women.
That, that must have upset both of you, huh?
Sure.
Yeah.
Well, how, did you try and talk him out of it?
Tell him about how you couldn't go in the beauty parlor.
Because they...
You couldn't go into the beauty parlor?
No, she couldn't go in the beauty parlor because they, she was embarrassed.
Yeah.
Well, that's, that's awful.
I mean, you, you sound like you, you're proud of that, Andy.
You're...
Terrible, terrible thing.
Uh, now you, you all, you, you, you can, you're going to sing for us.
Is that correct?
Yeah, but aren't we going to call my grandmother?
You want to call your grandmother?
Yeah.
All right.
Uh, when do we, can we do that now?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Have you got the number, Andy?
Yeah.
Where, where does, uh, this is your mother, uh, Stanley?
My mother, yeah.
Okay.
Uh, give me the number, Andy.
Here, write it down.
I'll never, I'll never, never mind.
Have you ever been on television before?
Once before, yeah.
When was that?
In California.
Uh-huh.
With, with Andy?
With Andy.
Andy had a skit going up and, uh, and they needed parents.
Are you proud of Andy?
Very.
Very much.
Okay.
And we're calling, where is this, Andy?
Area code 305.
It's, uh, Florida.
Okay.
And, and who are we going to be talking to?
Grandma Lily.
You forgot the last digit.
You forgot the floor.
Oh, okay.
This is Grandma Lily.
You folks don't miss a thing.
Grandma Lily?
All right.
I don't, I don't know what to say to her.
What am I, I'm calling this woman for?
We'll all talk to her.
Don't be sure.
Oh, okay.
Okay.
I call her Lily?
I'm going to tell her I love her.
Call her Grandma Lily.
Oh, okay.
Calling Andy Kaufman's grand