The tall, bug-eyed freaky man who brought his “funhouse” to life by making a career out of his childhood fantasies, Andy Kaufman was an innovative concept performer, years ahead of his time. Whether it was lip-synching Elvis Presley or riling women to “wrassle” him, Kaufman certainly kept his audience amused (and quite often confused!) throughout the course of his livelihood.

Andy was born January 17, 1949 in Great Neck, NY. Destined to be a performer, Andy began putting on “shows” in front of an invisible audience, as a child, alone in his room. He pretended that he was on television, “channel five” – the number of his house – and acted out various characters for hours on end. Andy always saw himself as a performer and he began, as a youngster, acting out skits at birthday parties for children. Later on, he wrote in his high school yearbook that his career goal was to be a “kids’ performer”.

In Andy’s early years, he performed in comedy clubs, therefore he was mislabeled a comedian. He often bombed in the beginning, because he just wasn’t funny. Andy saw himself as an artist, not a comedian. So, he thrived on opposition. Sometimes Kaufman would read “The Great Gatsby” to a bored audience or climb into a sleeping bag and doze off. No one had ever seen an act like this in his or her life! Still, Andy, with stars in his eyes, made a pilgrimage to Las Vegas to meet his idol Elvis Presley. Although the encounter was brief, Andy made sure he told Elvis that he was going to be famous.

Elvis replied, “I’m sure you will, son.” And with the King’s blessing, Andy was positive that he would someday be a star! (Some time later, Presley saw Kaufman’s act and said that Andy was his favorite Elvis impersonator!)

Kaufman’s big break came when he and a fresh cast of unknown talent, such as John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin became a part of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Andy did a lot of crazy, fun stuff like lip-synching routines to the “Mighty Mouse” theme and “Pop Goes the Weasel”; Andy’s original, yet child-like skits made him a television star.

Eventually, Kaufman went on to guest spots on variety shows, such as Johnny Carson’s The Tonite Show and Dick Van Dyke’s Van Dyke and Company. Then Andy hosted his own variety special, Andy’s Funhouse, and fulfilled his childhood dream of meeting Howdy Doody, a wooden puppet who entertained Andy on television during his childhood, and having him on his show.

Along with Elvis and Howdy Doody, Andy had another childhood fantasy – wrestling. Andy loved to wrestle women and made an offer of $500-$1000 to any woman who could beat him in the ring. Andy also had a dream of performing at Carnegie Hall. When that dream came true, Andy – being Andy – took the entire audience out for milk and cookies after the show.

Andy may be best known for playing the cute and lovable foreign man, Latka Gravas on the television sitcom, Taxi. Yet, Andy wasn’t very proud of his stint on Taxi. Andy was an artist and didn’t feel fulfilled reading from a script. To allow time for more creative events in his career, Andy only showed up on the Taxi set twice a week, which caused resentment with some of the other actors who were there every day. Causing further indignant, Kaufman once showed up on the set, disguised as his alter-ego, Tony Clifton, the lousy lounge singer, creating havoc by fighting with the cast, while having two hookers in tow. Andy was notorious for doing something outrageous and David Letterman once said, “Sometimes, when you look Andy in the eyes, you get a feeling somebody else is driving.”

Besides his spectacular show-biz career, Andy was also a macrobiotic health nut and practiced transcendental meditation (TM). Andy was an eccentric man who lived a simple lifestyle way below his means. He wasn’t materialistic and never behaved like a “star” unless it was for a laugh. Aside from his best friend, Bob Zmuda and soul mate, Lynne Margulies, Andy was a loner.

After a long hard battle with lung cancer, Andy passed on to the other side, May 16, 1984, at the age of 35. According to the book, “Kaufman Revealed” by Bob Zmuda, Andy’s biggest fear was not that he would die, but that he would not be remembered. And of course, that didn’t happen.