Hey Letterman TH-cam channel - you forgot that Andy was on the previous day's show. He was clean and showbiz jovial but after a couple of minutes Dave cut the interview short because Edwin Newman had to read the morning news. So Dave invited him to come back the next day. (This clip). This is what makes the joke so brilliant Andy is in the same clothes as the previous day ! His downward spiral happened in one day! Please post the two days together
Andy Kaufman doesn't really say a word till the 2-minute mark and completely crushes the room, then has the balls to amplify all that nervous tension and kill the vibe in service of a gag. Such an innovator
he died 4 years later of an illness. This performance is so convincing that I wonder if he quietly was aware of his illness already and that it may have been part of the reason that he left Taxi and was not working as much. If so, then its all the more amazing that he delivered this gag in that state.
@@ccricc sorry his comedy is not for me, Im more into eddie murhpy, richard prior and dave chapelle stuff. Im sure that in a top 10 or even 20 list of best comedian ever Andy Kaufman doesn't have a place
To his credit in the first few minutes of this in particular Letterman is also absolutely brilliant, reads the audience reaction perfectly, and gives Andy time to work.
Absolutely. I think Dave is underrated at that. He lets people shine and steps in when needed. I just found out recently that Dave said Andy always tipped him off where he was going so Dave had an idea how to work, Joaquin let him know too; but Dave still gave it a real impression about it and sold the act.
he broke within the first 10 seconds. 1 on a snot/ tissue joke.. and the other at a bad breath joke... "do you want a mint" literally the 2 things he broke at. Dudes as amateur as it gets..@@noblemaremilker
I believe he was the first to do this style of comedy - make it weird and awkward for the audience and never break character. Keep the “joke” going by getting the audience to that uncomfortable place. Letterman always got Andy Kaufman. So brilliant. Both Kaufman and Letterman.
I'll never understand what's "brilliant", "genius" or entertaining about that. Any kid making troll videos could be considered a brilliant genius if making people uncomfortable for no reason is the gold standard of entertainment and intelligence
@@janorhypercleats The only other time I seen it happen before was when Jerry Seinfeld told an audience on a talk show to not laugh when Micheal Richard was trying to apologize for his...little rant that one time. It's very surreal hearing someone who's job is to make people laugh telling them not to and to take something serious. The only difference is unlike with Kaufman here, Jerry was being serious. He really didn't like people laughing which...I'll be honest, makes it funnier to me.
Andy was so far ahead of his time, TO THIS DAY, no one can match him. Showing up on a talk show to announce you're out of work and struggling is so counter to the whole concept of talk shows you had to be genius to notice the humour there, let alone pull it off with a straight face.
@@anarchycastro hard to explain i guess, as jokes tend to be. to me it was hilarious, i love his control over the awkwardness. but i can see most of my friends not smiling once during this video. it's a matter of taste
I'm a Brit, never seen this guy before but this skit cracked me up, especially when he was bumming loose change from the audience. Top class. How he kept a straight face is beyond me. Ten out of ten.
Well you need to see man on the moon. Jim Carey plays Andy Kauffman. The REM song man on the moon is loosly based on Kaufman but what makes Jims attachment so so weird is for the months filming Man On The Moon Jim refused not even for a seconds for all the months to be spoke to as Jim Carey he stayed in character the entire time. That movie in the end changed Jim CAREY for the rest of his life. He stopped being a bigtime movie star and was trasnformed if you will spiritually because of Andy's style and there was then a documentary made of Jim being Andy called Jim & Andy : The Great Beyond. If you liked this spare change clip you havent lived until you see man on the moon.
He made a few appearances on letterman, each one he plays a different character. My personal favourite is where he appears with his mom and dad and pretends to be a little kid. Then there's one where he appears with 3 random dudes claiming they are his adopted sons lmao
You might be right. The subtle stuff he does here is very impressive. An awful lot of people fell for it. It wouldn't totally surprise me if he re-appeared even now, in 2023, as an old man, having pulled the ultimate performance art gag.
@vault The audiences of the 70s were 500 times more refined and cultured than the audiences of today. The audiences of today gobble up trash that wouldn't even make it onto the radio in the 70s.
Amazing how this man could put on a dramatic act like this, almost like a character study. He wasn't just a comedian, he was a performer on many levels.
He’s doing the exact opposite of everything you are supposed to do. He does the interview in his stand up and the standup in the interview haha. The cough is great too.
@@abbadabbba232 - No, it wasn't real. It was clearly part of the act. That he happen to have lung cancer has nothing to do with it. People don't necessarily go around coughing all the time, because they have beginning lung cancer.
These guys all hung out at the same comedy clubs. I'm sure they were like a club and being unsaid but observed...if one makes it big and can help the other it's on.
@@samsmith4216 Yep. Like me, did you ever wonder, is Kaufman doing a comedy bit or is he serious? I think most people wondered about that and that was part of Kaufman's genius. Is this MF'er serious or is he playing with me? 😂
the mainstream today doesnt facilitate people like this, even back then letterman would pull from outside of the mainstream. but like theres no kaufmans, theres no lettermans either. they exist, you just wont find them on network television or mainstream streaming services.
@@dash-underscore_name. I'm not educated beyond my intelligence nor intelligent beyond my understanding. I wonder...what YOUR trying to say? I'm sure your just great ;)
Thanks for this. So great. I'd forgotten about how innovative AK was. Also to mention, this was Letterman's first TV show, a summer daytime TV show replete with real news, seriously read by Edwin Newman, the NBC News stalwart. Dave was only beginning to become "Dave" at this time, and his instincts were dead on here to encourage Kaufman, even though he, like the audience, may not have gotten it right away. You can see Kaufman enjoying the bit so much he almost laughs a couple of times.
It’s hard to fathom someone committing this hard to trolling the audience in every single television/public appearance. It’s pretty gutsy, but he made it work and we’re still thinking about him. He was an absolute genius and I’m happy that there were others that understood what he was doing so that we got to see it
Letterman was the king of Late Night talk shows. By far the best and most entertaining. Andy's performance is so well delivered here, that I have to wonder, if he had been diagnosed already or had some idea that he was not well. It would be 4 years later that he would die of his illness. Maybe part of the reason he left Taxi was that he quietly was aware that he was ill.
@@oilersridersbluejays Showing symptoms and knowing something in private are two very different things. Illnesses can show up in blood work or other tests before debilitating symptoms arise. Sometimes people choose to keep those secret even from loved ones. Often not wanting to give them concern. Also wondering and knowing are also two very different things. I made no claim of correctness. I questioned a possibility. I did not assert it as truth. A nuance you seem to have overlooked.
One of the greatest 20th century comedians. Still making us laugh today long after he is gone. That’s pretty great. Lol he does such an EXCELLENT job of seeming socially anxious and awkward!….
A perfect example of Andy Kaufman's genius. To all intents and purposes he seemingly and realistically appears to be going through a personal hell. He stays committed to this premise and manages to make not being funny downright hilarious 😂
Comic Guinness! How he kept a straight face is beyond my comprehension. He did smirk a little at one time yet regressed back to his blank face seconds later. He pulled the audience into his venus fly trap by telling everyone he was serious about what he was saying. Only a comical professional can hypnotize an audience to force believe his stories so that he can obtain sympathy and empathy and then reach a crescendo of money being thrown at him. A shame Andy was taken from us way too soon. At least we can enjoy his comedy anytime we want on TH-cam.
Everybody always comes on and talks about how great they’re doing and all the projects they’re working on. Andy comes on destitute, can’t get any work, his wife took the kids and he needs money 🤣 I applaud Letterman for being able to play off such a weird bit so well
No comic alive today could pull this off. Andy made this style of comedy look so natural but people don’t tend to realize how hard it is to fake sincerity. With Andy you never really could tell if he was being for real or if it was an act, and that was the beauty of it - the audience was the punchline.
Funny thing about Joe Pera. He puts on a character voice when he's doing his schtick. However, when you hear his actual natural voice it's 98% the same voice. @@cedricwilford
When you think of all the comedians who've left their marks on our hearts and in our minds, none did it quite like Andy Kaufman. He was one-of-a-kind in his field. Nobody before, or since, has ever managed to pull off the same kind of comedy that he did. With Andy, you never quite knew for sure who was in on the joke, or to what extent. You'd often find yourself laughing as much from awkwardness as you would from delight. That's why, even after he died, it took a while for people to actually accept that he was dead, because faking his own death is exactly the sort of thing Andy would do to get a laugh.
Andy was the best at making people uncomfortable. It was a brilliant set-up to produce tension that he could release in a second w/ the right move. A master.
I knew it was going to happen but i still found it hilarious when he begged for money. I laughed so hard I fell off my chair and nearly broke my glasses.
he's bewildered that after all this time and all those gags he can still confound them. He knew this deep down and he knew he was making comedy for the distant future.
This is more of a masterfully executed performance art piece than a 'skit'. It's no wonder avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson was drawn to him back in the day.
I bump into Mr. Kaufman at Walmart every now and then. He self-proclaims that this is the longest running practical joke in history, and he is so proud of it.
@@kristopherdetar4346 No, he is very much alive and living in a small town between Memphis and Nashville. In fact, he is close friends with Jerry Lawler. I've actually seen Jerry in public with Andy at a mini local type comic-con meet with b-list Nashville celebrities. Jerry gets all the attention while a national treasure of a comedian is walking around right next to him unnoticed. Andy...Andrew is in his 70s. He is living with COPD and does not do much of anything strenuous. I did yard work for him (unknowingly) and then I ran into him at Walmart weeks later. This was 2018ish. He actually came up to me and thanked me for the good job and wanted me to come back. I kinda got to know him as just a nice old guy I was doing work for. Then through small talk he started telling me about his past. He is unbelievably modest, sincere, and open. Just like "yeah, my name is Andy Kaufman. I was on some t.v. shows in the 70s and 80s. I did comedy work and then retired. People think Im dead...hahaha". He is almost unrecognizable but if you look close and listen to him talk, you know its him. He will tell you exactly who he is but his story is so audacious that people blow him off as loony. But when a loony old man claiming to be someone famous shows you pictures of him with other famous people, you gotta question the validity of what he is saying. I have seen with my own two eyes, in person, a picture, in my hand, of him and Jim Carrey when the movie came out. This is why there are so many celebrities who will not give a straight answer when asked if he really died. Andy even posted an elaborate scheme on how he would fake his own death. There are a handful of locals around here that will straight up say "yes, he lives right around here, we see him often". He shops at Walmart. He loves Chips Ahoy cookies...the soft ones because he cant chew the hard ones. He is a huge fan of The Office.
8:28 the security guard starts patting Andy's back when the audience starts clapping, everyone was in on this and most likely very happy to see Andy do something outrageous.
i think he might have been joking. at one part he almost starts laughing. tbh the whole thing was kind of mean. sure am glad society has come so far since then!
Does anyone know....while the rest of the world pronounced his name "Koff-man," why did Dave pronounce it "Kowf-man?" He's the only person in the universe i've ever heard say this, and he did it in every one of Kaufman's appearances.
Had about 4 yrs. left when this aired, the coughing is kind of eerie when you consider that cancer can start exhibiting symptoms well before it's diagnosed. Did he have a chronic cough and just started incorporating it into his act? This routine makes me wonder if Joaquin Pheonix had watched it and decided to try something similar.
Why should everyone understand his humor? Be thankful they don't. Because if they did, he'd be Bob Hope. So not understanding his humor is the most joyful thing ... but you may not understand that.
Andy Kaufman was hilarious! The movie Man on the Moon missed the mark. I don't think Milos Forman or Jim Carrey quite understood Kaufman's nuanced performance art!
Here is a real mind bender for you. The same people that voted Andy off of Saturday night way back in the 70's, are now senior citizens and are the same ones that are writing all of the nasty comments about Andy down below. Andy was not a comedian, he was like the Greatest, Muhammad Ali. Ali would mess with the mind of his opponent so brilliantly in the ring that he would con his way out of being knocked out. Ernie Shavers, who just passed away spoke about this in detail many times along with many other fighters that had the champ in trouble. Andy did the same thing to audiences. He simply solicited reactions from the audience. He wanted them to hate him, other times, to feel sorry for him. The point is that he would take them where he wanted them to go. Many people hated this because they didn't possess the intellectual acuity to understand that the man was just messing with their minds. Isn't it ironic that these same fools back in the 70's are the same people today that were so easily duped by a con man that laughed at them behind their backs? Yes folks, these are the same people that voted for and placed a clinically insane man into the white house...But they hated Andy. There it is.
I thought you were talking about Trump until I saw the first reply and checked how old the comment was. Trump likes to talk a lot, even as a president it seemed like he would just kind of talk for the sake of talking. Led to a few "candid" feeling moments, felt more like a genuine person. Joe Biden may have been an over correction, as he seems labored in his speeches. An image of strength and actual strength are two different things, and a political bias is not intrinsically meaningful because you REALLY appreciated Andy Kaufman.
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Hey Letterman TH-cam channel - you forgot that Andy was on the previous day's show. He was clean and showbiz jovial but after a couple of minutes Dave cut the interview short because Edwin Newman had to read the morning news. So Dave invited him to come back the next day. (This clip). This is what makes the joke so brilliant Andy is in the same clothes as the previous day ! His downward spiral happened in one day! Please post the two days together
LOL! That makes this so hilarious, didn't know that.
Greenblatt ftw
Wow that makes it so much funnier😅😂😊😂😂😂
That's great insight. Never knew that!
He was a true comedic genius....
Andy Kaufman doesn't really say a word till the 2-minute mark and completely crushes the room, then has the balls to amplify all that nervous tension and kill the vibe in service of a gag. Such an innovator
YOU IDIOTS ARE SENSELESS HE WAS VERY TROUBLED WITHIN HIMSELF....ANY LIFE SENSITIVE BEING WOULD KNOW THIS.THIS WORLD NEVER KNEW ANDY......I AM ANDY
he's not a comedy genius its' just ackward not funny at all
he died 4 years later of an illness. This performance is so convincing that I wonder if he quietly was aware of his illness already and that it may have been part of the reason that he left Taxi and was not working as much. If so, then its all the more amazing that he delivered this gag in that state.
@@AiVaultGuy To each their own I guess. But I feel sorry for you that you can't enjoy Andy Kaufmans brilliant style of comedy.
@@ccricc sorry his comedy is not for me, Im more into eddie murhpy, richard prior and dave chapelle stuff. Im sure that in a top 10 or even 20 list of best comedian ever Andy Kaufman doesn't have a place
To his credit in the first few minutes of this in particular Letterman is also absolutely brilliant, reads the audience reaction perfectly, and gives Andy time to work.
Totally, the tension and laughs come from Letterman trying to get Andy to break
Absolutely. I think Dave is underrated at that. He lets people shine and steps in when needed. I just found out recently that Dave said Andy always tipped him off where he was going so Dave had an idea how to work, Joaquin let him know too; but Dave still gave it a real impression about it and sold the act.
he broke within the first 10 seconds. 1 on a snot/ tissue joke.. and the other at a bad breath joke... "do you want a mint" literally the 2 things he broke at. Dudes as amateur as it gets..@@noblemaremilker
Nah, they would have laughed no matter what he did and how he did it.
@@ChristopherPederson You must be watching the wrong video. Or just not understand much about breaking, comedy, what amateur means, or anything else.
I believe he was the first to do this style of comedy - make it weird and awkward for the audience and never break character. Keep the “joke” going by getting the audience to that uncomfortable place. Letterman always got Andy Kaufman. So brilliant. Both Kaufman and Letterman.
sort of like the original Nathan Fielder
I'll never understand what's "brilliant", "genius" or entertaining about that. Any kid making troll videos could be considered a brilliant genius if making people uncomfortable for no reason is the gold standard of entertainment and intelligence
Probably the first to be recorded.
@@sicidamara7061 ... Don't worry, you're not missing anything. It's pathetic.
@@sicidamara7061 Exactly. People will call a man with a new schtick "genius" at the drop of a hat.
Andy Kaufman: life itself as both art and performance.
Telling the audience not to laugh was brilliant.
I've never heard a comedian ask the audience not to laugh! Really strange!
@@janorhypercleats The wry little smile he gives as he says it. Genius
@@janorhypercleats many people didn't understand Kaufman and his work. I was one of the lucky ones. I got everything, 100 percent.
He was trying to tell the audience about his lung cancer
@@janorhypercleats The only other time I seen it happen before was when Jerry Seinfeld told an audience on a talk show to not laugh when Micheal Richard was trying to apologize for his...little rant that one time. It's very surreal hearing someone who's job is to make people laugh telling them not to and to take something serious.
The only difference is unlike with Kaufman here, Jerry was being serious. He really didn't like people laughing which...I'll be honest, makes it funnier to me.
He was fearless! It’s so uncomfortable and hilarious
Not funny at all.
Andy was so far ahead of his time, TO THIS DAY, no one can match him. Showing up on a talk show to announce you're out of work and struggling is so counter to the whole concept of talk shows you had to be genius to notice the humour there, let alone pull it off with a straight face.
So true, there still isn't anyone that has come close to Andy, 100 years ahead of his time easy.
a little man named tim heidecker. just look up tim and eric's clown town debuts on broadway, it's a colbert show interview. absolutely fantastic
What exactly was so good about his routines though?
I just watched this and was bored. The coughing was over the top.
@@anarchycastro hard to explain i guess, as jokes tend to be. to me it was hilarious, i love his control over the awkwardness. but i can see most of my friends not smiling once during this video. it's a matter of taste
@@anarchycastro Who asked if you were bored or not?
I'm a Brit, never seen this guy before but this skit cracked me up, especially when he was bumming loose change from the audience. Top class. How he kept a straight face is beyond me. Ten out of ten.
Well you need to see man on the moon. Jim Carey plays Andy Kauffman. The REM song man on the moon is loosly based on Kaufman but what makes Jims attachment so so weird is for the months filming Man On The Moon Jim refused not even for a seconds for all the months to be spoke to as Jim Carey he stayed in character the entire time. That movie in the end changed Jim CAREY for the rest of his life. He stopped being a bigtime movie star and was trasnformed if you will spiritually because of Andy's style and there was then a documentary made of Jim being Andy called Jim & Andy : The Great Beyond. If you liked this spare change clip you havent lived until you see man on the moon.
He was a one of a kind. Please watch the movie Man on the Moon with Jim Carey
Did anyone see Bob Zmuda in the audience?
@@ExtremePainGames Thanks for the info. I am definitely going to look at the film and documentary that you suggested to me
He made a few appearances on letterman, each one he plays a different character. My personal favourite is where he appears with his mom and dad and pretends to be a little kid. Then there's one where he appears with 3 random dudes claiming they are his adopted sons lmao
Genius! The King of awkward situation comedy.
To me this is easily his best appearance. When his hand comes up for money at the end I laugh so hard.
Yes he was. His wife filed for divorce, got the house, the kids, and all of his money. Well, most of his money
@@tubby6339 thanks! That's crazy. He wasn't acting here! 😂 Gonna take that out of my comment 👍
I also laughed damn hard when he died:
on 🫁 ♋️
🤣
You might be right. The subtle stuff he does here is very impressive. An awful lot of people fell for it. It wouldn't totally surprise me if he re-appeared even now, in 2023, as an old man, having pulled the ultimate performance art gag.
Agree. How letterman kept it together I have no idea.
He almost lost it at, “Can I get you a mint?” Gold!
Yup, there was a little twinkle.
Supressed a little smile there. :D
Letterman always wanted to take risks, hence this calabre of guest.
Wonderful.
He broke character so many times was unprofessional. He was no NORM macdonald
@@St.petersEye why you comparing them. Enjoy both, you'll be happier
andy kaufman's talent is unmatched. he can make people laugh with the smallest gestures. no one has ever matched his delivery.
completely overated he's not a comedy genius its' just ackward not funny at all and it wouldn't work with today's audiences
@vault
The audiences of the 70s were 500 times more refined and cultured than the audiences of today. The audiences of today gobble up trash that wouldn't even make it onto the radio in the 70s.
@@AiVaultGuylmao okay so it wasn’t a typo you actually spell like that.
@@AiVaultGuydefinitely overrated
Andy was probably the most fascinating complex comedian of all time
Amazing how this man could put on a dramatic act like this, almost like a character study. He wasn't just a comedian, he was a performer on many levels.
He’s doing the exact opposite of everything you are supposed to do. He does the interview in his stand up and the standup in the interview haha. The cough is great too.
Unfortunately the coughing was real. It was the beginning stages of the lung cancer that killed him.
Cough was real
@@abbadabbba232 - No, it wasn't real. It was clearly part of the act. That he happen to have lung cancer has nothing to do with it. People don't necessarily go around coughing all the time, because they have beginning lung cancer.
@@Beeti1Lung cancer diers don't cough y'all.
@@illustriouschin - Wow, not very impressive logic you have there. You equate "don't necessarily go around coughing all the time" with "don't cough".
Kaufman was a comic genius, and Letterman was a genius for recognizing this, as well as giving Norm MacDonald a platform.
These guys all hung out at the same comedy clubs. I'm sure they were like a club and being unsaid but observed...if one makes it big and can help the other it's on.
@@samsmith4216
Yep.
Like me, did you ever wonder, is Kaufman doing a comedy bit or is he serious?
I think most people wondered about that and that was part of Kaufman's genius. Is this MF'er serious or is he playing with me? 😂
Absolutely. I wondered that too.
@Josh Traffanstedt I don't think many people got that at first, but yes, absolutely he was.
You had to ruin it, by mentioning Norm M.
He brings comedy to another level. No one has surpassed him till today
the mainstream today doesnt facilitate people like this, even back then letterman would pull from outside of the mainstream. but like theres no kaufmans, theres no lettermans either. they exist, you just wont find them on network television or mainstream streaming services.
he's not a comedy genius its' just ackward not funny at all and it wouldn't work with today's audiences
I think he started as a comedian but in later years he just wanted to confuse people
I think the only person who can close with the same style of controlling the audience would be Sacha Baron Cohen
what happened today?
at the 5:32 mark you see him almost break, he has a quick slight smile after he tells the audience not to laugh lol
Good catch!
Same when Dave asks him if he wants a mint
Being hilarious without saying a single word. That's real comedy genius. One of a kind
They say it takes a genius to play a fool. Einstein of comedy.
Trying to convince yourself you’re not dumb.
@@dash-underscore_name. I'm not educated beyond my intelligence nor intelligent beyond my understanding. I wonder...what YOUR trying to say? I'm sure your just great ;)
@@goligogo923 no exactly what it means.This is TH-cam it’s nothing personal.
It genuinely does, but what do I know.
The meow at 6:20 was brilliant!
Obviously Stupid Pet Tricks was waiting in the wings...
Epic
I can’t stop watching this video. The world needs Andy so bad right now.
Right, another troll is definitely what the world needs right now 🙄
@@Cheeseiest1 hahahaha you’re a troll
@@ZYXWVUQ992Q it's what Kaufman would want
Iv never seen anyone as original as Andy , pushing the boundaries at any expense, a true artist .
I bumped into Andy last year in Mexico, nice guy
Andy's dead!
Andy died in 1984, please learn to lie better lmao
@@BeatleVerseis he really though hahaha
@@BeatleVerseyou fell for that? This is one of his bits.
@@dmrr7739 I mean I was trying to go for sarcasm, but I guess it didn't work out lol
Andy's been gone almost 40 years now, and it still feels too soon.
Not gone.
he will come back in 10 years
@@nataliezementbeisser1492 They said that ten years ago.
@@allendracabal0819 This time it will be different. Talk to me in 10 years.
@@nataliezementbeisser1492 Last time they said this time will be different. Anyway, I just added it to my calendar.
Thanks for this. So great. I'd forgotten about how innovative AK was. Also to mention, this was Letterman's first TV show, a summer daytime TV show replete with real news, seriously read by Edwin Newman, the NBC News stalwart. Dave was only beginning to become "Dave" at this time, and his instincts were dead on here to encourage Kaufman, even though he, like the audience, may not have gotten it right away. You can see Kaufman enjoying the bit so much he almost laughs a couple of times.
You know that fight scene with the wrestler - I totally bought it for years. He yet lives on as: 'laugh after death'...
Andy came close to cracking a couple of times
Right 5:33 there
During the snot scene as well.
3:46 also
Well Maggie mentioned 0:44 and 1:19... personally I think mines are the best
It’s hard to fathom someone committing this hard to trolling the audience in every single television/public appearance. It’s pretty gutsy, but he made it work and we’re still thinking about him. He was an absolute genius and I’m happy that there were others that understood what he was doing so that we got to see it
Letterman was the king of Late Night talk shows. By far the best and most entertaining.
Andy's performance is so well delivered here, that I have to wonder, if he had been diagnosed already or had some idea that he was not well. It would be 4 years later that he would die of his illness. Maybe part of the reason he left Taxi was that he quietly was aware that he was ill.
This is what I was thinking and with Andy you just never know❤
This cough is fake, his real cough didn't start until 3 years later in November '83. Just a tragic coincidence.
Wrong. This aired three years before he even showed symptoms of lung cancer, so what you said is 100% incorrect.
@@oilersridersbluejays Showing symptoms and knowing something in private are two very different things.
Illnesses can show up in blood work or other tests before debilitating symptoms arise. Sometimes people choose to keep those secret even from loved ones. Often not wanting to give them concern.
Also wondering and knowing are also two very different things. I made no claim of correctness. I questioned a possibility. I did not assert it as truth. A nuance you seem to have overlooked.
One of the greatest 20th century comedians. Still making us laugh today long after he is gone. That’s pretty great. Lol he does such an EXCELLENT job of seeming socially anxious and awkward!….
Hasn't even spoken and the audience is already applauding! He was a genius!
They always do that anyway
A perfect example of Andy Kaufman's genius. To all intents and purposes he seemingly and realistically appears to be going through a personal hell. He stays committed to this premise and manages to make not being funny downright hilarious 😂
Kaufman: The OG “social media” prankster.
There would be no Tim and Eric or Eric Andre without Andy.
Or Andre the Giant.
like tim dying playing the recorder in that one sketch of talented musicians, hosted by a dude outside a va
Tim and Eric are trash. Tom Green, Sam Hyde and Mike David are 20 times better than those fools.
All 3 of them are not funny. Cringey people just having melt downs and doing weird random stuff
Comic Guinness! How he kept a straight face is beyond my comprehension. He did smirk a little at one time yet regressed back to his blank face seconds later. He pulled the audience into his venus fly trap by telling everyone he was serious about what he was saying. Only a comical professional can hypnotize an audience to force believe his stories so that he can obtain sympathy and empathy and then reach a crescendo of money being thrown at him. A shame Andy was taken from us way too soon. At least we can enjoy his comedy anytime we want on TH-cam.
Everybody always comes on and talks about how great they’re doing and all the projects they’re working on. Andy comes on destitute, can’t get any work, his wife took the kids and he needs money 🤣 I applaud Letterman for being able to play off such a weird bit so well
so good
No comic alive today could pull this off. Andy made this style of comedy look so natural but people don’t tend to realize how hard it is to fake sincerity. With Andy you never really could tell if he was being for real or if it was an act, and that was the beauty of it - the audience was the punchline.
Check out Joe Pera. Not quite the same, but he warps sincerity in a really fun way and takes crowd risks big time. A lot of fun.
No one would even get close. This was fantastic.
Sort of a metaphor for life itself..should we be taking this seriously?..Is this some kind of joke?…🧐
Funny thing about Joe Pera. He puts on a character voice when he's doing his schtick. However, when you hear his actual natural voice it's 98% the same voice.
@@cedricwilford
borat comes very close
When you think of all the comedians who've left their marks on our hearts and in our minds, none did it quite like Andy Kaufman. He was one-of-a-kind in his field. Nobody before, or since, has ever managed to pull off the same kind of comedy that he did. With Andy, you never quite knew for sure who was in on the joke, or to what extent. You'd often find yourself laughing as much from awkwardness as you would from delight. That's why, even after he died, it took a while for people to actually accept that he was dead, because faking his own death is exactly the sort of thing Andy would do to get a laugh.
Making a reappearance 40 years later is something he would do too
Can you imagine Andy trying this with Jimmy Fallon? He’d be giggling and unable to do it, making it about him. Dave was a great straight man for him.
Fallon blows
This guy and Peter Sellers were on a different plain then the rest of us.
Don't forget Norm
Let’s not forget Mr. Bean !
The way the scene is posed when he sits on the stool how his feet just dangle there in those damn wrinkled yellow pants its just a 10/10 for sure.
Anything that makes Dave look uncomfortable works for me .
Andy was the best at making people uncomfortable. It was a brilliant set-up to produce tension that he could release in a second w/ the right move. A master.
Dave plays along perfectly, that what makes it so funny. They both know exactly what they’re doing.
Good comedians make you laugh. Great comedians also make you think. Thank you for the video. Sweet sorrow.
Can't believe Jeffery Dahmer gave him money in audience. 😂
I knew it was going to happen but i still found it hilarious when he begged for money. I laughed so hard I fell off my chair and nearly broke my glasses.
And Kauffman was a classic Dadaist, with a bit of surrealism
Andy is an example of a sad clown paradox. His deadpan humour and how he brought things got people in stitches even if he did not wanted to.
thank you for that insight!
@@Bram25 what can i read on this type of performance and others?
he's bewildered that after all this time and all those gags he can still confound them. He knew this deep down and he knew he was making comedy for the distant future.
His stuff is so brilliant it’s not even meant for the 21st century. The guys comedy is otherworldly.
3:07 the moment Andy got the idea to ask the crowd for money.
This is more of a masterfully executed performance art piece than a 'skit'. It's no wonder avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson was drawn to him back in the day.
This could never be on network TV today. Amazing stuff.
Breaking moment when you see the guy pat him on the back as they walk through the door. I love this.
For 2 minutes straight, Andy said 1 million things without saying a single word with all those facial expressions... Lol
This is one of the most brilliant things I’ve ever seen on TH-cam.
He tries not to break by coughing. Pure genius!
He died of lung cancer
@@DazUK81 more like andy coughman
@DazUK81 yes I know and he used it in his act. Like they do in wrestling which is called "Kay Fabe"
@@DazUK81 - And? The cough was part of the act and had nothing to do with his cancer.
Andy you are missed. RIP.
Andy should be in the wwe Hall of fame
This is absolutely fabulous!
Dave's expression at the 8 m 2 s mark is priceless. As a great stand up comedian himself he knew how to play the perfect straight man.
Is there anyone better at the comedic pause than Gene Wilder or David Letterman?
Wow. Never seen that before. What an amazing talent!!
genius at his peak. unforgettable.
😂😂😂😂lowest possible bar for genius
@@tomsckay7point0 so for comment, dear ;)
@@angelodicandia hurt dear?
@@tomsckay7point0 how could you do so!
@@angelodicandia it was terrible of me, i just can't help being honest
Andy showed incredible restraint not bursting out laughing. He left that to everyone else.
My god, this is hilarious. A human treasure.
Kayfabe the world, Andy. 🌎
I ❤️ Andy
Thank you very much!
There's no way on God's clean Earth that I would be able to hold back the laughter had I been in the audience! 🤣🤣🤣
Wonderful. We need more of this.
Rest in peace Andy Kaufman 🥀🧸😭🙏🤘
omg. i'm rolling from this.
You could see him starting to brake at the beginning had me rolling even harder 😅😂😂
b r e a k
See him pat Andy on the back right before the door closed? That was fantastic.
Letterman knew how to make things more awkward by 'ummm.......uhhhh'
I bump into Mr. Kaufman at Walmart every now and then. He self-proclaims that this is the longest running practical joke in history, and he is so proud of it.
He died years ago, wtf mister ??
@@kristopherdetar4346 No, he is very much alive and living in a small town between Memphis and Nashville. In fact, he is close friends with Jerry Lawler. I've actually seen Jerry in public with Andy at a mini local type comic-con meet with b-list Nashville celebrities. Jerry gets all the attention while a national treasure of a comedian is walking around right next to him unnoticed. Andy...Andrew is in his 70s. He is living with COPD and does not do much of anything strenuous. I did yard work for him (unknowingly) and then I ran into him at Walmart weeks later. This was 2018ish. He actually came up to me and thanked me for the good job and wanted me to come back. I kinda got to know him as just a nice old guy I was doing work for. Then through small talk he started telling me about his past. He is unbelievably modest, sincere, and open. Just like "yeah, my name is Andy Kaufman. I was on some t.v. shows in the 70s and 80s. I did comedy work and then retired. People think Im dead...hahaha". He is almost unrecognizable but if you look close and listen to him talk, you know its him. He will tell you exactly who he is but his story is so audacious that people blow him off as loony. But when a loony old man claiming to be someone famous shows you pictures of him with other famous people, you gotta question the validity of what he is saying. I have seen with my own two eyes, in person, a picture, in my hand, of him and Jim Carrey when the movie came out. This is why there are so many celebrities who will not give a straight answer when asked if he really died. Andy even posted an elaborate scheme on how he would fake his own death. There are a handful of locals around here that will straight up say "yes, he lives right around here, we see him often". He shops at Walmart. He loves Chips Ahoy cookies...the soft ones because he cant chew the hard ones. He is a huge fan of The Office.
He died 40 years ago.
This puts Joaquin Phoenix's infamous letterman appearance in so much better context. So much inspiration.
A few years later Dave got it again with crispin glover 😂
This was filmed 44 years ago today. RIP Andy!
8:28 the security guard starts patting Andy's back when the audience starts clapping, everyone was in on this and most likely very happy to see Andy do something outrageous.
Very cool.
Truly there was no one like Andy. Many did not get his humor, which I can understand. He was an "acquired taste" as one person (forgot who) said.
A total genius
That is the saddest clip I’ve ever seen in my life 😢
i think he might have been joking. at one part he almost starts laughing. tbh the whole thing was kind of mean. sure am glad society has come so far since then!
Well don’t take it too seriously. He was neither married nor had any kids (at least kids that he raised).
Man was a world class troll, just brilliant.
Did the audience know they were witnessing one of the funniest things to happen in the history of mankind?
This is just fantastic.
Does anyone know....while the rest of the world pronounced his name "Koff-man," why did Dave pronounce it "Kowf-man?" He's the only person in the universe i've ever heard say this, and he did it in every one of Kaufman's appearances.
Dave was actually pronouncing it correctly, unlike the word "greasy."
The name Kaufman, at least the Jewish-German variant, should be pronounced exactly how Dave is pronouncing it.
Had about 4 yrs. left when this aired, the coughing is kind of eerie when you consider that cancer can start exhibiting symptoms well before it's diagnosed. Did he have a chronic cough and just started incorporating it into his act? This routine makes me wonder if Joaquin Pheonix had watched it and decided to try something similar.
7:08 he should have had that cough looked at.
Too soon.
more like andy coughman
The master of changing it up, staying interesting and as relevant as any man with no talent for as long as possible.
Tha saddest Thing about the Video, is the people in the comment section not understanding his Humor .
that adds to the hilarity for me
Why should everyone understand his humor? Be thankful they don't. Because if they did, he'd be Bob Hope. So not understanding his humor is the most joyful thing ... but you may not understand that.
The word is overused, but Andy really was a comedic genius. And Dave did a great job playing the straight man for him.
Comedy gold 🤣🤣
When Letterman asks if he can get him a mint you can see in Kaufman's eyes that he wants to laugh.
The original troller.
See how bad he was treated for being real and truthful. His story is very sad . Rip
Andy's ladies' wrestling gigs were classic. Forget WWE, he was the real deal. 😱🚬
Andy was a genius
Andy Kaufman was hilarious! The movie Man on the Moon missed the mark. I don't think Milos Forman or Jim Carrey quite understood Kaufman's nuanced performance art!
This has to go down as one of the greatest talk show appearances of all time.
Here is a real mind bender for you. The same people that voted Andy off of Saturday night way back in the 70's, are now senior citizens and are the same ones that are writing all of the nasty comments about Andy down below. Andy was not a comedian, he was like the Greatest, Muhammad Ali. Ali would mess with the mind of his opponent so brilliantly in the ring that he would con his way out of being knocked out. Ernie Shavers, who just passed away spoke about this in detail many times along with many other fighters that had the champ in trouble. Andy did the same thing to audiences. He simply solicited reactions from the audience. He wanted them to hate him, other times, to feel sorry for him. The point is that he would take them where he wanted them to go. Many people hated this because they didn't possess the intellectual acuity to understand that the man was just messing with their minds. Isn't it ironic that these same fools back in the 70's are the same people today that were so easily duped by a con man that laughed at them behind their backs? Yes folks, these are the same people that voted for and placed a clinically insane man into the white house...But they hated Andy. There it is.
I got and loved Andy the first 3 seconds I saw him. The folks who didn't are the ones who just voted for the senile in chief.
I thought you were talking about Trump until I saw the first reply and checked how old the comment was. Trump likes to talk a lot, even as a president it seemed like he would just kind of talk for the sake of talking. Led to a few "candid" feeling moments, felt more like a genuine person. Joe Biden may have been an over correction, as he seems labored in his speeches. An image of strength and actual strength are two different things, and a political bias is not intrinsically meaningful because you REALLY appreciated Andy Kaufman.
He almost breaks character when Dave asks if he wants a mint lol
A lot of people saying it but I disagree. It is his character and a huge part of why it makes us laugh.