You probably remember Mr. Andy Kaufman best from his role as the cute and innocent mechanic on the hit sitcom "Taxi." But his influence on comedy as well as the entire art of performing runs a world deeper than that one character. He's blazed one of the most interesting, weird, and entertaining trails of comedy. Some of his bizarre accomplishments are creating character Tony Clifton (one of the biggest hoaxes in Hollywood history), serving the ENTIRE audience at Carnagie Hall cookies and milk, and even wrestling women during his shows; managing to maintain his Intergender Championship Title, a catagory of his design (you heard right, Women!!).
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Andy's television debute was on the launching of the very first episode of "Saturday Night Live" in the mid-Seventies. Here, as seen in the photo on the left, he lip-synched the theme to mighty mouse - Kaufman style.
Hear Kaufman Lip-Synching the Theme to Mighty Mouse. So intrigued was the audience by this "crazy little weird man" the producers of "Saturday Night" soon invited him back on the show to explore even more facets of his personality.
(Hear Andy's strange SNL Audition)
Here Andy unveiled one of his most fascinating features - his ability to fool the audience. At the top of his act Andy would come out on stage as a befuddled immigrant trying to do stand-up. (to here some of his terrible stand-up Click Here) After a while the audience actually believed this was a sorry foreign comedian just trying to make them laugh. He did a few impersonations, that were horrible, until he got to the Elvis Presley. (Intro to Elvis) He would strap on a Presley jacket and become Elvis. It wasn't till then the audience realized they had just became apart of the punchline.
Now that Andy was gaining popularity and helped make "Saturday Night Live" an incredible success ABC had to launch a counter-attack to this new sketch comedy craze. Their solution would be the show "Fridays." They knew they needed some star power to make the show work and Andy Kaufman was world famous for his practical jokes and improv. So naturally the producers thought it to be an interesting idea to have Mr. Kaufman on the show. Little did they know that during live T.V. he'd break away from a sketch and completely stop the show. This caused a brawl on the set and caused a stir in the media for weeks. Find out more about the Fridays Fiasco
As most Kaufman fans know ever since Andy was just a little kid he always dreamed of being a famous professional wrestler. This infatuation with wrestling eventually leaked into his routines and movie career. Andy did a spoof of the movie "Dinner with Andre," a movie about two men engaging in deep philisophical conversation, by recording his breakfast with 1950's wrestling legend Freddie Blassie called, "My Breakfast with Blassie" however the movie flopped. 
Another area his wrestling obsession touched was his comedy routines. Andy would call up any woman from the audience who thought could beat him in a match, and have the audience pick who he would wrestle. This is considered by most to be one of his more bizarre acts and caused many to believe he was literally, clinically, and certifiably insane.
One of the biggest hoaxes in Hollywood, the character Tony Clifton proved to the world that Andy Kaufman was truely the master manipulator. A lounge singer from Vegas, Clifton was Andy's alter-ego. He would be crude, rude, and obnoxious on and off stage, causing everyone to despise him. Andy always denied that he and Clifton were the same person. He would demand seperate airfair and dressing rooms for Tony Clifton. What most people don't know, however, is that after creating this character he handed it over to friend and writer Bob Zmuda who played Tony Clifton on most of his television appearances, enabling Andy and Clifton to be in the same place at the same time.
It was only fitting that Andy died in such a way that everyone genuinely believed it was another elaborate hoax. However it wasn't. Andy Kaufman was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer given only a few months to live. Even in the face of tragedy Andy managed to keep his spirits up, always getting a kick out of people who thought it was just another prank. 
Andy also sought after alternative medicines and cures for his ailment even visiting a "healer" in the Phillipines, but to no avail. On May 16, 1984 Andy "Troubadour" Kaufman passed away, leaving the world with one of the most bizarre legacys and making an impact on the worlds of comedy and performance art that can never be forgotten.
These soundclips are in Real Audio Format. To get a Real Audio Player Click here
Andy doing his Elvis immitation
Special thanks to The Andy Kaufman Homepage, the originators of the famous Kaufman sillouette and Andy Kaufman Timeline, for the pictures
Andy singing part of "It's a Small World After All"
Andy's Wrestling Theme
Tony Clifton Performing
Andy Taunting the Crowd or An Ode to Lawler - enjoy!!!
Andy "singing" everybody a story
Andy's most infamous T.V. appearance
Andy playing Stud Muffin, Vic Ferrari
Kaufman's musical appearance on "The Mike Douglas Show"
