Andy Kaufman on Letterman , February 17, 1982

[Music] [Applause] 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 [Applause] look where folks are crazy about you you look good you look like you feel good yes you feel good and a reason I mentioned that maybe you don't way 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 were had fallen on hard times and things obviously better now huh things are much much better now that's good that's good and II had some problems and you were kind enough to be very frank with us one morning I always believed in being honest I always believed 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 a I guess a good time now yeah yeah good time for me okay I think so yeah what I wanted to talk to you about now you uh 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 when Elvis Presley passed away because I felt it just wasn't right you know and what I found that during the next year that 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 he had a Christmas special about a year after Elvis's death and asked me to do the imitation from the Grand Ole Opry on his Christmas special and I thought okay I'll 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 and in Nashville just loved it and ever since then I do it every once in a while just need a special thing so things were you were quite well received doing it that's good yeah 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 and 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 invitation but then I was asked to do this sketch where I asked as Elvis I - girls - to wrestle each other and with nothing but their panties on and this was a reference this is a reference to a book by Albert Goldman right it's supposed to be an expose of Elvis's personal life and I I didn't want to do this 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 will ruin you you'll never work again this business will ruin your reputation spin yeah we really will 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 so so I did the sketch but I just couldn't find it within my 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 I just don't do this this is a 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 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 mm-hmm you know let's talk about it let's debate I say he I don't approve of the book and he apparently does I guess so I said let's read because he wrote no but so I said well let's let's debate let's have a debate of 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 wanna 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 I mean the man does not want to 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 mean 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 he I think he's a wimp and I just and if I may can I say something to them right now what I just okay we want to look at something else but quickly okay I just want to say where'd you kill 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 that I'm challenging you right now I would like you I'd 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 is write about people who can't answer you back a lot of 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 winner I understand you also enjoy gardening we we want to talk now a little bit about your wrestling career okay we have some videotape and tell us what we're gonna take a look here at the Andy Kaufman wrestling who and where okay I I what started out as a joke a few years ago as part of my concert act now has become such a serious thing I've gotten chow I offer $1000 it was 500 now it's $1000 to any woman who could beat me in a wrestling match and this challenge to anyone in the country or in the world it 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 Tennessee and the first time challenging them then oh good [Applause] sighs when I spit okay I'll just be quiet I will play worked as it does to any woman there will be me in this ring I will not only do that I will shave my head completely ball if I ever beaten here any woman there will beat me as an extra prize she will get to marry me she will take my hand in marriage I will offer my hand at night yes she beats me right here [Applause] [Music] the first challenge Andy Kaufman undefeated coming in ever after a successful defense in an unusual 18 minute match from Atlantic City's playboy club papa going against Julie Jackson of Memphis Tennessee remember the rules state that Kaufman must be pinned he does not have to fend her we're now in the first 30 seconds of the three men in match and pop gun on top going for a pin one two three and you you turned out to be quite a fine young man thank you yeah and I just want to say that there now there's an inter-gender Wrestling Commission that ever were they rewarded me with this championship belt I'm now the world inter-gender wrestling champion well this is not a joke 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 had a hitting this is this is molded plastic no it's real it's real yeah it's a real belt and this is this is Playboy magazine I'm in the February issue they covered a ten-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 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 the crooked referee it was her referee I called them immediately upon reading this article I said playboy I will give her a rematch you ever do this this you're gonna call these people wimps - no no I'm just saying I'm just saying that playboy that they challenged me to a rematch in a magazine they're lying to the public because they challenged me to a rematch I called them up and say I want a rematch and they wouldn't even they said no way no way anything I think thank you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: Don Giller

Views: 810,033

Keywords: Andy Kaufman (Film Actor)

Id: YbBQTfSzwBQ

Length: 10min 58sec (658 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 09 2015