Andy Kaufman: The Funniest Man in Wrestling | TALES FROM THE TERRITORIES

[Music] when comedian Andy Kaufman arrived from Hollywood the wrestling world was forever changed [Music] my feet [Music] in comedy clubs and on TV shows like Merv Griffin Mike Douglas and these kind of shows he was billing himself as the inter-gender wrestling champion he had a T-shirt and everything and then and uh yeah he had all of this stuff and he would go on these shows and offer a thousand dollars to any woman that could come up out of the audience and beat him in a wrestling match and no plans it was legit it was all legit yeah that was how he got the audience involved and made the match really mean something he went out and first of all he would he would cut his promo it takes a certain way of thinking a certain strategy women I do not think possess this I just don't think they do you know he would say only you women you need to be scrubbing the dishes and the diapering babies and that sort of stuff [Music] he Kaufman calls Jerry Jared on the phone his pitch is a whole idea to him I'm skeptical that it's Andy come I said and you call him and work it up with him so I put it on his plate so Andy calls you so Andy calls me and all Andy wanted to do was just come down and fulfill a lifelong dream of wrestling in front of wrestling fans and all Jerry and I are thinking about is how can we make money off of this guy yeah no I'm with you so here's a big Hollywood TV I mean taxi was the number one rated show in the country at that time one of the stars of the show wants to come to Memphis and be at our show at the Coliseum come on down and so I talked with him and and I tried to give him the big build up of how we really need to make this thing huge the storyline a storyline and so he he started sending in some interviews knocked the South not women we started playing them on Saturday mornings you don't have any brains you're from Memphis Tennessee all you do is plow the fields and farm on the farm no bill for Tennessee and that drove him nuts dream machine remember him he come up to me and he said he shouldn't say that like that on TV I hate him I said what he said yeah and I say that around me I am a national television star and I want the respect that I deserve when I come down to Memphis and we got a ton of publicity out of it yes without a doubt just the big Hollywood star coming to town with the scene look like at the Coliseum the first time he walked out well it was it was pandemonium sold out the first night [Music] I hated him so much they just wanted to come and see the hopefully any woman to just you know give him his comeuppance [Music] just every woman is out there waving their arms and everything and he's go you you you you legit legit yeah and uh so these women balls alone so these women came down now all of a sudden they're gonna get in a ring in front of 10 000 fans right he was a great heel just a natural heal you know wrestling yeah well he knew he told me he said I know enough to not get me on my back and he said because then you know the only way they're going to pin me you wrestle all of these five women and he's declared the winner right and in Andy's mind that's really all he came to do was wrestle that one time and Jerry and I said we got to work a return some kind of way and and Jerry and I's mindset back in that day was all about putting butts in the seats at the Mid-South Coliseum or Louisville Gardens it's only Revenue stream yeah that was it I mean that was that was our main focus all we did was go in and say Andy this was great it was it was awesome we needed we told him we need to work a return you need to come back and do this again next week I mean his eyes lit up really I could come back and do it again know he was he was kind of and he was kind of a weird duck but not anything like you know backstage you know he was he was shy and he was humble and I mean and he was same age as me and Dutch never called me anything but Mr Lawler never call me Jerry just always Mr Lawler and I'm telling many times look Mr long was my dad I'm Jerry I'm sorry Mr Lawler but he just loved the business respected it so much and so we brought him back the second week he picked out five women again Andy had pretty much man ahead of the first four and except for finally they ring the bell in in ghost young lady named foxy [Music] came towards her and you couldn't have scripted this any brother foxy grabs and she body slammed him oh my God came off and he starts crawling to try to get out of the ring he grabs a bottle of rope and she's pulling his pants off the pants are coming off trying to get him back in the ring and she gave him the match of his life and the people were going crazy and finally I think she just got tired lost all her energy and Andy was able to finally Pinner but it was just great so when he got to the back I said oh my gosh Andy yeah we got a damn thing he's gonna say you immediately thinking I'll bring another return to your thing in return right another return and I said I said here's what we got to do Andy I said I'll go out on TV I'll get this foxy I'll bring her on TV and I'll tell the people that she did so well against this jerk Andy Kaufman that just a few pointers here and there and me and her Corner she'll be able to beat Andy Kaufman and he's loving this right loving it and this is where Andy went on TV and then and said here's what I'm gonna do if foxy can beat me not only will will I give her five thousand dollars [Music] it was a class and he just came up with that right yeah that happened on Saturday morning you know every Saturday morning our Saturday morning TV show of course was a 90-minute commercial for what was going to happen Monday night for you today and I think so I'll never forget me and Foxy went out on TV live that morning and she looked at me and said I wouldn't marry Andy Kaufman if he was the last man on Earth I honestly believe that now that she knew what she was going to do that she was you know she was prepared for this I thought she would beat him not she was going to wrestle coughing she said uh Dutch what do you think I should do and I said well I try to get him early and just do your best and I'm counting and she went in there and she took him down a crowd was going nuts and she blew up and Andy abused he beat her in that match and then he just started slapping her turn her over rubbing her face in the mat and me standing in the corner there's 10 000 fans going Jerry there's your girl you ever the pointers what are you gonna do and so you know I'd win the ring and I literally just kind of pulled him off I mean nothing vicious or hard or anything because I'm in my mind he is a big Hollywood stars all of a sudden his eyes just like you can't put your hands on me you're a professional wrestler you can't touch me I'm a star I'm from Hollywood I will sue you you don't touch me I'm baby I had no clue what was going on this is all Andy he threatened to sue everybody that was in there crowd that night I think he said leave your name at the door and I'll see you later yeah and so so he goes back to his own dress room I come back into into my dressing room and Jerry's there and then all of a sudden Eddie comes in and goes how was that yeah and listen listen it was great it was great but we gotta get we got to keep going now and that's when he and I actually sat down and started talking about uh having a match foreign

Channel: VICE TV

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Keywords: vice, vice tv, tv, television, documentaries, culture, lifestyle, world, vice magazine, vice videos, True Crime, Drugs, andy kaufman, jerry lawler, classic memphis wrestling, documentaries 2023, wrestling, Tony Clifton, kaufman, andy kafman full, andy kaufman wrestle women, tony clifton, tony clifton wrestling, comedy, comedy special, bob zmunda, andy kaufman jerry lawler, kaufman vs lawler, andy kaufman boxing, andy kaufman wrestling, wwe, andy kaufman wwe full fight, full match

Id: LcJSb460C6I

Length: 8min 47sec (527 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 29 2023