Personally, I have been a fan of Andy Kaufman for 20 years, since they began airing Taxi reruns on Nick At Nite. Shortly after that, they aired a special called "I`m From Hollywood" on Comedy Central and I never looked back.
I have never believed he is still alive. I used to get annoyed with the people who think so, too. hahaha But, at this point, I am of the belief his family is definitely in on it.
Go to YouTube and type in "Andy Kaufman Michael." There is video of Andy`s younger brother Michael on CNN talking about a young woman who got onstage at last November`s Andy Kaufman Award ceremony, claiming to be his daughter.
Furthermore, Michael claims to have been told to be at a certain restaurant at a certain time in 1999, and he was. It was there that he was given a letter, allegedly written by Andy, stating that he was alive and had a family.
If there were any doubt by any family, they would be demanding a DNA test of this young woman...at this point, even an exhumation of the body. They feel no need to do any of that.
Hmmm, interesting. I guess it never even occurred to Michael Kaufman to try and trace the origins of this letter.
I don`t think the family is doing this in a mean-spirited way. It is all being done in the spirit of Andy. Michael invited that young woman onstage. He had to have hired her. Because why would he let some random woman onstage with this story without demanding a DNA test first?
Then I realized.....here I am, claiming to not be fooled by it.... and yet I am typing out a thread about it here and I have spoken to family and friends about it, nonetheless. They got me...even if I don`t believe it. It worked. The point is to keep his spirit alive. I will bet that Andy is laughing at what his brother is doing from other side.
A lot of people think that Andy left specific people these specific instructions of what to do before he died to keep the hoax going.
I just don`t think so. I think it is possible, but not likely. He made a passing comment once, "Oh wouldn`t it be fun to fake my own death and come back in 20 years?" And then shortly after, he got sick. So people have taken that coincidence and have run with it.
People like to make the argument that he didn`t smoke, but uh...yeah he did. When he played Tony Clifton he did, not to mention all the heavy second-hand smoke from the comedy clubs that he was exposed to.
(He died of a rare lung cancer.)
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