Is Andy Kaufman Alive?

Michael Kaufman Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images — Michael Kaufman
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Disappearing is not left to magicians anymore. Andy Kaufman may have faked his own death back in the 80’s, according to new reports from family members. The Taxi actor was reported dead on May 16, 1984 from lung cancer, but was that the truth? At the ninth annual Andy Kaufman Awards in NYC’s Gotham Comedy Club, Michael Kaufman, Andy’s brother, revealed to the audience that he is actually not sure if Andy is dead or not. “While cleaning out Andy’s things after his death in 1984, he found among his many writings an essay about how Andy planned to fake his own death, his literal, figurative and spiritual leaps through meditation, and how he’d eventually reappear on Christmas Eve on 1999 at a particular restaurant that had served him a favored dish years earlier,” reports the Comic’s Comic. “When that date arrived, Michael said he ventured to the restaurant, asked for a table under one of Andy’s pseudonyms, and waited. He didn’t meet Andy that night, but said someone handed him an envelope, and in that envelope was a letter addressed to Michael from his brother. The letter purported that Andy wanted to go into hiding and live a normal life, that he’d met and fallen in love with a woman and had a daughter, and that he didn’t want Michael or anyone to say anything while their own father was still alive. Andy’s and Michael’s father died this summer. Michael said a young woman called him a month afterward to say that Andy indeed was alive, that he was watching the Andy Kaufman Awards from afar and loving the fact that so many comedians had been inspired by him. When Michael asked the Gotham audience if that young woman had showed up Monday night, a 24-year-old eventually stood up from the back of the room and sheepishly made her way onstage.” The woman, 24-years-old, explained that she is, in fact, the daughter of Kaufman, and that he chose to fake his death to be a stay-at-home father, and help her mother with her small business. Her identity was not revealed, although she did resemble her father a lot. Do you believe that Andy Kaufman is alive?