Photo: ABC / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Andy Kaufman remains the purest example of an entertainer who refused to want your approval. Calling him a comedian misses the point — he insisted he never told a joke, and he meant it. He used television and even professional wrestling as a gallery for performance art, blurring storylines until nobody could verify what was real. What fascinates me is his patience: he would let an audience stew in confusion for whole minutes, betting that bewilderment cuts deeper than laughter. Dead at thirty-five in 1984, he is still generating arguments about what was genuine. That, I suspect, was the act all along.
Overview
Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman ( KOWF-mən; January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer and performance artist. He has sometimes been called an "anti-comedian". He disdained telling jokes and engaging in comedy as it was traditionally understood, once saying in an interview, "I am not a comic, I have never told a joke. The comedian's promise is that he will go out there and make you laugh with him.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Andy Kaufman
- Name (Japanese)
- アンディ・カウフマン
- Reading
- あんでぃ・かうふまん
- Born
- January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Capricorn / Ox
- Origin
- New York City, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- comedian / professional wrestler / television actor / film actor / showman
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- John L. Miller Great Neck North High School
- University
- Grahm Junior College
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Comedian — see all → · Professional wrestler — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.