OK, WTF?! Andy Kaufmann is back!

[ysbreker]

New York City, NY (PRWEB) May 19, 2004 -- Twenty years ago, on May 16, 1984, most of the world believed that we had lost a comedic legend forever. This has turned out to be what will inevitably be known as the greatest comic prank ever conceived. Andy Kaufman, by all accounts, is alive and well at age 55 and is now living in New York City on the upper west side. To his loyal supporters and fans, Andy says "sorry about faking my death," in a recent interview with ABC News at his apartment. In order to reach legendary comic status and seal his place in the history of performance art, he said it was "necessary to go away for twenty years."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040519/234/726q1.html

unbelievable, the ultimate prank

[MrHoatzin]

Doppelganger Rex is a bloody amateur.

[Kolzig]

Doppelganger Rex is a bloody amateur.

So true.

This news just leaves me totally speechless.

So I'll do this

[Mr Manager]

I don't know what to believe, but if this is actually a prank by Zmuda or whoever, it's almost as equally great as Kaufman faking his own death. :~

[Guest James]

hehehHE. now that's a joke.

[tabacco]

Eh... never that big a Kaufman fan, so I don't much care either way

[schepton]

Holy Shit

Man on the Moon was a good movie...

Maybe they really new he wasn't dead when they made it.

[Kolzig]

A strange coincidence was that today they showed the movie Man on the Moon in some Finnish tv channel.

[Jayel]

I think yahoo news fell for a hoax.

[ThunderPeel2001]

weirdest news story... ever!

really shoddy prank or really cool comeback... hmm!

[MrHoatzin]

I think yahoo news fell for a hoax.

Why must you burst my bubbles?!

[schepton]

so wait...is it real or not?!?!??!

[MrHoatzin]

Beats me.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

My pleasure.

Trep

Kingzstud

[Jake]

I think yahoo news fell for a hoax.

As pointed out by someone in a comment in his (alleged) blog, anyone can slap a press release up on that site (not Yahoo News, but the PR wire that the press release is sourced from).

[Mr Manager]

Well, somebody showed up at a Nevada brothel as Tony Clifton. If it was him or not is anybody's guess, but if it's not him at least they did a good job at making this believable hoax.

[spaceship789]

hoax.

He didn't show at the big party they threw for him.

do a yahoo news search for 'Andy Kaufman didn't '

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/variety/20040517/va_vp/comic_wrangles_comeback_3

[ThunderPeel2001]

That article doesn't actually prove it's a hoax... although I think that Zmuda has something to do with the new site. I hope not, but time will tell I guess.

[jp-30]

The hoax is a lovely tribute to the spirit of Kaufman.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/kaufman.asp

[Erwin_Br]

If the real Andy Kaufman were back, his story would be picked up by every major news service in the U.S. and a good many abroad, not merely a single "anybody can submit a story" free publicity service. And if the real Andy Kaufman genuinely wanted to demonstrate he was still alive, just one public appearance would serve that purpose far more convincingly than an unverifiable DNA test. Most important, if the Andy Kaufman I remember — the brilliant, unpredictable, erratic, and unique comic genius — had finally emerged from hiding twenty years after faking his own death, I have no doubts that he'd find a much more imaginative way of revealing his return than a free press release and a rather ordinary blog.

Well, these are sure convincing arguments to prove it's a hoax.

Not that I don't believe it's true yet, though. I just don't rule anything out for the time being.

--Erwin

[ThunderPeel2001]

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/5/prweb127840.htm

[peb]

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/5/prweb127840.htm

Are you sure that's real?

The pictures of Tony Clifton at the Bunny Ranch don't actually mean anything because it was well known that Bob Zmuda would sometimes be Tony Clifton rather than Kaufman. It was just that everyone assumed it was Kaufman.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Are you sure that's real?

I'm as sure as I know that Andy is alive (ie. I haven't a clue).

[jp-30]

The pictures of Tony Clifton at the Bunny Ranch don't actually mean anything because it was well known that Bob Zmuda would sometimes be Tony Clifton rather than Kaufman.

Well those photos were used on "andy kaufman's" own website to prove he was alive. The press release mentioned both ABC news and Earnst & Young, and both those companies have now been retracted from the correspondence as "mistakes" (and of course no record of an interview exists on ABCnews.com).

Nothing's impossible, of course, but there is absolutely no credible evidence that Kaufman is alive, and until there is some, I will continue to assume he died 20 years ago.

[ThunderPeel2001]

There's actually a fairly large wealth of evidence to say the website is quite fake: Take the PRWeb Press Release. That could only have been written by the person who made the site (that's what a press release is, it's not actually an article) and yet he claims there were "mistakes" in it.

When I first saw the site I really got a cool feeling. I was like, "oh... my... god...". But then I started reading things that Andy was supposed to say like "what I did was necessary to secure my place as the ultimate performance artist". Who speaks of themselves like that?! Only a fan would describe someone as the "ultimate performance artist". (This isn't a direct quote.) It rang soooo false.

Now after reading more posts from "Andy", none of which are even in the slightest bit funny, amusing or original, I've decided it was written by a fan with no talent.

Still, it was worth it for that five minutes of "oh... my... god...".