Claim: Comedian Andy Kaufman has returned, twenty years after faking his death.
Example:[PRWeb, 2004]
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."
Origins: One would be hard-pressed to think of any other entertainer who sowed as much doubt about his true character than comedian Andy Kaufman did in the 1970s and 1980s. He adopted multiple personas and stayed in character even when he was off-stage. He performed as other people. Or he had other people perform as him. Or maybe he
was performing as other people pretending to be him. He staged tantrums and altercations so convincingly that audiences were left wondering whether his flare-ups were rehearsed routines or genuinely spontaneous outbursts of anger. In the end, he blurred the division between Andy Kaufman and Andy Kaufman's comic creations so thoroughly that much of the public was no longer sure which was which.
But the end did come — on 16 May 1984, a 35-year-old Andy Kaufman died of lung cancer at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. His remains were returned to New York for interment at Beth David Cemetery. His death certificate and his gravesite are viewable on-line.
The 20th anniversary of Kaufman's death has provided the occasion for some "Andy Kaufman is alive!" rumors, fueled primarily by a blog and a press release (widely distributed via Yahoo!) proclaiming that he has emerged from hiding two decades after faking his death — accounts supposedly confirmed by his having given an interview to ABC and submitted to (and passed) DNA testing. And all of this screams of being a very un-Kaufman-like publicity
stunt.
The "celebrity-died-young actually faked his own death to drop out of the public eye" rumor has long since been milked for all its worth. Every decade sees it applied to at least one prominent entertainer — James Dean, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, Tupac Shakur. They're all dead, and they're not coming back. Ever. That someone issued a press release proclaiming Andy Kaufman to be alive signifies nothing other than an attempt to capitalize on the confusion his bizarre performance style sowed during his lifetime. (Heck, if anybody was capable of faking his own death, it was that crazy old Andy Kaufman, right?) The releasing agency, PRWeb, is a free wire service that will distribute anyone's press release, about anything, free of charge. (Another recent PRWeb release — "Ambassador From Mars Receives 181,634 Spam Emails; Says 'Earthlings Are Not Ready' and Takes First Available Saucer Back Home" — demonstrates that nothing is considered too silly to be distributed on their wire service.)
(Note that the putative Andy Kaufman blog now disclaims that, contrary to details provided in the press release, he was not interviewed by ABC, and the alleged DNA testing was not conducted by the auditing firm of Ernst & Young. This seems rather transparently indicative of someone's having to backpedal after receiving complaints from companies disgruntled at having their names associated with a hoax, or at the very least of having to explain away why no one else has been able to confirm the same information.)
The supposed recent photographs of Andy (appearing as Tony Clifton, his abusive lounge singer character) displayed in the blog were taken from a May 2004 Andy Kaufman tribute event, during which Kaufman's friend and writing partner, Bob Zmuda, played Tony Clifton. Zmuda himself said, during a 1999 interview:
"The hoax and the practical joke are lost art forms." But did Andy Kaufman pull one last stunt on his deathbed at age 35? No, says Zmuda. "Andy Kaufman is dead. He’s not in some truck stop with Elvis." While Kaufman tinkered with the idea, tells Zmuda, he never brought it up again.
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.
P.S. With the money the 13-year-old blogger Andy Kaufman paid me for writing this, I was finally able to buy a new car. Thanks, Bob! Andy!
was performing as other people pretending to be him. He staged tantrums and altercations so convincingly that audiences were left wondering whether his 
