For the first time ever, the two people who knew Andy Kaufman best open up about the most enigmatic artist of our generation.
Comedian and Taxi star Andy Kaufman, known for his crazy antics on screen and off, was the ultimate prankster, delighting audiences with his Elvis and Mighty Mouse impressions while also antagonizing them with his wrestling and lounge-lizard alter ego, Tony Clifton. Some say he died in 1984, while others believe he performed the ultimate vanishing act.
In Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally, Bob Zmuda, Andy’s writer and best friend, and Lynn Margulies, the love of Andy’s life, reveal all—including surprising secrets that Andy made Lynne and Bob promise never to tell until both of his parents had died.
Hilarious and poignant, this book separates fact from fiction, and includes a candid inside look at the Milos Forman film Man on the Moon, which Zmuda coexecutive produced and featured Jim Carrey as Andy, Paul Giamatti as Zmuda, Courtney Love as Margulies, and Danny DeVito as Andy’s manager, George Shapiro.
Finally, Bob Zmuda shares in detail the reasons he believes Andy Kaufman did, in fact, fake his own death, including exactly how he did it and why he will return.
Industry Reviews
"Bob Zmuda connects on so many levels with this gripping yet hilarious inside industry chronicle. A great story of unconditional friendship and love framed in a studied portrait of a fascinatingly complex, brilliant, unduplicable anti-performance artist who may well resurrect to blow our minds again."
—Dan Aykroyd
"Danger. What would've or WILL Andy do next???? We wondered every time we saw him on TV or live on stage. I still wonder. We still laugh. The definition of an enigma, LIKE NO OTHER."
—Kathy Griffin
"I never worked with Andy Kaufman and I never even watched Taxi. I do like the name Andy, if that's any help."
—Paula Poundstone
"Bob Zmuda was (is?) Andy Kaufman’s partner in all of Andy's reality-bending adventures. Is Andy's death yet another elaborate hoax by the ultimate performance artist? An absolutely astonishing read, Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally reveals all. Prepare to be amazed!"
—John Landis
"I was so fascinated by the melding of Andy’s and Zmuda’s mind that I spent two years of my life making a movie about it."
—Milos Forman
"Zmuda offers what he calls 'a blow-by-blow account of how Andy Kaufman faked his own death.'"
—Chicago Tribune
