When Andy Kaufman died at the age of 35, his funeral wasn't attended by his costars from the sitcom "Taxi". "We all thought this was just another one of Andy's put-ons. None of us believed him." (Marilu Henner). Raised on Long Island, Kaufman is perhaps best known today as his character on the sitcom "Taxi", Latka, who was taken fairly directly from Kaufman's onstage persona, a confused immigrant who couldn't deliver a punchline but had a killer Elvis impression. He was also a regular featured performer in the early episodes of Saturday Night Live, until a publicity stunt encouraging the audience to vote whether to keep him or kick him off the show: they voted to kick him off, and he never returned to the show.
—Ulf Kjell Gür