Can a movie about Anti-Humor with a Bittersweet Ending be hilarious? Well, if you believe...
Note: As some of the "offstage" moments are directly inspired by material from Andy Kaufman's multimedia work, notations are included for those interested.
- The prologue, in which Andy as Foreign Man tries to convince the audience the movie is already over because he edited out everything involving Artistic License. Cue about two minutes worth of end credits as he waits for the viewers to leave. Especially funny is when he has to start the record of sentimental music over a third time so the credits can roll on, and briefly fiddles with the needle — causing the music to shift back and forth, and the credits with it!
- Then Andy just slams the record player shut and the screen goes to pitch black for about 15 seconds. The void is broken by his sloooooooowly leaning into the frame.note
- Little Andy is told by his frustrated dad that he'll have to perform for actual people, "people who live and breathe!" Cut to a quietly exasperated Andy dragging his toddler-aged sister Carol out of her room and over to his.
- As he tries to explain to Andy what kind of humor he should try performing in his stage act, club owner Mr. Besserman suggests the following:Mr. Besserman: Like, why did the Siamese twins go to England?
Andy Kaufman: Uh, I don't know, wh-why did the Siamese twins go to England?
Mr. Besserman: So the other one can drive!
Andy Kaufman: [After a beat] Wh-why doesn't the other one just learn how to drive?
Mr. Besserman: Uh, maybe that one's not for you...- Bonus points for this exchange being ad-libbed, and the Casting Gag of Mr. Besserman being played by the actual George Shapiro.
- After catching Andy's Foreign Man/Elvis Presley act at the Improvisation, George goes backstage to talk to Andy — but Andy isn't breaking character just yet:George Shapiro: So, Budd [Friedman] tells me you're from Lithuania.
Foreign Man: No, I am from Caspiar.
George Shapiro: Caspiar, huh?
Foreign Man: Eet ees a very small island in the Caspian Sea. Eet sunk. - During dinner at an Asian restaurant, George is placed in the awkward position of noticing that there is an enormous booger hanging out of one of Andy's nostrils. Midway through the conversation, while George is distracted, Andy takes the booger (which is fake) out and places it in his other nostril just to mess with him further even as he soulfully explains what he wants to accomplish as a performer.note
- As George screens Andy's special for the perplexed ABC executives, one of them falls for the ten or so seconds in which the screen briefly dissolves into static, getting up from the conference table and whacking the screen just as Andy hopes home viewers will do: "[W]e're the number one network, can't we get decent TVs?"
- Tony Clifton being dragged literally kicking and screaming off of the Paramount lot by two security guards after derailing the Taxi rehearsal: "You guys ever come to Vegas — you're not getting in!"
- George's total exasperation at Andy pulling a Bait-and-Switch on the Lake Tahoe audience by having Bob play Tony Clifton while Andy crashes the performance: "Look at you, you're so proud of yourself. You're like some stupid kid who comes home from school and says 'Look Dad, I got an F!'"
