May 16, 2014 will mark the thirtieth anniversary of Andy Kaufman’s death.
Three decades after his untimely death and the comic is still impressing people with his odd humor and lifestyle.
Kaufman adored professional wrestling almost as much as he loved eccentric comedy as leaving audiences wondering “just what the hell is wrong with this guy?” His feud with Memphis wrestling god Jerry “The King” Lawler is legendary and Kaufman’s portrayal of the Hollywood heel in rings across the south is possibly some of the best villainy in the history of the sport. With just a few words, Kaufman could get a wrestling crowd so fired up, he’d have to be escorted from the arena by throngs of security personnel.
When Kaufman wasn’t filming scenes for Taxi, at the time the number one TV show in America, he was wrestling in arenas around the country. It was an odd hobby for a famous star to have but what made it truly uncomfortable was his choice of opponent — women.
Kaufman would challenge local young ladies in the arena to step into the ring and last a specific amount of time with the self-proclaimed Women’s Wrestling Champion of the World. If they survived, a cash prize, but if they failed and were pinned by the Hollywood superstar, embarrassment in front of friends, family and an arena full of strangers. Kaufman soon took his act to the small screen and wrestled young women right on the Studio 8H stage at Saturday Night Live.
Kaufman’s infatuation with grappling the opposite gender into submission soon morphed into a sexual fetish. Perhaps it was the other way around. The owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, Dennis Hof, penned a column in this month’s Penthouse Forum exploring his friend’s odd sexual appetite. Hof was there for the early days of Kaufman wrestling women before bedding them on the same mattress.
“When you go to a Nevada brothel, the protocol is to gather all the on- duty girls in the lobby for what’s called a line-up. The girls introduce them- selves to a prospective client, who checks them out to see whom he’d like to party with. Andy and I would go to the brothel and, like all customers, he’d look the girls over. But he wasn’t looking at them for their tits or ass. Andy’s big thing back in those days was wrestling, and he was always challenging people to get in the ring and mix it up: men, women, grand- mothers, everyone. So Andy would size up the girls to see how good they would be to wrestle.
Andy would walk up to a girl and say, “Hey, you look pretty strong. Did you ever wrestle your brother when you were younger? Did you get into a lot of fights?” He’d feel their arms, their biceps, their calf muscles, their necks, and he’d pick the ones he felt would be the best fighters. Then he’d take them into their room, wrestle them, and have sex with them.”
The now-owner of the Ranch remembers one night in particular when Kaufman requested Hof play a vital role in the evening’s main event.
“One time he really wanted to do the whole wrestling match thing right, so he got me a referee’s uniform and a whistle, and he said, “Dennis, put this on, I want you to do some- thing for me.” We walked into the brothel and the girls did a line up for him. He picked two girls and had one of them put on a white leotard and the other a black leotard that he’d brought along with him. He wanted the girls to wrestle each other, while I was the ref. I couldn’t believe it! The girls got changed, and we went into a private room and Andy made an announcement: “You two girls fight it out, and the winner will wrestle and party with me.” It was so funny! So the two ladies wrestled like crazy until one finally pinned the other and I called the match. Then off the winner went to wrestle Andy—and have sex with him!”
Kaufman would have been 65 years old this past January. Lord only knows what he’d be doing to shock the world now.
[via Penthouse Forum]