A week after the retirement of Late Night host David Letterman, a beautiful finale filled with special guests, celebrities and a touching musical montage featuring The Foo Fighters, people around the world are reflecting on their favorite moments in the 33 year history of the show. At the age of 68, Letterman sure had his fair share of memorable moments.
There was his back-and-forth confrontation with pop queen Madonna in 1994, his admittance to having sexual relations with some female colleagues in 2009 and his heart-felt monologue following the September 11th attacks. Everyone has their favorites but for wrestling fans, there is one that sticks out like a sore thumb. The infamous 1982 interview with Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman.
As history has it, Andy Kaufman began to include wrestling elements into his acts, claiming to be the “Inter-Gender Champion of the world” and calling upon the females in the crowd to face him. The act would include Kaufman’s friend and comedic partner Bob Zmuda serving as a referee, and a female picked from the crowd to partake in a grappling match on a mat, with Kaufman pinning his opponent’s shoulders to the mat for a three count. While Kaufman promised to pay $1,000 to the woman that could beat him, it was Laurie Anderson, a paid employee and friend of Andy’s, who served as a plant to play the part of his opponent. The act became so popular that Kaufman even approached Vince McMahon Sr. with an idea to feature the act on his product, an idea that was shot down with the skepticism that Hollywood actors appearing on his program would take away belief that the actions inside the ring weren’t legitimate.
“We had gone to Vince McMahon and talked a few times about trying to get a bout between Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman but at that time Vince wanted to stay away from Hollywood and Andy wasn’t ‘Hollywood’, he was the anti-hero,” Zmuda re-called in a podcast interview. “Vince didn’t realize Andy was an anti-Hollywood guy and it never happened. Which Andy had always wished that it did.”
Not everyone was as unconvinced as McMahon was. Jerry Lawler, who was a huge idol in the Memphis area, was approached by wrestling journalist Bill Apter with the idea of Kaufman wrestling for his promotion. The idea was well received and soon after, Kaufman began to appear in a wrestling ring, challenging women to come down and face them, and berating them as they answered the call. Kaufman even went as far as to wager $5,000 to the woman that could take him down. It was supposed to be a one-off, but when Lawler saw the crowd eating it up and the stadium filling out, he had other plans for the comedian.
As Lawler remembers in an interview with WWE: “So I said, ‘Andy that was great. We run a show here every week. You need to come back and do it again. We’ll really pump it up big on TV this Saturday.’ And he said, ‘Really? I can come back and do it again?’ And I said, ‘Of course!'”
From that point on, Kaufman began to cut a series of heel promos in the city of Memphis, which aired on NBC Channel 5. The string of pre-taped promos featured Andy giving tutorials on how to use soap and toilet paper, insulting Memphis-area folk on their hygiene and intelligence. These days, it’s your standard heel tactics, going for the city’s population and playing on stereotypes but in the 80’s, when kayfabe was alive and healthy, the promos sparked outrage and the station, as well as Kaufman himself, received complaints and threats. In other words, it was working and Kaufman was quickly becoming one of the biggest heels in Memphis, Tennessee.
This would all culminate into a series of matches featuring Lawler and Kaufman, including a few singles matches and a 2-on-1 handicap piledriver match, where the winner is the individual who first lands a piledriver. While Kaufman was able to avoid the devastating move in the previous encounters, Lawler finally got what he wanted in their final meeting, piledriving the comedian-turned-wrestler not once but twice, resulting in a disqualification. The devastating maneuver resulted in a sprained neck to Kaufman, which landed him in the hospital where he’d have to wear a neck brace for the next six months. This turn of events led to pro wrestling getting a huge spark in not just the wrestling world, but in all media across the globe.
“It made the papers all across the country, it was probably the biggest item that didn’t just make the theatrical pages, but it made the sports pages all across the country,” Zmuda said. “It really took for the first time, professional wrestling, and really gave it its biggest hit yet.”
Kaufman would return to his comedy bit, continuing his reign as the Inter-Gender Champion of the world, putting up his title once again. Full of confidence, Andy upped the reward by stating that on top of the $1,000 cash pay-out, he would also marry the woman that defeated him and would shave his head bald.
Meanwhile, the rise in popularity for his tenure in the wrestling ring and feud with Jerry Lawler was still on-going and late night host David Letterman caught wind of it all. Like any other late night talk show, his job was to bring in the celebrities who were currently in the spotlight and talk about the biggest stories of the time. It wasn’t long before both Jerry Lawler and Andy Kaufman were invited to the show, where they would sit side-by-side, discuss their history together and perhaps put an end to their hatred for one another.
At this point, we should mention that Andy and Jerry were good friends, which was revealed in 1995. However, Letterman had no knowledge of this all being a work and when he had both Kaufman and Lawler on his show, he had no idea what the two had planned for their appearances. The result was phenomenal and had every media channel and show buzzing about the events that took place.
The situation unfolded and quickly became an uncomfortable one for both Letterman and his audience, as both Lawler and Kaufman started to take jabs at each other. Kaufman complained about Lawler being reckless and how his actions could have killed him in the ring, demanding an apology while Lawler focused on how Kaufman had been wearing his neck brace for five months and that he’d seen car crash victims recover quicker. Lawler also threw out the comment that he should have never entered the ring and that he’d never try being a comedian because he is a wrestler. Things escalated quickly as right before the commercial break, Lawler stood up and slapped Kaufman in the face, knocking him off his chair and to the floor.
What happened next left the audience stunned and laughing in an uneasy manner. After the commercial break, Lawler was seated in his usual spot however Kaufman, appearing agitated, was pacing around off-camera. He then came back on set, telling Lawler that he would sue him and tossing out expletives on air. This left David Letterman completely stunned, as he sat in his chair knowing control had been lost. Finally, in an act of anger and an attempt to get back at the Memphis wrestler, Kaufman picked up his coffee mug and launched the contents onto Lawler, forcing some off-set crew to intervene and escort Kaufman out of the building.
As the show ended, the aftermath that followed was unbelievable. The skepticisms that Vince McMahon Sr. had were quickly erased as the Hollywood and wrestling worlds had met on that night and collided with one another and everyone who was watching was talking about it the next day. As aforementioned, in 1995, the entire event was revealed to be a work during the NBC Special “A Comedy Salute to Andy Kaufman”. The comedian who was known for his elaborate hoaxes throughout his illustrious career was also part of the biggest wrestling hoax of the time, one he took with him to the grave. A testament to the brilliance and mind of the late Andy Kaufman.
So as we say goodbye to one of the greatest Late Night hosts of all-time and remember his many great moments, wrestling fans will forever be grateful for the moment when David Letterman and wrestling combined for one of the greatest segments in live television history.
Photo courtesy Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
