About The Andy Kaufman Award®
The Andy Kaufman Award® was created to preserve the legacy of one of America's most unique and influential performers in a dynamic way. The prestigious award honors Andy Kaufman's creative spirit while simultaneously shining a spotlight on promising performers with the potential to impact the evolving culture of comedy.
The criteria for The Andy Kaufman Award® includes the elements of originality, creativity, spirit and execution, as exemplified by Andy Kaufman, and defined in this website. Click here for more details on the Award Criteria.
The award is structured as a nation-wide talent competition. Contestants can enter the competition by following the instructions on this website for submitting material for consideration. Click here to learn How to Enter. A group of semi-finalists, selected from among all the contestants, will be invited to submit a 2nd performance which will be viewed by a panel of judges. The six most promising contestants will submit a 3rd performance for our judges to select a winner.
A single winner will be selected during the show, who will receive the following:
• Cash prize of $1,000
• The Award - an artistic, personalized memento piece.
• A 30-minute conversation with a previous Andy Kaufman Award Winner
• A featured position in The Winners Hall of Fame on this website
• Post-event publicity – nationwide press releases and media interviews as available
Background
Andy Kaufman’s death from lung cancer at the age of 35 shocked and stunned many. His apparently sudden, dramatic and final departure from public life on May 16, 1984, was met with sorrow and disbelief. In keeping with his persona and outrageous performance antics, the disbelief surrounding Andy’s death took on a life of its own, perpetuating his legacy in a unique way. Speculation surrounding the possibility that Kaufman staged his own death continues today as a popular legend.
Kaufman’s family, however, wanted to preserve Andy’s legacy in a more concrete way. His father, Stanley Kaufman, first considered a university scholarship that would bear Andy Kaufman’s name and encourage promising performing arts students.
The idea for an annual talent award came to fruition in 2004 with input from Andy’s lifelong manager George Shapiro. The inaugural award show took place on November 11, 2004 at Caroline’s Comedy Club in New York, and was hosted by actor/comedian and long-time Kaufman fan Richard Belzer.
The Award Criteria
The Andy Kaufman Award® is a showcase for promising cutting-edge artists with fresh and unconventional material, for those willing to take risks with an audience, and for those who do not define themselves by the typical conventions of comedy. It seeks to recognize a performer who lives and works outside the ordinary, as Kaufman did. Although labeled a comedian, Kaufman referred to himself alternately as a performance artist and song-and-dance-man. He was interested in provoking a variety of responses from his audience – laughter, confusion, disbelief, anger, delight, misunderstanding and bewilderment – frequently, all within a single act. The criteria for The Andy Kaufman Award® are consistent with his legacy and encompass the perhaps somewhat elusive characteristics of originality, creativity, and spirit.
The Talent Competition
The Andy Kaufman Award® is structured as a nation-wide talent competition. Contestants submit videos of their original performance material. A panel of industry judges reviews all submissions, selecting a group of the most promising finalists to perform before a live audience and panel of judges(pre-covid) in New York City. A single winner receives a prize of $1,000, a personalized trophy commemorating the event, exposure to industry professionals (agents, managers, casting directors, and media representatives). The winner receives a featured position in The Winners Hall of Fame.