His few friends said his dismissal of conventional medicine and desire to pursue holistic treatments had been a factor in giving the cancer an opportunity to fester. An autopsy revealed that Kaufman was killed by kidney failure which had been part of a chain reaction, as aggressive lung cancer had spread to his brain, which in turn damaged his central nervous system. Kaufman returned to the United States claiming that the psychic surgery cured him within a week afterwards he was dead. He had had psychic surgery, a non-tool, non-drug surgical procedure which the medical community has routinely denounced as fraud and stage magicians have called a sleight-of-hand trick. Adding to the speculation was that 1984 was the same year Kaufman traveled to the Philippines to seek cancer treatment. Details surrounding his death have been shrouded in mystery, particularly because Bob Zmuda, a friend, claimed he started a partnership with a living Kaufman. The clips were shown on the next SNL, but Kaufman was never invited back. The week following the vote, Kaufman purchased airtime on several local networks to plead with viewers to have him back on the show. The cast members made a point to show their disappointment, even mentioning it in later episodes, usually while insulting Ebersol's abilities as executive producer. When the goodbyes came and the results were read, the viewers had voted to kick Kaufman off the show. Eddie Murphy threatened the audience, half-jokingly, and Mary Gross read the 'dump Andy' number comically fast to confuse callers. Cast members during the episode would stand on stage between sketches and recite the numbers, some of them also trying to convince the audience to keep Andy. Two 900 numbers were issued, one to keep Andy and one to 'dump' Andy. In 1983, then-executive producer Dick Ebersol decided to ask the audience whether they wanted Kaufman to ever return to the show. When 'Taxi' co-star Danny DeVito hosted on May 15, 1982, Andy and several other cast members made an appearance in the opening monologue. His popularity on SNL led him to being cast as mechanic Latka Gravas on the sitcom, 'Taxi'. When Kaufman got to a low number, such as '8 bottles of beer', he would abruptly stop, causing others to remark to simply finish the song. Other acts he would do would sing long songs, particularly the childrens' song 'A Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall', actually counting down every verse and causing the audience to lose patience. He proclaimed himself 'Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World,' and once offered $1,000 to any woman who could pin him down. He always won, though many times, if not all, the matches were staged. His most infamous and controversial act, performed several times on Saturday Night Live, was his 'Women's Wrestling Champion' bit, in which he would call on female volunteers from the audience to wrestle him. He sometimes lip-synched to different records, and often brought members of the audience up to participate. usually ending with a flawless Elvis impersonation.

One of his early acts was Foreign Man, a man from a fictional island in the Caspian Sea who spoke in a very thick accent and attempted bad imitations such as Archie Bunker, Ed McMahon etc. While he often got mixed reviews for his performances, during Lorne Michaels' first tenure as executive producer of SNL, Andy was invited to perform often. He referred to himself as a 'song-and-dance man' rather than a comedian. Andrew Geoffrey 'Andy' Kaufman (JanuMay 16, 1984) was an American entertainer who made several appearances during the early years of Saturday Night Live.

Andy kaufman