In a famous Saturday Night Live routine, Chevy Chase reads a news story on that show’s Weekend Update, declaring that Spain’s “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is valiantly holding out in his efforts to remain dead.” He and fellow cast member Garrett Morris wrap up the Weekend Update with something called “News for the Hearing Impaired”. There Morris repeats the story in truncated fashion, very loudly:

“Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead! Good night! … and have a pleasant tomorrow!”

Despite all the hoopla around a TMZ video that purported to show long-deceased comedian Andy Kaufman’s daughter announcing that her father is alive and well and avoiding the limelight, it just turns out that this was another Kaufman-style hoax, this one perpetrated by his own brother on the thousands of Kaufman fans out there.

The Smoking Gun is reporting that the woman who claimed to be Kaufman’s daughter is a New York actress hired by Kaufman’s brother to spin the yarn about his still being alive. Her name is Alexandra Tatarsky, and her real father is a psychiatrist in Manhattan.

Kaufman fans should feel privileged to have been the mark in yet another of Andy’s involved “gotchas”, even from the grave. His humor often involved watching people in uncomfortable situations, pretending someone had died or was in distress. He seemed to be doing his schtick more for his own amusement at the plight of his poor audience most of the time.

The laugh’s on you.

image via: youtube