Though he failed to show at May 16, 2004's Andy Kaufman — Dead or Alive? event at House of Blues (having told friends he'd reappear on the 20th anniversary of his “faked” death), the eccentric comedian has nevertheless managed to live on, through Milos Forman's revealing biopic, through the annual Andy Kaufman Award for burgeoning original performers (past recipients include Kristen Schaal and Reggie Watts), and now through the release of girlfriend Lynne Margulies' book, Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts!. Along with the collection of correspondence documenting his wrestling-women phase, Margulies will also present footage from Kaufman’s “brief but illustrious” career as “Intergender Wrestling Champion of the World,” a 1975 performance at the L.A. Improv's Midnight Snacks show and the alleged exhumation of Kaufman's corpse from a New Jersey cemetery by a German film crew. “As a grand finale for the evening,” boasts the official literature, “none other than Tony Clifton [Kaufman cohort Bob Zmuda] has threatened to appear in his only West Coast performance for more than half a decade.” Wrestling, grave-robbing and a bad lounge act? Whether Kaufman made it to the pearly gates, fans are in for a slice of comedy-nerd heaven.

Thu., Dec. 3, 8 p.m., 2009

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