Tony Clifton in NYC

Sometime Andy Kaufman associate, Tony Clifton, recently made a rare appearance right here in NYC at Santos Party House. Our friend Randy was there to catch all of the action. Take it away, Randy:

Originally the creation of the late comedian Andy Kaufman, TONY CLIFTON is a down-on-his-luck former Vegas entertainer, a holdover from the '60s and '70s when raunchy jokes and burlesque ruled the nightclub circuit. Tony might be called an “elimination comedian” because his questionable humor and bizarre stories are meant to make any politically correct member of his his audience run for the exit. Also, Tony sings, A LOT, and let's just say his voice is .... well ... lacking.

To my knowledge, Tony Clifton hasn't played New York in the past decade ... heck, maybe even the past TWO decades. And no one was sure who was behind the unkempt wig and prosthetic nose at this show -- was it actually Kaufman’s old cohort and biographer Bob Zmuda? That might have been the case since Zmuda has a new book out next month about his relationship with Kaufman.

When Tony took the stage at 10:30, his audience numbered between 150-200. When I left, shortly after 2:00 AM, about 30 diehards were still gazing at the full-tilt Tony in amazement. From a glance at his setlist, it looked like he had at least another hour of songs to perform. Click here to finish reading & see Randy's set of photos from the evening.

Here's an old clip of Mr. Clifton on the Muppet Show: