The Process of Developing "Latka"
In 1977, the producers of Taxi saw Kaufman's Foreign Man act at The Comedy Store. They had already created the main characters for the pilot but they enjoyed Kaufman so much they immediately offered him a role based on the character.
Kaufman hated sitcoms and did not want to take the role, but his manager George Shapiro convinced him by saying the exposure and the salary would be good for his nightclub act. Kaufman and the producers developed the Foreign Man character into "Latka Gravas", but Kaufman felt he would tire of playing the same character repeatedly so the producers agreed to give Latka multiple personality disorder, which allowed Kaufman to portray different characters sometimes.
Read more about this topic: Latka Gravas
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