Taxi (TV Series) - References in Popular Culture

References in Popular Culture

According to the film Man on the Moon which centered partially around Andy Kaufman's role on Taxi, Kaufman negotiated a certain number of appearances for his alter ego, Tony Clifton, into his contract with ABC. The film goes on to show a scenario in which Kaufman deliberately attempted to sabotage the taping of an episode of Taxi in the guise of Tony Clifton because, as the film explains, Kaufman was severely disappointed in his casting as Latka and truly wanted nothing to do with the show, but felt obligated by his friendship with George Shapiro and the money he was being offered for the role. However, a preface to the film by Kaufman (played by Jim Carrey) explained that the movie was a fictionalized, embellished and chronologically inaccurate portrayal of his life and the viewer was not expected to leave the film with a clear and true picture of it, therefore the reality of the event, as are much of the events in the film, is in question. Parts of this story have been confirmed by Danny DeVito in the book Hailing Taxi.