Tom Segura set to star in Tony Clifton movie

Comic to play Andy Kaufman's alter-ego, and his pal Bob Zmuda

American comic Tom Segura is reportedly lined up to star in a forthcoming film about Andy Kaufman’s alter-ego Tony Clifton.

Dirty Rotten Bastard tells the allegedly true story of how the character, about an aspiring filmmaker who was kidnapped by the lounge singer character and ‘thrust into a chaotic journey of sex, celebrity, and comedy, blurring the lines between observer and participant, and testing his sanity’.

Although as with anything involving Kaufman, who died in 1984 at the age of 35, what is a true story is hard to ascertain.

According to Deadline, Segura is in talks to play Clifton, as well as Kaufman’s friend and longtime collaborator Bob Zmuda.

Zmuda was known to sometimes play the abrasive and erratic Clifton, who Kaufman always insisted was a real person – for example insisting he have a separate contract when he appeared on his sitcom Taxi, and then conspiring to get fired. Clifton is portrayed in the 1999 Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon, credited as ‘Himself’.

Promoters who thought they had caught on to the joke would hire Clifton because he was cheaper than booking Kaufman. However, the comic would then send his brother Michael or Zmuda to fulfil the engagement.

Dirty Rotten Bastard is being directed by Ryan McNeely and Josh Martin, aka The Director Brothers, based on a script written by Brent Dillon.

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Published: 2 Apr 2024