Latka Gravas

Latka Gravas is a fictional character on the television sitcom Taxi portrayed by Andy Kaufman. A sweet-natured and lovable-but-goofy mechanic, Latka was based on a character Kaufman created known as Foreign Man.

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 wasn't a fan of sitcoms, but his manager, George Shapiro, convinced him that this would rocket him to stardom, where he would make a lot of money which he could then put into his own act, which became Andy's Funhouse. Kaufman agreed to appear as Latka in fourteen episodes per season, approximately half of the entire series. One of Kaufman's conditions was that one of his other characters, Tony Clifton, be allowed to guest star in the series. The producers were well aware that "Clifton" was an alter ego of Kaufman, but went along with the fiction that Clifton was a separate actor. They signed Clifton to a separate contract, and announced to the cast that Clifton was being hired to portray the character of Louie's brother in the series' tenth episode.