Mr. Fred Blassie in a Breakfast Mess

The real Andy Kaufman stands up for one night only at the Nuart. Waffles may or may not be served.

It's been almost 16 years to the day since Andy Kaufman made his last public appearance in L.A. Noticably emaciated from his struggle with cancer, he nonetheless showed up, clad in a sleeveless leather jacket and a mohawk à la Travis Bickle, to the Nuart's premiere of My Breakfast with Blassie, a parody of the art-house hit My Dinner with Andre, featuring Kaufman and legendary pro-wrestler "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a man renowned in wrestling circles for biting his opponents' foreheads until he drew blood and best known in the pop-culture arena for his introduction of the phrase "pencil-neck geek" to the American lexicon.

In celebration of the film's 16th anniversary -- and so Man on the Moon fans can get a taste of the real Andy Kaufman on the big screen -- the Nuart will show My Breakfast with Blassie for one night only, Thursday, February 17, at 5, 7, and 9:30 p.m., with special guest appearances at the 7 p.m. show by director Johnny Legend, Kaufman's girlfriend Lynn Margulies (played by Courtney Love in Moon), as well as a few surprises. While not a masterpiece of cinema by any means, the film is undeniably pure Kaufman, from the faux Mr. Rogers-style narration that opens and closes the film to the conversations dealing mostly with pro wrestling and germphobia, both with Blassie and various passersby who were actually "plants" (although Kaufman doesn't seem to have let Blassie in on the joke).

When Bob Zmuda shows up under the guise of a crazed fan, pulling bloody straws out of his nose and vomiting on the table, Blassie is so disgusted that he demands Kaufman pay for the meal. A brief smile toward the camera from Andy indicates that this may have been his goal all along: After all, how could he resist the challenge of trying to gross out a guy who once filed his teeth into points so that they could better draw blood and reacted to Andy's fake snot gag (as seen in Man on the Moon, with a dewy-eyed Danny DeVito replacing the cynical Blassie) by suggesting that the gag item be stuck on one's ass instead to fake hemorrhoids?

The original premiere featured free Eggo waffles. No word on whether they'll be available this time, but don't be too surprised if Zmuda decides to don Tony Clifton makeup once again for the occasion.