The article revisits how comedian Andy Kaufman's relationship with Saturday Night Live came to an abrupt end in 1982, after the show ran an on-air telephone poll asking viewers whether he should be banned. Kaufman, an anti-comedy pioneer, had made sporadic appearances on the programme since its debut in 1975, but tensions grew after a controversial Elvis Presley-themed sketch involving topless mud wrestling, which he later claimed producers had forced him into. The episode illustrates how the notoriously unpredictable show once let its audience directly decide a performer's fate, marking an unusual moment in its history.

Producer Dick Ebersol first cut one of Kaufman's sketches in November 1982, declaring on air that "Andy Kaufman just isn't funny anymore." A week later, cast member Gary Kroeger invited viewers to phone in and vote on whether Kaufman should stay or go, citing gripes such as his wrestling bits and "phoney injuries." Some 195,544 callers voted to ban him permanently, and Kaufman never appeared on the show again, aside from a handful of spoof adverts campaigning for his return.