At one point, the studio wanted to fire director Milos Forman. However, Jim Carrey said that if Forman was fired, he would depart the film as well.
A man impersonating Gary Oldman discussed the project with an unsuspecting Danny DeVito for months and even submitted an audition tape to Milos Forman. The real Gary Oldman had passed on the role of Andy Kaufman months earlier, and became aware of the scam after he found his name listed as one of the actors auditioning for the part.
One day during production, a real medic was brought in to evaluate Jim Carrey after he turned up to the set with a bloody nose, claiming Tony Clifton had punched him out backstage.
The primary cast members of Taxi (1978) play themselves. The only exceptions are, of course, a deceased Andy Kaufman who is portrayed by Jim Carrey, Tony Danza, who was performing in "A View from the Bridge" on Broadway at the time of filming, and Danny DeVito, who was already playing another role in this movie, that of George Shapiro. When DeVito was asked who would play him if he was playing Shapiro, he suggested that the simplest option was to scratch himself from the cast shown in the movie. Of this Taxi alumni, only Randall Carver receives an onscreen credit in this "self" role.
Jim Carrey refused to be called by his real name during the entire production, to get into the part, he insisted on being dealt with as Andy Kaufman at all times, on and off the set.
Ben Stiller: One the college students sitting in the audience when Andy is reading The Great Gatsby. Stiller directed another of Jim Carrey's movies, Cable Guy - Die Nervensäge (1996).
Milos Forman: Vincent Schiavelli (a regular in Forman's films), Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd, Sydney Lassick, and Mews Small return from Forman's Einer flog über das Kuckucksnest (1975). DeVito, Lloyd, and Schiavelli appeared with the real Andy Kaufman in Taxi (1978): DeVito was station boss Louie De Palma, Lloyd was Reverend Jim Ignatowski, and Schiavelli was recurring guest Reverend Gorky, who immigrated from the same foreign land as Kaufman's Latka.