text: However, after the first day of rehearsal, the producers felt Kaufman as Clifton was not up to the acting challenge of playing the offered role. Informed of this, Kaufman asked that "Clifton" be fired in public, ostensibly for coming to rehearsal late.  Clifton reappeared on set for the next day of filming and was demanding, boorish and obnoxious. The producers not only fired Clifton in front of the press and network executives (who had gathered on set to witness the promised spectacle) but threw him off the set after he caused havoc and enraged series stars Judd Hirsch and Jeff Conaway. The role was hurriedly recast, and when Kaufman (as himself) returned to work for the following episode, he acted as if nothing had happened.
  Sam Simon, a season 5 writer and showrunner for Taxi, said in a 2013 interview with Marc Maron for the WTF with Marc Maron podcast that the story of Kaufman (as opposed to "Tony Clifton") having generally been disruptive on the show was "a complete fiction" created mainly by Bob Zmuda. Simon maintained that Zmuda has a "vested interest" in promoting an out-of-control image of Kaufman. In the interview, Simon stated that Kaufman was "completely professional" and that he "told you Tony Clifton was him", but he also conceded that Kaufman would have "loved" Zmuda's version of events. However, while many Taxi staffers have corroborated the story that Clifton was a disruptive presence during his brief time on set in the first season, Simon himself had no association with Taxi until its third season, so he did not witness this specific event.
  Other appearances
  Clifton (played by Zmuda) appeared once on Late Night with David Letterman, where he was interviewed and sang a medley with the band. In 1982, Clifton also appeared on The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show as the host's "new discovery," although the other Muppets and host George Hamilton remained skeptical of Clifton's talent.