Andy Kaufman alive? Comic's 'daughter' claims he faked death At the 9th Annual Andy Kaufman Awards in New York City on Monday, a woman took the stage with Kaufman's brother Michael to say her father is alive and well Michael Kaufman had just shared a story about finding his brother's elaborate plans to fake his death The woman has now been revealed to be an actress hired by Michael Kaufman Just after Andy Kaufman's brother told a New York comedy club crowd Monday that the famed comedian known for having an obsession with faking his own death could still be alive, a woman claiming to be Kaufman's daughter took the stage and claimed it is true. Though the world mourned the Taxi star's death from lung cancer in 1984, Michael Kaufman told attendees at the 9th Annual Andy Kaufman Awards on Monday that he subsequently found elaborate plans his brother had for pulling off his greatest, and final, public stunt. The unnamed woman's very believable tale of being raised by Kaufman in obscurity had the audience and conspiracy-loving internet abuzz, but it has now been revealed as a hoax and the woman a hired actress. Shocker: A woman took the stage at the 9th Annual Andy Kaufman Awards in New York claiming to Kaufman's brother Michael (right) that she was the late actor's daughter and that he is still alive, living in obscurity Channeling the master? The woman turned out to be actress Alexandra Tatarsky, whose convincing act had much of the internet, audience members, and Andy Kaufman conspiracy theorists fooled The Smoking Gun reports that Michael Kaufman met the actress, 24-year-old Alexandra Tatarsky, at an exhibition of memorabilia of his brother earlier this year and enlisted her to carry on a tradition that Kaufman himself began. Michael Kaufman first primed the audience with a recounting of how he, following his brother's death, uncovered the comedian's plans to stage his death. Michael said the plans contained instructions to meet Andy at a restaurant on Christmas Eve 1999. Michael claimed he did this and was handed a letter that detailed Andy's decision to leave the spotlight and live an average life. Then a mysterious woman took the stage from the audience and her story seemed to match Michael's tale very well. Kaufman's brother Michael helped laid out the bait for the audience before Tatarsky--who he recruited--did her act She said Andy had become a stay at home dad after meeting her mother and becoming a father but that he watched the annual awards show dedicated to his memory very closely. Michael Kaufman appeared shocked and confused by the incident. He asked the audience if they believed the woman then escorted her offstage and told attendees to respect her privacy. Years of worth of conspiracy theories about the performance artist suddenly seemed proven as fact. Even audience members who knew that the woman was a student of theater in New York bought the act. Life's dream? The funnyman was notorious for his elaborate stunts, such as his stint as a 'lady' wrestler (left). Kaufman was also well known to be obsessed with the idea of staging his own death 'Tonight was a mindf***': Performer and one of this year's Andy Kaufman Awards finalists Killy Mockstar Dwyer took to Facebook to share her shock over the night's revelations A finalist for the awards took to Facebook to convey the shock of the night's revelations. "Anyone who was there will attest," comedian Killy Mockstar Dwyer wrote following the show. Andy Kaufman's daughter came onstage and claimed he was alive. It was...I can't tell you how it was, only that it was as real as any reality that i've seen. But, as it turns out, even fellow actors can be taken in by actors. The Smoking Gun reported Tatarsky's true identity on Thursday and revealed that her real father, whose name happens to be Andrew, is a New York City therapist specializing in addiction treatment. Tough truth: The Taxi actor died after a battle with lung cancer in 1984 at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He had only one daughter, a woman named Maria Colonna who was born in 1969 and lives in Upstate New York