Farewell Gilbert Gottfried

I first saw Gilbert Gottfried on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' during the 90s.

Gilbert appeared in comedy bits during the post-monologue segment doing hysterically funny caricatures of Harry Potter, Kim Jong Il, Yoda, and even Pontius Pilate. 

Words such as 'iconic', 'distinctive’, and 'inimitable' are often used gratuitously in current times. But in Gilbert’s case, these adjectives were totally apt. There was, is, and never will be anybody who looked or sounded or improvised or laughed like Gilbert Gottfried.

Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried was born Feb. 28, 1955, in Brooklyn, where he grew up above a hardware store run by his father, Max, and Max’s brother Seymour. His mother, Lillian (Zimmerman) Gottfried, was a homemaker.

Gilbert began at the age of 15 when he dropped out of high school to pursue standup comedy. He began doing open mic nights in various comedy clubs in New York City and soon he developed a reputation.

Gilbert's on-stage routine had him squinting, grimacing, contorting, rubbing his forehead with his knuckles, and grabbing the mike like a prop. A crucial aspect of his on-stage persona was his voice which was exaggerated, high-pitched, and with a slight nasal inflection. You almost felt his vocal cords being stressed to their maximum potential. He often covered his face with his hands as if couldn't bear to see the audience. It seemed like considerable self-torture almost as if he was suffering for his art. 

This nervous, awkward, manic, almost dyspeptic energy drove his on-stage alter ego causing laughter even before a syllable was uttered. 

He would often begin on an unconventional note, dedicating several minutes to bowing and thanking his audience causing awkwardness and the discomforting hilarity.

He made obscure references to stars from the golden era in uncanny situations such as Bogart or Bela Lugosi at the post office. At times it was mere mime impressions. He would almost morph into the person he was imitating by frowning, scowling, pouting, and wincing while contorting his body, it was almost as if he was a moving caricature.

He conjured up situations such as attempting to break the ice after meeting Jackie O at a soirée by asking "Do you remember where you were when JFK was....."

He never cared to cater his act to the audience before him. In fact, he relished going against his audiences' expectations. Audiences walking out was almost like a test for him that his art was unadulterated and uncompromised.

It is impossible to describe or analyze what he did. It was almost visceral in the way he made people burst into titters. 

Gilbert earned the reputation of being a comic's comic i.e. he was revered by fellow comics for his inventiveness and nuances that only comics would understand and appreciate.

By the 1980s Gilbert was a success, appearing on Late Night TV with Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Arsenio Hall. Gilbert's made appearances on MTV. 

He even had a short stint on “Saturday Night Live” which were among the rare instances where Gilbert used his own voice.

Gilbert also appeared in many comedy specials on TV.

Gilbert hosted “Up All Night,” a weekly presentation of B- and C-grade horror and action movies that ran on the USA Network from the late 80s to the 90s.

During the late 80s, Gilbert starred in a series pilot called Norman’s Corner. It was scripted and written by Larry David. Gilbert played a New York newsstand vendor. The offbeat series wasn't picked up, but the pilot was released as a TV movie. Gilbert joked that when Larry David pitched Seinfeld, the TV executives said: “Aren’t you the guy who wrote that piece of shit for Gilbert Gottfried?

Gottfried was also known for his over 100 appearances on Howard Stern’s show. 

Sometimes he did impressions of senile rambling Groucho Marx and at times was Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Jerry Seinfeld, and an irate Andrew “Dice” Clay. It wasn’t just his impression but also how Gilbert applied them in various bits.

The Lugosi impression was applied to caricatures of the Pope, a War Correspondent in Iraq, pornographer Al Goldstein and even Jennifer Aniston on Friends in Lugosi’s voice professing her love for Ross. Occasionally he did the Lugosi’s Dracula monologue from the 1930s in Seinfeld’s voice.

Another impression Gilbert frequently did on the Stern show was that of a Hasidic Rabbi who relished breaking into mournful Hebrew hymns that seem to go on interminably.

The result was ceaseless mirth often causing Stern to resign allowing an improvising Gilbert to take over. Anybody who has listened to the Howard Stern show knows that Stern never allowed anybody to hijack the show unless it was comedy gold.

Gilbert relished puncturing the pretensions of showbiz. During an appearance at the Emmys in 1991, Gilbert caused outrage when he went off-script making references to masturbation. 

Gilbert also appeared in numerous sitcoms and movies, hilariously chewing the scenery. 

Gilbert is perhaps he is the only actor to play both Lincoln and Hitler on celluloid.

Gilbert also appeared in Beverly Hills Cop 2, the Problem Child Series, Look Who’s Talking Too, and the Sharknado TV movies. 

He also did guest spots on sitcoms like The Cosby Show and Becker

Gilbert became a pioneer during The Roast of Hugh Hefner Roast weeks after 9-11. The nation was in a somber mood causing comedians to tread carefully.

The fearless contrarian that Gilbert was, he began with a joke about being nervous about his upcoming flight to Los Angeles with a connection at the Empire State Building. The audience reaction was that of shock, disgust, a prolonged chorus of “boos” and an individual shrieking “too soon.”

At that juncture, most comedians would have exited the stage. These days they even capitulate before an online mob. But Gilbert was relentless, he promptly launched into the infamous raunchy Aristocrat joke. Gilbert went on to improvise the joke using copious expletives and mentions of excrement and bodily fluids.

The very audience who was outraged by a 9-11 joke, lapped it with unrestrained jubilation. Fellow comedians on stage almost collapsed with laughter.  

“So: Terrorism is shocking and in bad taste, but a joke about incest and bestiality is totally fine,” Gilbert said later.

Gilbert was outstanding in the comedy documentary The Aristocrats (2005) about the infamous joke. A review in Entertainment Weekly said that “out of the 101 comedians who appear on screen, no one is funnier — or more disgusting — than Gilbert Gottfried.”

This laughter that Gilbert caused was the catharsis and the healing that people needed at that juncture.

Gilbert's myriad other roast appearances are legendary, his targets were everyone from David Hasselhoff to Pamela Anderson.

Personally, Gilbert's roasts were among the rare instances where my body seemed incapable of handling the overload of comedy. With Gilbert you didn't giggle or smile or laugh gently, you gasped for breath due to laughter. 

Some comedians have strong material, some have the delivery, some have the face, some have the body for physical comedy and some have improvisational skills. Well, Gilbert had a complete talent stack and so much more.

Gilbert frequently appeared on the game show “Hollywood Squares,”

Once he was asked, “What mammal has the largest eyes?”, Gilbert 

answered, “Marlon Brando at a buffet,” speaking of Brando, who bloated up in his later years. It led to Brando complaining to the show’s producers. Brando's complaints were counterproductive. It actually prompted Gilbert to playfully mock Brando even more often.

Gilbert also appeared on reality shows such as “Celebrity Wife Swap” and "The Burn with Jeff Ross". 

Gilbert also was the voice for many TV commercials 

Gilbert was among the first celebrities to be canceled before the terms became known. Following a 2011 tsunami in Japan, Gilbert was the target of a frenzy of social media hate because of a few silly tsunami jokes on Twitter. It caused Gilbert to lose his deal with Aflac, which did 75% of its business with Japan. Gilbert learned of his firing from news reports, not from Aflac. This was probably the first time a company capitulated before an unruly online mob.

“I don’t regret the joke,” quipped Gilbert after the incident. “I regret losing the money.”

Gilbert penned a column defending the rights of comedians to make jokes thus becoming an unlikely ambassador for freedom of expression.

Gilbert’s last ever tweet was also in defense of freedom of expression for Chris Rock who was subjected to violence at the Oscars for an innocuous joke.

“I have always felt comedy and tragedy are roommates,” Gilbert wrote. 

“If you look up comedy and tragedy, you will find a very old picture of two masks. One mask is a tragedy. It looks like it’s crying. The other mask is comedy. It looks like it’s laughing. Nowadays, we would say, ‘How tasteless and insensitive.’ A comedy mask is laughing at a tragedy mask.”

Gilbert was also the voice of the wisecracking parrot Iago in Disney’s “Aladdin” and various other spin-offs.  “I prepare like De Niro. I lived with a family of parrots for a year,” he said in 2018.

Aladdin spawned a parallel career where he did voices for children’s programs such as Cyberchase and Ninja Turtles. It prompted Gilbert to remark that his career walked the line between early morning children's programming and hard-core porn.

In 2005, Gilbert released his Dirty Jokes DVD and CD where he told “the funniest and filthiest jokes” non-stop for 50 minutes in his inimitable manner from the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City.

‘The Amazing Colossal Podcast’ named after the famous 50s Sci-Fi picture had Gilbert with his excellent and amiable co-host Frank Santopadre interview comedy and showbiz greats, including those from the golden era. Gilbert and Frank regaled audiences with their encyclopedia recollections of information about the film, I refuse to call it 'film trivia'. Gilbert frequently sang songs and did impressions at various junctures of the podcast even playing all parts in key scenes of films. It was hilarious, insightful and a treat for cinephiles and pop culture aficionados. The podcast was a huge success running over 400 episodes since it was launched in 2014, the most recent new episode dropped just nine days ago

In 2011, Gilbert wrote his memoir titled “Rubber Balls and Liquor” and in 2017 he was the subject of a documentary called Gilbert. Here Gilbert offered an insight into his childhood, his youth, and his early days doing standup. 

In the documentary, we saw Gilbert the caring father, the loving husband, the dedicated son, and the devoted brother. Contrary to his public persona, he was kind, sweet, gentle, and shockingly soft-spoken, with a childlike sense of playfulness and wonder. 

We saw the frugal side of Gilbert as he pinched toiletries from hotels and used the bathroom sink to wash his socks. We also get to see a video of Gilbert's hilarious grandmother from whom he probably inherited the comedy genes.

My favorite moment in the documentary was a tender moment when his wife Dara tells him "I Love You" and Gilbert replies wryly "That's your problem".  That was Gilbert.

His idiosyncratic voice also made him part of various online bits. One such video had Gilbert recording an audiobook for the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey and various women cringing with disgust as they hear his rendition. It was done in Gilbert's typical self-effacing style.

He even interrupted a press junket where the celebrated film journalist Gino Salomone was interviewing Sandra Bullock. The result was hilarity and Ms. Bullock getting 'turned on' by Gilbert.

Beyond his comedy, Gilbert also dedicated himself to myriad charitable endeavors. He appeared on Celebrity Apprentice with Donald Trump to support his charity Autism Speaks and did the Night of Too Many stars appearing alongside an Autistic person. Once again you saw the warm, supportive and sensitive side of Gilbert 

Gilbert was never petty or mean it was all done for the laugh. He never was political, unlike some comedians. He never used his humor with malicious intent or to push a political agenda. He always punched up, especially during the Roasts. He was never ever politically correct and his goal was laughter.

It is hard to summarize Gilbert's brilliance, comedian Dave Attell summarized it well, when he remarked “Gilbert’s somewhere between Mark Twain and a birthday clown”  

Gilbert had just recorded a podcast a mere month ago where he seemed hale and hearty and now he is gone rather unexpectedly. When a genius such as Gilbert, who was still in his prime, passes away suddenly, one often wonders what might have been.

In Gilbert's case, there would have been more books, appearances, podcasts and so much more laughter.

I often wondered what it would have been like if superstars such as Harrison Ford, Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, etc appeared on Gilbert's podcast.  

A White House Correspondents' Dinner with President Trump and Gilbert eviscerating the room of uppity and entitled luminaries from the media, politics, and showbiz would have been a joy.

Gilbert had scheduled to appear in the indie feature Hassle at the Castle at Uptone Pictures which is in the script phase.

Alas, that was not to be.

The outpour of love from those who knew him personally shows that apart from being prodigious talent, Gilbert was a kind and sweet human being. Social media has been inundated with grief following Gilbert's passing. If only the departed were alive to hear the glowing tributes they received.

I can scarcely believe I am writing the words "Gilbert's passing" and referring to him in the past tense. This is truly a void that will never ever be filled. 

But it would be blasphemous in Gilbert's world to end on a somber note. He would have preferred a roast replete with expletives rather than a poignant eulogy full of blandishments. I'm trying to think of something inappropriate to write, but I just cannot. 

His family put it best in their message announcing Gilbert’s untimely passing “Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honor.” 

That’s how Gilbert should be remembered, a fearless, forthright, and funny man who brought boundless joy to everybody he touched.

 

The author can be contacted at rajanlaad@gmail.com

This article also appears on American Thinker