The comedy community remembers Gilbert Gottfried
The unforgettable comedian with the unforgettable voice died today at 67
Aux News Gilbert Gottfried
Earlier today, Gilbert Gottfried’s family announced in a statement that the iconic comedian with a penchant for filthy jokes and a screeching voice had died “after a long illness” at the age of 67. Naturally, other famous people and members of the comedy community have been paying their respects to Gottfried, reminiscing about their favorite comedy bits and noting—as Kathy Griffin did—that he would’ve been the first to make a dark joke about his death.
On Twitter, she retweeted a post that Gottfried had made after Bob Saget and Louis Anderson died featuring a photo of him with the two of them, saying that Gottfried “would be the first one to make a joke about this picture today” and that he “would not hold back.” (Not hard to believe for anyone who has heard him do “The Aristocrats.”)
Jason Alexander, who weirdly broke the news for a lot of people despite admitting that he did not know Gottfried “well,” said on Twitter that he had made him laugh “at times when laughter did not com easily,” adding, “I loved what he shared with me.”
Conan O’Brien posted a memory of what sounds like a brilliant stand-up set:
Dane Cook made a point to send his love to Gottfried’s wife, Dara, adding that the comedian “was never not funny” and that he “was a lovely guy” who was “always friendly.” Jon Stewart posted that Gottfried’s comedy “could leave you gasping for breath,” saying he was “just indescribably unusually hilarious.”
A famous clip of Gottfried on Hollywood Squares has also been going around, proving that he could be brilliantly funny even when not describing the awful things that a family of performers did as part of their act:
Both Disney and Aflac, two organizations that appreciated the use of Gottfried’s singular voice (until one of them very much did not), have yet to acknowledge the comedian’s death.
27 Comments
Gottfried one of those comics who you either got or you didnât. I guess that can be said about most comics, but what made him different was that he didnât just not care if anybody got it, he went out of his way to irritate the people who didnât. That made him even funnier to those of us who did.
I wonder how many Hollywood Squares contestants have won Darwin Awards?Gilbert was always too smart for the room.
You fool! All of them!
*sniff* Heaven just gained another aristocrat.Â
Man, his podcast was such a great comedy history education for me.
Yeah, now how are we going to know who the anti-semites in Old Hollywood were? He was an indispensable resource for that, and lurid rumors about the stars of yesteryear.
 in a room with Drew Friedman, magic
Yes- this. That podcast was such a masterpiece- hundreds of episodes of old school actors, comedians, musicians, all telling hilarious stories drawn out by the equally (if not more so) hilarious antics of Godfrey. I canât believe now Iâm talking about it in past tense. A few episode highlights- Bob Einstein, Artie Lange, Alan Thicke, Kirk Hammett talking about his monster collection… the list could go on forever. I could (and did) listen to endless hours of that thing and never once was it not entertaining.Â
I saw him walking outside the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia (where thereâs always a ton of foot traffic) one day, eating an ice cream cone. He looked so normal that I did a double take, but it was unmistakably him. I didnât want to bother him (he looked so content!) so all I did was try not to stare, but itâs been a bit of a regret that I didnât tell him how much I loved his work.Then again, it could have started a flash mob around the dude, so I felt like I was doing him a solid by just letting him blend in and eat his ice cream cone.Either way, RIP. What an amazing person.
This site, sometimes rightfully, gets a reputation for being overly sensitive. As it did with Saget, it warms my heart to see the outpouring of sheer obscenity for one of the funniest humans to walk to the earth.
Iâm just glad Gilbert lived long enough to tell the world that Bob Saget raped and killed a girl in 1991.
Iâm not a fan of CC roasts in general, but Gottfriedâs roast of Bob Saget was one of the best ever made.
His roast of Roseanne was also excellent.Â
ROOOOOOOOZILLLLLLLLLLA
Him and Norm both did great on that roast. Now all 3 are dead đ
Itâs not just Gilbert. That whole special is one of the best 90-minute stretches of comedy ever. Gilbertâs roast, Norm Macdonald bombing on purpose because he couldnât bear to say a bad word about his friend, John Stamos getting absolutely blasted by everyone and then coming hitting back just as hard, Greg Giraldo, Jon Lovitz, Cloris Leachman, so much more. Itâs an all-time classic.
Hardest Iâve laughed in years, during his guest appearance on Netflixâs âBumping Micsâ…âWhatâs the worst part about eating your grandmotherâs p*ssy?â
âHitting your head on the coffin lid.â
I need to wipe down my desk and monitors now. Thanks for that.
He was always the first to crack a joke after a tragedy, usually, while the bodies were still warm. I loved when people would lose their shit over it. Too soon!
His joke about the Japan tsunami wrongfully cost him the Afflack gig.
Holy hell, itâs been years since Iâve seen that Hollywood Squares clip. Iâm sitting here at work in stitches. Such a shame comedy (and generally everything) is heading in the direction it is due to PC and the Will Smiths of the world. Weâll never have a mainstream comedian quite like him ever again. Heâll definitely be missed.You Fool!
You could still totally do what Gilbert did on Hollywood Squares.
Well, I was more speaking to his broader comedy, not specifically what he did/said on Hollywood Squares. He pretty famously got serious flak (and fired from a job) because of a joke he made that others found offensive. Iâm just saying, in general, itâs likely getting harder and harder for comedians like him to break out.
For some reason I remember first becoming a Gilbert Gottfried fan because he was a regular guest on Howard Sternâs radio show.I stopped listening to Stern when he moved to Sirius (because I donât have satellite radio) so it would have been many years ago that I heard GG on Stern.Does anyone else remember GG being a Stern regular? Or did I imagine that? Edit: Never mind – he was on over 100 times. I should have checked before posting.
Everybody always talks about the roasts, but they rarely mention the one for Joan Rivers. I can never forget it. The thing about Joan Riversâ reptilian vagina. Itâs like the meanest, most insane thing ever.
âYou FOOL!â