Gilbert Gottfried, the comedian whose distinctive voice was plumbed for manic effect, passed away at the age of 67.
Rise To Prominence: Born in Brooklyn on Feb. 28, 1955, Gottfried first gained notice when he was cast in the ill-fated sixth season of “Saturday Night Live” in 1980. He appeared in 12 episodes and was best remembered as the Yiddish-accented talk show host Leo Waxman and for his impersonation of controversial filmmaker Roman Polanski.
While his time on “Saturday Night Live” was brief, he used it as a stepping-stone for more prominent appearances that took further use of his talents — especially his vocal inflections that gave a brilliantly shrill framing to humor that frequently veered away from good taste.
He appeared regularly on Howard Stern’s radio show, provided the voice of Iago the parrot in the Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE:DIS) animated feature “Aladdin” and the subsequent sequels, hosted the USA Network series “USA Up All Night” from 1989 to 1996 and was a recurring guest in a reboot of “The Hollywood Squares” game show where he won a cult following for yelling “You Fool!” in a loud shrill voice every time a contestant got an answer wrong.
Later in his career, Gottfried was one of the busiest voice actors in animation and advertising, with roles ranging from the insurance-hyping duck in the Aflac commercials to a talking horse in “Family Guy.” His television work included “Celebrity Apprentice,” where he was fired by Donald Trump in the third episode of the 14th season, and since 2014 he hosted “Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast,” which celebrated show business history.
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Comedy Mischief: Gottfried occasionally courted controversy with his humor. He riffed on Paul Reubens’ arrest for public masturbation during the live East Coast telecast of the 1991 Emmy Awards, but his remarks were censored for the West Coast delayed broadcast, and he was never asked back on the show. His Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) jokes about the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan resulted in his losing his gig as the Aflac duck.
In 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Gottfried tried to offer humor about the terrorist assault during a Friars Club gathering in New York City, but the audience of veteran comics responded negatively. But Gottfried saved face and won back the audience with his own version of the classic show business dirty joke, which was featured in the 2005 documentary “The Aristocrats.”
Photo: Gilbert Gottfried in a 2020 guest appearance on “Svengoolie” with Rich Koz. Photo via Brecht Bug / Flickr Creative Commons
