Gilbert Gottfried: Funniest man alive

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Writer Eric Spitznagel on Facebook:

I interviewed Gilbert Gottfried a half dozen times over the years. I even ghostwrote a few magazine essays for him. He didn't need me. He was always hilarious, and yes, that was his actual voice. Once, the Dame was out of town and I had a call with him, and Charlie (who was maybe 3 at the time) wouldn't leave me alone so I handed him the phone and let him interview Gilbert for awhile. I still have the tape of their conversation somewhere. At the end, Gilbert exclaimed, "That kid is going places! [Long pause.] Prison, most likely. But still, places!"
He used to call me months after a story was published, and say, "Spitznagel, it's your Jewish friend. Listen, I came up with better jokes. Could you stop the presses?" I still clearly recall one of the last messages he ever left me. He said, "Spitznagel! I thought you were dead. That's not quite true, I HOPED you were dead. Anyway, call me. You said everybody at Playboy loved our first draft. Does that include Dorothy Stratten?"
To this day, his number is still in my phone, because you never knew when Gilbert might call. I see no good reason to remove it now.

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 04:21 (two years ago) link

the 2017 doc “Gilbert” is streaming on PlutoTV - highly recommend if you are a fan, its a very sweet snapshot of him & his family, v touching

terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 13 April 2022 04:46 (two years ago) link

Amazing

rest in peace to Gilbert Gottfried who has probably the best sequence in game show history on Hollywood Squares. if you're not an old hag like me who remembers the rules, both contestants needed his square to secure the 5-square win, but he decided to troll both of them pic.twitter.com/Egzyzygudd

— manny (@mannyfidel) April 12, 2022

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 05:33 (two years ago) link

Well I guess that leaves me...

longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 13 April 2022 14:42 (two years ago) link

I watched that live at the age of 15 and holy shit did it blow my mind. Was he the first comedian ballsy enough to try a 9/11 joke?

― frogbs, Tuesday, April 12, 2022 7:36 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Frogbs, did you not see 'the Aristocrats'?

Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 14:50 (two years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAxrBrkOE8E

Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 14:56 (two years ago) link

What a career this guy has had.

Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 14:57 (two years ago) link

I saw Joan Rivers do 9/11 jokes right after the event, in midtown Manhattan. They were really gross jokes too, but not far out of line with the rest of her act.

Josefa, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 15:02 (two years ago) link

Watching that Emmy footage, it's insane to think of him as like, this outre legend spending the last 20 years racking up amazing Stern appearances, headline-making dirty jokes, roast appearances, podcasts etc... and meanwhile he's had like a whole other 20-year career as like a mainstream character actor, Disney cartoon, SNL cast member, cable TV host...

Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 15:03 (two years ago) link

on Sesame Street as Denny the Distractor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzr5JajCXZM

Chappies banging dustbin lids together (President Keyes), Wednesday, 13 April 2022 15:10 (two years ago) link

Huge content warning on this, but

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSqEP97hJEA

It's wild to watch this because now that Gilbert and Norm are gone (and, before them, Joan and Rickles), I think this entire style of humor is probably gone with it, a style where you could do 10 minutes of the most offensive joke imaginable and then defuse it by just your personality, a kind of academic deference to the source material and a sense of being "in" on something. The Schumer/Lampanelli/Jeselnik axis def veers more towards "edgelord" than this. Ross is close, I guess, but he's way less subtle. Note how everyone laughs at the set-ups like "here it comes." I suppose an argument could be made about how it's probably for the best that these types of jokes are going to die, but it still feels like we're losing a piece of history

Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 16:07 (two years ago) link

Like Norm and Gilbert were probably the only guys that could still kill exclusively with material that was no newer than 75 years old

Whiney G. Weingarten, Wednesday, 13 April 2022 16:08 (two years ago) link

wow that sesame street clip is an accurate depiction of the inside of my head

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 13 April 2022 16:11 (two years ago) link

also... i lol'd mightily at that roast clip. probably the funniest parts were gottfried attempting to explain the really illogical jokes

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 13 April 2022 16:24 (two years ago) link

Feeling so sad that with GG’s passing we’ll never know for sure what kind of citrus fruit Cesar Romero had his boys fling at him… and we’ll never get a clear view of what was happening on Danny Thomas’s coffee table.

Josefa, Friday, 15 April 2022 03:57 (two years ago) link

eight months pass...

Came across that after reading the article linked here: T/S: Lou Reed "Live: Take No Prisoners" vs. Andrew Dice Clay "The Day The Laughter Died"

A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 25 December 2022 02:21 (one year ago) link

one month passes...
four months pass...

From Gilbert's daughter Lily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQNO-mVMuzY

Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 1 July 2023 00:43 (one year ago) link


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