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Friday, April 15, 2022

Godspeed Gilbert Gottfried

Gilbert Gottfried, the comedian with the distinctive voice well known for his at times crude humour, died on April 12 2022 at the age of 67. The cause was myotonic dystrophy type 2, a form of muscular dystrophy.

Gilbert Gottfried was born on February 18 1955 in Brooklyn, New York. His older sister was photographer Arlene Gottfried. He dropped out of high school and began performing at comedy clubs when he was only 15 years old.

In 1980 Gilbert Gottfried had a short stint as part of the cast of Saturday Night Live. That same year he appeared in the TV movie The Further Adventures of Wally Brown. He made his film debut in the movie House of God in 1984. In the Eighties he appeared on such talk shows and variety shows as Thicke of the Night, Stand Up America, The Original Max Talking Headroom Show, It's Showtime at the Apollo, Late Night with David Letterman, and The Dick Cavett Show. He was a host on USA Up All Night from 1989 to 1998. He guest starred on the shows The Cosby Show and Superboy. He appeared in the films Bad Medicine (1985), Beverly Hills Cops II (1987), Never on Tuesday (1988), Hot to Trot (1988), 3rd Bass: The Gas Face (1988), The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990), Problem Child (1990), and Look Who's Talking Too (1990).

In the Nineties Gilbert Gottfried continued to host USA Up All Night. He appeared on such talk shows and variety shows as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Muppets Tonight, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Saturday Night Live, and MadTV. He guest starred on the shows Night Court, A Different World, The Slate, Herman's Head, Adventures in Wonderland, Silk Stalkings, Living Single, The Parent 'Hood, Married with Children, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Mad About YouWings, In the House, Clueless, Hope & Gloria, The Weird Al Show, and Jenny He was a voice regular on the animated shows Problem Child and Aladdin. He was a guest voice on such animated shows as The Ren & Stimpy Show, Beavis and Butt-Head, Bobby's World, Timon & Pumbaa, Superman, Dilbert, and Clerks. He was the voice of Iago in the animated film Aladdin (1992) and provided the voices for the moviesThumbelina (1994) and  Doctor Dolittle (1998). He appeared in the films Problem Child 2 (1991), Highway to Hell (1991), House Party 3 (1994), Blankman (1994), Silk Degrees (1994), Meet Wally Sparks (1997), How to Be a Player (1997), and Goosed (1999). He appeared on Broadway in The Rocky Horror Show.

In the Naughts Mr. Gottfried guest starred on the shows Son of the Beach, CSI" Crime Scnee Investigation, Becker, Greg the Bunny, Hannah Montana, Star-ving, Sesame Street, 3rd Rock, and 'Til Death. He was the voice of Digit on the show Cyberchase. He provided voices for such shows as House of Mouse, Bear in the Big Blue House, Grim & Evil, and The Emperor's New School. He appeared in the movies Longshot (2001), The Amazing Floydini (2004), Back by Midnight (2004), Funky Monkey (2004), The Last Request (2006), Hysterical Psycho (2009), and Jack and the Beanstalk (2009). He provided voices for the movies A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) and Farce of the Penguins (2006).

In the Teens he continued to voice Digit on Cyberchase. He guest starred on the shows Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CollegeHumor Originals, Anger Management, Deadbeat, Thingstarter, The Jim Gaffigan Show, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Episodes, and Crashing. He provided voices for such animated shows as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Justice League Action, Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Teen Titans Go. He appeared in the movies Calendar Girl (2011), A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014), Rock Story (2015), Director's Cut (2016), Gender Bender (2016), The Comedian (2016), Hospital Arrest (2016), Abnormal Attraction (2018), A Wrestling Christmas Miracle (2020), and The Truth About Santa Claus.

In the Twenty-Twenties he continued to voice Digit on Cyberchase. He provided a voice for the show The Komisky Method.

In addition to his work on television and film, he also did several commercials. For many years he was the voice of the Aflac duck. Over the years he also did commercials for MTV, Pop Tarts, Subway, Glad, and yet others.

Gilbert Gottfried was well known for his love of classic films. He was a guest programmer on Turner Classic Movies in 2013. He made several appearances on Svengoolie. In 2021 he appeared on Toon In with Me. His podcast Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast debuted in 2014 and centred on Old Hollywood and popular culture.

As a comedian Gilbert Gottfried was starkly original. He was known for his incredibly dirty sense of humour and at times he could go beyond the bounds of what was considered acceptable. Even so, he was consistently funny, more so than the majority of comics.

In real life Gilbert Gottfried was entirely different from his stage persona. Those who knew him reported that he was sweet and sensitive,  and known for his kindness. He was also reportedly extremely shy. He was also very enthusiastic about the things he loved. Classic film fans got to see his love of classic movies in various venues over the years, where he dropped his brash stage persona to become a sweet, enthusiastic fanboy for classic movies. Ultimately, Gilbert Gottfried was a true original. He was one of a kind.

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