the comic's comic: Gilbert Gottfried

This is #TheVoice that replaced Gilbert Gottfried as the Aflac duck

Aflac, the insurance company with a lot of business in Japan, fired comedian Gilbert Gottfried as the voice of the Aflac duck because he joked about the tsunami in Japan last month. This is the guy they picked to replace Gottfried as the voice of the duck.

Roll the clip!

Apr 26, 2011 10:34:13 PM | Gilbert Gottfried

First joke previewing Gilbert Gottfried's book, "Rubber Balls and Liquor," is appropriately dirty and offensive

Gilbert Gottfried's career has not stalled in the wake of his AFLAC/Japan kerfuffle. In fact, Gottfried has a new book coming out later this month, "Rubber Balls and Liquor," which is part memoir, part excuse to publish more dirty and offensive jokes.

Like this one. This one is titled "Joke 1." And yes, it's Not Safe For Work. Or the ears of the easily offended. Roll it!

Here is Gottfried explaining why he wrote the book. Sort of.

Apr 19, 2011 2:54:40 PM | Gilbert Gottfried

Gilbert Gottfried transforms into a scary monster for Halloween, or just for kicks, in this short film

Who knows what goes on inside the mind of Gilbert Gottfried?

In this new short film he made himself, the comedian transforms himself into a "Scary Monster." This is how Gottfried explains it: "I threw this film together with a pocket camera. I did the makeup myself from shit I had around the house. My agent saw it and said it looked 'Cheap, childish and not all that funny.' I said, 'Yeah, so what's the problem?'" Should he have at least yelped "Aflac!" at the end? You be the judge. Roll it!

Oct 22, 2010 5:53:20 AM | Gilbert Gottfried

Shoe Dini lets Gilbert Gottfried make fun of its product on TV (or at least online)

Some products are so silly, that when you see the ads for them on TV, you begin to wonder how even the people in the ads can take them seriously. I suppose that's what the people who make the Shoe Dini felt, too, and decided to hire Gilbert Gottfried to provide the voiceover for their ads. They also posted this alternate "funny" version online to acknowledge the nonsense even more, allowing Gottfried to compare their product to spray-on hair. Now if only they'd put more ads like this on the TV. Roll it.

Jun 5, 2010 4:03:43 PM | Gilbert Gottfried

Today Show's Ann Curry attempting stand-up

Which Today Show personality is trying her hands at stand-up comedy? Al Roker? Good guess, but no. Matt Lauer? Despite his girlish hands, it won't be him. Didn't you read the headline on this post? It's Ann Curry. Here is photographic evidence of Curry with Gilbert Gottfried, and no, they're not an item, but imagining the two of them together, in that way, could be comedy to some.

Curry met with Gottfried recently at the Comic Strip Live for some pointers, and apparently this is part of some sort of wacky Today segment that has anchors facing their fears. If you watch Today, do you get the sense that Curry fears comedy? Hmmm. She will be taking the stage in front of a live audience at Carolines sometime next week (Jossip is saying Monday, July 7). If Curry thinks she can make a run at my title as New York's Funniest Reporter, well, then, I say the more, the merrier. Bring it on, TV anchors!

Jul 1, 2008 2:43:03 PM | Gilbert Gottfried

The 50 funniest jokes of the past year?

Sunday's New York Post ran a top 50 jokes of the past year list that's sure to generate reader debate and discussion, much like these lists always set out to accomplish in the first place. And if you read the list closely, you can already see that it's not necessarily the best or top 50 jokes overall, but merely the favorite jokes from a select group of comedians, accompanied by those comedians listing their favorite jokes from other stand-ups. An odd list to say the least. Few got me literally laughing out loud. I did enjoy the bits picked from John Oliver, Liam McEneaney, Carolyn Castiglia, Marc Maron and Dave Attell.

But the first joke on the list stopped me in my tracks, because I knew I'd heard it before, and not from Roseanne, although she's given credit for it in the publication. Here's the joke in question:

A doctor tells a guy: "I have bad news. You have Alzheimer's, and you have cancer." Guy says, "Thank God I don't have cancer."

Now I know I've heard Gilbert Gottfried tell this joke live onstage last year. And it's on his CD/DVD, Dirty Jokes (though that doesn't mean it was his, since that set is a collection of his old favorites, including stock material, right?). Roseanne wrote it down on her blog last December, without attribution other than titling the post, "Great Joke." Wild Willy Parsons also lists it on his joke page. No matter who said it first, it's certainly not a new joke. I wonder, though, who should get credit for it? The way the Internet works, Roseanne already has gotten cited on many online sites that link to this article. The way the world works, you'd expect Gottfried to get the credit since he recorded it first. Or did he? Who said this joke first? Who wrote it? Do you know? Where did you hear it first?

Apr 7, 2008 5:48:57 PM | Gilbert Gottfried, Roseanne

Gilbert Gottfried in his real voice

Some comics really try heard to stay in character. Dan Whitney does all of his interviews as "Larry the Cable Guy" with the Larry accent and persona. Same goes for Sacha Baron Cohen as "Borat." Bobcat Goldthwait, on the other hand, rose to fame with a unique vocal delivery but in recent years has dropped the squeaky squeal and talked in his regular speaking voice. Gottfried amuses me because he's got his stage voice that even got employed to make a duck shout "AFLAC!" but is more than eager to tone it down over the telephone. Affleck?

That said, he still says plenty of NSFW things. And he doesn't seem to mind toying with the crowd, or the inteviewer. Actually, we got along quite well. At one point, he suggested that I accompany him on all future interviews. But what about this one?

Gottfried showed up in 2006 on Last Comic Standing's comedy roast, fitting since Gottfried's routine on the roast of Hugh Hefner just after 9/11 helped prompt The Aristocrats documentary.

"I didn't want to be one of the comics trying out. And uh, yeah, a lot of people seemed to see that, watched that show."

Did you give any of the comedians roasting tips?

"No, I didn't give anyone advice. I just figured like most stuff I do, I'd hang around long enough and get my check and go home."

Gottfried is one of several comedians who blogs.

"I'm always wondering if anyone actually reads them. A couple of times, I'd actually try to write stuff, and then other times, I'd fill it with knock-knock jokes and riddles for little kids."

Don't comedy fans really want to know what you're thinking, though?

"Most of the time, you realize it's not much. This is the problem. When they do reality show and they'll find someone...all of a sudden they're taking the celebrity bull-fighting and parachute jumping! If they really had a reality show, it'd be people sitting around watching TV, looking to see what's in their refrigerator."

So what's in your refrigerator?

"Nothing you can eat. Stuff to grow. Like a science experiment."

Did you know that HBO was making a big deal about you when it debuted The Aristocrats?

"It was an obscene, sudden credibility. That was the one time I was treated with respect by the critics. Hopefully they'll show this 57 times a day (on HBO) and I'll lose every children's job. With AFLAC, I think they'll wake up and realize, 'Hey, we can get an actual duck to do this!' And I do a kiddie show. Cyberchase, that's on PBS. And so it's like, basically my career walking a tightrope between early morning children's programming and late-night porn!"

Gottfried is a frequent guest both with Howard Stern's radio show and Jay Leno's TV show. So does that make him the magical link between Stern and his former sidekick, the no longer stuttering John Melendez?

"Which is something the public has been asking about for sometime now! I guess I am the magic link there. Last time I was on The Tonight Show was recently as Kim Jong-il. It was very odd. It was the second time I was Kim Jong-il. The last time they put me on, all they put me in was a military jacket...we got complaints from the anti-Asian defamation league!"

Jul 28, 2006 6:41:00 PM | Gilbert Gottfried