| Gilbert Gottfried | |
|---|---|
Gottfried at the Writers Guild of America East Solidarity Rally in Washington Square in 2007 |
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| Born | February 28, 1955 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Medium | Stand-up, film, television |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1980–present |
| Genres | Satire, crude humor, blue comedy, improvisational comedy, black comedy, insult comedy |
| Subject(s) | Religion, race relations, racism, pop culture, sex |
| Spouse | Dara Kravitz (2007–present) |
| Notable works and roles | Saturday Night Live Comedy Central Roasts Host of USA Up All Night Mr. Peabody in Problem Child Iago in Aladdin Digit in Cyberchase Aflac Duck in the Aflac commercials, until March 2011 |
Gilbert Gottfried (born February 28, 1955) is an American actor, voice actor and stand-up comedian, best known for his trademark comedic persona of speaking in a loud, grating tone of voice.[1] He has played numerous roles in film and television, perhaps most notably voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin (1992), and co-starred in the Problem Child movies. He is also known for voicing Digit in the children's cartoon/educational math-based show Cyberchase and formerly the Aflac duck until the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
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Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1955, Gottfried was the youngest of three children.[2][3]
At age fifteen, Gilbert Gottfried began doing amateur stand-up in New York City and, after a few years, became known as "the comedian's comedian."[4] In 1980, the popular NBC late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live was being retooled with a new staff and new comedians; the producers noticed Gottfried and hired him as a cast member. During the 1980–1981 season, Gottfried's persona in SNL sketches was very different from his later characterization: he rarely (if ever) spoke in his trademark screeching, obnoxious voice and never squinted. During his 12-episode stint, he was given very little airtime and seldom used in sketches. Gottfried recalls a low point was having to play a corpse in a sketch about a sports organist hired to play inappropriate music at a funeral. Despite this, he had one recurring character (Leo Waxman, husband to Denny Dillon's Pinky Waxman on the recurring talk show sketch, "What's It All About?") and two celebrity impersonations: David A. Stockman and controversial film director Roman Polanski.
Although not a regular, he also appeared in the short-lived 1992 TV series The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys and voiced crazed dentist "Dr. Bender" and his son Wendell on the show The Fairly OddParents and the voice of Jerry the Belly Button Elf on Ren and Stimpy. He is notably known for his voice-overs as ducks or other birds—when asked how he prepared for his role of Iago in Aladdin, he said "I did the whole DeNiro thing. I moved to South America! I lived in the trees!" He was the host of the Saturday edition of USA Up All Night. Rhonda Shear hosted the Friday version.
He also appeared as a semi-regular in the most recent version of Hollywood Squares. He is best remembered for a 1999 episode in which a single round of play took up the entire half-hour. The contestants had each won four stars/squares, leaving Gottfried as the last square available. Because either player could win upon capturing Gottfried's square, they could not win on their competitor's wrong response and had to win it themselves. The contestants alternated agreeing or disagreeing about whether Gottfried was bluffing an answer—and missed six consecutive tries. Five of those times he admonished the contestant with an increasingly incredulous "YOU FOOL!", mimicking Penn Jillette and his partner Teller. The seventh time he and the contestant agreed, and they finally won the square and the game. This segment has been featured on game show blooper programs and it is popular on Youtube.
Gottfried has provided the voice of the duck in the AFLAC commercials and Digit in the math-mystery cartoon Cyberchase on PBS Kids GO!, as well as the magical imp Mr. Mxyzptlk on Superman: The Animated Series. He also played a nasty wisecracking criminal genius named "Nick-Nack" who used toys to commit crimes on two episodes of the TV series Superboy (he also co-wrote an issue of the tie-in Superboy: The Comic Book which featured the origin of his character, Nick-Nack). Gottfried made regular appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
In 2004 Comedy Central featured his stand up material for an animated series called Shorties Watchin' Shorties.[5] Gottfried was part of an online advertising campaign for Microsoft's Office XP software, showing, in a series of Flash-animated cartoons, that the Clippy office assistant would be removed. In 2006, Gottfried topped the Boston Phoenix's tongue-in-cheek list of the world's 100 Unsexiest Men. In April 2006, Gottfried performed with the University of Pennsylvania's Mask and Wig Club in their annual Intercollegiate Comedy Festival. Also in 2006, he made an appearance on the Let's Make a Deal portion of Gameshow Marathon (as a baby in a large high chair, he says "Hey Ricki, I think I need my diaper changed!"), and in the Dodge Viper in the big deal (where he tells the contestants "What were you thinking?!" because neither one picked it). He also guest-starred in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as Santa Claus in the one-hour Christmas Special. He voiced Rick Platypus in an episode of My Gym Partner's a Monkey entitled "That Darn Platypus". Furthermore, Gottfried appeared as Peter's horse in an episode of Family Guy entitled "Boys Do Cry". He also guest-starred in Hannah Montana as Barny Bittmen. In January 2009, Gottfried worked again with David Faustino for an episode of Faustino's show Star-ving. [6] In 2011, Gottfried appeared in the episode "Lost Traveler" on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as sarcastic computer professional Leo Gerber, which producer Warren Leight said could become a recurring character.[7]
During his monologue at a Friars Club roast of Hugh Hefner just three weeks after the September 11 attacks, Gottfried joked that he had intended to catch a plane, but couldn't get a direct flight because "they said they have to stop at the Empire State Building first." Audience members responded with hisses and a cry of "Too soon!". Gottfried then abandoned his prepared remarks and launched into the venerable Aristocrats joke, winning back the audience.[8] Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza used Gottfried's monologue as a segment in their 2005 film, The Aristocrats.[9]
In March 2011, Gottfried made jokes on his Twitter account in reference to the earthquake disaster in Japan. He later deleted the tweets and apologized. Aflac, which does 75% of its business in Japan, dismissed Gottfried on March 14, 2011 and announced a casting call for his replacement as the voice of its duck mascot.[10] He was replaced by Daniel McKeague on April 26, 2011.[11]