Line #7 Creator/GilbertGottfried


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GilbertGottfried_477.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300: '''[[{{Pun}} AFLAXED!!!]]''']]
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4	->''"If they'd wanted a ''nice'' parrot, they wouldn't have asked for me."''
5	-->-- '''Gilbert Gottfried''' on his role in ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' (paraphrased)
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7	Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 -- April 12, 2022) was everybody's favorite squinty-eyed, grating-voiced, pint-sized, obnoxious, hilarious American stand-up comic and voice actor from Brooklyn, New York. Known for roles consisting of (but not limited to) Iago in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' [[Franchise/{{Aladdin}} franchise]] (and by extension, the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series and ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse''), Igor Peabody in the ''Film/ProblemChild'' movies, Mr. Mxyzptlk in ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' (a role he would later reprise in ''[[VideoGame/LEGOBatman LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, Lego DC Super-Villains]]'', and ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueAction''), Jerry the Bellybutton Elf from ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'', Art De Salvo from ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}'', a troll from ''WesternAnimation/{{Dilbert}}'', deranged dentist Dr. Bender and his son, Wendell, from a few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Fairly OddParents}}'', Creator/PatrickSwayze and Creator/JerrySeinfeld from ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', Santa Claus from ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', Digit from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}'', monster toy Tickle Me Psycho on ''WesternAnimation/{{Robotomy}}'', God in the Season 1 finale of ''WesternAnimation/SmilingFriends''[[labelnote:]]which would be his final voice role before his death in 2022[[/labelnote]], David Doubldy in ''WesternAnimation/MortalKombatLegendsCageMatch'' [[labelnote:]]A posthumous role released the year after his death[[/labelnote]], the Aflac duck, and Seymour Smoke from Allstate's fire safety [=PSAs=], as well as years of comedy routines.
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9	Gottfried began his stand-up career in 1970 at the young age of 15 and by the end of the decade was performing at comedy clubs across UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, eventually mastering the art form by performing edgy material and making a name for himself in the area as a "comedian's comedian". His professional career took off as a cast member on the Creator/{{NBC}} sketch show ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''... during its [[SeasonalRot widely-panned sixth season]] (1980-1981; the first season after Creator/LorneMichaels and the remnants of the original "Not Ready For Primetime" cast left the show due to creative exhaustion). During those years, Gottfried had a full head of curly black hair, rarely if ever squinted, and ''[[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness actually had]]'' [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness an indoor voice]] (though it did escalate into a NoIndoorVoice from time-to-time. Still, if you ever watch a Jean Doumanian-era ''SNL'' sketch, you'll be shocked to find that, once upon a time, Gilbert was more-or-less soft-spoken). Gottfried only had one recurring character (Leo Waxman, wife of Denny Dillon's Pinky Waxman, a Jewish couple who host a talk show called ''What's It All About'')[[note]]though he did have some funny one-shot characters, like Dr. Murray Abromowitz, a psychiatrist who comes on Weekend Update to complain about how unfunny the first episode of the show's sixth season was; Pepe Gonzales, a bull fighter who moves to New York City to fight traffic the same way he fights bulls; Dr. Swen Garazza, the head of the Citizens for a Better America who speaks out for people who want humble jobs, or, as he calls them, "[[AccidentalInnuendo hum jobs]]"; and Dr. Calvin Zuko, a doctor who claims the female orgasm isn't real, unaware that it's because he's terrible in bed[[/note]] and two celebrity impressions: controversial film director Creator/RomanPolanski, and David A. Stockman (director of the Office of Management and Budget under President UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan).
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11	He also, along with [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005418/ Rhonda]] [[http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb129/ZKOrion/Cracked/rhonda_shear.jpg Shear]], hosted the Creator/USANetwork's enduring late night B-Movie showcase, ''USA Up All Night'', from 1989 to 1998.
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13	Gottfried caught some heat while speaking at a roast soon after [[UsefulNotes/September11Attacks 9/11]] and making an Empire State Building joke that popularized finding insensitive jokes about current events "too soon". He then saved himself by doing a take on TheAristocrats that opens up [[Film/TheAristocrats the documentary of the same name]]. He was then fired by Aflac for making jokes about the 2011 Japanese earthquake on his Website/{{Twitter}}, showing that he had no fear of offensive jokes, nor enough sense to keep from making light of UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}'s national crisis while also representing Japan's top insurer. He later responded to this by [[TakeThatCritics apologizing after virtually every joke]]. He also showed sincerety for the loss of a couple of comedians, as shown [[http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/12/opinion/gottfried-robin-williams/ in this article]] mourning the death of Creator/RobinWilliams.
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15	He co-hosted a {{Podcast}}, ''Podcast/GilbertGottfriedsAmazingColossalPodcast'' with his friend Frank Santopadre, where they would interview veteran movie, television, music, and stand-up comedy stars. He even played a character in one episode of ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''.
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17	Has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkLqAlIETkA done]] a DramaticReading of ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey''. He also did dramatic readings of UK statute law for the UK broadcast of ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'' every time the show uses a clip of House of Commons debate (footage of which cannot be broadcast for comedic purposes in the United Kingdom, so Gottfried's reading is [[StylisticSuck an intentionally bad substitute]] for the British market). Also, according to the same show, Jared Kushner sounds suspiciously like Gottfried. ("'Wait, you just recorded Gilbert Gottfried over him!' Well, you can never know!")
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19	Gilbert passed away on April 12, 2022, aged 67, after what was described as a long illness. His family would later confirm he had died due to complications from recurrent ventricular tachycardia and muscular dystrophy (specifically type II myotonic dystrophy).
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21	!!Tropes associated with Gilbert Gottfried:
22	* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: His Georgie Jessel joke.
23	* AlliterativeName: '''G'''ilbert '''G'''ottfried.
24	* AllJewsAreCheapskates:
25	** Gilbert was known for being frugal to the point where even his Jewish friends frequently joked about it. Illustrator Drew Friedman recalled that Gilbert frequently visited his apartment unannounced in the late 1980s to watch films on his VCR, because he didn't want to buy one himself.
26	** As for Gilbert himself, he readily and frequently admitted to and joked about living up to the stereotype. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, he noted that he often just walked to appointments and business meetings as long as they took place within NYC itself rather than taking public transportation, as he didn't want to pay for tickets or fares. He also joked that he frequently went shopping in local 99¢ stores, because he felt $1 stores were "too fancy" for him. When it came to the story of how he met his wife, Dara, she would say that they met at a Grammy Awards party in 1997, to which Gilbert added that the main reason he was there in the first place was for the free food.
27	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In his famous retelling of "TheAristocrats", he goes on a rant about how gross sweat is; this happens after he's described every other disgusting bodily fluid involved in the act, sometimes nonchalantly.
28	* BlackComedy: His comedy trademark. It got him into trouble repeatedly.
29	* TheCameo: Made a surprise appearance in ''Film/SharknadoThe4thAwakens'' as a storm chaser.
30	** In one of his last (if not ''the'' last) roles before his death, he played God in the season finale of ''WesternAnimation/SmilingFriends''.
31	* DontExplainTheJoke: He often {{defie\|d trope}}d this rule for the sake of comedy. His rendering of ''Film/TheAristocrats'' is a prime example. He'd also sometimes play a character who would criticize his regular absurdist comedy style, just by putting on a pair of glasses and donning a goofy voice.
32	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: How he looked and sounded when he was a cast member on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' is entirely different than how he looked and sounded later in his career. As mentioned above, Gottfried once had a full head of hair, had his eyes open and had a fairly soft-spoken voice.
33	* EyesAlwaysShut: Gilbert initially did this to get over stage fright. However, he began to rely on it to the point that he admitted feeling uncomfortable keeping them fully open when performing.
34	* GraveHumor: Fittingly enough, "Too Soon" is engraved on his tombstone.
35	* HorrorHost: He hosted the ''USA Up All Night'' midnight movies from 1989 to 1998.
36	* JewsPlayingNazis: In Netflix's ''Historical Roasts'', he appeared in the roast of Anne Frank as none other than Adolf Hitler himself. {{Lampshaded}} by Frank at the end:
37	-->''"Guess what, Hitler? You're being played by a Jew right now. And it's the loudest, most annoying Jew we could possibly find!"''
38	* {{Kayfabe}}: Gilbert strictly kept himself under this in his public appearances. His notorious [[NoIndoorVoice lack of an indoor-voice]] was noted by his friends very much be an "in-character" thing he did at all times whenever he appeared on camera. Whenever he was "himself", he was described as very soft-spoken, sensitive, and subdued.
39	* LongList: Demonstrated in his "Land of the Three-Named People" bit.
40	* TheNapoleon: 5'5'' (165 cm) and loud and shrieky to match.
41	* NiceGuy: The 2017 documentary about him titled ''Gilbert'' reveals that Gottfried's real personality was ''nothing'' like the filthy, big-mouthed comic persona that he is known for. When he was off stage, he was a very sweet, shy, gentle, soft-spoken person as well as a loving family man.
42	* NoIndoorVoice: His classic comedic persona involved speaking in a loud and grating voice.
43	* ProfessionalVoiceDissonance: He is famous for his NoIndoorVoice when performing, his natural speaking voice was actually calm and subdued, as shown [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdbElWMnkyY here]].
44	* SelfDeprecation:
45	** Occurred every now and then on badly-received jokes (for instance, on TheRoast of Creator/RoseanneBarr he compared her to a "moo-nami", and then added about "dumb people who make jokes out of 'moo-namis' that cost them jobs").
46	** Gilbert often and openly joked about his own "unattractive" looks, considering himself a LazyBum (or as he put it, he "didn't go into show business because [he] wanted to work for a living") and his adherence to the AllJewsAreCheapskates stereotype. As he put it on his appearance on ''Series/TheApprentice'', when he was asked to use his kids in his marketing spiel:
47	--->'''Gilbert:''' Now, I have two children... And I look at them every day as a miracle. And the miracle is... ''A woman had sex with me! TWICE!'' SO, IN YOUR ''FACE!''
48	* SesameStreetCred:
49	** He played the role of Jack Frost in an episode of the PBS Kids series ''Series/TheNoddyShop''.
50	** Perhaps Gilbert's most notable role in a kids' show was Digit from the educational cartoon ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}'', who [[PlayingAgainstType oddly enough]] is a pretty naïve and kind-hearted guy.
51	** He also was the voice of a smoke alarm in the 90's Allstate video "Be Cool About Fire Safety", which also aired as a PublicServiceAnnouncement on children's TV blocks such as ''Creator/OneSaturdayMorning'' and ''Creator/KidsWB''.
52	** He showed up as music critic Barney Bittman in an episode of ''Series/HannahMontana''.
53	** He also voiced a possum on ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse''.
54	* TaremeEyes: When his eyes ''were'' open.
55	* VocalDissonance: He was known for the high-pitched, whiny, fingernails-on-chalkboard voice he used when he was performing and giving interviews. It became so associated with him that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT3G3VH2jto hearing him talk in a more "normal" manner]] was quite shocking. This was especially true for his routine about Creator/JerrySeinfeld doing ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', because he used a much different voice than usual.
56	--> '''Gilbert:''' ''[doing a pretty good Jerry Seinfeld impression]'' To be, or not to be? I don't know whether I should be, or not! Something is rotten in Denmark!
57	* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Justified since he was Jewish.
58	* YouFool: Said this [[RunningGag repeatedly]] in an infamous episode of ''Series/TheHollywoodSquares''.
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Context Creator / GilbertGottfried