Gilbert Gottfried

He was the younger brother of photographer Arlene Gottfried (1950–2017) and Karen Gottfried.

From Coney Island, the family moved to Brooklyn's Crown Heights, followed by Borough Park.

Gottfried's first routine on stage was at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village during one of its Hootenanny Night events when he was 15.

His two sisters Arlene and Karen accompanied him, having thought the performances he did for the family were good enough for the stage and encouraged him to try it out.

His early routines focused on impressions of old time actors and celebrities, including Boris Karloff and Humphrey Bogart.

From there, he worked the local comedy circuit and became known in the area as a "comedian's comedian," and started to perform edgier material when he became bored of his usual routines.

One such incident occurred when Gottfried opened for Belinda Carlisle, which was attended by younger girls and their mothers: "I tried doing my regular act for about 5 minutes, then I just launched into the filthiest stuff I could think of. And the next day, I got a call from my agent saying, 'Everybody there loved you,' which is show business talk for, 'You're fired.'"

Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor, best known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York accent, and his edgy, often controversial, sense of humor.

His numerous roles in film and television include voicing Iago in the Aladdin animated franchise, Mister Mxyzptlk in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Action, Digit LeBoid in Cyberchase, Kraang and Subprime in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the Aflac Duck.

He also played Mr. Peabody in the Problem Child film series.

Gottfried was born Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried in the Coney Island section of the Brooklyn borough of New York City on February 28, 1955, the son of hardware store owner Max Gottfried and homemaker Lillian Zimmerman.

His father and grandfather ran the store, above which the family lived.

He was raised in a Jewish family, but later said of his unusual upbringing, "I ate pork. We weren't that aware of the holidays or anything like that, but were aware of being Jewish. It's like I kind of knew that even though I was never bar mitzvahed and we didn't follow the holidays, I knew that if the Nazis came back, I'd be in the same train coach with everyone else."

In 1980, Saturday Night Live was being retooled with a new staff and new comedians; the producers noticed Gottfried and hired him as a cast member for its sixth season.

Gottfried's persona during SNL sketches was very different from his later characterization: He rarely spoke in his trademark voice and never squinted.

During his 12-episode stint, he was seldom used in sketches.

Gottfried recalled that a low point was having to play a corpse in a sketch about a sports organist hired to play inappropriate music at a funeral.

He did have 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 Stockman and Roman Polanski.

From 1983 to 1984, Gottfried was a regular performer on Alan Thicke's short-lived show Thicke of the Night.

In April 1987, he headlined a half-hour comedy special that aired as part of the Cinemax Comedy Experiment series.

It was followed by the sitcom pilot Norman's Corner, co-written by Larry David Prior to creating Seinfeld, which saw Gottfried as the titular character.

Gottfried played accountant Sidney Bernstein in the 1987 film Beverly Hills Cop II, in which he reunited with friend and fellow SNL alumnus Eddie Murphy.

Also in 1987, Gottfried made his debut appearance on The Howard Stern Show.

He went on to make over 100 appearances on the radio show over the next 25 years.

Although not a regular, Gottfried appeared in The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys, as well as the voice of Jerry the Belly Button Elf in Ren and Stimpy.

He was the host of the Saturday edition of USA Up All Night for its entire run from 1989 to 1998.

Three of his most prominent roles came in 1990, 1991, and 1992, when he was cast as the adoption agent Igor Peabody in Problem Child and Problem Child 2 and Iago in Aladdin.

When asked how he prepared for the role, Gottfried joked, "I did the whole DeNiro thing. I moved to South America! I lived in the trees!".

Gottfried reprised the role in The Return of Jafar, Aladdin and the King of Thieves, the television series and various related media, such as Kingdom Hearts and House of Mouse.

Gottfried also voiced Berkeley Beetle in the 1994 film Thumbelina.

He was a recurring guest star during the Tom Bergeron era of Hollywood Squares and became the center of attention in a bizarre episode that aired October 1, 1999.

In this episode, the two contestants made nine consecutive incorrect guesses, six of which were to be game-deciding questions asked to Gottfried.

As the only remaining square left, whoever captured him would have five squares and thus, win the game.

Penn Jillette, who was a guest alongside Teller on the same episode, berated a contestant earlier for giving an incorrect guess by shouting, "You fool!".

Gottfried himself began to use the phrase, with most of the other stars (including Bergeron himself) eventually joining in with every successive wrong guess, beginning with the second question he was asked.

As a consequence, it took the episode's entire half hour to play only one game; however, he was eventually captured on the last possible question.

Gottfried hosted Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast (2014–2022), along with Frank Santopadre, which featured discussions of classic films and celebrity interviews, most often with veteran actors, comedians, musicians, and comedy writers.

The documentary Gilbert (2017) explored his life and career; it won the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the 2017 deadCENTER Film Festival.

He died of recurrent ventricular tachycardia at the age of 67.

However, the character was ultimately recast to Alan Tudyk for the 2019 remake.