Gilbert Gottfried

Gilbert Gottfried
Gilbert Gottfried as "Weird Al" Yankovic's imaginary friend on The Weird Al Show.
Born	February 28 1955 (age 52) Brooklyn, New York, USA
Height	5'5" (1.65 meters)
Notable roles	Iago in Aladdin Aflac Duck

Gilbert Gottfried (born February 28 1955 in Brooklyn, New York) is a American stand-up comedian and actor noted for his grating voice, his Brooklyn accent and his tendency to shout.

He has played numerous roles in film and television, perhaps most notably voicing the parrot Iago in Disney's Aladdin (1992) and all sequels and spin-offs and co-starring in the Problem Child movies (1990 and 1991). Although not a regular, he also appeared in the short-lived 1992 TV series The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys and voiced a crazed dentist "Dr. Bender" on the show The Fairly OddParents. He also was the host of the Saturday edition of USA Up All Night.

Since 2000, he has also been 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 Superboy (TV Series). Gottfried makes regular appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He shocked the audience in a Jeopardy! parody portraying Eminem repeating "Biatch" many times. To this day, his most well-known phrase used on the Tonight Show is "Son of a bitch!" He also is a notorious favorite of Howard Stern, appearing on his radio show many times a year. Most famous for his impersonation of "Dracula Gottfried" he is also well known for his numerous, and often raunchy/racial, parodies of public figures including 1950's B movie stars. Gottfried also does an accurate impersonation of Jerry Seinfeld, which he has showcased on the Stern show as well as Clerks: The Animated Series.

While it has been said that Gottfried's re-telling of the venerable Aristocrats joke at a Friars Club roast of Hugh Hefner just three weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks inspired Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza to produce a film about the joke, Jillette and Provenza point out that they had already filmed Gottfried and that, in fact, it was their project that inspired him to choose that joke as his response to the audience's claim that there are certain unspoken limits in comedy. Gottfried initially began his performance at the roast joking 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." As audience members responded with gasps and cries of "too soon!", he launched into The Aristocrats.

Gottfried was a cast member of the NBC late night series Saturday Night Live during its nadir, the 1980–1981 season. Gottfried's persona as displayed in SNL sketches was very different; he spoke in a mellow, low voice. During his twelve episode stint, he was underused (with even the featured players garnering more airtime), leading to a deep depression that affected his performances. When Dick Ebersol took over as producer before the end of the season, there was an overhaul of both the cast and crew, and Gottfried was dismissed.

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 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 part of a Zonk (As a baby in a large highchair, 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 1-hour Christmas Special.

Recurring Characters on SNL

• Leo Waxman, Pinky Waxman's husband and co-host of "What's It All About"

Celebrity Impersonations on SNL

• David A. Stockman
• Roman Polanski

King Kong Gottfried talks to Jay Leno on the Tonight Show (December 15, 2005)

Notable Filmography

• Saturday Night Live: various sketches (1980-1981)
• Beverly Hills Cop II: Sidney Bernstein (1987)
• Hot to Trot: Dentist (1988)
• The Adventures of Ford Fairlane: Johnny Crunch (1990)
• Look Who's Talking Too: Joey (1990)
• Problem Child: Mr. Peabody (1990)
• Aladdin: Iago (1992)
• Highway to Hell: Hitler (1992)
• Bonkers: Two-Bits (1993-1995)
• Thumbelina: Mr. Beetle (1994)
• Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat: Additional Characters (1995-1996)
• Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Roy (1996)
• Def Jam's How to Be a Player (1997)
• Dr. Dolittle: Compulsive Dog (1998)
• Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (TV series): As himself in episodes 503 and 506 (1999)
• Clerks: The Animated Series: the voice of Jerry Seinfeld and Patrick Swayze (2000)
• Kingdom Hearts: Iago (2002)
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: Duck (2004)
• Celebrity Deathmatch :As himself in episode Gottfried in America
• Cyberchase: Digit (2002-present)
• Kingdom Hearts II: Iago (2006)
• Back By Midnight: Security Guard
• Becker: A plastic surgeon
• Fairly OddParents: Dr. Bender
• Meet Wally Sparks: Harry Karp
• Ren & Stimpy: Jerry the BellyButton Elf
• : Multiple parts
• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: various sketches

VH1's Celebrity Paranormal Project and I Love Toys.

External links

• Gilbert Gottfried at the Internet Movie Database
• The Official Site of Gilbert Gottfried

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