© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Comedian Gilbert Gottfried arrives with a duck at the Webby Awards in New York June 14, 2010. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
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By Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) – Gilbert Gottfried, a comic known for his cryptic voice and penchant for pushing boundaries with jokes about the September 11 attacks and Japan’s tsunami, has died at the age of 10. 67, his family said on Tuesday.
Gottfried, a former cast member of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and the voice of a satirical parrot in the Disney animated film “Aladdin,” has contracted a long-term illness of unspecified length, a statement from the company said. family said.
“In addition to being the most iconic vocalist in comedy, Gilbert is also an amazing husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children,” the statement read. “Although today is a sad day for all of us, let’s laugh as loud as we can in honor of Gilbert.”
Born in Brooklyn and raised by dire circumstances in New York City, Gottfried is known for his edgy comedy that terrifies some.
Two weeks after the attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people in 2001, Gottfried joked about it during a talk with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, saying he couldn’t book a direct flight. from New York to California.
“They said they had to stop at the Empire State Building first,” Gottfried said, drawing laughter and groans at “too early.”
Reflecting on the next moment, Gottfried said in a television interview, “That’s how my mind works. I mean basically the elephant in the room.”
That sense of humor also earned him a lucrative role as the duck Aflac (NYSE:) in a TV commercial for the insurance company, who severed ties with Gottfried after he made a series jokes on Twitter (NYSE:) about the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed 18,000 people in Japan.
Gottfried told The New York Times in 2013: “I like to go to places where it’s a dark area. You never know what people will choose to be offended by.”
Kudos to the other comic actors.
Seth MacFarlane, creator of the “Family Guy” animated series and director of the comedy “A Million Ways to Die in the West,” said Gottfried’s inclusion of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address in that film made him she smiles very brightly. that “I can barely do my job.”
MacFarlane said on Twitter: “A completely original comic, and an equally nice and humble guy behind the scenes. “He will be ignored.”
Jason Alexander, who plays George in the TV comedy “Seinfeld,” said on Twitter, “Gilbert Gottfried has made me laugh at times when laughter doesn’t come easily. What a gift.”
One of Gottfried’s most famous film roles is as the voice of Iago, the loud-mouthed, sarcastic parrot of the evil Jafar in Disney’s 1992 hit animated film “Aladdin”.
He also reached what is often considered the pinnacle for American comic actors when he was named to the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in 1980, but the new cast was not well received, as has replaced such famous actors as John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray.
Gottfried said he couldn’t enjoy the experience, telling interviewer Joe Rogan last year that he felt like a “sacrifice sheep”.
“You don’t want to be the surrogate,” Gottfried says. “You want to be the surrogate of the surrogate.”
