Gilbert Gottfried is a veteran comedian, actor and voice-actor, famous for his voluminous outbursts. But, as he established his own Internet presence last year with a podcast and the occasional provocative Twitter quips, he’s redefining his view on what it means, these days, to be outraged.
Whether onstage doing stand-up, roasting celebrities or dropping by the Howard Stern Show, Gottfried excels with a signature uproarious and jaw-dropping irreverence, delivered, like snarled firecrackers, with his instantly recognizable voice, tremendously high, nasal and raspy.
Gottfried says he still doesn’t quite grasp the podcast concept, but he nevertheless loves the chance to talk about whatever he wants. On Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast, that usually means old showbiz fables; the grime and glamour of old Hollywood mythology.
Turns out Gottfried is an honest-to-goodness super-cinephile, a major movie buff, and he immediately strikes a sincere tone when the conversation shifts to film. He’s a trove of trivia, we assure you, don’t get him started on Bela Lugosi.
With Gottfried performing at Meyer Theatre in Monroe (March 7), I picked his brain on the surreal experience of joke-telling and the fun of podcasting.
What inspired you to start your podcast?
Everyone is doing a podcast, so I decided I’ll do one. I’m very interested in old Hollywood, whether older guests or younger people who still have an appreciation for old show biz. And, I try to watch myself to make sure I don’t start hamming it up, which I’m prone to, when, really, a guest is supposed to be the star. We had Gary Busey on recently and one or two things…actually made sense. I mean, he doesn’t always answer the question you ask. But it’s like a fun homework assignment; I got all these messages from people around the internet saying they had no idea who I was talking to, but just loved listening, and still had no idea the names I was bringing up, but then they went looking them up on Google.
What’s it been like transitioning into an Internet-era? How has that impacted you, and how do you feel it’s impacted stand-up?
It certainly has (impacted stand-up). And, Twitter is an expensive hobby. You get these things where people are the Morals Police. (Celebrities) aren’t going to yell something politically incorrect when they’re angry, but now it can be immediately recorded and put on the Internet. I feel like when everyone gets outraged it’s like they’re patting themselves on the back. ‘See what a good person I am? Because of how outraged I am?’
I’m thankful (the Internet) wasn’t around when I was starting, mostly because with YouTube, I look back on stuff I used to do in my act and think: ‘Oh, God, that was awful…’ And if I’d do it now it’d be up there for eternity. As a comedian, it’s better to stay in your own lane because you can go crazy with the competition aspect of it. It’s better to compete with yourself and make yourself better.
Dirty jokes seem to be your forte. Ever have a joke that went too far, that you pulled back from?
Uh, no . . . no. A review of The Aristocrats said there was no one more filthy and disgusting than Gilbert Gottfried! I always liked dirty jokes and sick humor. But for years, in my regular act, I’d go out of my way not to say any famous four-letter words. People come up after shows, shake my hand and say: ‘Go fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke. Just keep doing it.’
At one show, what was amazing, there was an Asian woman wearing dark glasses with a cane and another woman lead her over to me and she shook my hand. She said, ‘You did jokes about both blind people and Japanese people tonight and I wanted to thank you for making me laugh.’ And I thought, this is the person who has the right to be offended and she wasn’t . . . It’s only people who don’t have the right to be offended who get offended.”
Gilbert Gottfried performs at the Meyer Theatre (MCCC La-Z-Boy Center) at 7:30pm, Saturday, March 7. 1555 S. Rainsville Rd., Monroe, MI. 734-242-7300 , monroeccc.edu. More info here.
