He was 67.
“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Gilbert Gottfried after a long illness. In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children. “Sad day for all of us, please laugh as loud as you can in Gilbert’s honor,” his family wrote in a post Twitter.
CNN has contacted Gottfried’s publicist for further comment.
Though audiences know him by his raspy tone, it wasn’t yet his signature when he debuted as a cast member on Saturday Night Live for a season in 1980-81, one of the few seasons without Lorne Michaels at the helm. During the ’80s, he performed primarily in stand-up and appeared regularly on Howard Stern’s radio show.
Though he had a small role in the ’80s hit Beverly Hills Cop 2, Gottfried’s fame rose in the 1990s. Over the decade, he has used his signature screaming language in part in animated films such as Aladdin as the loud-mouthed Ara Iago, as well as in live-action comedies such as Problem Child, in which he played a scheming adoption agency worker.
In the 2000s and 2010s, Gottfried appeared in speaking roles on shows like Family Guy and as a contestant or “talking head” on reality shows including Celebrity Wife Swap. (He swapped wives with the late Alan Thicke.)
In his stand-up comedy, however, Gottfried’s style was dirty and performed at a high decibel (you may have heard him tell the famous blue “aristocrat” joke). He also addressed extremely sensitive issues head-on, recalling in a 2012 op-ed piece for CNN a 9/11 joke he made just days after the attacks during a Hugh Hefner roast in Manhattan (his audience didn’t appreciate it) . In the same article, he defended tweets he posted about the 2011 Japan tsunami as “silly” and “stupid,” although those tweets later resulted in Aflac, for whom he provided the voice of his duck mascot, firing him.
“I’ve always felt that comedy and tragedy were roommates,” he wrote for CNN at the time.
Gottfried’s stunning blue footage hit the spot on several Comedy Central roasts by celebrities like former President Donald Trump in 2011.
Even though audiences didn’t see him on screen that often, he did provide his voice. For nearly a decade, he had interviewed comedy and entertainment figures on his podcast Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast. A new episode was released earlier this month.
Numerous fellow comedians and former co-stars of Gottfried paid tribute on social media.
“Gilbert Gottfried was never unfunny”, comedian Danish chef wrote. “He was a lovely guy, always friendly and made a lot of people happy.” “Gilbert Gottfried sometimes made me laugh when laughing didn’t come easily wrote in a tweet“No One Was Funnier Than @RealGilbert on a Roll,” Writer-Director Judd Apatow divided. “He could throw you into convulsive hysteria. He was also the cutest man. His podcast is a comedy treasure. What a terrible loss.”