Events

Gilbert Gottfried has been in the standup comedy game for over 30 years. He’s also, for better or for worse, distinctly recognizable by his voice. He’ll perform at at Helium Comedy Club this Thursday, September 17 through Saturday, September 19, but not before we had the chance to speak with him about why he’s happy he’s not starting out now—in the age of social media—and how specific forms of standup now seem fossilized. 

What has changed the most about the comedy business since you first broke into it?
Oh, wow. It’s changed. I think the entire business has changed in ways that I’m not quite sure of. I feel like the minute I had some sort of vague idea of how the business worked it all changed and it certainly a lot has to do with the internet. Now-a-days anything you do can pop up on the internet, like stuff you’re working on, and everyone has an opinion about it. It’s become a very strange time.

Are you happy you started when you did, then?
What I’m glad about is that the internet wasn’t around back when I was first started because I see so many comedians, before they’ve had much experience, they’ll put themselves up [online] and I feel like, God, I’d hate for people to see the stuff I used to do.

When you first started, what kind of material were you working with?
It takes a while to find any kind of voice for yourself, particularly with me. I remember when I started out I was mainly doing impressions and, you know, not far from the “imagine if Jack Nicholson was working in a diner, it might go something like this,” and then adjusting your collar and messing up your hair.

It’s interesting that certain modes of comedy seem dated.
Yeah. There are no impressionists anymore. There are people who do impressions, but as far as that style, it’s gone. There are very, very few ventriloquists. I remember there used to be a lot of ventriloquists growing up and those are gone. And certainly comedy teams are gone.

I remember when I was younger there was a ventriloquist who ended everything with ‘on a stick’. 
[laughs] Yes!

He had a vaguely Latino banana.
I remember there used to be a Señor Wences that had his hand painted like a face and had a doll body attached and his line was “you like candy?” and the hand would reply, “I like candy.”

That was funny once!
 Yes! 

Obviously your act has changed over time, what kind of material are you working with now?
Oh god! This is the kind of question I’ve always hated because the minute I start talking about it I think this doesn’t sound funny at all! 

Fair enough. We’ll shelve that one then. How many days a year are you on the road?
It seems like more and more. It’s a weird thing. I still keep my schedule by using a date book. And when I look through my date book and I see how busy I am I…I start to panic. I start to dread the traveling and all that, so I have to remind myself, “Oh, what’s upsetting me now is that I’m gainfully employed in show business.”

Sure. You’ve been doing this for years. Is there a comic retirement where you refuse to tell any more jokes?
[Laughs] I’m sure a lot of people who see me hope there is! I don’t know…Don Rickles just said in a recent interview that he has no plans of retiring and I don’t know how old he is. He’s in his 90s or something.