Comedian Gilbert Gottfried has died
Comedian Gilbert Gottfried in 2018. He died Tuesday at 67. Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP hide caption
Comedian Gilbert Gottfried in 2018. He died Tuesday at 67.
Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/APComedian Gilbert Gottfried has died at 67. A post on his verified Twitter feed says he died following a long illness.
Gottfried died from recurrent ventricular tachycardia due to myotonic dystrophy type II, a disorder that affects the heart, according to a statement by his publicist and longtime friend Glenn Schwartz to the Associated Press.
There was always a glint in his eye when Gottfried was just about to tell an edgy joke, for example this one from his Just for Laughs set in 2015: "Let me tell you when I was a little boy if my father bought me a baseball I would've made out with him ... and I don't want to tell you what I would've done for a G.I Joe."
Whether it was natural disasters or terrorist attacks, the phrase "too soon" was never a part of his vocabulary as Gottfried told NPR in 2011.
"There's that old saying, tragedy plus time equals comedy. And I always say like, well, why wait?"
Gottfired was also an actor, including lending his unique voice to Disney's Aladdin.
— Gilbert Gottfried (@RealGilbert) April 12, 2022