Top 10 Gilbert Gottfried Moments from the Ethan + Lou Show

Gilbert Gottfried passed away Tuesday (4/12/22) after a long battle with Muscular Dystrophy, he was 67 years old.

Gottfried was what they call, a comedian's, comedian, he was the one, most likely to get a big laugh in a group setting. Gilbert was a guest on the Ethan & Lou Show at least a dozen times over the last 14 years. Gilbert was one of our favorite guests, he was special because you didn't need to "prep" for him.

For most guests, you have to go look up their career background, early life, find out what they've been up to recently, it's a lot of work. Over the years, we prepped one interview with Gilbert, the first one.

After that, we knew that we could just talk with him, and any question would lead to a laugh. We have prepared a short list of our favorite moments with Gilbert from over the years, these are the Top 10.

10 - Call me 24 Hours a Day

This one was not very funny but it feels like a comforting invitation on the heels of his passing. It's as if he invited us to call, and if we did, he'd answer. 

9 - Twitter

It's one of the biggest stories about Gilbert, that everyone knows. Gottfried had a gig as the voice-over actor for the Aflac duck. It was a really well-paying, high-profile job. All he had to do was say "Aflac" into a microphone a few times a year, and he'd rake in money. He lost the job after an outrageous tweet and I made it a point to bring this up, every time he was on the show.

8 - Dick Van Dyke & Abe Vigoda 

We asked Gilbert about his podcast and things took an unexpected death-turn.

7 - Donald Trump 

Gilbert was on Celebrity Apprentice years ago, so we'd often ask him about Donald Trump which always prompted a funny response.

6 - Calm Down 

I was way too excited to start the interview, Gilbert asked me to lower my expectations.

5 - Hanukkah Plans 

Ethan is Jewish, and wanted to know what plans Gilbert had for Hanukkah.

4 - Groupies

We asked Gilbert about what the comedy groupies are like.

3 - Excited about Westport?

Gilbert was coming to Westport for a Treehouse Comedy Show and we wanted to know what his level of enthusiasm was about the show.

2 - Gilbert had a big heart 

You'll hear, and read a lot about Gilbert over the next few weeks and I hope his kindness is not left out of the conversation.

1 - Trying to get a ticket to Aladdin 

Gilbert couldn't even get a ticket to an Aladdin show. 

These are the moments when I'm delighted with my archival nature. I try and save everything we do, in case we need it later. I'm also a bit frustrated because, even though I saved a lot of Gilbert interviews, I don't have them all. We lost a lot of laughs, and that is precisely what happened on Tuesday when we lost Gilbert. He brought joy to millions with his stand-up comedy and his films.

P.S. I was lucky enough to have performed stand up with Gottfried, opening for Gilbert years ago, at the Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, CT. I think I ended up having a good show but the memory of my-set, faded away. What did not fade, was what Gilbert said to me backstage. He asked, if I knew where he could get a hooker in Newtown. I know he did that, to make me laugh. Because I was so nervous, I actually tried to answer this ridiculous question. In short, I said you can't get a hooker in Newton but if you're willing to go to Danbury, you might be able to make something happen.