Let’s Hear It for a Great Comedian: Gilbert Gottfried on ‘Colbert’

Seeing Gilbert Gottfried on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night reminded me how much I love this squinch-faced little guy. He’s been funny and outrageous for decades now, and he shows no signs of stopping his flow of unexpected punchlines. When Colbert asked him whether he had a rule about how soon he could joke about a topic that might be considered in bad taste, Gottfried said he had none: “I like to get the Internet to hate me right away.”

This night, Gottfried told a very funny poor-taste joke about Jenny McCarthy and autism that I will not spoil; see the clip. He showed an old photo he recently posted to Instagram in which he poses with Donald Trump, making faces while Trump maintains his usual poker face. He all too briefly mentioned his podcast, Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast!, which I cannot recommend highly enough for its interviews with veteran comedians. (As Gottfried told Colbert, “The average age of our guests is dead.”)

It’s a good thing Gottfried has found employment doing voice work in movies such as the Aladdin films, because television has never found a good showcase for his unique talent. And anyway, even if he did get a show, he’d probably say something that would get him thrown off the air within a month. But with his squinting eyes and loud, abrasive voice, Gottfried is somehow joyously lovable. There’s no one from whom I’d rather hear a naughty joke.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.