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Community Corner

Gilbert Gottfried Brings The Funny to Landmark

The comedian delivers in Port Washington.

Funnyman and provocateur Gilbert Gottfried chatted with Daniel Paisner, local author, and ghostwriter of Gottfried’s new book, “Rubber Balls and Liquor” (St. Martin’s Press; April 26, 2011) at the  on Tuesday evening.

“An Evening with Gilbert Gottfried” was not suitable for minors to say the least. The Brooklyn-born comic is known for his base sense of humor – for reference, view his DVD, “Gilbert Gottfried: Dirty Jokes." Still, he has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, and has been a staple on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" as well as "The Howard Stern Show." Not too shabby for an odd looking boy from Coney Island who got his start performing at “hootenanny nights” in bars across Manhattan.

Until recently he was the voice behind the Aflac duck. That gig came to an end when he posted some racy jokes on Twitter about the tsunami in Japan, offending many and causing him to lose his contract with Aflac after nearly a decade. Still, the jokes should hardly comes as a surprise – Gilbert's modus operandi is basically making jokes about tragic events “too soon,” as he notoriously did at the Comedy Central roast of Hugh Hefner post September 11.

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On Tuesday, Gottfried chronicled his rise to fame, including his less than memorable stint as a cast member on "Saturday Night Live," and teasing Marlon Brando on "The New Hollywood Squares."mHe served up several hilarious anecdotes about run-ins with other celebrities and tossed in a fair amount of self-deprecating humor. The night was filled with many raunchy jokes, leaving the audience in stitches.

Audience members asked Gottfried questions, including requests for specific bits in his standup act. One person asked if he had any advice for aspiring comics, to which Gilbert replied, “Okay, first, get on Twitter! Then, if there’s any horrible situation that happens anywhere in the world, do jokes about it!”

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Another asked Gottfried if the voice we know and love him for is in fact his real voice. This might come as a shock to some, but Gottfried’s stage voice is not his real voice.

“My real voice,” he said, “sounds a lot like Perry Como.”

Gottfried admitted that he only wrote his new book as the result of a book deal offered to him earlier in the year.

“My big hope is not that it’s going to outsell "War and Peace," he said. "I just want to keep it for another week at least outside of the 99¢ bin.”

Comedian and fellow Friar’s Club roaster Bob Saget described the book this way: “This is definitely the loudest book I have ever read. It changed my life. After reading it I decided to go through transgender surgery.”

A very persuasive pitch indeed. Copies are available at . Gottfried is performing on June 25 at the Brokerage Comedy Club in Bellmore, and on June 30 at Caroline’s in Manhattan.

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