Gilbert Gottfried Biography

Stand-up comedian Gilbert Gottfried was easily recognized by his purposefully grating, New York voice, perhaps most famously used in the animated feature Aladdin (1992) as Iago the parrot.

Gottfried grew up in Brooklyn and started doing open-mike comedy in Manhattan when he was 15.

Gottfried was briefly on Saturday Night Live (1980), but his first big break came doing promo spots for the new network MTV.

His unique, oddball act included obscure references and chaotically told jokes that were often too dirty or too controversial or too soon. And Gottfried told jokes with his eyes squinted shut, in an annoying voice that made him famous.

Hundreds of TV appearances on late night talk shows and comedy shows during the 1980s and ‘90s kept him in the public eye, and as the voice of Iago, Gottfried was kept busy with Aladdin sequels and TV shows until 2019.

Gottfried was also the voice of a duck featured in TV commercials for Alfac Insurance, until they fired him for tweeting uncool jokes in the aftermath of a Japanese tsunami in 2011.

Gottfried made many film appearances, but might be best known to moviegoers as Mr. Peabody from the film and cartoon franchise Problem Child (1990-95).

His credits include Beverly Hills Cop II (1987, starring Eddie Murphy), Thumbelina (1994, the voice of Mr. Beetle), the animated Duckman (1995-97), Funky Monkey (2004) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014-16, as the voice of Kraang Sub-Prime).