Gilbert Page #4

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he looks like him the most.

(gentle music)

- This is the apartment

we all grew up in.

- My father, he used

to get very angry

about things about my brother.

He was worried that

he wouldn't do well

or wouldn't have a trade.

Things like that.

- [Arlene] And why

did that happen?

- Uh yeah, lot of

memories being here.

Well I dropped

out of high school

which was not a good thing.

I'm sure my father

thought, you know,

he's the loser of the group.

- People always think

like oh did you want

your parents' approval?

Well I guess you do, but

I remember when my father

was alive there was no

sign of success anywhere

in the future.

My dad died when he was 66.

I was 18 or 19.

- I think most comedians

have that need to impress

their parents.

To me that's the saddest

thing in the world,

your parents never seeing

you being successful.

- I think we all have our

own little private audience

that nobody else knows about

that we want approval from.

And maybe we can't

get it from them,

maybe they're not

with us anymore,

and so what we're

doing is substituting

the strangers giving

us that approval.

- People want to say all

the time that comedians

are damaged and that's

why they go into comedy

or they're seeking approval,

and yes, those things

are absolutely all true,

but it's true for firemen

and teachers and plumbers,

it's true for everybody.

And that's the reason

why comedy works

is because everybody feels it.

- [Announcer] Please

give a warm welcome

to the great Gilbert Gottfried.

(cheering and applauding)

(light jazzy music)

- I'll tell you what, in the

late '70s and we first met

at the Improvisation, 44th

and 9th, Hell's Kitchen.

A time in New York

where it was just

dank and dirty and dangerous.

- I'll never forget the

first time I saw him,

I was at Catch A Rising Star.

- This guy comes on stage at

like 12:
30 in the morning,

you know which is like

the graveyard shift.

His energy was off the

charts and he was just

improving everything.

- He was this funny,

quirky, screaming, bizarre,

brave thing on stage, and I

asked somebody what is that?

And they said that's Gilbert.

- Oh thank you, oh thank

you, oh god bless you.

(laughing)

Oh thank you, thank you so much.

Thank you, thank you.

Thank you.

(laughing)

Thank you very much.

I think I was 17 when

I walked into Catch.

There used to be a line outside

and you'd get on the

line to do auditions

so that one day if they

accepted you, you could work

for free, that's the

way those clubs work.

- You know when you think

about it a boy comic like him

at 15, with that kind

of weird voice and act,

I'm sure he had to

battle many a crowd,

like they must have just

booed and heckled him offstage

many a time and I think

that a lot of his voice

is the talking over a

rough, rambunctious crowd.

- Did this ever happen to you?

Did this ever happen?

You're putting on your

shirt and you button it

and one side's longer than the

other and then you (shouts).

(applauding)

But seriously, you're

combing your hair

and the part is crooked

and you (mumbles)

and you gotta comb

it all over again!

When people ask me

like your delivery now,

when did you first develop that?

Hi, to those of you

who just tuned in,

this is Jews with jokes.

(laughing)

It's like you don't know.

I just went onstage

a few billion times

and then one day you

wake up and go oh,

I seem to be like that now.

He's a lunatic.

He's a sick man.

This ranting and raving is

a desperate cry for help.

- He doesn't care if you

don't like his first joke.

'Cause maybe you'll

like his second,

maybe you'll like his third,

and he just keeps on going.

- [Gilbert] Well I don't wanna

be here any more than you do.

(laughing)

So let me barrel through

this and we can all

get the hell outta here.

- The audience didn't

have anything to do

with his performance,

because he was not relying

on the audience to be

a part of his routine.

- It was walking a tightrope.

With Gilbert, is this

Gilbert's crowd tonight?

I have no idea, let's find out.

He didn't really care.

Which is very brave

and really funny.

- Tony Curtis talking

to Gavin McCloud.

Hi Gavin.

Hi Tony.

How are you?

I'm fine.

Want some coffee?

Okay.

I think I'll have a donut.

Alright, I'll have one too.

You will have two donuts?

I would go to the clubs,

I don't think I was going

every night yet.

After a while it just hit

me, I think I'm gonna go

every night.

And then it became weird

because it became an addiction.

I mean I was going when there

would be transit strikes,

snow storms.

- Yeah, I remember one

time I worked one place

and they actually gave me $7

and I thought that was amazing.

And then I went back the

next time they gave me $5.

- Hug.

Oh come on.

Did you bring a couple

extras just in case?

- Okay.

- Happy anniversary.

- Yeah yeah yeah.

Alright.

Okay.

- Love you.

Love you, have fun.

Oi.

(light jazzy music)

- If Gilbert defines

himself as a comic,

that comes with

certain expectations

and lack of bigger ones.

- Stand up comic's

life is, oh god.

You know, I tell stand up

agents they don't know why

we b*tch I'm like

you don't get it.

You get 10% for answering

a phone basically.

I go to these, I go to Denver,

I physically go to Denver.

I unpack, I hang out

with people from Denver

and I tell them jokes.

It's not glamorous

at all, at all.

- I don't know if I

ever had a clear vision

of what success was going to be.

And whatever it is,

it's always different,

the way things turn out

are always different

than you imagine them.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Oh, okay, where is it?

- You're heading there.

- Okay yeah okay.

- So they feel like they can

be that GI storming the bunkers

in Normandy.

- Oh.

(laughing)

- [Man] Well that's

the thing you know.

The Germans lost the war but

they won the fashion show.

- Yeah.

(laughing)

- Hi.

How are you?

- Oh good, good.

- It's a fricking

pleasure meeting you.

- Oh thank you.

- I am serious man.

What are you doing here?

- Yeah, that's what

I'd like to know.

Oh!

Feeling nervous a

Jew being so close.

(murmuring)

(applauding)

An old Jewish woman brings

her grandson to the beach,

her three year old grandson.

The old Jewish woman

falls asleep in the sand

and the grandson

starts wandering off.

A wave sweeps him up and

drags him further and further

out into the water.

The Jewish woman is

yelling save my grandson

and a man runs forward,

leaps in the water,

and is swimming

against the current

and the waves are knocking

him against the rocks

and he's getting all bloody.

Then he finally swims

out, grabs the little boy,

lifts him up out of the water.

A giant shark starts

coming at them and the man

starts beating off the shark.

(laughing)

Well I don't mean

beating off the shark.

(laughing)

Because if you beat off

the shark that would make

the shark stick around.

So he's beating off the

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