Gilbert Gottfried
American stand-up comedian (1955–2022)

Gilbert Jeremy Gottfried (February 28, 1955 – April 12, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was best known for his exaggerated shrill voice, strong New York dialect, his squint, and his edgy, often controversial sense of humor. His numerous roles in film and television included voicing Iago in the Walt Disney Company's Aladdin franchise until his death in 2022, Mister Mxyzptlk in Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League Action, Digit LeBoid in PBS Kids' Cyberchase until his death, Kraang Subprime in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the Aflac duck mascot before he was replaced by Daniel McKeague in 2011. He also played Mr. Peabody in the Problem Child franchise, the only actor in the series to reprise his role in all three films as well as the animated television series.
Gottfried hosted Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast (2014–2022), along with Frank Santopadre, which featured discussions of classic films and celebrity interviews, most often with veteran actors, comedians, musicians, and comedy writers. The documentary Gilbert (2017) explored his life and career.
Early life
Gottfried was born in the Coney Island section of the Brooklyn borough of New York City on February 28, 1955, the son of hardware store owner Max Gottfried and homemaker Lillian Zimmerman. His father and grandfather ran the store, above which the family lived. He was raised in a non-practicing Jewish family, and said of his upbringing, "I ate pork.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q221464. VIAF identifies the subject as 225400369. The Library of Congress control number is no2004093583. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1955, 2022, 2011 and 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gilbert Gottfried” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.