ROX-TV remembers Gilbert Gottfried and his unique comedic style, at a time when America can’t afford to lose anymore comedians.

Welcome back to the ROX-TV website. We thank the returning readers for coming back and welcome any newcomers. Tonight, we have some rather depressing news from the world of comedy. Gilbert Gottfried has passed away today at the age of 67 (Born February 28th, 1955-Died April 12th, 2022). From the latest media reports, Gilbert had passed away from a long-time illness described as “Recurrent Ventricular Tachycardia due to Myotonic Dystrophy type II”. The wording sounds very heavy and can be boiled down to heart trouble, resulting in cardiac arrest. This type of health issue affects 1 in 8,000 people worldwide. It can be described as a genetic disorder, with children of the affected having a 50% chance of inheriting the trouble.

Gilbert Gottfried was born in Brooklyn, New York to a homemaker and a hardware store owner. The family stayed above the store. By the age of 15, Gilbert had started performing at amateur comedy shows in New York City, and it is said that by 1980, he was known as a comedian’s comedian. This I assume was no easy feat in a town such as the Big Apple.

Later in the year, Saturday Night Live was launching the 6th season of the show, and Gilbert was picked up as a cast member. SNL wasn’t the end all be all for Gilbert, who was rarely used in sketches and had few speaking parts. By the late 1980’s, Gilbert was appearing on Howard Stern’s show, and also had a part in 1987’s Beverley Hills Cop Part 2. In 1989, Gilbert started hosting USA’s “Up all night” program which ran from 11pm to 5am on Channell 23 if I remember correctly.

This was my first real memory of the comedian. I remember he had a rather bizarre presentation, with a screeching voice, squinted eyes, and a very unique style. As a kid, if you could manage to stay up that late, USA was the perfect place to catch terrible “B” movies and sexploitation films…obviously with the best parts cut out. But, I will say, they showed enough cleavage and naughty behavior to keep young men all around the country up at night. I was definitely one of them.

There was usually a really shitty movie, which would have commentary by Gilbert during the movie and breaks. I think a second movie followed, buy beyond that, I just don’t remember staying awake that long. By mid 1989, a Friday night edition was added, and of course a lot of shitty movies were included in the lineup.

Back in the day, with the advent of the “black box”, which was a cable stealing device, I was able to view around 50 channels or so. The best being USA on channel 23, MTV on channel 34, VHI (less cool) on 35, and a few others that were less memorable. These were the golden years of my childhood and TV was forever becoming a more important role in American’s lives. When Cable came along, it was like magic. Before cable we had about ten channels and they fucking sucked. Our Televisions were large and very boxy and heavy. Most of my families early sets needed a pair of “rabbit ears” to help pick up the signal. There were also two dials on the tv, the first for the main channel, and a second dial to “zero in” the signal for a better picture.

Within a couple of years, America was offered a whole new take on “entertainment”. Really what they were doing was trapping Americans in front of these boxes, and well…the rest is history. So anyway, Gilbert would be hosting these jive ass movies, with many being basically soft porn with the best parts yanked out. I remember the high pitched and sometimes annoying commentary from Gilbert, and there was truly nothing like him on TV, at least that I can remember. It’s a tragedy to lose a comedian in a time when America has forgotten how to laugh, relax, and not be so fucking up tight. I think what America needs right now is a break from all the division and a good laugh could really go along way. Tonight we need a Gilbert Gottfried in America. It’s a shame we lost the only one we had.