© Super Festivals from Ft. Lauderdale, USA/CC BY-SA 2.0 Gilbert Gottfried to release his first album, posthumously
US comic never put one out when he was alive for fear of using up material
Gilbert Gottfried’s first and last comedy album is to be posthumously released this autumn.
The American comic had been a stand-up for more than 50 years when he died in April 2022 at the age of 67.
Yet despite being the most distinctive voices in US comedy – figuratively and literally – he never put out a proper album for fear of burning up his material.
Now his widow Dara has joined forces with the Clown Jewels label to put out the special to release the as-yet untitled album.
She wrote on Instagram: ‘Big news… I’m releasing Gilbert’s very first album of his original stand-up. He never put out an album before because he didn’t want to "use up his material". He was worried if people could buy it, they would not go see his live shows. Now that is not an issue.
‘Neil Berkeley, who directed Gilbert’s documentary Gilbert, and I picked the best jokes from his live appearances that Neil shot when making the film. The album will be released both digitally and on vinyl November 13.’
It will be launched that dat with a live gig as part of the New York Comedy Festival raising money for a charity researching myotonic dystrophy, which the comic suffered from.
In 2009, Gottfried released Dirty Jokes – a collection of filthy gags that weren’t his own. culminating in his telling of the legendary Aristocrats joke.
He told that when bombing at the Friars Club roast of Hugh Hefner three weeks after the September 11 attacks in 2001, winning back the audience and prompting Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza to make a documentary about the gloriously offensive joke, which had previously largely been confined to comedy club green rooms.
Published: 17 Aug 2024
