Gilbert Gottfried was remembered by family and friends at a tear-filled funeral in New York City.
Page Six was inside the Riverside Memorial Chapel early Thursday, where we witnessed the comedian’s loved ones share heartfelt stories that made guests both laugh and cry.
Gottfried’s longtime pal Jeff Ross specifically had the crowd in stitches, eulogizing his “brother” – who died on Tuesday at the age of 67 – as a man “survived by his wife, and sister, two great kids and over 12,000 little bottles of shampoo.”
The “Roastmaster General,” 56, then praised Gottfried for his ability to make people laugh for half a century.
“What a mitzvah. What a mission in life, what a purpose to have in this world. And he wasn’t just regular funny, he was hilarious,” Ross remembered.
“He was daring and provocative and subversive and so lovable that he could get away with jokes about skulls f–king a dead person. Not so funny now, huh Gilbert?” Ross quipped after a beat, prompting laughter from the crowd.
Ross said he admired Gottfried because he “was fearless” and “brought light to the world’s darkest secrets.”
“Gilbert took the pain out of our worst tragedies,” he shared, adding that the famously offensive comic “practically started cancel culture when he got fired from playing a duck.”
Ross was referring to an incident in March 2011, in which Gottfried tweeted various controversial jokes about the earthquake disaster in Japan. The move resulted in insurance giant Aflac firing Gottfried from voicing its waterfowl mascot.
Ross also recounted the time he asked Gottfried to play Adolf Hitler on a Netflix comedy show, which the late Jewish comedian eagerly agreed to – costume and all.
“We broke for lunch and he was still wearing the swastika. Then we did the show and we went to the afterparty and we can’t get Gilbert to take off the swastika,” he recalled with a laugh.
“And let me tell you something, he was the best Hitler ever! Mel Brooks once said comedy is revenge through ridicule and what better way to ridicule the Nazis than have their Führer portrayed by the loudest, most obnoxious Jew?”
During another portion of the tribute, Ross remembered Gottfried’s love for music and played an audio clip of the two joyfully singing “Sunrise, Sunset” from the hit musical “Fiddler on the Roof.”
He then encouraged the crowd to sing the first verse, which left many reaching for their tissues.
Fellow comedian Susie Essman later recalled sitting next to Gottfried in a car many years ago while traveling into Manhattan from New Jersey. She said the driver – a mutual friend – insisted that the infamous cheapskate pony up the $3 toll.
“The whole ride he’s moaning,” the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star remembered. ”Gilbert slowly takes out his wallet and pulls out three crumpled dollar bills. He looks at them, kisses them and then he says, ‘Goodbye boys.’”
Appropriately, even the rabbi got in a couple of zingers.
“This weekend sees the confluence of Passover and Easter,” he began. “Tomorrow being Good Friday, remembering another Jew taken too soon.”
Others in attendance included Gottfried’s widow Dara Kravitz, comedy writer Alan Zweibel, “Sex and the City” star Mario Cantone and comedians Dave Attell and Judy Gold.
