Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - GGACP Classic: Josh Groban

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

GGACP celebrates the birthday of singer and actor Josh Groban (b. February 27) by revisiting an animated conversation conducted in Josh's Manhattan home way back in 2015. In this episode, Josh shares his passion for comedy, his affection for the “Problem Child” movies and his memories of guest-starring on “The Office” and “Ally McBeal.” Also, Josh coins a catch phrase, tackles the role of Tevye (at age 17!), mimics Jay Leno and performs with Sting and Barbra Streisand. PLUS: “The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.”! Gladys Knight & The Pips! “The Beastmaster”! Old Groucho returns! And Josh sings “the hits” of Gilbert Gottfried! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TV, comics, movie stars, hit singles and some toys. Trivia and dirty jokes, an evening with the boys. Once is never good enough for something so fantastic. So here's another Gilbert and Franks. Here's another Gilbert and Franks. Here's another Gilbert and Franks Here's another Gilbert and Franks Colossal Classic I'm Gilbert Gottfried and this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with cast with my co-host and cohort Frank Santo Padre. And when the mic's not on, dad.

Our guest this week is a multi-platinum selling recording artist who has sold more than 25 million records, give or take 25 million. He's performed to sold out crowds all over the world and sung with everyone from Andrea Bocelli to Celine Dion to Barbara Streisand. It's like the end of Nutty Professor. He's also an actor appearing in movies like Crazy Stupid Love, Muffet's Most Wanted and hit TV shows like Ally McBeal in The Office, Parks and Recreation, American Dad. He is also the youngest guest, is that true? Oh, by far. The youngest guest we've ever had on the show. Younger than Marty Short. We haven't had Marty Short.

Oh, no. Oh, God. There you go. He'll be the youngest. He'll be the youngest. And I'm sure he won't understand any of my references. Please welcome the multi-talented Josh Brolin. Josh Brolin. All right. Good. Pleasure to be here, guys. See, so you can only keep my voice up a certain amount of time. It hurts my throat. Every time I do you, I need a lozenge. Oh, God. You have what you do have one of the greatest voices in all of show business.

Nobody can do you. You're just, you're one of a kind. He is. He's saying you're just the best. You do have one of the greatest voices in all of show business. Nobody can do you. You're just one of a kind. He is. Oh, thank you. You're just the best. You are. You truly are. I've never heard Rich Little do a show. Why don't we get Rich Little on the show and ask him to do you?

We have to. He's a thousand, I think. Is he? Yeah. God bless him. But you are our youngest guest. Before this, Larry Storch from F-Troop was our youngest guest. And he was 93. Really? Yeah.

So I'm just under the bar. So you just beat him. I just made it. How many of our guests have you actually heard of? That's what I want to know, Josh. The show skews a little older. Barbara Felden? Oh, classic legend.

Okay. No. Oh, classic legend. You know Barbara Felden? Okay. No. Ken Berry? I know Ken Berry, of course. Okay. But this is a young, I feel like you're a young hip, the kids dig you.

I'm a groovy guy. We both have a, you know, look I'm 34, I'm no spring chicken, but I'm not, you know, I'm not 94. We both have a passion for khaki shorts, I see. You know? So, you know, listen. We both have sexy legs. We both have, I've been meaning to tell you that.

We've got them, we've both got gams for days. And uh... We're both like Betty Grable in the legs department. That's exactly right, that's exactly right. right listen our style is coming back around again truly We are we're we're you know what Tyler the creator wishes About Marty Allen does that name Marty Allen us rings a bell because you know the hip-hop kids They love this this will bring it back. They love Marty Hello there!

Oh Marty Allen! Oh my god, of course! Yes! I love this. That's always great when your signature line is just a greeting. Yes! I feel like that's how you know you've made it in show business. So you know everything there is to know about Marty Allen.

Hello there, hey lady. Well yeah, business. So you've known you know everything there is to know about Hello there. Hey lady. Well, yeah Marty Allen was worked with the Beatles on the Sullivan show. That's what that's how I know and yes Marty Allen was in a team with Allen and Ross Allen Rossy and young. Yes, where Rossy and young? Yes, he was the crazy Jew. Uh-huh. And he had this handsome Italian singer. Oh, he did. So it was basically trying to recapture Martin and Lewis. See, when I got signed they said, we want the look of a crazy Jew with the voice of a handsome Italian singer. So as show business has progressed, they've decided to kind of blend the two and Josh Groban was born.

It works. So basically you look like a Hebrew student. Yes. Exactly right. Like you're coming out of the yeshiva and you're singing pal yatchi. Who's great grandfather might have been Caruso or might not have been Caruso. Now your father eventually wound up hating the Jews? Even though he was born a Jew, he wound up hating?

My father doesn't have a hateful bone in his body. He is, he, we were raised with kind of all religions. We kind of grew up with kind of the universal, I mean, my, my, my mom was raised Episcopalian. My dad was raised Jewish, but didn't really care one way or the other, I don't think. He just was like, Oh my God, you guys get pine trees in your living room for holidays? Like this is? This is wonderful. We get to burn a log and open gifts. This is great. So he kind of converted when he married my mom, but truthfully, we were raised to study all of them. Oh, so you didn't have any strong religious upbringing?

No, didn't really. I went to an Episcopalian elementary school and then that was it. But your father did donate to the Third Reich. No, that is, your blue cards here are very smudged. And your new album is Dirchlein Dirchlein. That is true, actually. That might have been where the confusion came from. My titles are odd. They come to me in dreams.

And sometimes there's no rhyme or reason for them. But yeah. That would be an interesting collaboration album with Steve Reich, the contemporary composer. The songs for the third Reich? Yeah, just the three of us. It'll be a boy band. Your parents were not musical, but your grandmother?

Yes, my grandmother was very musical. She was an accompanist for singers. She played the piano and played the organ. I remember I was having a voice lesson once at my parents' house. My grandma happened to be over and I'm just doing scales. And you know how grandmas just kind of wander into the room? They just kind of walk in. It's all of a sudden, boom, grandma's there.

Oh, hello, grandma. She goes, I once played that song for 25 cents for a whole hour. Well goodbye. Walked back into the kitchen. And that was just, you know. Now she played in Vaudeville. Well my grandmother you know. Now she played in Vaudeville. Well, my grandmother on my mother's side played in Vaudeville.

Yeah, she was kind of a flapper girl in the 20s. And my grandmother on my father's side played one song for an hour for $0.25, apparently. Now did they ever tell you about the old stars back in Vaudeville? You know, I only knew about my grandmother, my mother's side's vaudeville days because of looking through old pictures. There's such a kind of a tragic and fascinating thing sometimes when you have a loved one that's in their 90s who passes away, is you suddenly go through a treasure trove of history

and you go, God, you know, grandma did that? Sometimes they're very close to the vest about things they did and people they knew and all that. So, yeah, no, we weren't really talked to about it very much. I don't know why. So the music skipped a generation. For you. It did.

Yeah. No, I'm waiting for your son to be a great singer because we think it skipped a generation. First of all, how do you know I have a son? Well, that's the next thing we're bringing up. Yeah, no, it'll skip. It'll skip my kids. My kids won't want anything to do with it. Anybody who's around me, I don't know. But your kids are into comedy, right? Yeah. Big time. My five-year-old son wrote Friends. Oh, fantastic. The theme song or the show? And Joey. Did he create Joey?

Yes, that was one of his failures. And then he tried to create a million shows for Matthew Perry. He was a spinoff kid. He was more, you know, that's your forte. His forte is spinoffs. Yeah, he did the Ropers. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Oh my God. Really? Interesting. So, here's the thing. What did you listen to as a kid? Because your parents were not in the business, but you were exposed to classic music. I was. I was exposed to all sorts of things. Why were you exposed? What did they show you? Here's an old record called, Ever Seen a Grown

Man Naked. Here's a doll. Show us where the man... Show us where he touched you. Yes. You know, in the 70s, you talked about loving records in the 70s, but there are some creepy album covers and titles in the 70s. There were some very odd kind of bearded men, and I am one now. Really? But every vinyl it seems like is a bearded man staring into the distance. The name of the album is always like, show us on the puppet where he touched you or something

like that. And back then it wasn't creepy, you know? There were a lot of double entendres songs in the 70s. Did you know, Gil? Oh, yes. Like Melanie singing Brand New Key and Afternoon Delight. There was a period where there were, you know, and of course bubblegum music Yeah, you know yummy yummy yummy now and no one what was that?

Oh my ding-a-ling my ding-a-ling. I want you to play with my ding right? Yeah, Barry. Yeah, but there wasn't a song You're just saying oh, yeah Yeah, yeah, I was you got it you got to contemporize it for the kids these days Yeah, all of those songs wouldn't make it for the kids these days. All of those songs wouldn't make it on the radio these days. No, I'm sure not. But what did you listen to? Because we ask all our guests what they grew up watching, what they grew up listening to.

I grew up listening to, I loved Gladys Knight and the Pips. I loved kind of soul music. I loved Paul Simon growing up. My parents, first album I ever got was Graceland. And I just loved that, Rhythm of the Saints. It kind of was a first introduction to world music and those rhythms and things like that. Right, right.

And then I grew up listening to people like Mel Torme. I grew up listening to the Great Crooners. I grew up listening to Caruso. I grew up listening to Frank Sinatra. But Show tunes too? They play that stuff in the house? Yes. I was the one that bought the soundtracks to the show tunes because my parents would take me to see shows in Los Angeles. A lot of touring companies would come by and they'd play the Amundsen in LA. And then I would just terrorize my family by just playing soundtracks to Phantom of the Opera and Tommy and Sunday in the Park with George and even the music

from Cirque du Soleil I thought was really cool. I mean acrobatic music. I just thought, well that's interesting, sure. So I had a weird stack of, I had one of those very thick CD booklets where you could still flip through and it was just filled with stuff. Did you ever play Tevye? I did. He did play Tevye. He did? Yes.

You did? Yes. Wow. I will send you, because you'll put this up on a website, right? Yes. You did? Yes. Wow. I will send you, because you'll put this up on a website, right? Yes. I will send you a YouTube clip of me doing if I were a rich man when I was 17 years old that you can put up on your website. How about that? Oh my God.

I was heavier. So you're... I had to paste on a beard at that point. I did. I was a baby face. I couldn't grow a beard for the life of me. But I had five daughters. Yes.

Can you do that speech about the five daughters still I don't know I don't know if I could do that well how does it how does the speech go just goes I had five daughters that's the whole speech right yes yeah and I know there's also that where he would go and in this hand... Oh, on the other hand... Yeah. I sell cheese, and on the other hand, ask the rabbi! I don't know, I forgot what it was. Now, I heard when you played...

Have you ever played Tevye? I would pay double! I was rich, I'd have that time, that I like! And the chickens and the geese! How old were you when you played? I was 16. Wow. So yeah, we all were just kind of pretending what it would feel like to be a 55-year-old

Russian Jewish cheatsalesman. We were all just carpooling in the station wagon every day. We didn't really know what it felt like. Would you say Zero Mustel was the greatest have you? Zero was probably the greatest. We had a son on the show, Josh Mustell. Oh really? A couple of weeks ago, yeah.

Cool. How old is he? Josh? He's in his probably 60s. Oh man. Still under the wire. Yeah, and yeah, he was a kid on our show. Yes.

He was a young whippersnapper. He was a youngster. He, yeah, I thought Zero was probably the greatest. He was great. Why didn't he do the movie? I and I hope this is the actual truth, that the producers thought he had a reputation for being a little bit difficult to work with old Zero. I would have imagined that people with one name would be more difficult than people with two names.

I would imagine if you're just Topol. That's why Cher never played. She began filming. Sunrise, sunset. So just take us through this journey a little bit. I mean, how do you, and I know I'm skipping over years and I'm skipping over big important parts of your life, but listening to the music and falling in love with this stuff and how, and eventually your vocal coach gives a tape to the great David Foster. That's right.

I was singing All I Ask of You as Gilbert. Really? Yes. I pay to see that too. Can we hear two lines at least? That's all I ask of you. The end. There's a great version of Josh singing that with Sarah Brightman online that I saw.

As me though. Beautiful. The boring version. Yeah, that didn't work as well. No, but it was actually, God, it was just around the time that I was playing Tevye. I was a kid. I was a senior in high school. David Foster called a voice teacher that I was with and said, you know, Michael Crawford was supposed to sing at an event for the governor of California and he just pulled out.

Oh, it was Gray Davis's inauguration? Yeah, it was Gray Davis's thing, yeah. And so he says, who have you got who's young who can sing the song? And I sent in, like, I was one of five tapes and he picked my tape and, you know, that was my first time singing in front of a professional audience So David Foster also famous producer. Yeah, also famous for being the man that ran Ben Varin over with a with a car Yes, but that story actually is is what happened was at least I think this is the right story Is that once Ben Varin went to the hospital for that injury? They found a brain tumor that he would not have otherwise noticed had he not been hit that I did not know I think that's what David Foster. I did not know that. I think that's what David Foster had told him. Yes, haven't you read David's autobiography?

That was his story. So he saved Ben's life. That's what David Foster's lawyer said that in court. Listen, I've got a story. That might very well be true. Lee Harvey Oswald said, well, Kennedy would have had a heart attack right then, anyway. You know, hindsight is 20-20, they say. Oh, boy.

Now, who ran over Stephen King? Oh, that was just a civilian. Oh, that was so sweet. It wasn't a celebrity. Oh, man. I was fascinated by the fact that here's Ben Verene wandering on the Pacific Coast Highway at night. Yeah.

Well, people do jog at night. That's nice. The ocean breezes. You know, I ride my city bikes at night. What are the odds of one musical legend being hit by a car driven by another musical legend? It's, that's show business. You know, that's, we've all been hit by, you know, David in various ways. George Gershwin crashed into Frank Sinatra once.

I didn't know that. Really? Yeah, that's famous. So you're storytelling. Ben Varine, I heard, he was in his wacky stage too. Did he have a wacky stage? Yeah, he might have been wandering aimlessly. And seeing dragons chasing him or something. Really? Oh, I didn't know that.

And David was in a normal car with the headlights on, I imagine. I don't know the whole story of it. There was no Ben Fereen crossing sign. With the fedora down. The fedora tipped down in a silhouette. Smoothly dancing. These white gloves. Jazz hands across the street. No. So Gilbert has no interest whatsoever Josh in your personal history. That's absolutely fine. Can I leave now? Yeah, but damn it, we have so much watermelon and cashews left. You brought the snacks, Gilbert. You want to just leave them here? Fine with me.

Listen, I'll zip up my onesie and enjoy the rest of this afternoon. I will be covered in watermelon juice, dripping, dripping down my flesh! And then cashew crumbs permeating the felt of my onesie. You are like, you are seriously, when I watch your roasts, you are like a depraved Maya Angelou. Your perverted prose are a work of art. The way you insult is second to none, truly. A depraved Maya Angelou. Maybe my favorite compliment that you've received. This brings me to another topic. It's like when Frank was saying that Josh Groban wants to do the podcast and I was thinking,

what the hell do I want to talk to him about? Clearly not his said, I could show you the email begging me, by the way. If you'd like me to pull that out, I could send you at least four emails from the past year and a half of your sweet wife saying, listen, there's a cancellation. It was last minute. I shit you not. Don't you call me out, you motherfucker. Listen, I will show you those emails. That's hilarious.

The girl who was the original... Will bring snacks. Yes! Will come to you. The girl who was the original Marilyn in the pilot of the monsters just died. And so, we're going to try to get Josh Corp. We had the last living Munchkin. Yeah.

There is only one. Jerry Maron. But she hadn't heard of him. So we actually considered interviewing the last living Mudgekin. We have one of the guys who replaced the Dukes of Hazzard when they were on strike that time. The car. Yeah, we have the guy who washed the car on the show. And he turned us down. Oh boy.

Well, anyway, listen, happy to be here. Sorry for your cancellation. Oh, that's nice. And whoever it is, it's their loss. But Frank said, oh, he's a fan of yours. And I went, oh, Josh Groban. Oh, yes. Yes. Oh, him. Oh, yeah, that guy.

I have all his albums. Yeah. You know, the guy, you know, I... You ready for my catchphrase? Yes. Hello. Right? Yeah. Him. That Josh Groban. That's good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that. Yeah, that's him, that's Josh Groban. That's good. Yeah, yeah. I remember that. Yeah, sure. From the Murph Griffin show when you used to go in there all the time.

I'm the guy who always says no to being on the dais. That's that Josh Groban. And I remember your straight man would go, and we're here with the astronaut who landed on the moon, and then you do your your line and then I'd sing my famous song Moon rock well first you go. Yeah Hello, yeah, and everyone everybody would start doing it. Yeah, that's right round of applause. That's absolutely right. Yeah So when did you become a fan of mine? Fuck your career. I want to talk about I'm toss'm tossing this card away. I became a fan of Gilbert's, I think, midway through a Showtime

3 airing of Problem Child 2. That was when I first became aware. You had a number of great roles. I remember, well, two reasons I was a fan of yours. One is because I really did see many of your films when I was younger. But two also is that when I was just getting started in this industry, I was 17 years old. I was at the American Airlines lounge at LAX. And I walked by and I recognized you. And I said, hey, Gilbert, how you doing? And you went, hey, what's up man?

And I thought to myself, those are the kind of moments that just, I don't know, it stuck with me. You wouldn't remember that, but it was special to me. It was special to me. Every morning I wake up and I think, gee, whatever happened to that? That's beautiful. Did I kid? Well, that happened. Well, not exactly on that note, but I was doing a recording session for my last album. There was a pianist that I recognized his name on the sheet. And I recognized his name. I said, well that was the name of my piano teacher

when I was six years old. That can't possibly be. And so I stopped him in the lobby and I said, Rob, Robert Thies, Rob Thies, is that you? He goes, yeah, yeah, he goes, yeah, thanks for having me on. Because he'd never been in any of my sessions before. I go, you taught me how to play piano in Los Angeles when I was 10 years old at that house in Hancock Park.

And he goes, that was you? I said, yes, that was me. He goes, I've been following your grade. No idea. I taught you piano at a young age. That was crazy. Sometimes that happens. Yeah. He was also holding a cup of warm cashews as well. Oh, yeah. Really interesting. At the time, yeah. This is halfway through the interview and I forgot your name.

Yeah, well. Yeah. So, um. That's, that story is not as moving as meeting Gilbert. That's true. Yeah, that's true. I'm trying to add just the slightest bit of emotional sustenance to this interview. I mean, listen, I... I told you with stand-up comics, you have to meet them 30 and 40 times.

I mean, I love the bit we're doing here. We can do an hour long of get it I don't give a shit. If you'd like we can just continue that the entire time. Well you heard the Buscemi episode. Oh yeah absolutely. So you know how it goes. You knew how to pronounce his name at the top of the interview. Yeah. And yet somehow it still transitioned into a 15 minute long discussion of how to pronounce his name. I still haven't heard you say my last name. Yes!

Ah, yeah. Yes! Goldberg? That's it, yeah. Yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's the Italian pronunciation. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Col colossal podcast after this. Warning.

I've got this condition where I don't feel pain. You're a superhero. This is how intense Nova Kane sounds. Oh wow. Imagine how it looks. Is there more? Yeah, big time. Nova Kane, only in theaters March 14th.

Oh boy. Got a lot of blue cards here, are we all? Yes. Now, when you, go ahead. You got a question for Josh Goldberg? Yeah, I was just doing my catchphrase, yeah. Yes. Yes.

Yes. I used to do that on the Colgate Comedy Hour. Did you? Yeah, I'd come out and go, yeah. You'd just, you'd just saunter across the stage in a toothpaste tube costume, right? Colgate toothpaste brought to you by Lucky Strikes. And then you would just go, yeah!

Right? Yeah. That works. God, I miss those days, don't you? How old were you during those commercials? 35, 36? Oh, God, yeah. Yeah.

He was the original Alka-Seltzer kid. They were you? Oh, good. Now, in your house, you have a great photo of Groucho Marx. I do. Yes. Yeah. So you're a Marx Brothers fan? I am a Marx Brothers fan. I just finished reading his book, The Groucho Letters. Have you read those yet?

Oh yes! They're fantastic. To all these great authors. They're great. And what he would say is that, you know, not only did he have great wit, but his letters would inspire great wit from others. Like people would feel like when you were writing Groucho, you had to be on your A game. Much like doing a Gilbert podcast. You can't phone it in. You can't come on and go, yeah. You can't just come on and go, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I look forward to the sound board some internet geek is going to make of this. We're going to prank call people just going,

who is this? Yeah. Have you heard Gilbert's old Groucho? No. It's a special treat, Josh. Oh my goodness. This is Groucho at the end. When we were working for the film on a stage, the stage used to be what the performers would stand on.

And the performers back then were people who performed and they would do a joke. A joke back in my day was you'd say something and it would get a laugh and that was a joke. And you'd wear it. Is that really how he sounded to us? Oh yeah. He used to go on the Dick Cavett show. And I remember I would see all the old Marks Brothers movies and I loved them and they'd show him on You Bet Your Life.

And then he was away from the public eye and he would come back on the Cavett show. With the cap with the little bird on the bird. Yes, yes. Or little golf balls. I've seen the pictures but I never heard the recordings. But now I feel like I was living in the... Yeah, and you'd go, uh-oh, where's that really fast talking? Where's that thing?

And he'd be there going... But was he very old? What was it? Oh, very old. Very old. And he would be like, you know, back then you'd wear a hat and that was an article of clothing that you'd put on your head. And you'd go, oh my God! Wow.

Yeah. But I became fascinated. Listen, trust us. Have him on the show. He's going to do the hat bit. It kills. We talk about the Marx brothers a lot on the show and how we like the Paramount versions, the Paramount films more than the films where MGM kind of imposed storylines and plots on them and life interests. Yeah, where they became like supporting players in their own movies. There were actual kind of story lines they had to follow as opposed to just being able

to kind of roll and do their shtick and you know, there wasn't so much of a structure to it. But, yeah. Now, speaking of the Marx Brothers and puns and word plays and that sort of stuff, you like to write jokes. No, I don't. No, I absolutely don't. I could think of, I could think nothing I'd rather do really.

Because I found your Father's Day joke, your hyphenated joke. That might be the only joke I've ever written. And it's not even a joke. It's a dad joke. If I had children, they would go... That is the most I would ever get out of this joke. Because I'd get a moment, a glance before they went back to Nintendo. You're looking at me like I should tell the joke. My next album is going to be called, That's Not Even a Joke. Yeah. He tweets puns all the time.

Okay. So what was it? What did I write? I said How did the grammar how did the English professor die? He he got over hyphenated and fell into a comma. It's awful. I like it. Do you like it? Yeah I know he loves he loves wordplay. I feel like I've got to be wearing khaki shorts to get away with that joke I feel like that is a you should end it with yeah Break the deafening silence. You gotta have a silence killer in an act, don't you? If a joke just doesn't go over, do you have a noise or a word that you can yell that just saves it?

There used to be this comedian who would go on TV, like on the Sullivan and Merv Griffin he was this black comic I think his name was Freddie Rogers okay and his catchphrase was oh yeah it's funny he would do jokes and right after the punchline like if the punchline was I'm a cowboy he'd go and I'm a cowboy oh yeah He goes, and I'm a cowboy. Oh, yeah! It still gets a laugh in the room. It's not that much different than dynamite. Yeah, her cooking is terrible.

Oh, yeah! She got a mustache. Oh, yeah! I think the key is the inflection, too. I think if you yell something in a high-pitched voice, you can go, cashews! And everybody would laugh. It's just, you know, that will be just yell cashews in a high voice and it kills. And he slipped into a comma. Cashews! Cashews!

All right. So, listen, I'm learning a lot about comedy today. You won't come to writing jokes. I might write a second joke because of this. You tweet jokes. Fingers crossed. Well, I tweet silly, stupid things. Maybe they're, I don't know. Be careful tweeting.

I don't know if I've ever told you. It's a dangerous business. It is. It absolutely is. But that's okay. I mean, what else? What am I gonna do, text friends? I mean, come on, talk to people, socialize? What else is there?

I've heard you say that your fans, joking around with your fans, and your fans being jokey with you, gave you, you think it gave you the freedom to sort of come out of that serious singer mode. Yes, because when I got started, I mean, there were a lot of very serious photographs taken and there was a very serious image and my music is very serious and my voice is very serious

and there's all that. And so, I kind of, I loved comedy growing up. I loved, my dad's one of the funniest people I know. I grew up watching comedy. I grew up in an improv. He used to do jokes. Oh, God, yeah. That's what we call a setup.

That's a setup. He's what we call a setup. That's a setup. Yeah. He's a dog with a bone. I could see your wheels turning from my ear. I could hear your wheels turning while I was looking at Frank. I liked comedy. But it was a weird thing when you're a kid and you've got a baby face and you've got

a serious thing and a serious image. People don't necessarily want to see silly. They don't want to see goofy. It's a fine line. Eventually, thanks to people like Jimmy Kimmel and people who kind of gave me bits to do where people said, oh, that's funny too. And Twitter helped too because I could write something that I thought was ridiculous or silly and my fans would be right there with me.

So I realized, okay, we're not all one thing. Don't be afraid to kind of go there. Did you ever think in the middle of your songs you should talk like Gomer Pyle and just go shazam? Shazam! Every now and then. I think Cashew's a little stronger personally. You made a good point. I saw an interview with Dan Rather and you were saying that in the old days, a singer would come out on a talk show, in the Carson days, the old talk show days,

the singer would get the last bit on the show, the last five minutes on the show. And that was all the singer was known for. And you really couldn't break out of that. No. As a singer, you rarely get couch time. So you get to go out there and sing for three and a half minutes. Sometimes it's two and a half minutes, depending on the show. And then they come over and say, yeah, thanks so much for coming.

And then you're done. Oh, he does a Leno impression. Oh, yeah, do your Leno. Oh, he does Leno. Yeah. I have a new album that's coming out of the stadium. Very good. Good. Now, do him bringing up a subject like it just came up in conversation about the guest.

About the guest? Yeah, yeah. What do you mean? He would always like talk show hosts have to make it sound like they don't have it prepared to get a guest into a bit. Oh, I guess not on the pre-interview, right. Oh, oh, gotcha. Yeah.

So, cashews. You wear your cashews, Marv, right? I noticed cashews on your breath. What's the one you do? Yeah, yeah, because I know he would always be like, especially when he'd have, he'd try to prime a guest into doing a bit. And he'd go, so I don't know, I read somewhere that you were stuck in an elevator with a gorilla.

Yes, all right, yes. I read on Wikipedia. Yeah, I guess. Oh, God. I think people would find this interesting. But that's tough, though. If you're a host, I did. Oh, God. I think people would find this interesting. But that's tough, though. If you're a host, that's got to be tough. I've realized this.

I mean, truly. I mean, you do 500 guests a year or more, and each one of them, you've got to hit the marks of whatever the pre-interview was. I don't envy it. Yeah, I used to get annoyed when they'd say, do you have anything we can lead you into? And I thought, I don't want to do that. It's boring. But now when you're a host, you go, oh my God, that's right. You need something to ask. They're the ones to lead you in. Yeah. So I have nothing else to say to you.

All right. Never stop. Never stop. So I have nothing else to say to you. All right. I never stopped you, Bill. I was going to say. And you know, when you were talking about your image and the coverage being serious, I remembered about a year or so ago, I saw David Copperfield on stage and now he's doing, you know, he's on stage with his shirt hanging out. Is he? Yeah. And just like... Hang out's on stage with his shirt hanging out. Is he? Yeah.

And just like... Hanging out or on... Yeah, just no jacket. When I saw him, he was wearing a jacket, just a shirt and slacks, and you know, talking in a regular voice. And I thought, no, I want to see that Copperfield... What was he doing before? I used to watch those specials.

But I always thought he was understated. I always thought he'd be like, now I'm going to walk through the wall of China. Watch this. I always thought he was kind of like the cool... But he used to do like the Bob Fosse hands. Did he? Oh yeah, he was a big showman. Oh yeah, and his eyes would roll around like mysterious. Yes, there was fog. Yeah. Now he's doing minimalist magic. Yeah. Very interesting. This is the show in Vegas that he's doing, right? Where he's doing minimalist magic. This is the show in Vegas he's doing.

Where he's doing the intimate illusions. Yeah. Well, I mean, I believe there should be razzle dazzle in magic just as in comedy. When you start phoning it in, it's... Cashews! Cashews! Presto! I would love to see you do a magic act, Gilbert.

Was your management a little bit concerned that you had a certain kind of an image that they were marketing and were they conservative with you? I think that the concern has been, and I think still is today, they're going to hate this, by the way. No, I'm kidding. Is that I'm so super serious about singing and I'm so super dedicated and serious about music, but then when I'm off the stage, if I don't decompress that sign, I would go crazy. And I think that the concern has always been to make sure that you don't lessen at all the seriousness that I have for the music by confusing that. But I think that, you know, I think ultimately, like I said, people want to see the big picture. I think people want to see all sides.

And when I'm doing my shows now, it's loosened me up a lot more to be able to talk freely with the audience, whereas I think before on my first tour, I kind of felt like I stuck to a script of, oh, thank you. Thank you very much. And now for my next song, you know, I was very, I don't know, I was very kind of felt like I stuck to a script of, oh, thank you. Thank you very much. And now for my next song, you know, I was very, I don't know, I was very kind of stiff, I think, early on. And now I feel like I can go out into the crowd, I can talk to people and whatever happens next. So you do a little banter.

I do banter. There were comedy writers, you know this, who write for, you know, who write for musicians. Yeah. Who write stuff for Vegas acts. I know. You know. Yeah. Well, I haven't done that. Friends of mine have written for Clint Black and people like that. You'd be

surprised. I like it better when it's off the cuff. I think whenever I try to do stuff that's scripted, I always wind up needing to yell cashew. It goes false flat. Sometimes when people aren't used to delivering jokes, it comes across like being a presenter on the Academy Awards. Right. Totally. That's exactly right. Horrible.

Yeah, it's true. It's true. Yep. All right. We've got cards here, Josh. What do you want to talk about? Let's talk about acting. Acting? Yeah. All right. And I heard you say this is interesting, that you get pushback on auditions. I get pushback. Because the people auditioning you have said things to you like push back on auditions? I get push back.

Because the people auditioning you have said things to you like, you know, yes, I know you're a singer and we play it. And there was a quote where you said, you know, we played your song at my mom's funeral. Oh, yeah. That's always an awkward when you're like auditioning to be, you know, the punisher. Yeah. You audition for the punisher? No, but I'm just saying as an example, you know.

Pippi the funny repairman. Pippi the Funny Repairman. Pippi the Funny Punisher, truly. Let's be real. Yes. It's hard to get method in there when they just played your song at a funeral and or a wedding. But you were funny. Yeah.

They let you. I mean, that's another way i always thought well all who was it all god who was it who was running for president who had to all that also no no he always held out dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot Bob Dole. Bob Dole. Yeah. And the funny thing with Bob Dole, Bob Dole after he ran for president and lost, he would pop up on sitcoms and Saturday Night Live. Viagra commercials.

Oh yeah. That too. And when you saw him in that, I always thought had he done the sitcoms first, the voters would have liked him a lot more. Yeah. Well there's the pressure I think liked him a lot more. Well, there's the pressure, I think. Well, you're right. I mean, some of these guys, I think people like Mitt Romney a lot more now that he's not running for president. Oh, yeah. Once people start loosening up and you see...

We got in the boxing ring with Evander Holyfield to raise money. Should have done that before. That would have been great. Yeah. And because now the public goes, oh, I like this guy. Well, there's such a concern, I think. There's such a control. There's a very type A control freakdom to people who run for office and to people in the entertainment industry as well. And I think that when you try and, you know, it's like the sand in the hand.

When you squeeze it so tightly, it all falls out. When you just hold it, it all stays there. I think with these politicians, the same goes. They're so concerned with everything being meticulous. They've got people that are reading moment to moment ratings of how a single statement played across a certain territory they want votes from. That how do you be human? It's impossible. It's impossible. You become a robot. And I think President Obama actually got that part really right from moment one, as he just knew how to be a person.

Bill Clinton, too. Clinton, too. Yeah. So, did you feel like in the beginning, oh, I have to be like the serious, sensitive artist, that'll be my image? Or did your people telling you that? I was 17 when I got signed, and I was 17 going on 12. I was a late bloomer.

I was a sensitive, kind of immature kid. And I got signed at a time when I was still terrified about performing. I still had stage fright. I was terrified about my voice, of taking ownership of what it could do, and the discipline of really working at it. So I had to kind of pretend to be hot shit

while I was secretly terrified and learning. I was a student and a pro at the same time. So it wasn't until about five or six years ago where I felt like I put in my hours, I had enough experiences and successes and failures and learning experiences to take ownership of it, that I felt like I can shed some of that stuff that I felt was maybe not so much about faking it, but more about having a shield, more about having a way to kind of protect myself from the stuff that I was secretly really sensitive about. And I think that now I feel more comfortable in my own proverbial skin.

Are you serious about acting? Is it a lark? It's not a lark. I am serious about it. I was taken from theater school when I was signed. So my whole background was I didn't think I'd be doing TV and film acting. I thought I'd be doing Broadway or plays or things like that. But the singing lessons were truly a tool that I was using to be a better actor.

I thought that if I could sing as well as act, then I would have a better chance of getting roles in things. The singing wound up being something I was way better at, so it just took over. But I love acting. The stuff that I've done has been cameo mostly stuff, and friends that have called and said, hey, we think we've got a fun role for you. Well, you played a convincing douchebag in Crazy Stupid Love. Thank you. That was method. I sat behind that guy for many years in high school. You were good. Thank you. So in the beginning, singing was secondary.

It was. Yeah, it was. I was at a wonderful, incredible arts high school called the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. It continues to be a great, great, great school to this day. But you can choose your major. Once you can audition, it's a public school, it's free, but you audition for a major. So you're there for dance or music or visual art or vocals. And I auditioned

for straight drama. I auditioned as a theater major. So the Tevye and all that stuff, that was extracurricular. That was stuff I was doing in my free time there. But I was taking voice lessons on the side. I wanted to focus primarily on my acting. Now I remember you a couple of years ago as... American Airlines Airport lounge. Yes, yes. It was special for you too, was it? I think about it every time I'm walking down the street.

Throw him a football jersey. I go, who's that ten-year-looking kid who came up to me? Every time you're late for a flight to Duluth, you think of me. I wish he'd show up again. I remember you on TV as a nerdy kid who gets Ali McBeal to be his state. Oh yeah, that was my first gig. I was singing at a charity event in Los Angeles and David E. Kelly, the creator of Ali McBeal, and the whole cast was being honored that night. And I was slated on the bill between Ray Charles and B.B. King.

So like yeah, I was the nap time. I was the trip to the bathroom music. But I sang my ass off that night and I remember meeting David Kelly afterwards and he contacted David Foster. I was only two songs into my debut record. Nobody knew who I was at all. And he said, hey, this kid, like, is there something I like him? There's going to be a big wedding episode. Robert Downey Jr. and Calista are going to get married in the season finale. You know, would your new guy, would you want to be a wedding singer? Would you be a wedding singer? It would be a 32nd part, Ave Maria, whatever it is, you can go sing the song. And I couldn't believe that I was going to be on this show. It was going to be uncredited, but I was going to be on the finale of this show.

Cut to about four days before we were supposed to film, Robert Downey Jr. was arrested and couldn't make it to set. That was during a really dark period for him. And David Kelly had to rewrite the entire show. So he was like, can you act? I'm like, I was just Tevye. I was just Tevye. I've got five daughters. Does that answer your question? Cashew. And he loved it. He just loved it. So he wrote an entire episode about this agoraphobic kid who wants to take his girlfriend to the prom and she breaks his heart. And I wound up hiring Allie to sue her and it was a whole thing. And then I wound

up singing a song that David and I had just finished working on at the end of the episode. I couldn't have asked for a greater kind of Hollywood moment. Yeah, you lined up having her as a date to the prom. Yeah, exactly. And people were writing in saying who, the kid was great. Who was the singer? And I was like, oh, wow, okay, maybe we've got something here. Because people didn't know that I was the one actually singing in the part. They just assumed that there was like a 55 year old guy doing the part for my singing.

So it was a good moment. And so you're saying you fucked Calista Flockhart? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, Yes. What other actresses have you fucked who you worked with? As easily as you fucked the whisper flock. I hope Harrison Ford's listening. You work with an actress Gilbert will be excited to know about. Dee Wallace Stone. Yes. Played your mom on the office. Dee Wallace Stone. On the office. That's right. Yeah. Fantastic. She was great.

She turned us down so we got you. Was she your cancellation doll? We want to have her on the show. Yeah. Oh man. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, she's great. You were Andy Bernard's younger brother. I was, yes. Yeah, yeah. I was Walter Junior Jr. Yeah, he was originally named Walter until I was born and then they changed it to me. So yeah, that was a fun episode. Any time you can be a fan of a show and you wind up

shooting on a day where the entire cast is involved in the scene and you can kind of see... It was the Shrewd Farm. It was the Shrewd Farm. Yeah, we were all there and just the whole cast was there except for Steve, of course. And it was just a lot of fun. As a fan, you're just sitting there going, wow, I'm in it. Ally McBeal, I felt the same way. We all watched that show.

And I'm sitting there going, people to watch them in action is just pitch me. And Mindy Kaling just sent you a message. Yeah, she sent me a direct message on Twitter saying, are you going to be in LA on this day? We wrote a part. We think it'd be funny for you. And I had just played LA the night before. It was just serendipity. Yeah. I love when that happens.

Do you like auditioning? I mean, it's a different skill than anything else. I mean, it truly is a different thing than when you're on set. And so… He doesn't care for it, your host. And you don't like it. Yeah, yeah. I think it's a forced, weird environment. I never feel like I'd… Well, it's actually interesting. Whenever I feel like I didn't do well at all, I get it. And whenever I feel I nailed it,

I'll get a call from the agent going, ah, there just wasn't something wasn't there. Whatever it was, it just wasn't there. Yeah, there are times where you think, oh, well that's it, that's it. I'm writing my Academy Award speech now. That's right, yeah. And it's like, no, they didn't write it.

And they go, no,. No they thought you're good Did you audition for problem child, I yes you did yes, I am with the kid no no he's coming on the show By the way, yeah, Michael Oliver. I won't be the one the youngest anymore or maybe I still will be 87 youngest anymore or maybe I still will be. How old is he? He's 87. He has this growing disorder. Oh really? He has a gray bowl cut now. You guys are neck and neck. You might be younger. Okay, alright. I heard he was a sweet kid in real life though. Yes. Ish. And John Reeder of course. Oh yeah. John Ritter, of course, right? Oh, yeah. It was just the best.

Just the best. John was fun to work with. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast, but first a word from our sponsor. You want to talk about this movie you're doing with Anna Kendrick and John Krasinski? Sure. Yeah. I was in Mississippi about a year ago and we shot this movie.

Speaking of The Office, John Krasinski directed the second episode that I did. That was my first time getting to know him as a director. This is his first feature-length film. It's called The Hollers, which is a last name. It's got an amazing cast. I play Reverend Dan. I play the guy who's kind of the aw shucks, a little Gomer Pile-ish kind of guy. And he's kind of the reverend of the town. He winds up dating the ex-wife of John's brother, played

by Charlto Copley, you know, of District 9. You ever seen that movie, District 9? Yeah. He's kind of the guy who turns into the alien. That's a freaky movie. Oh, yeah. He's the voice in Chappie. He plays Chappie. I am Chappie. That's him. Oh, I didn't see Chappie. But yeah, it's Charleto and John and Anna Kendrick and great cast. I don't know when it comes out, but we had a good time making it. You

fucked Anna Kendrick? Yeah. No, Gilbert. No, I did it in the movie. I did a movie. Oh, I get those two mixed up. It was John. I needed to fuck John to get the movie. He directed the movie, Gil. Have a watermelon slice. Your blood sugar is dropping at a drastic rate. So you did fuck the director. That's, thank God. Well, that makes sense.

Does it? That's how I got problem child. This may be the first guest we've had on the show? That's how I got Problem Child. This may be the first guest we've had on the show that's a fan of the Problem Child movie. There's a breakthrough happening here. I have a sealed VHS box set in Los Angeles. You know, I don't even know where to find it. There was a Problem Child 3 that no one knows about. It was a TV movie.

It was. Were you in that one too? I was in that one. I was the only one. You were the Eugene Levy to the American Pie continuum. Yes, yes. Okay, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. And starring.

Gilbert got, but that was your moment. The third one was your moment for the head marquee name. And starring by default! You were the only face on the cover for the first time in that series. That's fun though. When you finally get to the third made for VHS, you get to be the star. That's right. I remember doing one of these low budget direct to video.

No! Yes! Believe it or not. Shocking. And it had like, I think like all these people like Mark Singer. Oh yeah. The Beast Master. Yes.

The Beast Master. There's another one. Another 70s, great 70s film. And I saw a trailer for it, and because no one in it is like, you know, if you've got a Tom Cruise, you go, Tom Cruise in. But here they've got to name everybody. Yes, of course. To help it add up to one big star. And it was an action. You see helicopters exploding and girls ripping their dresses open.

And in the midst of it, the announcer goes, you know, Mark Hamill, Mark Singer, Gilbert Godfrey. Was it the great Don LaFontaine? It may have been! In a world! Gilbert Gottfried! And in the midst of motorcycles crashing and machine guns going off. That's pretty cool.

I would just play that, I would just drink whiskey into the We hours in the morning and just replay that over and over again You weren't kidding when you told us that you spent a lot of time on the road board and watching movies that you've actually Gone through the problem child. I have can I have gone through the entire problem child and Beastmaster Canon Now do you get that thing because you especially you play like arenas? Yeah, and I mean now like thousands of people packing it sure and and then You know people are cheering. You're a god on stage Oh, yeah, and then they're cheering and and then you find yourself sitting in your hotel room. Yeah. Yeah It's a real letdown.

It is. And I don't do drugs. So for me, that is a high that's unbelievable when you're out there and you feel that energy. And then you're on a tour bus and you're eating a Subway sandwich. And you're just kind of, well, all right, off to Peoria. I can see why a lot of those guys... I get it to a certain degree, but within the style of music I do, it's still somewhat of

a mellow evening compared to the big rock shows and things like that. And I still feel that high. But I can certainly understand some of you know, some of those real heavy rock bands that just felt an explosion of adrenaline out there. And then they go to a hotel room and I'm also lucky that I can walk down the street and for the most part people are either really respectful or have no clue. So I can live, I can still live a pretty private anonymous life and I can be the one people watching still which I think is essential. I noticed you came into my place with enormous sunglasses, Gil.

You paparazzi won't leave them alone. I don't know what that's like to have to deal with that. And a dog was pulling me along. That is... But you know, I totally, even me, I mean, you know, I'll get the cheers and the laughs and the adulation during the show. And I go back to the hotel and I totally understand why people do, why performers do drugs. They want to keep the high going.

Because there is, it's not just even just right after the show. It's the 22 hours of your day sometimes that you're just twiddling your thumbs in some hotel room somewhere. You don't necessarily want to go out and exert yourself or go out and be recognized. Whatever. You kind of get into it after show 50 or 60 or 100. You get into a routine of just hanging until it's time to be on. And then you got to be on.

And then you're off. And then you've got to be on. And then you're off. And then you've got to let down. And the real depression comes when the actual full tour is done, done, done. You have that honeymoon period of that week where you're just kicking back and you've got all those shows behind you. And you can go back to just doing normal stuff, seeing your friends, and going out to restaurants and all that.

And then you suddenly realize that the structure is gone. That's the thing that kills me is when the structure is gone. Because I like knowing that I have to get myself ready for those two hours every night. And then when you get off the road and you know you've got like a year ahead of you where the time is yours. You write when you want to write. It's almost too much time. It's almost too much.

You get so used to the institutionalized aspect of being on the road that, yeah, it's a come down. When you're about to go on stage, do you go, wait a minute, what, they're all here to see me? How am I going to sing? Do you get that feeling? I get that feeling, I think, way earlier in the process. If I had that aw shucks why me moment seconds before I went on, I think it would mess with me. I think I've got to find

more ways to kind of pump myself up and I get excited to go out there. But there's plenty of moments. I think those moments happen when you're just by yourself and you know you've got a big thing going on sale or a big album coming out or whatever. You kind of sit back and reflect. We're all our own harshest critics deep down. And so I'll sit back and do why me. And then I'll just yell cashew with jazz hands to the mirror. Jazz hands. Yeah, like Fosse, you know, and say it's showtime.

You know, this sort of played into the origin of this podcast, him being bored on the road. Because he would just call, he would come off that... As bored or more bored than you are today? Well, nothing will beat this. Nothing will beat this, truly. He would call me to talk about the Beast Master. Well, it would be much older. Right, yes, of course.

We'd talk about, like, Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Oh, God. Have you seen that movie? What is it? The 10,000 Fingers of Dr. T is it, the 10,000 fingers of Dr. T.? Oh, the 5,000 fingers. Yes, I was being generous. Yeah. Is that Hans Conrad? It's one of the weirdest, most awesome movies. I always thought that

that should be made into a Broadway musical. I always thought that that would be a really odd, off, off, off, Broadway musical. We could be in it together. You guys could. I would love to see that. Yeah. I could play your father. Yes.

I was thinking about you two in the Sunshine Boys revival. Oh, yeah, nice. Yes, perfect. But with music. Of course. You're sure. It wasn't the Maraschkotheda. It was the Belaschkotheda.

Yeah. I say it was the Belaschkotheda. Is that my part? Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I say it was the Belasco Theater. Is that my part? Yeah. Well, yeah, tell you what the Belasco Theater.

Now, what am I doing? Now, you want to bring Chess back, speaking of Broadway. As a Chess fan, as kind of one of the culty Chess fans, I would like to see a show with music as brilliant as chess has. I love Benny and Bjorn. Be as successful as I think that music deserves to be on stage. The story has always kind of been a little iffy.

The book has always been lacking. And it's dense. It's chess during the Cold War. I mean, it's not exactly, you know, bring the family. And it had a Broadway run, but it was an unsuccessful Broadway run. It was kind of unsuccessful in every run that it had. It just didn't quite... Did it have more than one?

I remember the first one. There was a West End, there was a Broadway, and there was a Swedish. And we did it at Royal Albert Hall as a concert, and it worked much better. We had all the musicians on stage. I saw you. You and Adina. Adina and Adam Paschal. Adele Dazeem.

Adele Dazeem, yes, played Florence. And it worked better because there wasn't all the costumes and all the staging. It was just kind of presenting the music as it should be presented. And I think a kind of semi-concert version of Chess would actually work quite well on Broadway. Do you know that show, Gil? Chess? No. Tim Rice wrote the lyrics. Anything that you're interested in, what you're doing, guys. He doesn't know any Broadway. That's why he asked about Filler on the Roof. It's the last Broadway musical that he actually knows.

He's a Fantastix kind of guy. He wanted to sing Try to Remember. Yeah, that's right. He's been trying to remember this whole interview. Tell us quickly about working with the Muppets, because we had Paul Williams on the show. Oh, yeah. You fucked Miss Piggy? No, Gil!

That's where the hand is supposed to go. It's not sexual. So confused. He's so confused. Bless his heart. Sweet, sweet Gilbert. So sweet. So cute.

Yeah. Isn't he? Yeah. But no. It was great. I grew up with the Muppets. They're bringing the Muppet show back. They're doing a different kind of version of the Muppet show. Are they? Full frontal nudity. Is that what it is? That was always a given. Fawzi I don't think ever wore pants.

They're trying to do a slightly, I don't even know what this means or how it will be executed, but a more mature Muppet show. A mature. Mature. Okay. Who knows what's in store? But you were in the Muppets most of all. They had, on the Muppets or on Sesame Street, I heard a couple of years ago they were going to have a Muppet whose father was in prison. Oh, it was on Sesame Street?

Yes. Really? Yes. Yeah. And I think he rapes Kermit at one point. Really? Yeah. In the shower. I'll have to IMDB that later. Before we wrap up, tell us about singing. Oh, please let us. He doesn't care. He just looks for openings He doesn't care. This is basically how it goes. He just looks for openings to accuse your father of being a brown shirt. Pretty much. Tell us about singing with Streisand. I think our listeners would be very interested in that.

If the show is about show biz, that's a show biz icon. Yes, she is indeed. That was one of my first duets ever. Right after I did Ally McBeal, I was asked, Barbara was a friend of David's and she came in the studio and she was doing a duet's record and that was, you know, talk about being terrified and being kind of in a master class and being professional at the same time. She was very, very kind to me. She didn't have to have me on her record at all. It was completely unknown. And she had me on. And we sang a song on that first record

and then, you know, now 13, 14 years later, we've now sang again on her new duets record. Anytime you sing with her, you're well aware that you're in the same breathing room as a real legend and somebody that you can really learn from. No matter how experienced you are, it's always a master class. But yeah, she's great. Her interpretation, her process is, I think think the most fascinating part about her because her voice is obviously incredible, but it's the way that you, when you get to watch her in an actual session, you know, crafting the song, that's when you see how the mythology and the legend has developed because, you know, she comes from that school where if

you put the energy into the process and into the work, then the response from people will be there. And as soon as you start to slack on those things, it's no coincidence that the goosebumps aren't quite there. And she puts it into the process entirely. I saw the clip online. I mean, she still sounds great. Yeah, she does. To have that gift this long in her life. It's great. And I'm glad that she's touring now more. And so yeah, she's been a good friend. Because you know, Gil did You Don't Bring Me Flowers with her before. Oh, did you?

They put Neil Diamond. It's amazing what a little mixing can do. Sometimes they race an entire duet partner. Sometimes just turn into a solo. And my duet with Nat King Cole. They were unforgettable for sure. Yeah, yeah. In, you know.

Now you fucked Bob Restriket. No, Nat King Cole. Yeah. Yeah. I just. You want to humor us and take a swing? I'm a virgin, Gilbert. That's what makes this whole bit really, really funny.

Is that I've never ‑‑ I don't even know what that's like I don't know it's funny to say it's funny to say yeah but yeah you want to take a swing at some of these and and and indulge us oh sure these are can we exploit you okay try try the one now are we sharing the same needle? Gilbert jokes for Josh. Oh, thank you. Kara Jokey. This is Josh favoring us by singing some Gilbert Godfrey jokes.

Setting some, interpreting them in song. Oh, Walmart by saying... Cashew, cashew, cashew, cashew, cashew, cashew, cashew, cashew, cashew, cashew, cashew, cashew. Yeah, good. This has never been done. You know, nuts are actually bad for a singer. Yeah. That's why they had them cut off.

That was a set up. That was a set up. You're welcome. But I want to tell you. Yeah, but anyway. Oh yeah! But enough about castratis. How would you like me to do this? You want me to just sing one of these?

Kind of like you did the... Sing my jokes. Kind of like you did the Kanye tweets on Kimmel. This would be more of a musical theater because these don't have really the structure, song structure to them. They're a little bit free form. The name of this is a one man show. Yes, a spotlight hits.

Gilbert, we hardly knew ye. Yes. With Josh Groban. Josh Groban is Gilbert Godfrey. Problem child the musical. Let's see what it sounds like. It may not work at all. So a guy walks up to his son and tells him, son, if you don't stop masturbating, you're going to go blind. And the kid says, hey, dad, I'm over here and many more.

I think that's great. Want to try the middle one? The middle one? No, I want to do the other one. I want to do a longer one. It's better when it's conversational. It has a real kind of Sondheimish quality. How about the third one? That's a good one. How about the aristocrat? I can sing the aristocrat. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, let him get through this. A man gets home, runs into his house.

He slams the door and shouts, honey, I just won the lottery. Pack your bags. The wife says, great. What should I pack for the ocean or the mountains? He says, I don't care. Just get the fuck out. Cashew! Get the fuck out! Cashew!

All on my DVD, Gilbert Gottfried, Dirty Jokes. Commercial by Josh Brolin. By Josh Brolin. Josh Brolin. Yeah, that one had a, that was more of a Fosse kind of a. That was great, I liked that. Thank you so much. The jazz hands made sense.

Okay, do the aristocrat. That was more of a FOSA kind of a... That was great. I like that. Thank you so much. The jazz hands made sense. Do the aristocrats. That one I... That's a career ender. I feel like that's a... No, no. That is quite frankly a career ender. Your career's already ended.

It's ended now, yeah. You know, a half hour ago. I did. You have nothing to worry about. Oh, man. That's true. One day I will do the aristocrats. Maybe if you do a second follow-up kind of documentary,

maybe I'll tell them in song. With all the singers. Yeah, maybe I could get a We Are the World group together and everybody takes a line. That's a great idea. Yeah, that'd be fun. I'd like to see that. Aristocrats for charity. And the father is fucking the dog.

And shit and piss and yeah. He the son is fingering his sister. Is that the closest you can get to singing? Yes. Okay. All right. You have to hear him sing. I can sing as Georgie Jessel.

Can you? Give me some Georgie Jessel. Can you? Give me some Georgie Jessel. Would you? Okay. Uh, One bright and shining light That caught me wrong from right I found in my mother's eyes Those way we tales she told of streets all paved with coal I found in my

mother's eyes. Just like a wandering sparrow, a lonely soul. No, give us all six verses. Come on. There's something wrong with your show when you have Oh, lonely soul. Give us all six verses. Come on. There's something wrong with your show when you have Josh Groban on the show and Gilbert Godfrey is doing the singing. Oh, Lordy. What a treat.

That was beautiful. Stunning. So, anything you want to promote? No. Anything you want to plug? No. All of its jobs have been canceled. Exactly.

I have nothing. You've got a new CD. I wouldn't be here if I had something to promote. Anything you want to plug? All of its jobs have been canceled. Exactly, I have nothing. You've got a new CD. I wouldn't be here if I had something to promote. Tell us about Stages. Okay, sure, yes. It's an album of all those great show tunes. Some of the songs I grew up with.

One from Willy Wonka. Yes, Pure Imagination, Someone Over the Rainbow, Finishing the Half, Something to Power the Half, Anthem from Chess, and Get the Fuck Out by Gil McGovern, which is a bonus track. It's one of those where you have to let it, even though it's all iTunes now, you've got to let it play for an hour of silence before you finally get to the song. And your foundation, tell us about that. My foundation is called the Find Your Light Foundation.

It's, you know, I was talking about the great arts program that I went to in school and, you know, I grew up with incredible arts education programs. I was one of the lucky ones growing up. And so, you know, it really stemmed from visiting schools, visiting programs, getting letters from people where they were finding those programs being cut drastically. Ever since I was a kid, they've been cut even more. And so the Find Your Life Foundation

is a program that's bringing arts education hopefully back to those programs that are being cut, getting instruments to the hands of kids, getting arts and cultural awareness into the hands of young people. And so we're teaming up with groups like Turnaround Arts, which is Michelle Obama's organization. And we're seeing firsthand how arts education is turning great programs

around. But yeah, that started from my fan base. They gave me a donation when I was playing the Greek theater for $70,000. They collected all my autographs and put them on eBay and gave them back to me. And so we want you to start a foundation. And so that's how it started. It's important. You know, believing or not, singing was canceled in my school. Was it? Yeah. If you had the Find Your Life Foundation, then truly we would have all been blessed

with at least a couple more notes in your range, I think. Do you have anything else to ask this man? Yeah. Who else did you fuck? Well, listen, how long do you have? Maria Callis? Sure. Joey Heatherton? The last living munchkin, Gilbert. Oh, boy.

You want to take us? Can we? You don't know the depraved things I had to do to Gilbert to get on this podcast. Could you sing them? I bought snacks. I bought snacks. I bought snacks. I bought snacks.

I bought snacks. I bought snacks. I bought snacks. I bought snacks. I bought snacks. I bought snacks. I bought snacks. I bought snacks.

I bought snacks. I bought snacks. I bought podcast. That's all I want to say. Could you sing them? I bought snacks. I bought snacks. We got snacks. You want snacks. Could you just one more time, Josh? Could you sing and I blew Gilbert Godfrey?

No requests. Not doing requests today. Sorry. What do you do? Did anybody ever shout a joke request from you? Do you take requests on stage? Do people yell the aristocrats like they do Freebird at you? Is that your e-bird?

Yes. They light a lighter. That must get, you know. Let's try the last one. A redhead tells her blonde stepsister, I slept with a Brazilian the blonde replies oh my god you slut how many is in a Brazilian how many is a Brazilian What a treat. Oh God. Viva Brasil.

Viva Brasil. Okay, I'm Gilbert Gottfried. This has been Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast with my co-host Frank Santo Padre and today we spoke to the man who is known for fucking Calista Flockhart, Anna Kendrick and Miss Piggy As well as I think, Tony Field. Yes! Oh, and I think he sings. Do you get these references at all? No, I'm just, God bless you.

I'm already on a jog somewhere. In my mind, I'm running down the Hudson. I'm feeling, yeah. And before I say his name say your your famous catchphrase Cashew yeah, well, I don't have to tell you who that is Mr.. Cashew himself Josh grow back You happy me thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Now just get out of my house Josh Groban! Thank you, yeah. Thank you, Josh. Thank you for having me, Gilbert. Thanks. Thanks.

Now get out of my house. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Now get out of my house. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.

Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Now get out of my house. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.

Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.