Here's an interview with Gilbert Gottfried that's mostly about how he was fired from his Aflac job for some Tweets he posted about the earthquake in Japan and the resultant tsunami. I've always found Mr. Gottfried very funny though I think I liked him more as an ad-libbing talk show guest (which he never seems to get to be lately, at least on television) and doing observational standup than what he seems to have become, which is a guy who just stands on a stage and quotes Playboy Party Jokes.
I agree with him that the quake victims in Japan probably have had more important things to think about than to take umbrage at some comedian's remarks on Twitter…and I agree with him that some people place way too much importance on actions of microscopic meaning, like putting a flag on your car after 9/11 or wearing a ribbon to cure AIDS. I always think there's a danger when folks begin to equate things like that with actually doing something about a problem.
Then again, the problem with a job like being the spokesduck for an insurance company is that they can fire you any time they feel like it for any reason. They could have dumped Gilbert because they didn't like the socks he was wearing or thought his voice was getting more annoying or because they had a shot at hiring away the Geico Lizard. Firing him because they do so much business in Japan and feared their association with him would alienate clients strikes me as just as good or bad a reason as any…though my guess is they'll wait a year or three, then ask him back.
Getting back to Mr. Gottfied as a talk show guest for a moment, I thought he was one of the best. In Conan O'Brien's early days at NBC, he had Gilbert on a couple of times — this was back when Gottfried was among the bigger names who'd do that show — and they were hysterical spots. I still have — on Beta but I keep meaning to transfer it — a Halloween episode where Gilbert came on and began dumping semi-affectionately on Dick Cavett, who was also on that evening, and hitting on Maureen McCormick of The Brady Bunch. It was one of the funniest hours I ever saw on television and there's no reason he wouldn't have been just as funny in later years or even today on Conan's show or any other. It's just that he doesn't have a big movie coming out or a series debuting and that's the criteria for being a real talk show guest these days.
Leno occasionally has Gottfried on for short sketches but then they give Gilbert his check and send him on his way…and bring out someone who's in a hit movie and has nothing amusing to say beyond the movie plug and one well-rehearsed anecdote. Right there is a lot of what's wrong with talk shows these days…all of them. And I don't think it's so much the case with Jay but I think some hosts are afraid to share the stage with someone who won't confine his remarks to what was decided in the pre-interview.