Who stated there’s no such factor as a free lunch?
One of many recurring matters amongst family and friends at Gilbert Gottfried’s laugh-and-tear-filled memorial service at Riverside Memorial Chapel on Thursday was the standup’s legendary frugality.
His spouse, Dara, recalled that on their first date, she obtained all dressed up just for Gottfried to order one rice pudding for them to share. “I believed it was slightly odd,” she admitted. “He couldn’t order two rice puddings?”
Comedian Jeffrey Ross joked on the funeral, “As soon as once more Gilbert you left us with the verify!”
However it wasn’t the one time Gottfried’s famed cheapness got here out at a Manhattan meal.
Comic and comedy chronicler Jeffrey Gurian — a detailed pal and collaborator of Gottfried’s — informed us that earlier than Gottfried married Dara in 2007, “The joke I keep in mind in these days was that Gilbert’s thought of a particular date was shopping for a woman a second drink.”
Gurian added that when he penned his 2012 tome “Make ‘Em Snicker” on famed New York comedy membership the Comedian Strip, “I interviewed all the massive stars that got here out of that membership,” together with Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Ray Romano, Lewis Black, Colin Quinn, Jim Gaffigan, Susie Essman and plenty of extra.
However, “Gilbert was the one one who insisted on being taken out to lunch.” And apparently Gottfried selected upscale Pastis within the Meatpacking District because the place to fulfill.
Pastis — one of many metropolis’s starriest eating places — was “costly, very stylish, and so noisy at lunch time I may hardly do the interview,” Gurian informed us. “Gilbert simply saved ordering issues from the menu, and even asking for issues they didn’t have.”
When the interview lastly started, Gottfried “insisted he had by no means been on the membership. He stated he simply got here for the lunch.”
Comedian Strip proprietor Richie Tienken was additionally on the meal — and choosing up the tab. “I believed Richie was going to have a coronary heart assault!” stated Gurian. “However I lastly obtained Gilbert to confess he had truly been [to the Comic Strip]. It was one in every of my best Gilbert reminiscences.”
Gurian informed us in reminiscence of his pal, “Gilbert was so cherished by all who knew him. Such a singular voice within the comedy world. Gilbert and I have been mates for over 40 years, and as you may think the funeral was fun fest. Even the rabbi was humorous.”
On the service, Essman recalled as soon as taking a automotive with Gottfried into Manhattan from New Jersey, and Gottfried reluctantly coughing up money for the toll by taking out three bucks, kissing them, and telling his hard-earned singles, “Goodbye boys.”
Dara stated on the service, “I cherished his coronary heart and soul, his jokes have been soiled however his coronary heart was so pure.” She additionally stated on the service of how the couple met: “I had simply turned 27 and Gilbert was 42. We met at a celebration at Tavern on the Inexperienced. I used to be there as a result of I used to be within the music enterprise and he was there for the free meals.”
She additionally joked, “Some meals fell off my plate and Gilbert picked it up and put it on his plate.” The couple had two kids, Lily and Max.
Others in attendance included comedy author Alan Zweibel and comedians Mario Cantone, Dave Attell and Judy Gold.
Gottfried, who starred in movies together with Eddie Murphy’s “Beverly Hills Cop II” and Disney’s “Aladdin,” died on April 12 at the age of 67 from a coronary heart abnormality.
