Adult Swim’s The Paloni Show! Halloween Special! not only treats viewers to wide array of unsettlingly funny and boldly animated horror shorts from a wide variety of up-and-coming animators — it also features one of the final performances from comedy giant Gilbert Gottfried.
At New York Comic Con, Flickering Myth asked The Paloni Show! executive producer Ben Bayouth and star Zach Hadel about their experience working with the late comedy great. Both of which spoke in glowing terms about the comedian, whose raspy, strident voice became one of the most recognizable in the entertainment industry over the course of his four decade-long career.
“He was really humbling to work with. Super super nice,” said Bayouth.”Wasn’t the kind of actor to come and give one or two takes and be like no that’s what you got.”
Gottfried collaborated with animator Brian Wysol for his segment “The Dreston,” which follows luxury apartment manager (Reed) whose shirking of responsibility sets him on a collision course with zombies. The short’s style is an odd (but welcome) blend between point-and-click video game and Japanese anime, complete with a Gottfried who is more than game to match Wysol’s eccentric artistic sensibilities.
Bayoth continued, “He was really working with Brian, he didn’t know who Brian was and was very very willing to work with him on whatever he needed to make the short come to life. We were very deeply saddened to hear that he passed nearly two weeks after we recorded him.”
The actor, who passed away in April 2022 from complications with muscular dystrophy, lent his voice to nearly a hundred projects over the course of his four decade-long career, from Aladdin to Cyberchase. It was that very talent behind the mic that landed him a spot voicing God in the season 1 finale for Adult Swim’s Smiling Friends (“Charlie Dies and Doesn’t Come Back”) — his first connection with that show’s co-creator Hadel.
“I’ve been a huge Gilbert Gottfried fan for years,” said Hadel. “Not only of hearing his voice growing up, [as] a 90s kid, so obviously Aladdin all that stuff … but then I found his comedy stuff, him on Norm Macdonald’s podcast, his stand-up, him on Howard Stern.”
From the outset of his work on Adult Swim’s Smiling Friends, Hadel and co-creator Michael Cusack put together a list of personal comedy favorites that he aimed to recruit for a guest role on the show.
“We had a list of people for Smiling Friends we really wanted to get, so we had like him, Norm MacDonald, and a couple other people,” he said. “Norm MacDonald obviously passed away, but we got to work with Gilbert Gottfried.”
Despite sharing a scene with him on Smiling Friends, a time zone miscommunication led Hadel to miss his recording session with Gottfried. He didn’t work with Gottfried directly on The Paloni Show! either, but on the late icon he concluded, “He’s a comedy genius, and we miss him.”
Justin Cook
