A surprisingly small crowd of no more than a 100 gave comedian Gilbert Gottfried a standing ovation at the end of his stand-up at the Algonquin Commons Theatre on Sept. 23.
Gottfried’s set lasted an hour and included impressions, prop work and dirty offensive jokes.
But despite Gottfried’s TV fame, a lack of attendance may have reflected political sensitivity on campus.
“I thought it would have been a full theatre,” said Steven Robbins a business administration and accounting student who attended the show. “Maybe his sense of humor didn’t attract a lot of people.”
Gottfried’s humor is anything but politically correct.
He has no problem making taboo jokes about little people, incest, rape and the Amish, which may have been the worst of all.
In an interview with the Times before the show, Gottfried spoke about the internet, social media and how it can turn a comedian like him into the villain of the month.
“The internet makes me sentimental of an old time lynch mob,” said Gottfried.
He said that before the internet people would have to go to great lengths to call you out on your bigotry and now they can do it at home in their underwear.
Regardless, his loyal fans at Algonquin and all over Ottawa, were more than happy to support his act with laughter and applause.
“It was awesome, better than I expected,” said Robbins.
Most of the audience lined up to meet him after the show. They bought his DVDs, his new book, posed for selfies and even presented him with old DVDs of Aladdin to sign.
A lot of students at Algonquin will likely remember Gottfried as Iago, the red talking parrot in the Disney classic Aladdin.