I met Gilbert Gottfried a couple of weeks ago at a convention. I got my picture taken with him and we talked a bit about USA Up All Night. I talked about bringing it back and he said if it was brought back it wouldn't be with him in it.
shareWould you please be kind enough to tell me why he almost never talks about his time on USA Up All Night, and why he won't be on the new show? I also would like to know what exactly he said about it, and the people he worked with.
Did he say when exactly he stopped hosting it? I know he began hosting it when it premiered in January of 1989 (There was no Friday version originally; only a Saturday one), and that's about it.
This was at a very crowded convention so I didn't have much time to chat with him. I just brought it up about him being on USA Up All Night and we talked about some of the skits he did. He didn't say anything about why he doesn't talk about it much or why he wouldn't be on the show if it revived or when he stopped hosting it. At least the impression I got from our brief meeting was that USA Up All Night was not high on his priorities and not something that he considers one of his crown achievements.
shareOne other thing:
Did you know that he had a reunion with Rhonda Shear, his Friday counterpart, last year? It was at a Comedy Club in Tampa, FL (where Rhonda currently lives). So I'd imagine he is at least still friends with her. You can see it for yourself in these photos:
http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/62/26/46392662/photos/undefined/380179_10200198579550860_873654220_n.jpg
http://memberfiles.freewebs.com/62/26/46392662/photos/Gilbert--Rhonda/148294_10200198622671938_860666585_n.jpg
Yes I saw that Rhonda had posted this on Facebook because I am friends with her and have spoken to her a few times through Facebook and email as well. Those were some great pictures to look at and see them both together. I do think that they are friends due to working together on USA UP ALL NIGHT. I always loved the promos that they would do together for the old USA Network back during the 90's.
Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans! http://usaupallnight.webs.com
Robert, it took some detective work, but I found out that Gilbert did indeed continue hosting well into 1998. So both he and Rhonda must have been fired by Barry Diller during the exact same time.
https://web.archive.org/web/19970606191022/http://www.usanetwork.com/content/movie/upallnight.html
https://web.archive.org/web/19970614030619/http://www.usanetwork.com/content/movie/upallnight.html
https://web.archive.org/web/19971008030049/http://www.usanetwork.com/content/movie/upallnight.html
https://web.archive.org/web/19971210163238/http://www.usanetwork.com/content/movie/upallnight.html
https://web.archive.org/web/19980128045818/http://www.usanetwork.com/content/movie/upallnight.html
Wonderful find! Yeah I saw that you had posted this onto the USA UP ALL NIGHT website. Yes Barry Diller wanted to kill off USA UP ALL NIGHT so that it would make USA Network more of a network that NBC would want to buy to make into their sister station. See I told you that was a part of my theory right there vnisanian. Diller did not care about USA Network it was only to fill money in his pockets so that he could do other things. USA Network now is dull and boring to me. If the people who owned the USA Network would have realized what Barry Diller was going to do with USA Network they should not have sold it to him at all and someone who would have kept USA Network independent as it always was.
That is why I want to create a network like USA Network but call it something else using the exact blue print of what USA Network had. If people do not want to watch the network they do not have to but to those who do want to watch it they can do that.
Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans! http://usaupallnight.webs.com
I wonder if Gilbert Gottfried sees himself as a perfectionist? That might explain what he said at the Chiller Convention.
If you go on his Facebook page, you'll notice a lot of people talking about how much they loved him on this show. I just wish that one day, he will eventually come around, and see that his time on the show was a lot of fun after all, like most of the fans do.
I'd also imagine that he is not too fond of his stint on Saturday Night Live, during the much-hated 1980-1981 season. That was the first time anyone ever knew who he was, and also one of the extremely rare times he spoke on the air in his normal everyday voice.
I would have to say he was very good as a host of USA UP ALL NIGHT and I loved his skits that he would do on Saturday nights. I know that Rhonda Shear was interested in teaming up with him once again for the new USA UP ALL NIGHT show but he turned it down. That is sad to hear that he is not very happy about his time on USA UP ALL NIGHT. It was a great show and was awesome to watch on both Friday and Saturday nights.
Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans! http://usaupallnight.webs.com
That is a shame that Gilber does not want to have anything to do with USA UP ALL NIGHT if it was brought back.
Hey check out my first film trailer for the movie THE POSSESSION OF INNOCENCE.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/C-n1616d5wk"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans! http://usaupallnight.webs.com