Jeff Ross Calls Gilbert Gottfried’s Funeral ‘Absolutely Perfect’

Comedian Gilbert Gottfried was beloved by all who knew him.

His longtime friend and publicist, Glenn Schwartz, disclosed that the “beloved and iconic comedian Gilbert Gottfried passed away at 2:35 p.m. ET on April 12, 2022, from Recurrent Ventricular Tachycardia due to Myotonic Dystrophy type II.”

Gottfried, who was 67-years-old when he passed, had struggled with the genetic heart disorder most of his life and his heart condition was known to the public. He left behind his wife, Dara Kravitz, his daughter Lily, 14, and his son Max, 12.

On Thursday, family and friends gathered to pay tribute to the late “The Lion King” voice actor at his funeral.

Jeff Ross, Colin Quinn, Susie Essman, Mario Cantone, Dave Attell, and Paul Shaffer, as well as Bob Saget's wife, Kelly Rizzo, and his three daughters, Aubrey, Jennifer, and Lara, were in attendance at the funeral, as per PEOPLE.

Whoopi Goldberg was not able to attend the funeral due to her filming “Anansi Boys,” but she did send a gift to honor Gottfried. Comedian Sarah Silverman is reportedly planning on sitting shiva with his family and close friends.

“The shiva tonight will be a star-studded event and the funeral was just absolutely perfect,” Ross told the outlet. “Gilbert would have loved it. I saw so many great comics there paying their respects.”

He added, “It was cathartic but there was also a sense of relief. As I said at the funeral, Gilbert had been sick, he was tired, and he had perfect timing. He knew it was his time to get off the stage.”

During the eulogy, Jeff Ross commented on some of Gottfried’s quirks and recalled how he took “12,000 little bottles of shampoo” from hotels.

“50 years in show business, 50 years,” Ross said of Gottfried’s lengthy career. “He went on stage as a teenager and he never stopped. He was supposed to do a show last week. This man has been making people laugh for half a century. What a mitzvah. What a mission in life. What a purpose to have in this world.”

“Think about how many laughs he must have gotten from every person at every show, live and on TV and in the movies,” he went on. “How many laughs is that? A million? A billion?”

He also said that it was special to see Bob Saget’s family in attendance, given that the three actors were very close. Saget passed away in January as a result of a brain bleed from blunt force trauma. How he sustained the trauma inside his hotel room has still not been confirmed.

“What was very heartwarming was seeing Bob Saget's daughters at the service,” Ross said. “And some of the guys that helped Gilbert write those Comedy Central roasts — Aaron Lee and Jordan Rubin —  they wanted to pay their respects. They were part of that team that helped him rip the roof off those roasts.”

Kelly Rizzo, Bob Saget’s widow, also took to Twitter to pay her respects to Gilbert Gottfried shortly after he died.

On Wednesday, one day after Gottfried passed away, Kelly Rizzo tweeted, "Bob loved Gilbert so dearly, they had a special friendship. As he did with everyone in this photo. And sending my love to my wonderful friend Jeff as Gilbert’s loss is beyond painful for him. Thinking of Dara his amazing &strong wife right now. Much love & support to his family."

Norm MacDonald passed away after a long battle with cancer in 2021. After Bob Saget and Gilbert Gottfried's passing this year, many are feeling for Jeff Ross, who has had to say goodbye to too many friends.

Although he posted a touching photo of the two together on Twitter, he posted a much longer, thoughtful tribute on his Instagram page.