Gilbert Gottfried has been doing this stuff for a long, long time.

The actor/comedian who will perform in Goldstien Auditorium tomorrow as the Jewish Student Union’s annual speaker has found his way through clubs and college campuses across the country, and it is getting a little mundane.

Even the JSU gig, which has brought in the likes of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, hyperactive stand-up comedian Lewis Black, Henry ‘Fonzie’ Winkler and most recently ‘Daily Show’ anchor Jon Stewart, is just another day on the job.

‘To me, I decide if I have had a good show when the check clears,’ Gottfried said.

For JSU on the other hand, Gottfried was a perfect fit. The budget that was allocated to them by the Student Association this year was sizably lower than the one that lured Stewart to campus last December, cutting their options down considerably.

‘We were looking for someone with a name, who fit our price range and was free on the day we had,’ said Elisa Margolias, JSU president. ‘And he was Jewish, so dude BINGO.’

Although Margolias declined to say exactly how much they did shell out to Gottfried, SA Comptroller Erin Maghran said that the JSU was given somewhere around $12,000. Stewart was paid about $40,000 for his appearance last year.

Margolias expects a good crowd, although not a sellout to show up to Goldstien.

‘They are doing a great job with the money they were given,’ Maghran, a sophomore public policy, political science and public relations major said.

Gottfried, who made a name for himself by playing the quirky character with the whiny voice in such feature films as ‘Problem Child,’ ‘Problem Child II’ and ‘Look Who’s Talking Too,’ is not bothered by the notoriety he has gained for his voice over work. In 1993 he starred in his now famous role as Ayego the parrot from the Walt Disney animated feature ‘Aladdin.’ He has since reprised the roles in the direct to video sequels.

‘I was a parrot in Aladdin and a duck in an insurance commercial,’ Gottfried lamented. ‘I have pretty much cornered the market on birds, if the Coo Coo for Cocoa Puffs character comes back then I am ready… but I think he was a Macaw or a Cockatiel.’

Gottfried’s stand-up set is a mixture of ‘rapid-fire train-of-thought deliveries,’ according to his press release, along with a few impressions the most note worthy of which is his dead on Jerry Sienfeld. Even though he swears that there is no ill will between himself and the king of the show about nothing, he wouldn’t let on if there was as he is ‘a little too powerful’ to anger.

The set he will perform tomorrow is a mixture of classic bits and newer material, but he will hesitate to take advantage if you don’t know which is which.

‘Some stuff I have done for years, some stuff is new and if people haven’t heard it before then I act like I just made it up,’ Gottfried promised.

SA President Ben Riemer is confident that even with JSU’s budget being less than in years past, that it will still be a great show.

‘They are one of the groups on campus that has done very well this year,’ Riemer, a senior economics and public policies major said. ‘You know they are going to do a great event that will benefit a lot of people.’

Riemer added that the JSU’s allocation is consistent with the tightness of the budget this year.

The SA budget this year isn’t the only thing that is wearing thin, Gottfried has a similar problem with talking to college journalists.

‘Oh these (interviews) got annoying a long time ago,’ Gottfried assured. ‘I wish I could just have a tape player with the answers to the questions so I didn’t have to speak.’

Published on November 29, 2001 at 12:00 pm