I've always loved Gottfried's comedy, but I _fell_ in love with him when he made a joke about the 9/11 attacks three weeks after the fact. I believe he is the only person that will go for any joke under any circumstances.
I grew up thinking Gottfried was just an annoying voiced movie host on USA or something, in reality he was too dirty and unpredictable to get too popular. I never knew how much he loves pushing boundaries until I heard him on Howard Stern.
Gottfried used to do these great photo funnies for National Lampoon. There was one that ended with the newspaper headline: GOTTFRIED'S HUGE PENIS SAVES EARTH