# I don't understand why Bobcat Goldthwait ever had a film career **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 17, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061 "2013-09-17T16:02:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/41 "2013-09-18T05:17:10Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > My favorite Goldthwait joke I first heard in his 1987 concert film _An Evening with Bobcat Goldthwait: Share the Warmth_. > > “I lost my job. Well, I didn’t really lose my job. I know where my job is. It’s just that, when I go there, there’s this new guy doing it.” “I lost my girlfriend. Well, I didn’t really lose my girlfriend. I know where my girlfriend is. It’s just that, when I go there, there’s this new guy doing it.” 😃 I loved his stand-up. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/42 "2013-09-18T15:26:07Z")
I generally don’t enjoy movies where the actors talk using a ‘funny voice.’ I’m specifically talking about you Adam Sandler; but Bobcat is up there. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoltEater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheBoltEater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoltEater)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/43 "2013-09-18T22:15:06Z")
Film career? I can’t get past the idea that he was dating/engaged to Nikki Cox for something like 8 years. Bobcat freaking Goldthwait was engaged to [this?!?](https://www.google.com/search?q=nikki+cox&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=GSU6Ut-TJcm4yQHUoIGQDw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1745&bih=868&dpr=1#q=nikki+cox+unhappily+ever+after&tbm=isch). That’s unpossible. I don’t care if it actually IS true, I choose to live in a world where it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/44 "2013-09-18T22:58:28Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > I generally don’t enjoy movies where the actors talk using a ‘funny voice.’ Ditto. Once you guys have figured out why Bobcat Goldthwait had a career, perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me why anyone thinks Gilbert Gottfried is funny. If you had to sit in a room with Gottfried talking with that very un-funny voice, how long would it take for police to be called to arrest you for attacking him with the first weapon you could find? ---
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/45 "2013-09-18T23:04:55Z")
Bobcat had a guest spot on the original CSI not too many years ago. (Wow. After looking it up, it was 2003. :eek:) He played a stand up comedian (a real stretch…) 🙂 Despite that, I thought he did a pretty decent acting job. He also uses his real voice in this episode. J. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/46 "2013-09-19T01:45:54Z")
He was better than the “'You don’t have to call me Johnson” guy who was omnipresent earlier. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/47 "2013-09-19T02:01:20Z")
Never thought he was funny or a good actor. . . so, I agree. . . But, I’ve enjoyed some of the films he’s produced/directed. The World’s Greatest Dad, with Robin Williams, was really good. So, he has some talent. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/48 "2013-09-19T02:04:38Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Ditto. > > Once you guys have figured out why Bobcat Goldthwait had a career, perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me why anyone thinks Gilbert Gottfried is funny. > > If you had to sit in a room with Gottfried talking with that very un-funny voice, how long would it take for police to be called to arrest you for attacking him with the first weapon you could find? While everything you’re saying is true, this faux ad which involves him reading from “50 Shades of Grey” is funny beyond all human reckoning. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K1RcKJVbHA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K1RcKJVbHA) ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/49 "2013-09-19T05:17:30Z")
I’ve always really liked Bobcat. The screechy stuff was just a small bit of his career. Netflix streaming has _You Don’t Look the Same Either_, which is listed as being made in 2012. It’s stand up, but really him telling stories. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/50 "2013-09-19T08:49:54Z")
In any movie I’ve seen Bobcat in, he was at best the screechy friend of the second banana, so he wasn’t used much. So I didn’t get all that tired of that character. It was always the same character, no matter which film. What I don’t understand was how Pauly Shore had a career. How many dead hookers did his mother Mitzi have to disappear to call in enough markers for that? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/51 "2013-09-19T10:24:59Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Oh, I think the possibilities are endless: > > “The list … is _life_!” > > “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” > > “They call me Mister Tibbs!” 😃 Whoever mentioned the maturing Dice Clay – Go see _Blue Jasmine_! And… I agree that Bobcat’s old schtick is what made Police Academy 2 tolerable (when I was fifteen, anyway) – although someone had already done the “baaad biker gang turns out to be just incompetent losers” thing in one of those late-70s Clint Eastwood trucker dramedies. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/52 "2013-09-19T15:13:54Z")
I saw him on that series, what, the John Laroquette Show (??? am I hallucinating??) in which his part just plain-ol’ sucked, and very soon after that I saw him do some crap standup. After that, he was dead to me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/53 "2013-09-19T15:37:01Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > In any movie I’ve seen Bobcat in, he was at best the screechy friend of the second banana, so he wasn’t used much. So I didn’t get all that tired of that character. It was always the same character, no matter which film. Including his role in One Crazy Summer, where he gets interrupted while awkwardly telling the film’s second banana the story of a little fat boy who nobody loved, and who all the other kids used to make fun of, and they’d pick on him, and say that he talked funny, and, uh, all he ever wanted was… _“Were you the little fat boy?”_ “No! NO! But I used to like to beat him up, y’know? I’d grab him and I’d go WHY ARE YOU SO FAT? WHY ARE YOU SO FAT? And I’d beat the SHIT out of him!” ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/54 "2013-09-19T16:50:48Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > What I don’t understand was how Pauly Shore had a career. How many dead hookers did his mother Mitzi have to disappear to call in enough markers for that? Yeah, but he doesn’t try to have a “funny voice” - then again, he doesn’t have a funny anything. ---
**Author:** ![MrBurger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MrBurger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrBurger)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/55 "2013-09-19T17:42:14Z")
Pauly Shore had an 80’s surfer voice but ended every sentence with the word "buddy " drawn out. Speaking of Paul Ruebens a lot of adults in the 80’s couldn’t stand his Pee-Wee Herman voice. As for Mr. Goldthwait he never made a movie great but was usually a nice addition, like in "One Crazy Summer "- underrated gem that it was. Does anyone if “Hot to Trot” ever made it to dvd? Also, my vote for most annoying voice goes to Howie Mandel and his little boy voice. Some sadist should put him and Pauly Shore in a movie together. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/56 "2013-09-19T20:29:05Z")
I only recently found out what the hell Bobcat’s stage voice was supposed to be, or at least its origin. Turns out it’s supposed to a be a crying guy. I think it was an episode of WTF with Marc Maron where he was the guest that I heard him explain it. I really liked his material in the 80s, but I could have done without the voice. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/57 "2013-09-19T21:54:23Z")
> [@MrBurger](#): > > Pauly Shore had an 80’s surfer voice but ended every sentence with the word "buddy " drawn out. Speaking of Paul Ruebens a lot of adults in the 80’s couldn’t stand his Pee-Wee Herman voice. As for Mr. Goldthwait he never made a movie great but was usually a nice addition, like in "One Crazy Summer "- underrated gem that it was. Shore’s “Weasel” character owes a LOT to Ridgemont High’s Spicoli. Speaking further of Paul Reubens, I think the fallout from his being caught wanking off in a Sarasota XXX movie theatre might have been a lot less if prior to that incident, when he was appearing on Letterman and similar shows, he didn’t appear in his PeeWee Herman character. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/58 "2013-09-19T23:24:14Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Speaking further of Paul Reubens, I think the fallout from his being caught wanking off in a Sarasota XXX movie theatre might have been a lot less if prior to that incident, when he was appearing on Letterman and similar shows, he didn’t appear in his PeeWee Herman character. I believe he was following Andy Kaufman’s recommendation there. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/59 "2013-09-19T23:38:01Z")
Nobody here has had the balls to ask the question: [Bobcat or Bjork](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQXZx-etXLU)? ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061/60 "2013-09-19T23:46:04Z")
Screeching? Crying? I always thought it was pretty clear that the character he was doing was in a full-on, drug-fueled freak-out. And yeah, I loved him the first time I saw him, in\* PA2\* — and I was 21. Parts of _Share the Warmth_ are genius. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-bobcat-goldthwait-ever-had-a-film-career/669061.md?page=4)