Gottfried proves he knows how to deliver during brief stay at Hilton

Comedians always are worried about other comics stealing their jokes, if you follow any of that squabbling.

And when I review comedy shows, I always fret a bit over how many jokes to quote, knowing how hard comedians work to come up with good stuff, which is then scattered to the far corners of the Web.

But some comics also say this: If you're telling jokes someone could steal, you shouldn't be doing them anyway.

That's a minority opinion, one that's easy to cop smug with if you're among the few unique personas like Gilbert Gottfried. He can rest easy knowing that no one will be ripping off his impression of:

■ Jay Leno as Godzilla.

■ Curly Howard as Johann Strauss.

■ The Elephant Man singing "Feelings," "Aqualung" and "Physical."

If they don't even read that funny in print, that's the point.

Gottfried's work as a voice actor (the parrot in Disney's "Aladdin," the Aflac duck) isn't detached from his other career, the outrageous provocateur of celebrity-roast and Howard Stern radio fame.

If Gottfried's own foil-chomping squawk is a "voice" in its own right, that's not all he can do with it, as he reveals in a two-week stint at the Las Vegas Hilton's Shimmer showroom. (He's already booked to return, Feb. 16-27.)

There's Groucho Marx in his dotage, Dr. Zaius from "Planet of the Apes" in consultation with Katharine Hepburn, and impressions so nuanced they need only to speak one word: Christopher Walken, Humphrey Bogart or Bela Lugosi (the latter so deep it comes with a whole slew of variations, such as "pretending he's interested").

Gottfried isn't for everyone, and that self-parody is part of the act, too. "I don't want to be here any more than you do," he noted in the slow wind-up to a quick 45-minute set last week at the Hilton. (Promoters blamed a miscue for the abbreviated running time, but a patron said something similar happened over the weekend. At these prices, an opening act or a 70-minute set are only fair).

But for people who only know him for one thing or another, the larger picture of seeing him live reveals his approach to stand-up, like his pop-culture references, to be of an older generation.

The warped sensibility is grafted onto a traditional, one-liner attack. He doesn't talk about himself, relationships or other obsessions of modern stand-up. And when he's not doing amazing things with cocktail napkins (including that Elephant Man face), the rhythm of his delivery could be an acid-damaged version of an old Catskills comic.

The last six minutes or so are even public-domain -- or at least oft-told -- "Dirty Jokes," which is conveniently the name of the CD and DVD at the merchandise table out front. With these savory gems especially, it's all in the delivery. And you can rest assured no one else can deliver them like Gottfried.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.