Comic Gilbert Gottfried passed away this week at 67 after a long illness.
But of course Gottfried's prolific body of work lives on. As people have begun diving into their favorite moments, one resurfaced clip in particular has set the internet off.
It features Gottfried during one of his many appearances on the classic game show Hollywood Squares back in 1999, in which he held the linchpin square to both contestants' chances to win the game.
But instead of the usual straightforward game play, Gottfried relentlessly trolled both contestants, tricking them into giving the wrong answers over and over and over again until everyone on the show was beside themselves with laughter.
See the clip below.
rest in peace to Gilbert Gottfried who has probably the best sequence in game show history on Hollywood Squares. if you're not an old hag like me who remembers the rules, both contestants needed his square to secure the 5-square win, but he decided to troll both of thempic.twitter.com/Egzyzygudd— manny (@manny) 1649792659
Gottfried's appearance was shared by NBC News producer Manny Fidel, who wrote of the clip:
"rest in peace to Gilbert Gottfried who has probably the best sequence in game show history on Hollywood Squares."
"if you're not an old hag like me who remembers the rules, both contestants needed his square to secure the 5-square win, but he decided to troll both of them"
For the uninitiated, Hollywood Squares was modeled after tic-tac-toe and featured nine celebrities inside squares that formed a giant tic-tac-toe board.
Each celebrity would be asked a trivia question and the game's two contestants would win their X's or O's by guessing whether the celebrities answered the trivia questions correctly.
Gottfried's trick was a master class in hilarious mind games.
By alternating between incorrect answers and correct answers every time control of the game board changed hands, he primed both contestants to assume Gottfried was clowning them on each turn, resulting in them making the wrong calls over and over again.
So a game that should have finished in just seconds devolved into increasing absurdity for more than five minutes, with Gottfried shouting "You fool!" every time the contestants got their answers wrong.
The clip had so many people laughing on Twitter that the phrase "you fool" ended up trending on the platform as people shared the classic moment again and again.
Every single "YOU FOOL" has me screaminghttps://twitter.com/mannyfidel/status/1513966261469863939\u00a0\u2026— angelina. (@angelina.) 1649818337
\u201cYou fool!\u201d https://twitter.com/mannyfidel/status/1513966261469863939\u00a0\u2026— Matthew Modine (@Matthew Modine) 1649817997
YOU FOOL! What a (double) G! You will forever crack me up\u2026 Rest In Paradise Gilbert Gottfried #LegendsNeverDiehttps://twitter.com/mannyfidel/status/1513966261469863939\u00a0\u2026— Rosario Dawson (@Rosario Dawson) 1649878640
One of the best Game Show Gems! RIP Gilbert Gottfried.https://twitter.com/mannyfidel/status/1513966261469863939\u00a0\u2026— theluigimaster1000 (@theluigimaster1000) 1649976391
That delivery of \u201cYOU FOOL\u201d really got mehttps://twitter.com/mannyfidel/status/1513966261469863939\u00a0\u2026— Evil Cosmonaut Marcus (@Evil Cosmonaut Marcus) 1649807774
This was even funnier live.https://twitter.com/mannyfidel/status/1513966261469863939\u00a0\u2026— Judy Gold (@Judy Gold) 1649796640
if you need a laugh today please watch this.https://twitter.com/mannyfidel/status/1513966261469863939\u00a0\u2026— Rebekah Weatherspoon\u2728 (@Rebekah Weatherspoon\u2728) 1649797851
I so love this. This is how I will remember Gilbert Gottfried\u2026ok and as a parrothttps://twitter.com/mannyfidel/status/1513966261469863939\u00a0\u2026— Treat Williams (@Treat Williams) 1649805145
This is incredible.https://twitter.com/mannyfidel/status/1513966261469863939\u00a0\u2026— Alan Sepinwall (@Alan Sepinwall) 1649795506
I\u2019m cry laughing \n\n\u201cYou fool!\u201dhttps://twitter.com/mannyfidel/status/1513966261469863939\u00a0\u2026— Amy Bruni (@Amy Bruni) 1649870409
Even television host Tom Bergeron cited the clip as the reason he always names Gottfried as his favorite Hollywood Squares guest over the six years he hosted the show. Gottfried may have left us earlier than we expected, but he certainly left an impression.