Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Apr 13, 2022

Sorry to hear that Gilbert Gottfried has passed away after "a long illness" at the age of 67. His family posted the news on social media, saying “We are heartbroken to announce the passing of out beloved Gilbert Gottfried after a long illness. In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children. Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honor.”

Sick bay: Anderson Cooper is the latest to catch Covid-19. He announced Monday he'd just tested positive but “Thankfully the kids are negative.” Anderson and his ex-partner, Benjamin Maisani, share two youngsters, 1-year-old Wyatt and 2-month-old Sebastian. In case you're curious, Anderson met Benjamin back when he owned a gay bar named Eastern Bloc. He later picked up a second and third bar, but then sold two and still owns the Atlas Social Club --and made around $8 million from the three.

While we're on the Covid track, let's mention that Tucker Carlson has finally admitted that he's not vaccinated, and continues to refuse to be vaccinated against Covid-19. You probably could've guessed that if you were a regular listener, because he's been discouraging people from getting one of the vaccines for months, although he never admitted until now that he didn't get any of the first three vaccines --and said he won’t be getting the second booster shot as well. “I skipped the first three, I’m not getting that one either,” he said.

In Atlanta, Georgia, a woman was able to lead police to her stolen car by using her iphone. She got out of her car, leaving her keys, her 9-year-old son and her iphone in the vehicle, and a guy jumped in and drove it away. That could have been an unhappy ending to the story, but the woman called the cops and used the Find My iPhone app to track her car for the Atlanta PD, Georgia State Patrol and Fulton County Police. They used the info to isolate the car, pull the guy over without incident and arrest him as he attempted to run from the cops.

Rachel Maddow is back on her nightly MSNBC program after several months off, but says she'll just be on Monday nights every week. That will give her time to do a movie version of her podcast and various other projects for MSNBC and NBCUniversal. She also signed a new contract which runs thru 2024.

“Pitch Perfect” star Skylar Astin will be playing “Suddenly, Seymour” when he returns to the Off-Broadway revival of “Little Shop of Horrors” at New York's Westside Theatre. Of course, the Seymour character is the flower shop worker who discovers that his exotic plant blossoms when it's fed human blood. Skylar'll be starting next Sunday (April 17th) in the show.