R.I.P Don Rickles

[Mr. Laz]

Legendary Comic Don Rickles Dies at 90
10:59 AM PDT 4/6/2017 by Mike Barnes , Duane Byrge



Mark Mainz/Getty Images

"Mr. Warmth" forged a career when he turned the table in his hecklers, going on to insult everyone he encountered — even Frank Sinatra.
Legendary comic Don Rickles, a rapid-fire insulting machine who for six decades earned quite a living making fun of people of all creeds and colors and everyone from poor slobs to Frank Sinatra, has died. He was 90.

Rickles died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles of kidney failure, publicist Paul Shefrin announced.

Sarcastically nicknamed “Mr. Warmth,” Rickles had mock disdain for stars, major public figures and all those who paid to see him, tweaking TV audiences and Las Vegas showroom crowds with his acerbic brand of takedown comedy. A good guy and devoted husband away from the stage, Rickles the performer heartlessly laid into everyone he encountered — and they loved it.

After toiling in relative obscurity for years as a more conventional stand-up comedian, Rickles unwittingly discovered his biggest laughs came when he turned the table on his hecklers. His career then skyrocketed after he insulted the hot-tempered Sinatra, who normally did not take kindly to such treatment.

When the superstar singer and actor walked into a Hollywood club in 1957 where Rickles was performing, the comedian greeted the “Chairman of the Board” from the stage: “Make yourself at home Frank. Hit somebody.” Sinatra roared — with laughter.

With Sinatra’s endorsement, Rickles began his comedic assault on people famous and not so famous — Jews, Asians, African Americans, the Irish, Puerto Ricans, red-headed women, short guys, you name it — with tremendous results. He referred to stupid people as “hockey pucks,” and in 1959, he signed for his first Las Vegas appearance, in the lounge of the Hotel Sahara.

In 1985, when Sinatra was asked to perform at Ronald Reagan’s second Inaugural Ball, he insisted that Rickles accompany him for a comedy routine. Rickles, naturally, did not spare the president (“Am I going too fast for you, Ronnie?” he asked) and considered that performance among the highlights of his career.

Rickles was still going strong in June 2012 when, during the American Film Institute’s tribute to actress Shirley MacLaine, he joked that he “shouldn’t make fun of the blacks. President Obama is a personal friend of mine. He was over to the house yesterday, but the mop broke.”

Rickles honed his reputation in numerous appearances on The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts that ran on NBC from the mid-1970s to the mid-80s. The specials provided a perfect venue for Rickles to unleash his caustic brand of humor on such visiting dignitaries as Sinatra, Reagan, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Kirk Douglas, Sammy Davis Jr. and Mr. T.

Johnny Carson provided Rickles a late-night stage by making him one of The Tonight Show’s most-frequent guests. On one memorable moment in 1968, Rickles cozied up to a half-naked Carson during a sketch with two Japanese female masseuses and said, “I’m so lonely, Johnny!” Carson threw him in a bathtub. More recently, he was a regular guest on Late Show With David Letterman, in which the CBS host treated Rickles like royalty.

Rickles intermittently played in movies, highlighted by Kelly’s Heroes (1970), where he co-starred with Clint Eastwood as Sgt. Crapgame, an Army black-marketer who had no compunction about cutting favorable deals with the Nazis.

He also played opposite beach bunny Annette Funicello in such movies as Pajama Party (1964) and Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), appeared as a Vegas slime-ball in Martin Scorsese’s Casino (1975) and voiced the cranky Mr. Potato Head in the Toy Story films.

Donald Jay Rickles was born in the New York borough of Queens on May 8, 1926. Following high school, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then studied acting and graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

At age 32, Rickles landed a small part in Robert Wise’s submarine drama Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), starring Clark Gable. Two years later, he was cast in The Rat Race with Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds.

Not surprisingly, Rickles found there weren’t many leading roles for a paunchy 5-foot-6 balding man. So, he worked up a nightclub act. After his Sinatra encounter, he perfected his bite and would land gigs in all the Vegas hotels: the Riviera, the Golden Nugget, the Desert Inn and the Sahara.

Rickles would come onstage accompanied by the old Spanish bullfight song “La Virgen de la Macarena,” a subtle signal that someone was about to be metaphorically gored.

Flush with his casino successes, Rickles cut two best-selling comedy albums in the ’60s: Hello, Dummy! and Don Rickles Speaks.

Success as a star of his own TV series eluded him. He played Naval Petty Officer Otto Sharkey in NBC’s CPO Sharkey, which ran from 1976-78, and a used car salesman and father of Richard Lewis in Daddy Dearest, quickly canceled by Fox in 1993. He had two series titled The Don Rickles Show; each ran a handful of episodes. For one season in the ’80s, he hosted ABC’s Foul-Ups, Bleeps & Blunders with singer Steve Lawrence.

Rickles’ TV guest appearances include episodes of The Twilight Zone, Wagon Train, Burke’s Law, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., I Dream of Jeannie, I Spy, Get Smart (alongside his buddy, Don Adams), Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Sanford and Son, The Bernie Mac Show and Hot in Cleveland.

In 1965, Rickles married Barbara Sklar, who survives him. The couple, who often vacationed with deadpan comic Bob Newhart and his wife, Virginia, had two children, Mindy and Larry. His son, who produced the HBO documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, died in December 2011 at age 41.

Other survivors include his son-in-law Ed and grandchildren Ethan and Harrison. Funeral services will be private. Donations cane be made to the Larry Rickles Endowment Fund at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

[TimBone]

I'm a little younger than a lot of you, but as a listener of the Howard Stern Show, Artie Lange was the one that introduced me to Don Rickles. He told the story of Rickles roasting him in this movie. It's short, but it's quality.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by TimBone

Oh, that was good.

I don't think Carson was playing, either. He masked it in humor, but I think he was at least fairly annoyed. Which made it even funnier.

Why do you always do that? They know who I am!

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by otherstar

Here's some of his best work from the Dean Martin roasts.

Easily the best 23 minutes of my day, what a different time it was

RIP, Don

[DJJasonp]

Originally Posted by Easy 6

Easily the best 23 minutes of my day, what a different time it was

RIP, Don

yes indeed it was!

The line Rickles had about orson welles was awesome:

"we're gonna paint Goodyear on ya, and fly you over the beach!"

[EPodolak]

Funny guy, and kept his edge his whole life.

[ClevelandBronco]

Kimmel is really busted up over this. He clearly loved Rickles dearly.

[Miles]

I first remember him from the classic Tales from the Cryp ep with the ventriloquist dummy.

[scho63]

Don Rickles was an old school original like no other. Joan Rivers, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Sam Kennison are all in the same mold and sadly all dead now.

R.I.P. to another great one!

[Baby Lee]

The very essence of Don, in under a minute

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by TimBone

Sally sally mali mah, . . and everbody's suckin sand?

It's like Milton, or TS Eliot.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Easy 6

Easily the best 23 minutes of my day, what a different time it was

RIP, Don

Don't want to derail, but if gut-busters from the era is what you're looking for, click over to the Foster Brooks roast segments.

All by himself, created and demolished for all time an entire segment of humor.

You know something good is coming when people can't even maintain their composure watching him walk up to the day, . . . to the day HUUHHHH, . . . to the celebrant's platform.

Spoiler!

and unlike so many politicians, . . you never hear about Mr. Humphreys in trouble with the broads. . .
I outta know, because I paid them all off. . .

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by ClevelandBronco

Kimmel is really busted up over this. He clearly loved Rickles dearly.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

The very essence of Don, in under a minute

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Don't want to derail, but if gut-busters from the era is what you're looking for, click over to the Foster Brooks roast segments.

All by himself, created and demolished for all time an entire segment of humor.

You know something good is coming when people can't even maintain their composure watching him walk up to the day, . . . to the day HUUHHHH, . . . to the celebrant's platform.

Spoiler!

and unlike so many politicians, . . you never hear about Mr. Humphreys in trouble with the broads. . .
I outta know, because I paid them all off. . .

Oh yeah, not even Dean Martin played drunk like that guy

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by Demonpenz

His roll in Dirty Work always cracked me up.

I bumped into Martin Scorsese, I said "Bob Sagat's directing a movie!" . . . the man grabbed his chest!

[Amnorix]

RIP you hockey puck!

One of the funniest guys ever. And everyone that speaks about him says that despite that crusty show, he was a genuinely warm, great guy. One of Bob Newhart's best friends.

Sucks losing these greats.