Posted on 04/06/2017 1:57:43 PM PDT by NRx
Don Rickles, the acidic stand-up comic who became world-famous not by telling jokes but by insulting his audience, died on Thursday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 90.
The cause was kidney failure, said a spokesman, Paul Shefrin.
For more than half a century, on nightclub stages, in concert halls and on television, Mr. Rickles made outrageously derisive comments about peoples looks, their ethnicity, their spouses, their sexual orientation, their jobs or anything else he could think of. He didnt discriminate: His incendiary unpleasantries were aimed at the biggest stars in show business (Frank Sinatra was a favorite target) and at ordinary paying customers.
His rise to national prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s roughly coincided with the success of All in the Family, the groundbreaking situation comedy whose protagonist, Archie Bunker, was an outspoken bigot. Mr. Rickless humor was similarly transgressive. But he went further than Archie Bunker, and while Carroll OConnor, who played Archie, was speaking words someone else had written and was invariably the butt of the joke Mr. Rickles, whose targets included his fellow Jews, never needed a script and was always in charge.
One night, on learning that some members of his audience were German, he said, Forty million Jews in this country, and I got four Nazis sitting here in front waiting for the rally to start. He said that America needed Italians to keep the cops busy and blacks so we can have cotton in the drugstore, and that Asians are nice people, but they burn a lot of shirts. He might ask a man in the audience, Is that your wife? and, when the man answered yes, respond: Oh, well. Keep your chin up.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
M wife and I will never forget the night at the Sahara Hotel where Don Rickles got her up on stage and they”danced.” After doing a couple of hours, and getting every ethnicity in the room, he sat down on the edge of the stage, came out of character and talked about his views about life and people and how his comedy was just that. He was forever engrained in our minds eyes as a very different man than he portrayed as a comedian. Bless you Don, Godspeed. You did good!
RIP Don... You’ll have GOD laughing...
The other two in person events...George Karlin & Henny Youngman. I was in pain from laughing so hard.
Finally, Rickles can roll over in his grave at the way comedy has gone downhill since the PC speech police assumed power.
He was one of the last of the Borscht Belt Comedians.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borscht_Belt#Comedic_legacy
A world that deserves more insults is suddenly for want of yours.
Goodbye, dummy.
The Dean Martin Celebrity roasts were a riot with Don Rickles....as was President Reagan’s 2nd Inaugural celebration ...the millennial so, or what ever they are called, haven’t a clue about comedy.
Don Rickles must be one of the very few comedians from his era to have stayed around this long. There can’t be many left. Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Phyllis Diller, Dean Martin, Jonathan Winters, etc. They’re all gone. The only one left I can think of is Jerry Lewis. After him, there won’t be any REAL comedians left. The ones around today can’t hold a candle to those names.
I agree with your thoughts.
I can’t even watch a comedy routine these days.
This NY Times obituary on the great Don Rickles is a hit piece. He was a great comedian. One of the greatest who ever lived. Did you ever hear him cuss? I didn’t think so.
Sounds like a good time.
I never got tired of watching Don Rickles. He was so hilarious, nobody could be offended by his wit. I will surely miss him. Rest in peace, funny man.
I saw a biography on Rickles, and his manager said he would scope the line for weird people, minorities, etc, to put up front so Rickles could skewer them! LOL.
Who picks your clothes - Stevie Wonder?
LOL LOL! Only Rickles could pull it off!
I used to listen to a cassette of Hello Dummy in the car during High School.
It is hilarious.
“These are the jokes lady. If you’re waiting for Billy Graham to come in forget about it”.
Col Frank, the end of the album he notes we were all on the same team in WWII when he was on his PT boat. See if you can find it on Youtube and give it a listen, their was more in his heart than folks knew...
Rickles was a charter member of the “Borscht Belt Hall of Fame.” He was funny by being himself; and he could make people laugh without “F-Bombs,” C-Bombs,” and “N-Bombs.” Johnny Carson couldn’t keep a straight face. God Bless!
RIP Don.
Rickles was my favorite comedian of all time.
I have watched hundreds of videos of him on You Tube.
Funny guy. Fond memories of watching his short lived Sunday nite TV show
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