Some new comic pointing to someone in the audience, commenting on their ethnicity and making jokes based on stereotypes would be in big trouble.
But we knew that Rickles was just doing a shtick and didn’t mean any harm by it. In fact the audience expected it of him. It was some sort of inside joke between him and us.
I remember the HBO film a few years back. At the start, backstage, he was slow and shuffling. But the second he came on stage he powered up. An amazing example of what being on stage does to people.
I’ve read that the two-part Get Smart episode that Rickles was in was not originally written as a two-parter. It was intended as simply an ordinary episode. But Rickles and Adams got to ad-libbing so much during their scenes, and so much of it was so funny, that they couldn’t bear to cut it. So it became a two-part episode, to make room for all the ad-libs.
I caught part of Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue last night. He was in tears talking about Rickles.
I listen to a lot of podcasts of comedians speaking of their craft. I haven’t caught up on those (so it’s not my fault). The comics that other comics revere are sometimes surprising. When contemporary comics talk about meeting Rickles you can tell how thrilled they were. He was famous but he was also a comics comic.
Liked him as a kid, but I haven’t seen a Don Rickles skit in years. Looks like I got some youtubing to do.
The last couple days, I have heard nothing but fond farewells for him. That’s amazing, considering his jokes might seem too abrasive these days. Are there any young (in age) fans here, in this thread?
I remember a long time ago watching some kind of awards show, and Don Rickles got on stage and started picking out members of the audience and ribbing them. This was shortly after *Roots *came out, which had already caused enough racial tension, so it made his joke hysterical, if not almost riot-inducing.
“Hey there’s Levar Burton! New to Hollywood, huh kid? Here, I’ll make ya feel right at home.” He started doing a tapdance like blackfaced minstrels were known to do at the time.
I liked him in Get Smart and The Dick Van Dyke Show, but his stand-up and (especially) his talk show appearances I found cringe-worthy in their unfunniness. I mean, Carson would literally roll out of his chair in laughter at the lamest of one-liners. Even as a youngster I was almost embarrassed at how everyone around him overdid their reactions to his insults.
Take this, for example:
Really? This extremely unwitty, unclever remark sends grown men into spasms? Maybe not this specific line, but this is a fair representation of what I am referring to.
But on the other hand, Rickles’ appearances on Get Smart were jolly good fun for me. He and Don Adams had a chemistry that rose above the written dialogue and elevated the show even higher than the lofty place I held for it.
I usually didn’t get you Don, but rest in peace.
mmm
I can’t let Don Rickles go with just one post short of a second page. Rickles deserves a second page.
I do remember CPO Sharkey. At the time, a buddy of mine was in the Navy, and his father was a big fan of the show just because of that.
EDIT: I thought this post would push into the second page.
In addition to The Dick Van Dyke Show and Get Smart, Rickles was also great on The Beverly Hillbillies(as a horse race betting addict, beginning at 11:54) and The Addams Family (as one of two crooks trying to hide from the police on Halloween night).
