RIP Don Rickles

I'm gonna watch a shit ton of roasts this weekend.......lovedhis bit incomedians in cars getting coffee.
A genuine, true comedian in every possible sense of the word......
RIP sir......

 

Antenna TV showing Tonight Shows with Rickles through Sunday.

 

Holy shit that's awesome.

 

I liked Don Rickles. I liked his schtick. But I really never found him that funny.
Take this roast. He starts with Lawanda Page. First joke (20 seconds in) is a Sanford and Son heart attack joke. Okay. at 0:25 he says that Lawanda is a girl who used to hang around downtown LA saying "Officer?" with a come here sign. What does that mean?
Then he says that her case comes up Tuesday.. she attacked a dead snail.

I have no idea what that means.

He reminds me a lot of Robin Williams' comedy. A lot of sound and fury, not a lot of laffs. JMO.

Oh, and RIP.

 

I couldn't find other videos that I've seen before. There was one where he shows up to Dodgers spring training and insults players up the line. That was pretty funny.

More than anything it was the persona of his shtick that was funny.

 

I never found Robin Williams funny at all, especially after he stopped doing blow. Rickles, on the other hand, could be hilarious.

 

... and then there's

 

My cousin was close friends with Rickles, here's his remembrance:

Don Rickles Befriended Me in Frank Sinatra’s Dressing Room at Ronald Reagan’s Roast

 

Someone once told me a comic says funny things and a comedian says things funny.

 

And a comedienne does neither?

JK. I find plenty of women funny, including Chelsea Handler, Amy Schumer and Charlotte Wilder.

 

IMO, Don Rickles was an acquired taste that I never acquired. I just never found his schtick to be funny.

Still, RIP. I think I read where he leaves a widow to whom he was married for more than 50 years. In show-biz, that's worth recognizing and respecting.

 

Some of his life's last work is on YouTube in a series filmed for AARP. He chats with actors and comedians, though each seems more like a backward interview. It's not his best work, but I'll take any Rickles over no Rickles.
AARP