Posted on 05/08/2023 9:04:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
After a decade of striving in the comedy clubs, Donald Jay Rickles got his big break in 1957, when Frank Sinatra saw him perform at a club.
Noticing Sinatra in the audience, Rickles improvised his act to hilariously deride the legendary singer. "I just saw your movie The Pride and the Passion and I want to tell you, the cannon's acting was great," were among his lively zingers.
Sinatra was in stitches, causing him to become Rickles’s foremost advocate and leading to him becoming a popular headline performer in Las Vegas.
Clearly, Sinatra was among the rare variety of superstars who could laugh at himself, or perhaps it was Rickles’s likable personality that made his 'insults' seem funny rather than derisive.
Rickles went on to become one of the leading comic talents in the U.S.
He made numerous appearances on television on “The Tonight Show,” with Johnny Carson and Dean Martin’s televised roasts.
Rickles starred in comedy shows such as "The Don Rickles Show" (1972), in which he played an embattled advertising executive. Rickles played the title role in "C.P.O. Sharkey" (1976–78), about a fork-tongued petty officer at a naval training center with personnel of various racial and cultural backgrounds. He played the irascible father of Richard Lewis in "Daddy Dearest" (1993).
Rickles also had a formidable career in films.
He was in the 1958 thriller Run Silent, Run Deep, alongside Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster.
He also starred in comedies where his talents were put to ample use: Bikini Beach, Muscle Beach Party, and Pajama Party, all in 1964, and Beach Blanket Bingo in 1965.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I liked Crap game, he was a real nice guy, knew him for many years and have is autographed book on the shelf. He was what I call a “Real” comedian
“Tim Conway was light years better that Rickles.”
I agree.
They changed alright. They got infected with woke-itis.
Rickles’ humor made me uncomfortable at times when I was young. My parents would have punished me if I was that cruel to get a laugh, and I couldn’t figure out why Dad thought he was so hilarious. I got it when I got older, though. Rickles was classically trained as an actor, and he was terrific at it. Drama or comedy, he could do it well. I have a piece of video in my archive of him just casually slaying Carson. I miss him, and would LOVE to see him make Lefties apoplectic today!
I was lucky, the worst I had was a battalion commander at Fort Bliss who was like that.
ping
It seems that he and Foster Brooks were part of many Dean Martin Celebrity Roast relay teams.
Both were brilliant at their unique crafts.
That reminds me of the unstated fact that Allen Brady wore a toupee and Laura Petrie was tricked into telling the world. Great TV.
They did change but it was exactly the opposite of the wokeitis of previous generations.
That whole racial guilt blackmail thing that had been done since the end of WWII was done. Spent. Played out. No one wanted to see that stupid crap anymore. Even if I could I was not going to drive around the country giving every Jew a dollar just for existing even though many of you would have. I had to do something to make a dollar and expected them to do so also.
We werent going to laugh at someone just because they were “a jew”. Its not funny. A very good comparison of what I mean is Mel Brooks vs Jerry Seinfeld.
Mel is regularly held up by those older as being a very funny performer. No, he was terrible every single time without exception. He always was an extremely talented and funny writer and continues to be recognize as such. His performances though are similar to something a small child does when they dont really understand humor and are just trying to get attention. Its irritating. The entirety of his act was “Look, Im doing my Jew thing and now you all have to laugh,” and all of you did. If I have a shoe, and hold it up and point out that it is a shoe, that is not in any way in and of itself humorous. In fact youll notice that all of those “Hey, Im a Jew” performers started to decline at about the same time. (That whole New York dwelling character that so many used to pretend to be and the very unfunny humor that stemmed from that died too.) Somewhere in Hollywood it seemed that there was somebody deciding that there were people that had a similar background and similar presentation in their speech and said the same things but some should be recognized as deserving something special. This guy is in Hollywood so hes a special one that you should pay money to see “be a Jew” but the guy who owned a deli in your town or owned the car dealership wasnt special, he didnt get extra money or attention no matter how Jewish he was or even if he talked about matzah balls or did funny walks, hes just not that special. Rickles relieved an imaginary tension that didnt exist. There was no “unknown” or “difference” and we certainly had nothing to do with anything that may have happened in the past.
Everyone that watches Seinfeld knows that he and the Jerry on his show are Jews and at least at one time lived in New York. OK...and then what? See, thats not funny “its just my shoe”, a statement of fact. Its something we know, its part of the background but of no relevance to anything. He isnt just expecting that to be funny or expect that to be the joke. (When he first started out there was some matzah ball Jew and New York “pigeon crapped on my car” stuff but everyone forgave him.) What made him famous was changing his act to something that was funny, the same unusual things in life that you may have noticed, then presenting them in an unusual light and in absurd ways. In fact there was a whole crop of comedians that came up with strange characters and developed different styles and presentations. It was real effort and innovation to earn my laughs and therefor my money, the religion of these individuals was of no importance even if we did find out.
Would I like to see a comedian making fun of some one or some group for something they do? Sure, not because there is “tension that need to be relieved”, its because someone else noticed the same thing I did. Some black comedians do it, some others are the “Look Im a black” characters. The black comedians that work on funny angles in differences between people make money. The ones whos whole act is “Look, Im the black guy” are the ones Hollywood is always pushing but no one pays to see and dont drive ratings, the others are out there actually making a living, wokester support or not. Its a shame white people cant do that.
Humor is changing again, what GenZ finds funny is bizarre and doesnt make any sense. It seems to just be random thoughts smashed together. No connection, no meaning, and the explanations they offer for it make no sense at all. Maybe thats the humorous part. “See, hes sitting in a chair because lampposts fly!” Huh? No, I dont.
When all the comedians I like are finished I may not like the type of humor that sells but I wont be upset that neither I nor that present generation dont have enough emotional extortion in their life. Thats not funny, its sad that anyone ever gave in to that.
Suffice it to say I guess I was too young to catch the “I’m a Jew” context to Rickle’s comedy. As pedestrian as it may have been I thought his crotchety insults were funny.
I do agree about re: Mel Brooks. Never went for his brand of teen humor. And I am similarly insulted by the ‘laugh at me - I’m acting Jewish/black/etc’ routine of many comedians.
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