“Show business is my life.”
Don Rickles
Introduction
Don Rickles was a comedian who appeared on the Johnny Carson Show more than any other guest. His ability to captivate an audience was unique. It’s a brand of humour that didn’t leave any holes barred, highly insulting, but hilarious. He was an actor, author and stand-up comedian who was hard not to love despite his forensic, acid wit. A master of ad-libbed insults, he was like a clockwork toy that you wound up, and he just kept going until the key stopped turning. His humour was unpredictable, and you never know in which direction his humour would take a swipe. Family, religion or revelations from the last party he attended.
The Definitive Act
In 1926, in Queens, New York, Donald Jay Rickles was born to a Jewish Lithuanian immigrant father, Max and Eta, a mother born in New York with Austrian immigrant parents. Rickles grew up in Jackson Heights and, after graduating from Newton High School in 1944, joined the US Navy, serving on the USS Cyrene, a torpedo ship and was honourably discharged in 1946. With a career goal of becoming a dramatic actor, Don studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts but only received a few parts after graduating.
Frustrated with the lack of acting work, Rickles started doing stand-ups at comedy clubs in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. He became known as an insult comedian mainly because his audience enjoyed this more than his prepared material—a comic who was inspired by the work of Milton Berle. After meeting with Frank Sinatra at Murray Franklin’s Nightclub in Miami Beach, Florida, Sinatra was so impressed with his act that he took him under his wing, got him work, and promoted him.
Don was soon enjoying the bright lights of Las Vegas and became known as “The Merchant of Venom.” Receiving film and television work as a result, his most notable role in Kelly’s Heroes as Crapgame. He also had his own television show, The Don Rickles Show and appeared on a number of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast specials. A regular on the American chat show circuit, Don appeared on the Johnny Carson Show more than one hundred times. Appearances in Casino and the Toy Story film series as Mr Potato Head.
A member of the notorious Rat Pack, Rickles described himself as a fighter who would just keep going when the bell rang. A comedian who refused to retire and despite multiple surgeries in his last years, continued to tour until the very end. He died in 2017 just before the filming of Toy Story 4 began. He was 90.
