Columnist Joe Delaney: Rickles, a must-see comedy legend, at Stardust

Joe Delaney

Friday, Sept. 7, 2001 | 9:09 a.m.

Joe Delaney's column appears on Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joe@lasvegassun.com

Don Rickles, performing in the Stardust's Wayne Newton Theater, with Lorna Luft as his opening act, is a model of comedic consistency ... Just as Newton holds all the records for number of Las Vegas performances by a singer and total time onstage, Rickles has played more weeks as a comedian headliner here the past three decades and is still in top form at age 75.

In recent years a typical Rickles performance would start with his matador entrance from the audience to bull-fight music played by a full orchestra ... Once onstage he becomes the pacing, snarling, spare-no-one aggressor that earned him the titles "Merchant of Venom" and "Mr. Warmth."

A song written specially for him, "I'm a Nice Guy," usually at the 15-minute mark, could signal the start of a series of sequencies that involve a couple of men from the audience who join Rickles onstage for a sketch, usually a Japanese vignette ... This is Rickles at his best -- impromptu, off the top of his head ... There is also a reflective period crediting earlier Rickles supporters.

After heartfelt remembrances of Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Dean Martin, with Bennett and Martin takeoffs thrown in, Rickles usually hits a high spot with his affectionate tribute to actor James Cagney as George M. Cohan, singing and dancing to "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" ... Cagney won an Academy Award as Best Actor in 1942 for his performance.

Rickles closes with acknowledgements and sends his audience out feeling good and convinced that Rickles is very funny and really a nice guy ... If there is a celebrity in attendance, he might revert to his Martin TV-roast persona and do a hilarious impromptu for five minutes on the visiting dignitary.

Born into a non-show business family, Rickles' first ambition was to be an actor, doing dramatic roles ... As a comedian, his first attempts were in small clubs doing the best of everybody's act plus a few throwaway impressions, ordinary stuff .... The attack Rickles was born of necessity one night in a Washington, D.C., nightclub that featured strippers.

A group of sailors on leave wanted strippers, not comedy, and gave Rickles a hard time ... Rickles took the offensive and they loved it ... He took this new onstage persona to Los Angeles and the Slate Brothers nightclub on La Cienega Boulevard ... Frank Sinatra came in one night with his entourage, and Rickles took him on ... Sinatra became a lifelong friend.

Rickles followed Louis Prima, Keely Smith and Sam Butera into the Sahara Casbar at the end of the 1950s, and his early morning show became a hangout for Sinatra and the Rat Pack after their two shows in the Sands Copa Room ... Rickles has been a consistent winner here ever since ... If you've never seen him, you have been depriving yourself of an authentic original, one of comedy's giants.

Weekend wrap-up

Saturday's 11th annual Las Vegas International Mariachi Festival at 8 p.m. in the Mandalay Bay Events Center features Mariachi Sol de Mexico de Jose Hernandez, Mariachi Mexico de Pepe Villa and Mariachi Los Reyes de Mexico de Francisco Gonzalez; special guests Jose Luis Rodriguez ("El Puma") and Ana Barbara, plus Ballet Folklorico de San Juan.

On Sunday there will be a Mexican Independence Day Celebration 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at Lorenzi Park ... Actors Repertory Theatre's production of "Annie" continues through Sunday (Summerlin Library Theatre); LV Little Theatre's "The Middle Ages" starts a three-weekend stand tonight.

Comedian Martin Lawrence is an added starter, tonight and Saturday, at the Venetian ... Brooks & Dunn are the attraction at Buffalo Bill's Star of the Desert Arena, tonight at 8 o'clock ... See you next Thursday.