The Don of Comedy

By Jerry Fink

Friday, March 1, 2002 | 3:56 a.m.

Does Don Rickles really need an introduction?

The man who made insults an art form has been one of the most sought-after comedians since 1957, when Frank Sinatra went into a nightclub in Hollywood and Rickles shouted at him from onstage -- "Make yourself at home, Frank ... Hit somebody!"

When not performing at venues all over the world, Rickles has made numerous films, appeared on dozens of television shows and has been a mainstay of Las Vegas entertainment since first performing at the Sahara in 1959.

The 75-year-old master of humor will be at the Stardust's Wayne Newton Theater Tuesday through Thursday. He recently spoke to the Sun from his home in Los Angeles:

Las Vegas Sun: You've been interviewed countless times during your career. What question do you hate being asked the most?

Don Rickles: A line I always get is, "Does anybody ever want to hit you?" After 40 years in this business, unless someone's been living under a rock, most people know what Don Rickles does, and what he does is not mean-spirited. It's all in fun and anybody who comes to see me knows that.

Sun: You've signed a new two-year contract in Atlantic City?

DR: Yeah. It comes down to, I spent a lot of time in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, and in between there are a lot of theaters. And Indian reservations have opened up all over country, so my dance card is pretty full.

Sun: And you're going to be doing a commercial for the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roast" videos?

DR: Yeah. For an infomercial. I'm hosting Dean Martin shows. I was very much with that world, so the people who make the infomercial asked me to do it. I'll tell some anecdotes, some stories and what have you.

Sun: Were you part of the Rat Pack, along with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop?

DR: I hung out with them, but they didn't consider me a part of the Rat Pack itself. I was always in the steam room with Frank. I was good friends with Frank. I always was over at the Sands, where he performed. I was on tour with him. I was like on the fringe of the Rat Pack -- those were the guys that really did the films and worked together onstage, but I never did that. I did just about everything else with them.

Sun: What continues to drive you at this stage of your life?

DR: The charge of being received and having such great response when I perform makes me very happy. The difficult part is, as you get older and do this for so many years, traveling becomes a pain, not the performance. If they'd eliminate traveling, I'd be the happiest guy onstage.

Sun: Did the terrorist attacks affect your act? Were people ready for your brand of humor after that?

DR: Oddly enough, I was at the Stardust when it happened. I took a night off, but the management asked me if I would perform a third night. I said, "Oh my God, I don't know." But I gave it some thought and said I would. I thought like, my dad always said -- rest his soul -- I gotta do what I do. I might have tempered it slightly, talking about plane crashes and what have you. But most of all, I went for my best punch and it seemed that the audience was very responsive and that was that.

Sun: You've done a lot of acting in film and television during your career. Would you have preferred that to doing stand-up comedy?

DR: A lot of people don't know I graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, so I have the credentials to be a good actor. But I struggled around Broadway for a long time. I did a lot of off-Broadway shows that didn't amount to much. But I've done some films -- one that I really enjoyed was "Casino," with Robert De Niro.

The trouble is, when your image gets so strong, as mine has -- the image of the insulting guy -- I wasn't able to devote as much time to get myself into films as I would have liked. My image was so much the guy onstage, the insulting guy, they (producers) couldn't shake that image in their minds.

Sun: Are you bothered by not having a greater acting career?

DR: I'm satisfied. I got a lot accomplished. You can't have it all. I went in this direction. In my day, to cross over was not easy. Today, you do a hit television series and you can do a major picture. Sometimes you can be a star overnight.

I'm not crying over spilled milk. In my day it was different. You created an image on the other side of the fence, and it was hard to cross over.

Sun: Which of the films you made was your favorite?

DR: The picture that everybody still talks about to this day is "Kelly's Heroes," which I did about 30 years ago in Yugoslavia. That was the cult picture that everybody talks about Don Rickles being in. Working with all those people was great -- Clint (Eastwood), Carroll O'Connor, rest his soul, and Donald Sutherland. We had good times. We became like a family because we were there over six months. We were supposed to be there like three or four weeks.

Sun: What was your most recent role?

DR: Mr. Potato Head in "Toy Story."

Sun: Are you a method actor who had to prepare for the part?

DR: Not really. Tom Hanks and those guys do. I just said, "It's 6:30 and I want to go home."

Sun: You've been performing in Las Vegas since 1959. How has the city changed?

DR: Back then, if you wanted a pack of cigarettes you'd go talk to the guy who owned the place -- that's exaggerating, of course, but you know what I'm saying. Today it's all corporate. You have to have 14 slips with 14 different OKs from different departments when you want to get something special. In my day, it was more about casino bosses and pit bosses. We pretty much hung out together in between shows and what have you. But don't forget, there were a lot less hotels, too.

Sun: Has there been a change in your humor over the years?

DR: I don't do jokes, per se. I do situations. I make fun of authority and what's going on around the world. I always have a basic beginning, middle and ending, but my shows always change according to what's happening in front of me and what I think of. In comedy, funny is funny. I have never made any drastic changes.

Sun: What is it about somebody in the audience that makes you focus on them?

DR: It's a trigger instinct I have. If I see somebody that impresses me as funny or is dressed a little bit different than the next guy or looks a little bit different than the next guy or lady, then I automatically make fun. I don't like to use the word insult -- what I do is make fun of people using exaggeration. Everything is exaggerated, and that's what makes it funny.

Sun: Let's pretend we're in the showroom and you're looking out into the audience and you see Osama bin Laden sitting at a table. What do you say to him?

DR: You ought to open up a Laundromat so you could get enough towels for your head.

Sun: Sitting next to him is the Pope.

DR: I'm Jewish, but I'm willing to borrow one of his hats.

Sun: There's Ken Lay, former president of Enron.

DR: I'll be sure that I don't go out to dinner with you, because you won't pick up the check.

Sun: Bill Clinton.

DR: A wonderful president, but I marvel at your extracurricular activities.

Sun: Mayor Oscar Goodman.

DR: What a lousy actor. I know, because he was with me in "Casino."

Sun: Is that the way your act works?

DR: It doesn't work just as we did it, but it's similar to that on stage. A great deal of it is spontaneous. You have to have a set plan, but the show changes sometimes every five or 10 minutes.

Sun: Is there something you can count on happening every show, someone saying or doing something?

DR: No, not really. I don't think about it. I play it so loose, whatever happens, happens.