Comedian Don Rickles has been entertaining audiences for nearly 60 years. And yet he still doesn’t have “an act.” He doesn’t tell jokes or prepare material. Fearlessly, he walks out on stage and insults the audience but in a way that is somehow endearing as he makes us laugh at ourselves. At 81 Rickles is still performing in front of packed audiences all over the world.
“Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project,” on HBO, is director John Landis’ loving look at Rickles, the last of Las Vegas’ great Golden Age entertainers. It’s a hilarious, and even moving 90 minutes that is a must-see for anyone who loves comedy.
While many thought him mean and rude, I had a special affinity for Don Rickles. As a teenager I parked cars at Slate Brothers, a cracker box of a night-club on La Cienega, where many years earlier, Rickles had one of his big breaks. It was in 1957 when Lenny Bruce was fired because Henry Slate thought he was obscene. Ironically, Rickles was hired to replace him. (Talk about from the frying pan into the fire.) What was supposed to be a two-week gig turned into 38 weeks, and the rest, as they say, is comedy history. (Believe it or not, I suspect “Borat” was influenced by Rickles.) Rickles was a hero to my buddies and me because of his pure irreverence. As I watched “Mr. Warmth” it occurred to me that over time egos have only gotten bigger and skins have gotten thinner. This could explain why Rickles’ humor not only holds up, but may be better now than then.
“Mr. Warmth” opens with an interior shot of Dan Tana’s restaurant in West Hollywood. Harry Dean Stanton is playing the harmonica and singing. In a complete non sequitur, he’s approached by director Landis who, it turns out, was an 18-year-old gopher on the movie “Kelly’s Heroes,” a WW2 action movie starring Clint Eastwood and featuring Rickles and Stanton.
Before long we’re backstage at the Stardust in Las Vegas as Rickles gets ready for his show. Intercut, we hear from a variety of celebrities including
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 1, 2007. Read the original PDF.