American funny man Don Rickles dies at age 90
HE was only kidding.
Really. Don Rickles loved everybody: Black or white, gay or straight, fat or thin.
For more than half a century, the hollering, bald-headed “Mr. Warmth” let everyone have it.
Insults rained on the meek and the mighty, from unsuspecting fans to such fellow celebrities as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Johnny Carson. And few seemed to mind.
Rickles, who died Thursday at age 90, was among the most loved people in the business.
He was the acknowledged grandmaster of insult comedy.
Despite jokes that from other comics might have inspired boycotts, he was idolised by everyone from Joan Rivers and Louis CK to Chris Rock and Sarah Silverman.
Rickles appeared everywhere from strip joints to the 1985 inaugural gala for President Ronald Reagan and remained a popular act well after his ethnic and racial humor had become outdated.
In 2008, he won an Emmy for best performance in a variety show for film Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project.
Rickles managed to shock his audiences without cutting social commentary or truly personal self-criticism.
He operated under a code: Go far – ethnic jokes, sex jokes, rib Carson about his many marriages – but make sure everyone knows it’s for fun.