Rickles loved to prank Frank at Midtown haunt

DON RICKLES came for the meatballs — and stayed for the laughs.

The late, great comedian would get a kick out of pranking his pal Frank Sinatra over meals at Patsy’s Italian Restaurant in Midtown, the eatery’s longtime owner told the Daily News.

“He and Sinatra would love to tease each other,” said chef Sal Scognamillo of the dynamic duo who would frequently dine at a quiet table in the back of the restaurant’s upstairs throughout the 1980s.

“One time Don Rickles took out a pack of cigarettes and poked so many holes in them, Sinatra couldn’t even smoke them,” said Scognamillo of Rickles’ mischievous escapades.

“He (Sinatra) just looked at him and started laughing. Rickles was hysterical.”

The Queens-born comedic legend, who died Thursday at age 90, was known for his insult humor. So when he noticed Sinatra at a Miami show back in 1957, he made ‘Ol Blue Eyes the punch line of a joke, despite the singer’s serious temperament.

They became close and soon the duo headlined performances in Las Vegas during the early 1960s. They remained close friends until Sinatra’s 1998 death.

“He was really like Frank Sinatra’s little brother,” said Scognamillo.

In New York, Sintara and Rickles would eat like kings at Patsy’s. Both favored the meatballs with marinara sauce and since Sinatra didn’t eat garlic, Rickles would order the shrimp scampi with cloves of it when Sinatra wasn’t there, Scognamillo recalled.

Then there’s the one time Rickles tried to pay the bill.

“Sometimes he’d make believe he would pay Sinatra’s check. He’d pull out his credit card, but when a waiter refused he joked, ‘You take from the Italian guy, but you won’t take from the Jewish guy?’” Scognamillo quipped.

Another time, Rickles playfully summoned Sinatra to a table where he was dining with a lady friend — and then, to impress her, shooed the singer away.

But when Sinatra died, Rickles couldn’t bring himself to sit upstairs anymore.

“He loved to sit in the corner (downstairs),” said Scognamillo of the “Casino” star, who would always order a vodka tonic or rye-and-ginger cocktail and strawberries with whipped cream for dessert. “He was so appreciative to his fans, he would make time to talk to them and take pictures.”