Farewell to the king of the insult comedians
Comedy forgives a lot, so they say.
It certainly forgave Don Rickles, the king of insult comedy, who died Thursday at age 90. Rickles started insulting people — famous people, nobodies and everyone in between — long before terms like “politically incorrect” entered the lexicon. But there’s probably no better way to describe some of Rickles’ more insensitive material.
Well, there is one other way: funny.
Really, really funny, a lot of the time. And that’s
the magic ingredient in insult comedy (or tasteless comedy or raunchy comedy or clean comedy or religious comedy or any other kind): It has to be funny. And Rickles was. (There’s the well-told story about his seeing Frank Sinatra in the audience one night and saying, “Make yourself at home, Frank. Hit somebody.”)
Sinatra supposedly loved it. That wasn’t unusual. The targets of his insults usually laughed along with everyone else.
How can you tell? For someone whose shtick was to be off-putting, he was beloved by other comics, celebrities and audiences — without which, none of it would have mattered. After his death, many famous people took to Twitter, the new form of grieving, to express their feelings.
“I was honored to b publicly humiliated by this comedy titan a few times!” Ron Howard tweeted. “I saw him give an impromptu wedding toast last yr & he killed!”
“Don Rickles was simply the best,” Jason Alexander, who played George Costanza on “Seinfeld,” tweeted. “He created insult comedy & yet every 1 of his targets felt loved and honored. One of a kind.”
Many, many celebrities said similar things, talking about what a sweet man Rickles was when he stepped off the stage, the place where he was so drippingly acidic during his act. Billy Eichner got his Twitter tribute just right: “RIP Don Rickles. One of the funniest people that ever lived, you dumb schmuck.”
Rickles was very much a throwback to the old days of show business, comfortable on Johnny Carson’s couch — but also on Jimmy Kimmel’s. “He knew I genuinely loved him,” Kimmel said before taping his show Thursday afternoon. “He wasn’t just a guest to me. He was the best.”
The world seemingly will never run out of celebrities, and as we lower the bar on just who claims that description, we’re all but assured of it. Which means that Rickles would never run out of material. As long as there were people to make fun of, he had a job.
He stayed current in other ways, as well. He provided the voice for Mr. Potato Head in the “Toy Story” movies. He also had his own Twitter account. Sample tweet: “To my followers Happy Thanksgiving. Sorry I can’t celebrate with you, but I’ll be spending it with cords on my butt floating down 5th Ave.”
But Rickles could get serious there, too. A World War II veteran who fought in the Philippines, on Memorial Day he tweeted: “Serving in the Navy in WWII made me realize we must always defend USA. We honor those who didn’t return knowing that they are our heroes.”
It seems hard to believe he’s gone. Not for the same reasons as when someone younger or with whom you have a deeper personal connection dies. It seems strange with Rickles in part because for many of us, he was always there, all our lives, the go-to laugh when an ego needed puncturing — and he always had the sharpest needle. That’s not just funny. That’s a necessary part of popular culture, and that will be missed. As will he. R.I.P.