“What’s so different about them is Bob was a real writer. He wrote those routines, which were, like, one-man sketches. . . . Don came from working really hard playing lounges and strip clubs, figuring out how to do crowd work, doing multiple shows a night into the wee hours in Vegas. Bob just got huge immediately..... [Don] came from a time when his theory was, It’s O.K. to make fun of people as long as you make fun of all of them,” Apatow explained....
The New Yorker writer, Bruce Handy, quips: "Think of it as a very old-school version of D.E.I."
Urban Dictionary has an entry for "equal opportunity offender": "One who bashes and trashes any and every different type of person known to earth; including the basher's own race. Don't call me racist, I am an Equal Opportunity Offender."
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Thank you so much for this, which I'd never have uncovered on my own. I grew up on Newhart and incorporated the value of laughter for human health. To this day I consider it a civic duty, albeit with checkout clerks, customer service folks, and other totally ordinary people. And their delight, in turn, adds joy to my own life.
1. The Urban Dictionary is hardly the voice of reason.
2. Don Rickles bashed everybody, and yes everybody is different or individuality wouldn't mean anything, but he identified traits in people that are widely shared like baldness to make fun of so that both bald and hairy people could share the laugh. That is the healing power of comedy.
3. More of Rickles like humor or any comedy act that points out essential aspects of human nature so we can laugh about it, transcends race and other artificial/superficial differences, allowing us to bond in our shared humanity.
4. Further to number three, few things can have this effect, but the most powerful are humor, pathos and combat, which is why classical stage presentations have relied heavily on the comedy/tragedy options over the millenia we have been sharing performance art, and nationalism requires being "at war" with some "other."
5. Further to number four, the Woke frequently try to cancel comedians because they are opposed to people bonding and seek only to divide people from one another. DEI actually stands for Divide Extort & Indoctrinate not the other three words they pretend that it means in public. "Know them by their fruits."
That was nice. I've loved them both. Don knew as much about Israel as the average American.
I always found Don Rickles a mean-spirited creep. Later on he was successful enough, God only knows how, that he had to put that little varnish over his miserable nature.
Loved Newhart, especially the show of the same name. The Michael and Stephanie characters were epic.
Could never get Rickles, nothing against that sort of humor, I just didn't think he was particularly clever or funny. YMMV.
"It's a variation on the cliché wisecrack"
Fine, but it's still a good variation, cuz slightly inaccurate and therefore triggering, since DEI institutionalizes unequal opportunity.
Don't call me racist, I am an Equal Opportunity Offender."
By the time Andrew Dice Clay came around, it was a different era.
When Donahue asks Newhart and Rickles, "And you were married, both of you, at the time?"
I was waiting for Rickles to retort, "No, we each had wives. Aren't you listening?"
I don't have time to watch this now, though I'm making time for a comment. I'll watch it later. Suffice to say that both Newhart and Rickles were both brilliant comedians in their time. Newhart would still be funny today, but perhaps not to the GenZers and Xers, who seem to live on comedy based on the usage of race, body parts, and swearing. The more of each, the 'funnier' the comedian. Or so it seems to me.
Rickles could not even work today- and we grew up on him. He and a litany of funny, funny people who somehow managed to make everyone laugh without race or body parts as their key ingredient (though...truly Rickles used race and religion as key props to his comedy).
Today's comedians, with a few exceptions, are lame. Chappelle is great. Gervais is brilliant. There are others with cult followings who are brilliant in their delivery and humor (Mark Normand comes to mind). But the rash of what is put up there as funny seem more to be 'activists' who think they are funny, but would only be funny to people without a sense of humor.
PS- perhaps the funniest man in show biz for years was Buddy Hackett. But you had to see him in person to get the 'real' show. My God...he was gut-busting funny. He did use body parts. And everything else- to tell his stories.
Bruce Handy thinks Don Rickles was the prototype for today's highly evolved humorless scolds?
Don Rickles offending everyone is not the same as Karen making sure, upon pain of cancelation, nobody offends anyone except the designated oppressor class which, just by bizarre coincidence, happens to be anyone who doesn't support The Party.
That was well worth my time. Thank you.
That was great to watch.
Old-school DEI: racism, sexism... genderism, etc. Contemporary DEI: color judgments, class bigotry.
Cheat on their wives? So, they were liberal, transgender, and proud?
"Think of it as a very old-school version of D.E.I."
Except Rickles made everyone laugh and feel connected while DEI makes everyone mad and feel separated.
It was a joy to witness the Rickles/Newhart friendship in real time as a kid watching Carson with my dad.
Both Rickles and Newhart were funny. Bob could be a comedic actor and he "wore well", that's why he had two long popular Sitcoms. Rickles was more suited for standups and talk show appearances. He had several sitcoms in the 70s that my parents liked, but no one else did.
Bob's joke on one of those TV roast shows was that one of Don's show CPO Sharkey had gotten an "negative neilson" rating. Not only did no one watch, but several people said they were returning their TV after watching it.
Rickles was funny agressive/obnoxious. Its obvious he was a nice guy and putting on an act. That's why he was funny.
Buddy Hackett wasnt funny. He was funny looking and talked funny. A walking cartoon character. I always turned the channel when he came on. He's tolerable in the Music Man, because his part is extremely short.
When I was a Kid all these old comics were always TV talk shows: Alan King, Joey Bishop, Don Rickles, Steve Allen, Bob Newhart, Shecky Greene, Carl Reiner, Totie Fields, Buddy Hackett. All come to mind.
The only ones I liked were Newhart and Rickles.
Newhart incorporated little bits of Rickles into his sitcoms. Here (at 12:00) he gives Rickles' basic act to an 80 year old woman:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7zqur7
Diversity of individuals, minority of one predates the progress of modern families with liberally colored cultures.
Newhart has a reputation for being a good guy.
Rickles had the opposite reputation, but I get the impression it was pure shtick.
Both were geniuses at their form of comedy.
I can't recall either of them using swear words in their performances (although I never saw either live), but both really funny.
There are a ton of clips on Youtube from the old Dean Martin roasts and from The Tonight Show and Rickles just kills it.
Maybe one of only 2 or 3 people on earth who could dump on Sinatra and live to tell about it : )
One of the best episodes of Newhart are when Rickles shows up and does a two-parter. They had great chemistry together. Rickles was good on Get Smart too. He and Don Adams were great pals.
Temujin said...
"Newhart would still be funny today..."
He's still alive, at 94.
Who else has a drinking game named after them?
“Urban Dictionary has an entry for "equal opportunity offender": "One who bashes and trashes any and every different type of person known to earth; including the basher's own race. Don't call me racist, I am an Equal Opportunity Offender."
So if we all could just learn to bash and trash the entire human race, that would make the world a better place. Sounds good to me!
Nice documentary with a proper length for the material. I hate it when a documentary that has 30 minutes of material is stretched to 90 minutes to make it feature film length.
I think a lot of Rickles material hasn't aged well. Not because I'm PC, but because they are often based on ethnic stereotypes that are out of date. Though his gig at the Reagan Inaugral Gala is still fun to watch.
“2. Don Rickles bashed everybody, and yes everybody is different or individuality wouldn't mean anything, but he identified traits in people that are widely shared like baldness to make fun of so that both bald and hairy people could share the laugh. That is the healing power of comedy.”
My partner met Rickles multiple times when she was running the floral shop at the Hilton, in Vegas, over 40 years ago. He was nice and quite funny. I had him mixed up with Red Fox, whom she thought was a pig.
Newhart's appearance on SNL as a psychiatrist is perhaps the best skit he ever did. He charges $5 for the first minute of therapy and tells the patients "STOP IT" no matter what their supposed psych problem is. No patient ever needs more than that one minute with him.
Rickles hosted SNL in 1984 and his monologue fulfills every stereotype of his comedy style. He asks one audience member his ethnicity, is told "Swedish" and replies, "Dammit, I don't have a joke for that!"
That was a great short film. I'm happy to find out Rickles was actually a really nice guy. I liked his act for about 6 months when I was 14. Now, I think he's the most overrated comic there is. Maybe you had to see him live. Newhart, on the other hand, was a genus and still cracks me up whether it's clips of his stand up or reruns of his sit coms. AN=nd I'm happy to find out he was as nice a guy in real life as on stage.
Hey, I worked for an equal opportunity offender! In the early 80's, an EEOC complaint was filed against my boss in a small non-proft. I don't remember a lot about the interview, but we all spoke with someone who came to our small office. In the end, they decided the complaint against the boss was invalid, because she treated everyone equally badly.
'I think a lot of Rickles material hasn't aged well. Not because I'm PC, but because they are often based on ethnic stereotypes that are out of date.'
Stereotypes exist for a reason.
They're only not funny if you're PC.
It's OK to laugh at Polish jokes, Italian jokes, etc.
Re: Rickles and Sinatra, this is short but funny:
What a lovely film---thank you for bringing it to us!
Stereotypes exist for a reason.
Yeah, often for stupid reasons that have no basis in reality. Sometimes even for downright racist reasons.
What Rickles did in his shows was so hard to pull off. I was in Vegas and saw Ray Romano perform. He said the show was being taped for a cable special. He was great and his act was pg, like his sitcom. But he had his TV co-star Brad Garrett open, and BG went for the Rickles style, insulting audience members. He bombed. As far as I could tell the show never aired.
There's some documentary floating around on Rickles that I watched probably two years ago. His regular act was far cruder than what made it to TV. Still funny, but I found his more PG-type stuff funnier. I'd known for years that everyone said Rickles was a sweetheart.
Gervais is in the Rickles form, and I adore him, too. Loved loved loved his show After Life.
Saw a meme a few months ago, something like "Tonight's presentation of Blazing Saddles has been edited for television. It will air from 9 to 9:13 p.m."
Fairly recently I was amazed to see a very old Carol Burnett show with Don Rickles guesting. https://www.google.com/search?q=don+rickles+carol+burnett+show&oq=don+rickles+carol+burnett&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgAEAAYgAQyBwgAEAAYgAQyBggBEEUYOdIBCTYyNTlqMGoxNagCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:1f884884,vid:OTJHI-bIqCI,st:0
He's somehow mad at everyone, and I'm not sure race and so on have much to do with it. He does go after heavy women. He's a clerk in a shoe store. He drives off one female customer, who insists on trying on shoes that are obviously too small for her. He can't stand the dishonesty and folly. He gets a warning: he's offended customers before, if he does it again, he's fired. He worries, he's got to pay rent or whatever.
A somewhat older woman comes in, insists on seeing lots of different shoes. Nanette Fabray, being about as rude as him. Eventually calls him a dum dum. Don is up and down a ladder, increasingly frustrated and angry. He makes as if to strangle her. Finally there is a pair that fits her well, and she seems to like them. But she says: you've made a mistake. These are obviously too big for me, my feet are quite petite. Don, turning purple, finally breaks. Lady, the last time I saw feet this size they were on a bear! Eventually: you sick broad, you oughta be put away! I hope you swell up and get boils on your neck!
Fairly early he says he might have been a rocket scientist. In his rage after Nanette's departure he says thinks the world will be taken over by dummy broads like this. "I can't take it any more!" (Howard Beale). "I am a genius!" (Wile E. Coyote).
Final confrontation with the boss. "I hate your guts. I hate the way your nose quivers ... You're a dummy old man, and you oughta be put away!"
So much rage in prime time TV. Almost anticipates Burnett's long series about Mama's Family, roughly modelled on Burnett's own family from Texas trying to make it in Hollywood. Also a similarly to Gleason's Honeymooners.
Thanks for posting that. I love those two guys.
Saw Rickles here in Vegas, shortly after we moved here. At the Orleans.
It was a thrill to see the legend live. We've been trying to see all the legends before they retire/pass. Saw Shecky three times now. [Saw a spectacular bill back in 2010, I believe it was: Dick Cavett hosted and brought on Bill Dana ("Jose Jimenez"), Dick Gregory, Shelley Berman, Mort Sahl and Prof. Irwin Corey.]
Rickles was Rickles! He still used a corded mike and a gaffer in the wings reeled it in and out as needed-- harrowing, as we expected him to trip on it an any moment!
People loved seeing Rickles over the past fifty years. And people went to his shows HOPING to be shat on! All people-- Poles, Jews, Italians, AA, Asians-- all of them wanted to experience being abused by the bald guy in a room full of like-minded comedy fans. It was all, to use a favorite word of the progressives, CONSENSUAL! And, just because someone else outside that room-- someone who wouldn't be caught dead in that room-- thought it was "offensive" or "hurtful" doesn't mean it was wrong (or offensive or hurtful).
Can we extrapolate from the fetish posting on this blog today? Don't some fetishes involve someone (let's say... a man?) literally abusing someone else (let's say... a woman?) with an object (let's say... a whip?)? Does this activity-- among consenting adults-- lead to the hardening of stereoypes? A consolidation of power? A perpetuation of oppression? If we're to believe the progs, it certainly does not and, besides, what business is it of yours what consenting adults to each other? Right? RIGHT?!?
All the Rickles haters can fuck off.
Being equal opportunity offenders is one of the main reasons I never missed an episode of "In Living Color."
Nobody got spared.
The show would never air today, and we only have the woke scolds to thank for that.
My friend listened to Derek & Clive one day and was horrified - calling it misogynist. To which I replied, no, they hate everyone equally, including each other and themselves.
This was a great movie.
How wonderful to have such a strong and enduring friendship.
I remember watching these guys with my dad on Johnny Carson.
And some of the roasts were really funny.
I miss comedy like this-each unique in its own way.
Cheating on Suzanne Pleshette is unthinkable.
I never could get into Don Rickles. Bob Newheart hits my humor target dead-center.
"Cheating in Suzanne Pleshette is unthinkable."
I'm sure many found it quite thinkable.
'Yeah, often for stupid reasons that have no basis in reality. Sometimes even for downright racist reasons.'
We're all exactly the same little automatons in your perfect DEI world.
Except we're not.
You must be fun at parties...
"I'm sure many found it quite thinkable."
Ha!
Rickles was reportedly the nicest guy IRL.
https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/06/opinions/don-rickles-penn-jillette/index.html
When my friend and I started The Heath Ledger (the way more successful and popular version of The Onion), our stated mission was to "offend everyone."
that was great
"Newhart's appearance on SNL as a psychiatrist is perhaps the best skit he ever did. He charges $5 for the first minute of therapy and tells the patients "STOP IT" no matter what their supposed psych problem is."
This is Mad TV, but, yes, it's great.
"Re: Rickles and Sinatra, this is short but funny:"
Newhart used this in his last starring sitcom, George & Leo, with Judd Hirsh.
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