Rhino Comedy Hour #4: It’s Don Rickles, You Hockey Puck!

This week’s installment of the Rhino Comedy Hour shines the spotlight on the big bald head of the man who’s so widely known as an insult comic that his grinning mug is literally the only picture that’s included on the Wikipedia page for “insult comedy.” Talk about defining a genre…

Don Rickles may not owe his entire career to Frank Sinatra, but it’s well documented that the Chairman of the Board went to see Rickles when he was performing at a Miami nightclub and found him so hysterical that he went out of his way to tell as many of his famous friends as possible to go see Rickles’ act. In short order (or certainly shorter than it would’ve been without the Sinatra factor), Rickles was headlining in Las Vegas, but he was also building a side career as an actor, appearing in Run Silent, Run Deep, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, and several of the Beach Party films. Still, it was comedy that was his real bread and butter, and Rickles further built his reputation through numerous TV appearances.

Given his reputation as a must-see standup, it’s therefore surprising that Rickles has only ever recorded two proper comedy albums: 1968’s Hello Dummy! and 1969’s Don Rickles Speaks! The former is a traditional standup album, recorded at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas, while the latter is more of a conceptual piece, with Rickles being interviewed by a panel about various topics, most of them tied to celebrities. Some of the folks he references may be a bit too dated for you kids today to know who he’s talking about, but to our way of thinking, you can’t go wrong with any album that features Don Rickles discussing the Electric Prunes.

Now, because Rickles only recorded these two albums, this week’s Rhino Comedy Hour is actually the Rhino Comedy Hour and 12 Minutes, because it just seemed ridiculous not to just put both albums up in their entirety. So don’t let us down: go give the whole blasted playlist a listen and laugh and cringe your way through the complete recorded work of the man who helped define insult comedy…and still does.