Bill
It should be fun to see if he talks about what happened to him last
night. Regis said Rickles attended the Broadway play -- "Bye Bye
Birdie," I think it was. Anyway, something happened to the set or the
stage and things were falling down. There was a giant delay in
getting the stage back up and running again. Rickles was in the
audience and Bob Sagett was in the audience and John Stamos was either
in the audience too or he is in the play.
Anyway, Bob Sagett got up on stage and he and Stamos were doing a
routine and Don Rickles stayed in the audience and was yelling things
at them. Regis said it was hilarious. He said Rickles couldn't get
up on stage and stand for that long because he has a bad knee or
something but from the audience he did his thing.
Maybe...it was a giant delay and Rickles was yelling about the delay
plus, giving Sagett and Stamos a hard time.
Marcia
Kimmel did the best full hour show with Rickles a year or two ago.
Kimmel was really able to make it seem old school. Had Keely Smith to
sing and an appearance by Bob Newhart. Kimmel even wore a tux.
Celebrated the man and really brought some class to the proceedings.
You could tell Rickles returned the respect in kind. Jimmy has a
talent for real conversation, and not just doing shtick and turning
the guest into a mere prop. Of course, Rickles ain't gonna be
subservient to anyone.
I'm going to take a wild guess here: playing Conrad Birdie?...(my second choice
would be Hugo)....r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
Seriously?...
While Dick Van Dyke put on a great show playing the role, I always felt Albert
should be more of an underhanded nebbish...the script has him dominated by both
his mother (via indestructible apron strings) and his girlfriend (to whom he's
terrified to make a commitment), he comes up with this sleazy promotional stunt,
and gives manufactured background information on Conrad to the press....
Which is why I was so impressed that in the TV remake they got Jason Alexander
for the part...and Tyne Daly made a killer Mama Rose (kudos to George Wendt for
taking on the unenviable task of replacing Paul Lynde)....r
Marcia
He's right about one thing: The Shecky Greene story isn't funny at all.
I thought his finest role was as Mr. Spears in Viva Las Vegas.
That may belong under the heading of "most obscure reference ever made by
someone other than me"....r
Not the way he told it this time, it wasn't...I swear Don was deliberately
trying to sabotage his own joke so he could get out....r
I hadnt heard this story before Thursday and I was expecting it to
take a different turn and I thought it
was uncomfortable for the audience also.
Bill
He's told that story at least three times before on the show and it was
much funnier previous. Rickles seemed off the whole night IMHO.
Traci
FYI, Shecky Greene performed here in Las Vegas not that long ago.
Marcia
Frank Sinatra once saved Shecky's life...a bunch of guys were beating him up and
Frank said "okay, boys, he's had enough"....
(Demonstration of the *right* way to tell the story, for those who haven't heard
it before)....r
Litterman cramped his style. Rickles did give it to Paul though pretty
good. Dave must have insisted that Don lay off on the intern jokes
however.
Don was hush-hush about the Affair.
Maybe he hasn't heard about it...it's not like it's received much news
coverage....
(For the impaired: that's some of that dry humor we keep around here)....r
They didn't tell it right. The last time Dave and Don told it, it was
hysterical. This rendition was way off. Naturally, it didn't work.
Sally
Do I get a trophy? Or at least a year's supply of Turtle Wax?
When Denzel Washington stayed on for Rickles' segments back in January
of '08 (I looked it up...time flies...seemed like earlier this year)
he told the same Sinatra lightning story and Dave asked him to tell
the Shecky story. He said back then, "This is really Shecky's story"
so it's never been a favorite of his.
I think I've got a case of Rice-a-Roni around here someplace....r
You know, r, that now I'm gonna want Rice-a-Roni all day...
Sally
That's actually a little sad....
Joke-killing confession: I don't actually have any Rice-a-Roni, but I do have a
case of individual-serving pouches of microwaveable basmati rice...had one last
night with a grilled salmon fillet on top...now *that* I could see having an
all-day craving for....r
Gary
He almost gave old Don a heart attack it looked like. That was kind of
cruel.
It seems even AFL'ers are admitting this Rickles showcase was not
brought off to best effect. Not a great way to end the current run of
new shows, but I guess the Worldwide Pantsless Inc. is too busy in CYA
mode to actually think up much new, so they went back to tired old
stories and turned Rickles into a performing seal.