Still Standing

Hey, Don Rickles is on the phone. He's doing stand-up today through Sunday at The Orleans. And I'm curious if he ever got hurt by the mob that ran Las Vegas back in the day.

"I got two in the head, and I got one bullet in my stomach, and I got a grenade in my arm, and 38 machine gun bullets in my legs," he jokes. "No, of course not. No."

Rickles has good things to say about the mob.

"You call them the mob, but I call it the guys who really made it for actors in Las Vegas," he says. "These were men -- they had their own life, but they ran the hotel terrific. They really did, for gambling. ... You wouldn't know one if you met one, believe me."

Vegas started morphing into something different with the arrival of the first corporate bigwig.

"When Howard Hughes came to town, that's when things started to change. Now it's all corporate stuff. Vegas is very successful now. It just proves they do a great job. But at that time, the mob, as you call them, ran a really great operation. ... It was perfect for the atmosphere that was going on.

"We had fun in those days. Acts hung around (together) more, because Las Vegas wasn't that big. There were just a few hotels. And it was just one entertainer (at a hotel), not big revues. So after shows, we usually wound up at the Sands coffee shop and shot the breeze."

Those after-show get-togethers are legendary. Rickles, 82, gives me names but not much detail.

"Gosh, it was a long time back, Doug. It was Danny Thomas and Milton Berle and Johnny Carson and myself, and Debbie (Reynolds) and (Shirley) MacLaine and Dean (Martin). Anybody that was in town."

Rickles, Reynolds and Jerry Lewis, also a longtime Las Vegan, are among the final living members of that generational circle.

"At my age in comedy," Rickles says, "I'm about the oldest one still going pretty good."

Rickles doesn't see much of Reynolds or any other stars of Vegas' old time.

"I never see George Burns. He's dead. I don't get to see him," he jokes.

"No," he says. "Years ago, we (Reynolds and Rickles) worked together quite a few times. Debbie's an old friend. But in this business, I'm traveling and she does her thing, so we don't get to see each other too often. But when we do see each other, we're happy."

Oddly enough, Rickles invented what's called insult comedy, yet he doesn't like the term insult comic. By contrast, the comedian who is most like Rickles is Lisa Lampanelli. She jokes about all sorts of races and heritages and life proclivities. Her Web site is even named InsultComic.com.

Not long ago, Lampanelli told me she didn't know Rickles' work until after she developed her own stand-up routines, because she didn't grow up with much TV. She loves him, though.

"She came to see me once. She seemed to be a nice lady," Rickles says. "I really don't know the lady that well. ... But I wish her luck, whatever she's doing. If people show up and laugh, she's doing great."

Lampanelli recently said on Howard Stern's Sirius radio after-show that some people have come up to her and told her they agree with her jokes about various races, but as an affirmed anti-racist, she has to tell them they misunderstand her stand-up.

Rickles claims he hasn't had to deal with many people who misunderstood his race-based jokes in an act he describes as "theatrical performance."

"I've never had the problem of people ever approaching me with that attitude, so I'm very proud of what I do," Rickles says.

"You must always remember, Doug, whether you're Don Rickles or Bob Hope, rest his soul, or Milton Berle, he's gone, too -- no matter who it is, when you stand onstage, you're selling yourself," he says. "If people take a liking to who you are and what you're dong, you've got it made.

"But it's a very difficult business, because you just get out there alone. You're, like, bare naked, and they've gotta love you as soon as the gun goes off, as soon as the show starts. So that comes with luck, and with the ability that your personality is something they enjoy."

Rickles hurls Rickles-esque insults at me for a few questions. He interrupts one question to say:

"You didn't see my documentary ('Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project'), I guess, huh? That's embarrassing, Doug. That's embarrassing," he says. "That'll explain anything. You'll never have to interview me again. You'll just have to look at that."

And then, he's off the phone.

"Thank you, Doug, and good luck to you. OK, babe."

What do you think? Tell me at delfman@reviewjournal.com, or post your reviews and rants at reviewjournal.com/elfman. My column appears Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.