Quote:
Originally Posted by Ace1965
This was a day that I knew was inevitable but it still hurts. There is a small number of celebrities whose deaths would get me very emotional. Mr. Arnold Palmer last year hit me hard because he reminded me so much of my dad and for the respect he had worldwide not just in golf.
Don Rickles is certainly another one. I've always dreaded this day and wasn't quite sure how I would react when I heard Mr. Rickles had passed. I was at work when a co-worker told me. I had sort of been afraid that if I did hear of his passing at work I might actually start to cry. When I was told the feeling of devastation was actually no more than a split second. A little gasp I had was quickly replaced by a smile because I started to remember the thousands and thousands of times Mr. Rickles had made me laugh over my lifetime.
I'm 51 years old now so when Mr. Rickles was doing his thing on Johnny Carson and the Dean Martin Roasts I was probably about 10 years old or less. When I was little my mom and dad fought like cats and dogs. They both drank and an explosion could happen over the smallest thing. One of the few times they were civil with each other was during those Dean Martin Roasts or if Mr. Rickles was on The Tonight Show. I can almost hear my dad's laugh right now whenever Mr. Rickles would jab somebody real good.
As I got older I never lost my love for Mr. Rickles. That was helped along by all of his appearances with David Letterman. Since I watched just about every David Letterman show since he started in 1982 I saw all of Mr. Rickles appearances. Dave's reverence for Mr. Rickles was clearly apparent. He would just let Don go and play the straight man and the result was very funny. There's no telling how many times I've watched all of those Youtube clips of Dave with Mr. Rickles.
To say I loved Mr. Rickles is probably an understatement. It almost borders on worship. He was my favorite comic of all times. I will miss him. But I will spend a lot of time over the next few days watching a ton of Youtube clips of him and I can guarantee that each clip I see will make me laugh just as hard as when I saw them when they originally aired on tv so many years ago.
R.I.P. Mr. Warmth
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I read about this too.
Apparently, he also did the voice for Mr Potato Head in the
Toy Story movies, which is where I think of him the most.