Don Rickles (1926–2017)

A fun little book that certainly had me smirking and laughing multiple times. It is written very much like Don Rickles would tell his stories, which made it quite engaging, however, it also became a restraint. It certainly feels more like a "memoir" than a "biography". What does that mean? It's a book where Mr. Rickles reminisces about past events and is sectioned like he would tell his stories on late night TV. So each story lasts a maximum of about three pages before it jumps to the next one - basically a lot of small chapters.

That leaves it being a bit superficial, it only scratches the surface. I would've liked it to go deeper into his life as I really love this man, he was so damn funny, and he left lessons for us which we could still learn from.
With that being said, it was still a good book, and if you like Don Rickles it is definitely worth a read!… (more)

This followup book to Rickles' Book got trashed but it's pretty good in my opinion. It gives his style of comedy (one liners) in actual form on letters that he never wrote. You can read this in a day easily. Rickles is really funny and was in his heyday during the Rat Pack years. He was the voice of Mr. Potato Head in all the Toy Story films.
Rickles is a Queens born Jew but joked that after Sinatra told him to put money into the collection plate at a Palm Springs Catholic church, Rickles was now a Catholic for the low price of $50. Rickles' style is a three part set of personal comments. First a general compliment to a man or woman (usually a man), then a put down of one of the person's foibles based on an exaggerated misunderstanding and lastly a plea for financial assistance from the person just put down or a request to never bother him again. Rickles served in the US Navy during WWII.
Obama should have given him a Presidential Award, but oh well. Rickles' first book is excellent if you can follow the old Hollywood showbiz references.… (more)

Organized into chapter that are two to maybe six pages long, this is a book of highlights of Rickles' life, from a little about his childhood, a little about his stint in the Navy during WWII, his struggles to get his career in comedy started and the many people who helped him along the way. He became friends with various club owners and agents, but it's when Frank Sinatra and Johnny Carson took a liking to him that Rickles' career really took off.
When a book has such short chapters, your not going to get into any subject deeply, but there are some surprises. Like Rickles lived with his mother pretty much until he married at 36. And once Rickles was brought into the Rat Pack atmosphere by Sinatra, he seems to have been used as a weapon, with Frank telling Rickles who to go after and Rickles doing it. More than learning about Rickles, we unintentionally get an insider look at how much power Sinatra wielded even among his "friends".… (more)